The names are all very familiar to us: Plank Rd., Salt Rd., Basket Rd., Five Mile Line Rd., Shoecraft Rd., Whiting Rd. But what might not be so familiar is exactly how these well-known roadways got their names.
Plank Rd. is pretty self-explanatory. It used to be covered in wooden planks. But how about the others? Their stories, recounted in Webster Through the Years by Esther Dunn, offer a glimpse into Webster’s history:
Salt Rd. was named after salt springs located nearby.
Basket Rd. was originally known as Basket Street because many of the early settlers in the area made baskets out of branches from the willow trees that grew nearby.
Five Mile Line Rd. referred to the distance from Penfield Village to Ridge Rd.
Shoecraft Rd. bears the name of John Shoecraft, an early settler of Penfield who served in both the Revolutionary War and War of 1812.
Whiting Rd. was named for John Whiting, a pioneer who settled on the lakeshore near the junction of Lake and Holt roads. You can still see the grand home he built near that intersection, in Webster Park, which we now know as the White House Lodge.
Webster history is all around us, even hidden in the streets on which we drive. Uncover more historical surprises at the Webster Museum, 18 Lapham Park in the Village of Webster. It’s open Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 2 to 4:30 p.m. Visit the website at webstermuseum.org to learn more.
Hey all you loyal readers out there, there’s still time to sign up for my all-about-me-and-my-blog talk at the Webster Recreation Center this coming Tuesday May 16.
The talk is scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m. and I’ve got a full hour to do my thing, but I don’t expect it to take more than 45 minutes, so there will be plenty of time for questions. You’ll hear all about my background, how Webster on the Web began, how I find blog topics, stuff like that.
The program is part of the Rec Center’s Talks on Tuesday series, for community members aged 55+. There’s no cost, but PLEASE register so the Rec Center knows how many people to expect. Click here to register. The Webster Recreation Center is located at 1350 Chiyoda Dr., just off of Phillips Rd.
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If you can’t make it to the Rec Center on the 16th (or you’re not 55+), don’t fret! I’ll be presenting the same talk at the Webster Public Library on Thursday June 8 at 6:30 p.m.
As with the Rec Center, there’s no charge, but registration is requested. You can click here to do that.
I look forward to meeting a lot of my readers and hearing firsthand what you think about the blog. Please bring your questions, and feel free to email some to me ahead of time so I’m certain to address them. And if you have any story ideas, bring them along too!
Several interesting events are coming down the pike, a few which I’ve already told you about, and a few more that I want to remind you about.
For starters, here’s a reminder about the very popular Volunteer Fair, which returns to the Webster Public Library on May 11 from 4 to 6 p.m. This great event is especially for teens and adults looking for volunteer opportunities across the Webster area.
It’s a great opportunity to find out about all the ways you can give back to your community, and there’s going to be a LOT of tables set up, so you’re sure to find something that fits your talents and passion. Registration is recommended if you’d like to be reminded about the fair but not required.
The Webster Arboretum Association, together with local growers and local garden clubs, will host the 2023 Webster Arboretum Plant Sale on Saturday May 13 from 8 a.m. to noon.
A tremendous variety of beautiful, healthy plants from standard to uncommon will be available including annuals, dwarf conifers, hostas, geraniums, tomatoes, and more. It’s a great way to celebrate spring and get some live plants perfectly suited for your garden. And don’t forget Mother’s Day!
The sale will be held at the Webster Arboretum, 1700 Schlegel Rd. Webster.
Good food to support great music
The Webster Marching Band will host a BBQ dinner fundraiser on Tuesday May 16 from 4 to 8 p.m. at Webster Schroeder High School, 875 Ridge Rd.
Dinners will be cooked on-site by Bad to the Bone BBQ, and will include a half chicken, salt potatoes, cole slaw, cornbread and drink for just $17. Click here to purchase pre-sale tickets. You might want to get them ahead of time and reserve your dinner, because these events usually sell out.
Proceeds will benefit our very own award-winning Webster Marching Band.
Webster musical groups make beautiful music together
Two of Rochester’s premier a cappella choruses (which both hail from little ol’ Webster), the Chorus of the Genesee and Rochester Rhapsody will join forces (and voices) on Saturday May 20 for “Harmony in the House,” a musical treat featuring both choruses and several a cappella quartets. The choruses will perform together and separately, and quartets from both groups will fill your heart with a variety of musical favorites. Plus, there’ll be door prizes, raffles, a bar, snacks, and plenty of free parking.
Tickets are $18 for the 3 p.m. matinee, and $20 for the 7 p.m. show. Following the evening performance, everyone is invited to hang around for the annual “Afterglow,” a fun party with food, drinks, more singing and socializing. Click here to get your tickets, or call 315-391-4911.
“Harmony in the House” is a fundraiser for the Harmony House, a beautiful historic building constructed in 1899, which both groups call home. To that end, the groups are also looking for individual and business sponsors to support the event by purchasing an ad in the program, donating a door prize, and helping spread the word by hanging posters or even putting out a donation bucket.
Town of Webster, New York to Offer Tours of Water Pollution Control Facility
The Town of Webster has announced a new opportunity for residents to take an in-person tour of the Walter W. Bradley Water Pollution Control Facility, located at 226 Phillips Road. Visitors will learn about the state of the current facility, along with planned upgrades, and transformation to a Water Resource Recovery Facility.
This facility was originally constructed in 1968. Three of the secondary clarifiers were updated in 2020. However, the majority of this facility remains unchanged from the last major upgrade completed in 1980. The next phase of the facility upgrade project is slated to begin this summer and will encompass improvements to buildings, equipment, and employee working conditions. Currently the Sewer Department has 15 employees who oversee management of the facility, along with 22 pump stations, 3,000 manholes and 400 miles of sewer mains across the Town of Webster.
One of the main components to this upgrade project will be the installation of new sludge drying equipment. The Town will be creating a fertilizer from biosolids, to be utilized by local agriculture. This in turn will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as the Town will be diverting biosolids from landfills, thus reducing use of diesel fuel for hauling of sludge to a landfill. These equipment upgrades will also create biogas for reuse, which will reduce both methane emissions and natural gas usage at the facility.
Starting in May, the Town will be offering in-person tours of the facility, to educate visitors about our treatment process, and the environmental benefits of the upgrade project. Residents can also view a virtual facility tour and learn more about the facility upgrades on the Town website.
If you’ve ever wondered how Webster on the Web got started, how I come up with my stories, what my favorite blogs have been, and stuff like that, then you might be interested in two special events coming up in the next few weeks.
On Tuesday, May 16from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. at the Webster Recreation Center, I’ll be presenting a talk all about me and my blog. In it, I’ll address all of those wonders and many more, plus tell you more about me and my background than you probably ever wanted to know. (For example, can you guess how long I’ve lived in Webster? The answer might surprise you.)
The program is part of the Rec Center’s Talks on Tuesday series, for community members aged 55+. There’s no cost, but PLEASE register so the Rec Center knows how many people to expect. Click here to register. The Webster Recreation Center is located at 1350 Chiyoda Dr., just off of Phillips Rd.
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If you can’t make it to the Rec Center on the 16th (or you’re not 55+), don’t fret! I’ll be presenting the same talk at the Webster Public Library on Thursday June 8 at 6:30 p.m.
As with the Rec Center, there’s no charge, but registration is requested. You can click here to do that.
I look forward to meeting a lot of my readers and hearing firsthand what you think about the blog. Please bring your questions, and feel free to email some to me ahead of time so I’m certain to address them. And if you have any story ideas, bring them along too!
May is a pretty neat month. After a cold, gray winter, we’re finally getting some warm temperatures, sunshine and flowers. But May is particularly special at the Webster Museum, as it’s also National Preservation Month, and the time to swap out old exhibits and programs for new.
The History of the Forest Lawncommunity will take center stage this month, the focus of three Lunch Hour Talks on May 3, 10 and 17 from noon to 1 p.m. You bring a sandwich and the museum will provide coffee, lemonade and cookies. You’ll hear stories that helped shape today’s thriving neighborhood.
Forest Lawn is a lakeside community neighborhood of permanent residents with its own Mayor. Its beginnings trace back to 1850 when Samuel Pierce bought and farmed 73 acres. His son Horace and attorney friend George D. Forsyth saw commercial opportunities for some of the land with the coming of the railroad and proposed development. In 1888 the Forest Lawn tract began with the first hotel surrounded by lots to eventually be sold for cottages. It wasn’t long before it was discovered by wealthy judges and lawyers from Corn Hill, who were soon able to leave their families during the summer weekdays while they commuted by trolley back to the city for business.
On May 21, the museum will host an open house beginning at 2 p.m., highlighting their new Forest Lawn exhibit. Mayor Caley Ferguson will speak at 3 p.m.
The Webster Museum is open Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday from 2 to 4:30 p.m. They’re located at 18 Lapham Park in the Village of Webster.
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Tick, tock
Do you like old clocks? Then read on about a special presentation at the Webster Public Library, hosted in conjunction with the Webster Museum.
On Saturday May 13 beginning at 1 p.m., Garth Brokaw will present “Timepiece Tales — a Clock Event” at the library. He’ll walk through his collection of 100 timepieces and related ephemera, showing how the progression of clock-making represents the progression of American history over the course of the last 150 years. On the walk-through history, Garth will match clocks with specific historical events, and illustrate how clocks can really tell stories — stories important to us as a family, community and country.
Garth is the past president of the American Baptist Historical Society in Atlanta, Georgia and Historian at the Fairport Baptist Homes caring ministries. His collection began when he inherited several family clocks from his father and grandfather over forty years ago.
Registration is requested for this program, because space is limited. Click here to let them know you’re coming. The Webster Public Library is located at 980 Ridge Rd., at the back of Webster Plaza.
Several dozen families took advantage of some beautiful weather to have a little fun exploring the Finn Park trails. Thanks to the recent rainy weather, there were several wet and muddy spots, but that didn’t deter the 58 young participants, ages 2 through 11, from taking the half-mile or mile-long hike. (I might have encouraged most of them to splash in the mud as they went along.) The kids could choose one of three increasingly difficult scavenger hunts, each asking them to search for different natural elements along the path, like birds, moss and flowers.
The kids all returned from their quest with smiles on their faces and a real sense of accomplishment. And probably the best part of all is that the scavenger hunt raised $280 to benefit the Friends of Webster Trails, which will be put to good use improving the already terrific trail system we have in Webster.
I was particularly impressed with one family, who came armed with litter pick-up tools, and took it upon themselves to fill half a garbage bag with trash from along the trail.
Also many thanks to Julie Schillaci at Webster Parks and Recreation, Anna Taylor from the Friends of Webster Trails, and Emily Pettit for all their help pulling this event together.
Arrows marked the scavenger hunt path. Four-year old Lincoln Cline and his parents picked up trash along the way! Anna Taylor, Friends of Webster Trails president, joined me at the registration tables.
Many thanks to everyone who came out on Thursday afternoon to the Webster Public Library to take part in the Webster Women — Past and Present program organized by the Webster Museum.
About 30 people gathered in the library’s Community Room to listen to six Webster women tell their stories of what was — or is — notable about their lives. I was honored to be included in that outstanding group of women, speaking for around five minutes mostly about how I began my Webster on the Web blog and how it’s become a valued resource in our community.
I was joined by,
Victoria Woodhull (portrayed by Gwen Hoffman), daughter-in-law of Byron Woodhull, Webster’s first Town Supervisor, who has the distinction of being the first-ever woman to run for president of the United States, in 1872;
Erva Wright (portrayed by Eileen Brookins), a Monroe County politician whose active role in civic service at the local, county and state levels earned her the title “First Lady of Webster”;
Esther Dunn (portrayed by Lisa McNamara), long-time teacher and Webster Historian, best known for the book she published in 1971, Webster Through the Years;
Agnes Semmler (portrayed by Sharon Pratt), a farm wife who raised her family on Shoecraft Rd.; and
Ginny Nguyen, present-day Town of Webster councilwoman whose father was a South Vietnamese Army officer, and who escaped with her family from Vietnam after the war.
The stories were all fascinating, especially when Victoria Woodhull (Gwen Hoffman) talked about how she advocated for “free love” (which at that time meant the freedom to marry, divorce and bear children without government restrictions) and how she wound up in jail on election day the year she ran for president.
The program was organized to commemorate Women’s History Month, and was a great illustration of how the women of Webster helped shape our town, and continue to do so.
Thank you again to all who attended, and to Sharon Pratt at the Webster Museum for her hard work organizing the event.
Lisa McNamara as Esther DunnGwen Hoffman as Victoria Woodhull
One of our town’s most creative and fun FREE family events — the Great Rochester Peep Show — returns this weekend!
If you’ve never heard about this really fun event, you’re going to want to keep reading, especially if you like eating those yellow (and now pink and purple and whatever other colors) marshmallow chicks and ducks.
I’ve never been a big fan of Peeps. I put them in the same category as those faux-orange circus peanuts. They squeak when you bite into them. But I LOVE the Peep Show. This is a two-day event at the Webster Recreation Center, where at least four entire rooms are filled with incredibly creative sculptures, dioramas, and various other works of art created with Peeps. It’s simply the cutest thing ever. (Click here to go to the Peep Show website and see some winning entries from last year.)
This year’s show is scheduled for Saturday March 25 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday March 26from 10 to 4 at the Webster Recreation Center on Chiyoda Drive (right off of Phillips). In addition to the Peeps, several entertainers and community groups will be performing. Thanks to the support from many business sponsors, admission is free, but you can drop some bucks on some raffles with great prizes. All proceeds will benefit Webster Community Chest.
This is a must-see family event, folks, and it’s all free. Click here to find out more about the Greater Rochester Peep Show.
If you’ve ever wanted to know more about the Chorus of the Genesee — or learn ANYTHING about them, if you don’t know who they are — there’s a great new, easy way to do so. The group has just introduced a brand new Facebook page.
The Chorus of the Genesee is a non-profit, educational organization devoted to preserving the original American art form of barbershop harmony. The Chorus rehearses every week at the Harmony House in Webster, but performs all over the greater Rochester area and participates in choral events all over the country. A portion of their proceeds support both local and national service projects.
The Facebook page only went live a few weeks ago, but already has been busy, posting several links to entertaining and educational videos, special events and, of course, invitations to visit a rehearsal and find out more.
The Chorus of the Genesee is a hidden gem in the Webster community. They’re always looking for new friends who enjoy singing just for the love of singing. Find out more about them on their website, and now their brand new Facebook page.
After a three-year hiatus, one of Webster’s most popular family-friendly festivals, the Webster Garlic Fest, will be returning to the Webster Recreation Center in September.
The Webster Garlic Fest was last held in 2019. In just a few short years, the event had grown so popular that the garlic growers and craft vendors filled the Rec Center’s gymnasium and spilled out onto the grassy areas outside. Plans were well under way for an even larger event in 2020, but then COVID hit, which put pretty much everything about normal life on hold indefinitely.
This year, however, an enthusiastic new group of volunteers has teamed up to bring the Garlic Fest back later this summer. Even at this very early planning stage, they’ve already got a lot of interest from garlic growers and other vendors. They’re also planning to bring back all kinds of demonstrations, information tables from community groups, raffles, crafters, and food trucks.
Basically, the Webster Garlic Fest is a garlic-lover’s paradise. And even if you’re not a huge fan of garlic, rest assured you’ll find plenty of vendors and activities for you and your kids to enjoy. Or, as committee co-chairperson Cherie Wood said, “We know everyone will have a stinkin’ good time, and have garlicious fun!”
One of the fun new twists this year will be the young “Cloves,” which Wood said are “vital to any serious garlic festival.” These are wee little garlic cloves scurrying around the grounds trying to keep “Vamp,” the friendly, garlic-fearing vampire at bay. Everyone is definitely going to want to meet these adorable little vegetables.
Wreaths Across America is dedicated to placing a wreath on the grave of every one of the 3,000 veterans who rest in Webster’s seven cemeteries. Proceeds will go toward sponsoring the wreaths, with a portion going back to the Blue Star Mothers to build care packages for our locally deployed servicemen and women.
Right now, organizers are looking for vendors to participate in the festival. If you’re a garlic grower, craft vendor, demonstrator or community group, they want to hear from you. Visit the website for more information and to apply.
The Webster Garlic Fest will be held Saturday and Sunday September 9 and 10, at the Webster Recreation Center, 1350 Chiyoda Dr. Find out more here on the Facebook page and here on the website. Both will be updated regularly as details are finalized. You can also emailWebsterGarlicFest@gmail.com if you have any questions.
I feature the people and places and events that make Webster the wonderful community it is — and throw in some totally-not-Webster-related personal ramblings every once in a while as well.
I love it when readers send me news about the great things happening in their schools or the community, so please email me anytime at missyblog@gmail.com
webster on the web 