r/Rochester • u/Taco_Crisma • Aug 23 '26
History Palmers Glen
Anyone have personal or family photos of Palmers Glen from before they filled it in for 590? Looking for some photos from the 40s-60s if possible. Historical picture for reference. For those who don't know, there was a beautiful glen and waterfalls in Tryon park that were supposed to be protected - but the state and DOT said "nah, fuck that" and filled the gorge in. The Ark of Jesus church on the east side of Winton rd. sits on where it started.
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u/BeLikeAGoldfishh Aug 23 '26
What a damn shame. Certainly there was another option that didn’t include destroying a beautiful natural point of interest like this?
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u/Taco_Crisma Aug 23 '26
These are the same people who covered hardwoods with carpet and thought knotty pine was a good design choice..
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u/CarriageTrail 585 Aug 24 '26
Covering hardwood with carpet was a great choice! It means when I bought the house and threw away the carpet, the wood floor was in wonderful condition and I didn’t have to refinish it.
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u/Squishasaurus_Rex Highland Park Aug 24 '26
The knotty pine was a less great choice. Some diy boomer trimmed my entire house with it. Ripped out the original trim to do it. I’ll be replacing knotty pine trim for years to come.
They left my hardwoods alone, though. So points there, lol
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u/Professional_Dream17 Aug 23 '26
Where is the water flow from that glen now? Is it redirected underground in a storm pipe or something?
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u/someonestopthatman Aug 23 '26
I believe it's the big tunnel in Tryon Park.
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u/Taco_Crisma Aug 23 '26
Actually just now, looking at photos from Historic Aerials from the 70s and Google maps present day, your 100% right! Its right by the parking lot area north of the sewer overflow.
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u/Taco_Crisma Aug 23 '26 edited Aug 23 '26
So - I believe that one of its sources was Thomas Creek. If you look into that, it's a very interesting read (if you're into that sort of thing). My very basic understanding is that Thomas creek was filled in but still exists to some capacity underground in the winton neighborhood. You can also see a small part of it on East Ave. From reading old newspaper articles, the glen was filled in and there was/is a concrete arch that is underneath 590.
I suspect this was integrated with the deep rock sewer system in the 70s because following the gorge path shows the Tryon overflow to be where I'd expect the concrete tunnel to be. There's some interesting pictures of them digging it out, and that same spot today is a small access road that goes overtop of it all.EDIT: See below comment.2
u/Taco_Crisma Aug 24 '26
Also - a second correction to my initial statement, yes - I think Thomas creek as it exists today flows under East Ave into a storm sewer. The rest of the creek bed is dried up but the infrastructure of the old open sewer exists. (Ie blank space behind the winton library, Linear garden, mer-wins etc.) I think around Royleston Rd it hopped back over to the other side of Winton, thus the larger front yards. I remember reading that the space was left intentionally undeveloped because of the old stone under the sod. I wish I could post pics in the comments of this stuff for you all.
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u/Professional_Dream17 Aug 24 '26
Where are you finding the pics, what site?
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u/Taco_Crisma Aug 24 '26
This one has most of them summarized as well as a great write up about the history of the creek and the Glen. There's another site I will have to dig up tomorrow that talks more about the creek:
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u/fr33d0mw47ch Aug 24 '26 edited Aug 24 '26
Paving paradise and writing it down as the progress of man. Pardon my conflation of Joni Mitchell and John Prine.
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u/secularshower 9d ago
Putting this here for whoever finds it in the future:
That land is currently Tyron Estates apartment complex, between Winstead Road and Tyron Park road. 590 runs through it.
I wonder if there are any remnants left in the surrounding areas.
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u/UsernamesSuck33 South Wedge Aug 23 '26
Of course they filled it in. We love destroying nature to make roads and parking lots.