At the bend in the river, atop a rolling hill, a neighborhood was born: George Ellwanger and Patrick Barry had long established their nursery empire along Mount Hope avenue, Frederick Law Olmsted and his team were consulting the city of Rochester on a new parks system, and golf was becoming a growing pastime amongst the middle and upper classes.

With Ellwanger and Barry’s Mount Hope Nursery firmly establishing Rochester as the “Flower City,“ Ellwanger turned his efforts towards philanthropy and public service, joining the Parks commission with other city members to designate and design public parks (Ellwanger himself even donated land for one of the parks). The commission hired Frederick Law Olmsted and his firm, famed landscape designers responsible for Central Park in New York City, Delaware Park in Buffalo, and others along the northeast. Genesee Valley Park was established in 1888 alongside three others in the city, creating one of the country’s first county park systems.

Oak HIll, resting along the Genesee river and one of the five rolling hills of Rochester, was leveled in favor of creating a nine-hole course for a new Scottish sport, called golf. Many men were taking up the pastime and membership flourished at the burgeoning club.

In 1921, a deal was proposed by one of the local universities, to swap land with a larger site in the suburb of Pittsford. The University Of Rochester had run out of room on Prince Street, and with owning a 355 acre farm lot in Pittsford, proposed a trade for the preferred 85 acre land along the river. This trade was approved by Oak Hill Country Club, and proved beneficial to all parties. Oak Hill grew into a nationally renowned 18-hole course, and the University of Rochester grew into an internationally renowned medical and liberal arts college.

A turn-of-the-century golfer, washed in gold, lines up a shot on a dark grassy field, commemorating these unique historical gems of the Upper Mount Hope neighborhood: the original site of Oak Hill Country Club, the second and final site of the University Of Rochester and medical center, and the Genesee Valley Park.

Rochester's long stretching network of trolley routes serviced the far reaches of the city; The 500 line of Saint Paul and South Avenue traveled from Genesee Valley Park, through the heart of the Upper Mount Hope neighborhood, and north through the center to the fair weather resort of Summerville.