Remarks by Jean Gudat Casey
at the groundbreaking for
Gibbs Street Homes
July 29, 2002

I would like to say a few words about my father, Paul Gudat. My dad came to this country from Germany in 1921. He settled in Rochester because he was pursuing his childhood sweetheart, my mother, whose family had come to Rochester a few years earlier. He came with just a few dollars to his name.

After several years, he formed a partnership with another gentlemen, to do auto body repair. In his homeland, my dad had worked as a blacksmith. Within a short time, he bought out his partner and started Gudat's Collision Service on Stillson Street, now Grove Street. This was back in the 1930s. Gradually, he purchased several parcels of land on Stillson and Gibbs Street. The land now being developed as Gibbs Street Homes, for the most part, has been in my family for over 60 years. As the business continued to grow, my dad's friends and associates good naturedly referred to him as The Mayor of Stillson Street.

In 1940 he built the main portion of the building behind us. When I learned that Mayor Johnson was going to participate in this celebration, I went to our family memoribilia and brought out this photo I have in my hand. It shows the ribbon cutting ceremony at the Grand Opening of my dad's building in 1940. In the photo, with my parents and me and family and friends, is Rochester's mayor, Mayor Samuel B. Dicker, who cut the ribbon.

And now, 62 years later, I am standing here with my family, friends, and Mayor Johnson, not with a ribbon, but with a shovel. And a piece of my family's history has come full circle: building up, building down!

Thank you.