Ellwanger & Barry Nursery in 1855

The Mt. Hope Campus includes several buildings on Mt. Hope Avenue.  The term originally included buildings on the west side of Mount Hope Avenue between Elmwood Avenue and Crittenden Boulevard that were bought by the University, but since the completion of College Town in 2014 the Mt. Hope Campus refers to the 20-acres and six older buildings along Mount Hope Avenue between McLean and Linden Streets that are included in the Mt. Hope - Highland Preservation District.

Much of this property was once part of the Ellwanger & Barry Nursery, which was founded in May 1840 by George Ellwanger (1816-1906) and Patrick Barry (1816-1890). George Ellwanger was born in Wurtemberg, Germany and apprenticed to a horticulturist in Stuttgart from 1831 to 1835, when he emigrated to the United States. He settled in Rochester, and after working for William Reynolds and Michael Bateham as foreman of the Rochester Seed Store from 1836 to 1838, purchased the nursery portion of the business. He took as a partner Thomas Rogers, a mulberry tree salesman, but the enterprise was not a success and in 1840 he began again with Patrick Barry.

Beginning with only five acres in Rochester, George Ellwanger and Patrick Barry began their Mount Hope Nurseries that grew to more than 500 acres by 1859. At mid-century, it was considered the nation's largest supplier of fruit trees and ornamental shrubs.

Buildings | Mount Hope Campus Map (January 17, 2019) |
1854 (1963) 668 Mt. Hope - former Ellwanger and Barry Nursery office building.

1855 (1963) 692 Mt. Hope - Patrick Barry mansion, now residence of the University Provost.

1880 (1967) 575 Mt. Hope - Administration Offices

1906 (1973) 630 Mt. Hope - House of former Rochester Mayor Peter Barry, now Witmer House, residence of the University President,

1922 (1960) 590 Mt. Hope - Office of Trusts and Estates

1923 (1965) 685 Mt. Hope - former Fairbank Alumni House, now Environmental Health & Safety,

1941 (1961)  Star Market (Centrex, Mail Services), 1510 Mt. Hope, 1961 Deed from .Hart’s Food Store to the University of Rochester, book 3373, page 117

1945 (2014) Hess Gas Station (CVS)

1958 (1982) Towne House Motor Inn (University Towne House) book 3558 page 74 (1964 lease agent)

1958 Elmwood Medical Building (Mt. Hope Professional Building)

1960 (2003) Wegmans Food Market

1965 Addition to Towne House Motor Inn

1972 Goler House

2014 College Town dedicated October 17, 2014

References
1858 "Nurseries of the United States and Canada," The Illustrated Annual Register of Rural Affairs and Cultivator Almanac 4:205-216 (1858)
Pages 207-209:  Ellwanger & Barry.  Probably the most extensive nursery in the world.

1890 Patrick Barry (24 May 1816 - 23 June 1890)

1896 Plants of Monroe County, New York, and adjacent territory, by Florence Beckwith and Mary E. Macauley | Second Supplementary List (1917) |

1905 Rochester, the flower city

1908 The origin & development of Rochester's park system  

1912 Early botanists of Rochester and vicinity and the botanical section, by Florence Beckwith.

1916 William Crawford Barry (17 Sep 1847 - 12 Dec 1916) Grave in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery
Son of Patrick Barry, father of Patrick William Crawford Barry.

1923 Deed from Ellwanger & Barry Realty Co. to the University of Rochester, January 4, 1923, book 1200, page 157.  Medical Center property.

1936 Patrick William Crawford Barry (12 Jan 1875 - 4 Jul 1936) Grave in Mt. Hope Cemetery.
Son of William Crawford Barry, brother of Frederic G. Barry and Arthur A. Barry, father of Peter Barry

1938 Lilacs in the Rochester parks, by R.E. Horsey

1940 "The Flower City: Center of Nurseries and Fruit Orchards," The Rochester Historical Society Publications 18:121-169 (1940)

1949 "An Historical View of Rochester’s Parks and Playgrounds," by Blake McKelvey, Rochester History 11(1):1-24 (January 1949)

1954 Arthur Augustine Barry (30 Apr 1887 - 12 Apr 1954) Grave in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery
Son of William Crawford Barry, brother of Patrick William Crawford Barry and Frederic G. Barry, uncle of Peter Barry.

1961 Frederic G Barry (27 Apr 1876  - 18 Oct 1961) Grave in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery
Son of William Crawford Barry, brother of Patrick William Crawford Barry and Arthur A. Barry, uncle of Peter Barry.

1964  A checklist of the cultivated woody plants of the Rochester parks, Part 1, by Bernard Harkness | Part 2 |

1973 Peter Barry (22 Mar 1912 - 23 Jan 1973) Grave in Mt. Hope Cemetery, Section V, Lot 25.

1982 "The American Dream on Mt. Hope: Nineteenth-Century Building by Ellwanger and Barry," by Susan Sutton Smith, University of Rochester Library Bulletin 35 (1982)

1983 "Cultivation of Flower City," by Dan Parks, Rochester History 45(3&4):25-48 (July & October 1983)

1988 "The Legacy of Frederick Law Olmsted," by Marjorie Wickes and Tim O’Connell, Rochester History 50(2):1-24 (April 1988)

2013 "125 Years of Rochester’s Parks," by Katie Eggers Comeau, Rochester History 75(2):1-24 (Fall 2013)

2015 "George Ellwanger, A Man of Horticulture. A Man of Heart," March 11, 2015 by The Ellwanger Estate

Ellwanger & Barry papers are held by the Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester

Arthur Barry papers are held by the Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester

List of Plat Maps in Rochester Images | Individual maps |

City of Rochester Historic Map Viewer, shows 1888, 1900, 1910, and 1935 plat maps overlaid on current map.

Ellwanger & Barry Nursery catalogs are available on the Internet Archive (more than 100 of them)

Ellwanger and Barry Horticultural Prints, Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester

Patrick Barry (horticulturist) (Wikipedia)

Mt. Hope - Highland Preservation District.map

Horticulture and Grounds, University Facilities & Services, includes links to Tree Map and Arboretum

© 2021 Morris A. Pierce