From early Seneca nation nomads, to the naturalist Thomas Davies, to pioneers like Gideon King and Ebenezer Allen, to enterprisers Phelps and Gorham, to businessmen Col. Rochester Maj. Carroll and Col. Fitzhugh, the Genesee Valley has been a magnet to all who are drawn here.

In the late 1830s: German and Irish immigrants George Ellwanger and Patrick Barry formed the Mount Hope Nursery, while Charles and George Crosman formed the Crosman Seed Company. Mount Hope Nursery would become the world leader in seeds and plants for decades, eventually providing the land for Highland Park and the Ellwanger-Barry neighborhood. Crosman Seed Company was a prominent seed dispensary known for vibrantly illustrated catalogs and advertisements, stilling doing business to this day. In the late 1800s, CJ Brown started the Brown Brothers Continental Nursery, and James Vick started his Vick’s Seeds catalog. The Brown brothers eventually developed the lands of their nursery into present day Browncroft neighborhood, and James Vick developed most of his nursery and land into part of the present day Park Avenue neighborhood (Vick Park A and B are named for him).  Successful businesspeople like these men diversified Rochester’s worldwide reputation with yet another industry, and provided us with our second most popular nickname: The Flower City.

Fast forward to the 1970s, where contributing artists Anthony Inquagiato and Lee Green finalized the ubiquitous logo we see today to represent our Flower City nickname. And as a final touch, the featured logo adorning our state outline covers the space of the Greater Rochester area, spanning six counties.