Grove Place Historical Tour

by Linwood Garrenton, November 2001

"The Grove"

In 1827 Josiah Bissell, Jr. and Ashbell Riley bought 20 acres of Enos Stone's farmland northwest of the state road to Pittsford (now East Avenue). Bissell built a large stone house that he named "The Grove". In 1832, Dr. Orrin & Wealtha Ann Gibbs bought the 8-acre "Washington Plat" bounded by Main, Scio, University, and Gibbs. He planted a grove of (fruit?) trees that failed.

The Ward Family Moves In

In 1836, the first members of the large, wealthy family of Levi and Mehitabel Ward arrived as their son Henry and his wife Elizabeth moved into a small frame house west of "The Grove" on Grove Street. In 1839, Judge Samuel Selden bought the "Washington Plat." His wife Susan was a daughter of Levi and Mehitabel Ward who bought the "Washington Plat" in 1840, now named "Grove Place", and moved into the stone house with the Seldens and other family members. Levi began building large brick additions including two Italianate towers until the stone house was quadrupled in size. He opened Gibbs and Windsor Streets to develop houses for his family and for sale to others.

Grove Place Grows

The only remaining Ward mansion, 18 Grove Place, was built in 1855 for Levi's grandson Joseph. The 1875 plat map shows three Ward mansions between Gibbs and Windsor Streets facing their private park (called "Ward's Park" in 1845). Theodore Bacon (whose wife Julia Selden was Levi Ward's granddaughter) built the Tudor row houses on Gibbs Street in 1878. The 1888 plat map shows a new street, Grove Place, in front of the Ward mansions with gates at each end to express their objection to the city's extension of Grove Street through "their" park. From 1888 to 1910, the Ward family built a block of row houses facing their mansions.

A New Century of Growth and Decay

In 1900 new commercial buildings lined Main Street. Some of "The Grove" additions were partially demolished because it was too large for smaller families. In 1914, the towering Central YWCA replaced both the original 1827 stone house and the middle Levi A. Ward mansion. Despite this, the Ward family still controlled enough property to force downtown to go around their residential enclave. However, by 1920 many houses were cut up into single-room apartments or were boarding houses. In the Great Depression, vacancies began and a few houses were demolished. Most of the demolition occurred in the 1960's on Selden Street and University Avenue, just as restoration work began. Fire destroyed all but two of the Ward row houses on Grove Place in 1958. Surrounded by these changes, Clara Louise "Clayla" Werner Ward lived at 18 Grove Place for most of the century until her death in 1973 - the last of the Ward family in Grove Place.

Rebirth and Renewal

Grove Place Association, founded in 1968 under the leadership of Clayla Ward and Melville McQuay, fostered renovation of abandoned or cut up houses, established the Grove Place Preservation District in 1971, and got the remaining Ward Mansion, the Bacon townhouses, and the older carriage house designated as historic landmarks. New construction began to replace burned out houses and fill land vacant from demolition. After 30 years renovating continues and more new housing is proposed.

A Walk on Grove Street

Emmanuel Missionary Baptist Church was built as First German Lutheran Church in 1845. It became the Jewish War Veterans Post, then Emmanuel Church in 1993. Symphony Terrace townhouses were built in 1996-98 on the site of Siba Ward Smith's home which Temple B'rith Kodesh replaced in 1893. The Temple was destroyed in 1909 by a fire that damaged 70 houses and 3 churches. The Temple was rebuilt, but destroyed by fire again in 1963. The land became a parking lot.

Across the street, St. Peter's Presbyterian Church was built by Levi A. Ward in 1852 facing Gibbs Street, but it closed in 1923 and was demolished for the present parking lot.

A Walk on Gibbs Street

The site of the 1827 stone mansion "The Grove" is now Eastman School Living Center that in 1991 replaced the old Central YMCA's tower built in 1914. The first houses to face Gibbs Street, #125 and #131-135, date to 1851. #128-152 are landmark townhouses Theodore Bacon built in 1878. By 1900, #137 ("The Skinny House"), #153, and the two doubles replaced frame houses built after 1851. #158 and #174 date between 1875 and 1888. #173-185 built in 1973 replaced a large, burned out brick house.

A Walk on Selden Street

#3-5 is the landmark carriage house for the Selden-Ward homestead. Here George Selden, Samuel Selden's nephew, invented the internal combustion engine in 1879, but lost the patent to Henry Ford. Townhouses built in 1984, 1986, and 1989 sit on land once lined with frame houses demolished in the 1960's. Only #14 built before 1870 remains.

A Walk on Windsor Street

The Adam Brown Building facing Main Street dates between 1875 and 1888. Its rear wing was built around 1910 as a repair garage. Downstairs Cabaret was built in 1924 for an auto tire business. Planned Parenthood occupied it from 1973 to 1987.

In the surviving Ward rowhouse at 15 Windsor Street, the Corner Club flourished during Prohibition as a drinking place for wealthy Rochesterians and visiting entertainers.

The Joseph Ward mansion (#18 Grove Place) was built in 1855. Its large eastern wing (#20) was added by 1870. The wood rear addition to #18 and projecting brick room of #20 date to 1915-20.

#34 and #38 (and a single frame house formerly at #30) were occupied in 1842, making them the earliest surviving in Grove Place. The double house #28-30 replaced #30 in the 1890's. The lot between #44 (1857) and #56 (1863) is the only land never built upon. #60 was moved to this site in 1988 from old North Street.