History

Rochester is rich in history. Formed from a number of hamlets, many of which had their own one-room schoolhouses, the Town boasts the largest number of continuously inhabited old stone houses in New York, some dating back to the 17th century. Accord (the site of the Rochester Town Hall and other town offices) and Kerhonkson are the Town’s two largest hamlets.

In the original Rochester Patent (named in honor of the Earl of Rochester) which was dated 1703, Queen Anne of England granted to Town Trustees the right to convey to settlers ownership of lands in the Town of Rochester, an area which included the present towns of Rochester, Wawarsing and Gardiner, and portions of Sullivan and Delaware counties.

In 1703, the year of its incorporation, the Rochester’s population was recorded as 334. Minutes of Town Trustees meetings dating from that year grant numerous requests for land, and mention already established sawmills and corn mills, and existing property boundaries.

By 1710, additional elected officials included a Supervisor, Town Clerk, a Constable and Collector, and Assessors. Later additions to the Town Board were a Surveyor of Highways, Common Pounder, Overseer of the Poor, Fence Viewers, Horse Gelders, and Firemen.

Several school districts, with one-room schoolhouses and elected trustees, had been organized by the 1790s, including Newtown (later Whitfield), Mombaccus, Kyserike, and Pleasant Ridge (later Rock Hill). The total number of districts eventually reached seventeen, a few of which operated into the 1950s.

Mailing Address
PO Box 65,
Accord,NY 12404.