Southeast Neighborhoods - ABC Streets

Southeast Quadrant - ABC Streets

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Located in the Park Avenue Historic District, the ABC Streets Neighborhood is a vibrant urban community encompassing more than 600  households bounded by Culver Road, Harvard Street, Park Avenue and Colby Street.  Within  these boundaries are the ABC Streets, which appear in alphabetical order – Audubon, Beverly, Calumet, Darwin, Ericsson, Faraday, Girard and Homer.

The population of this beautiful, tree-lined neighborhood includes long-time residents, singles, couples, families with small children, empty nesters, young professionals and college students. Neighbors live within walking distance of nearby Park Avenue’s active retail and restaurant scene and many outstanding Rochester institutions, including the George Eastman Museum, Memorial Art Gallery, the Rochester Museum and Science Center, and historic East Avenue churches and mansions.

Also within walking distance is Cobbs Hill Park, which offers plentiful green space, picnic grounds, extensive playground and exercise equipment, tennis courts, basketball courts and ball fields. Nearby restaurants and retail opportunities on Culver Road are readily accessible.

Residents of the neighborhood first organized in the mid-1980s in response to the possible impact on their properties due to what was then known as the Can of Worms (I490/I590) reconstruction project and related sound barrier construction. The I490 expressway previously had replaced the subway bed that in turn had replaced the old Erie Canal that once followed a route behind many homes on Harvard Street. As a result of the fledgling association’s efforts over the following years, affected neighbors lost less of their property to the reconstruction project than had been anticipated.

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In the years that followed the ABC Streets Neighborhood Association’s predecessor group forming in 1986, the association also tackled many issues focused on parking and noise problems. By 2005 the association in partnership with other neighborhood associations had helped to get the City’s Noise Ordinance amended.

Officially renamed the ABCStreets Neighborhood Association in  2010, the association is now well known for working in diverse ways to enhance the overall neighborhood. It has sponsored garden walks, music and outdoor movie nights, fall festivals, holiday events and children’s parades, and volunteer clean ups to maintain two small parks within the neighborhood’s boundaries – Morrison Park and the Calumet Triangle. The association sponsored the street banners in the neighborhood and for years has worked closely with the City to ensure the healthy maintenance of the tree lawns in the neighborhood.

One especially notable achievement occurred in 2020 when the association’s multi-year efforts working with the Landmark Society and nearby neighborhood associations resulted in the Park

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 Avenue Historic District being placed on the National Register of Historic Places. As a result, homeowners in the ABC neighborhood (and other neighborhoods covered by the historic district) may now apply for state tax credits for qualifying repair and rehab expenses.

 

 

 

Additional Information

If you would like additional information on this neighborhood, please contact the Southeast Quadrant Neighborhood Service Center:

320 N Goodman St - Suite 209
Rochester, New York 14607
(585) 428-7640
Email: Erica.Hernandez@cityofrochester.gov