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Walking Tour
Our 2024 walking tour will have a special focus on the area in Fairport impacted by 1970s Urban Renewal. Planning for the emotionally charged event began in 1962, and was completed in 1982. Our tour will include the primary streets impacted by Urban Renewal, including South Main Street, Perrin Street, and West Avenue. In all, approximately 28 buildings and 13 houses were demolished during the project.
We will also discuss what was considered but didn’t happen in that era, including removal of the Main Street lift bridge and the Parker Street Bridge, massive changes to North Main Street, and a “fly-over” viaduct bridge spanning over the majority of the heart of the village.
Our walk will begin and end at the gazebo at Kennelley Park, just outside the Fairport Public Library. Total distance is approximately one mile. Each participant will be provided the use of a listening ear piece for this event. Each of the four Monday walks will follow the same route. Sign up for one of these walks by accessing the Fairport Public Library’s interactive calendar at www.fairportlibrary.org, or call (585) 223-9091.
*Please note that this walk is the same each week. Please limit yourself to signing up for one walk to allow for all those who would like to participate. Also, one of the walks may be filmed so that a wider at-home audience can virtually enjoy the tour.
Bill Poray has been the historian for Perinton and the village of Fairport since 2013. He has had a lifelong interest in history, especially local history, sparked by school social studies teachers and his own family’s involvement in the Civil War. A retiree of General Motors, Rochester Operations, Bill helped to secure and preserve the site’s historic artifacts. He has also been a Trustee of the Perinton Historical Society for many years, and was a commissioner of the Fairport Historic Preservation Commission since its inception in 2007 to 2012. As municipal historian, he researches local history, leads tours, provides presentations on numerous topics, and meets with hundreds of school children each year on field trips and school assemblies.
Event Links
Website: https://go.evvnt.com/2423739-0
