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- Jan 16, 2006
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Yes indeed, here in little Rochester, NY, we currently have a running monorail. Come to think of it, we have for decades around this time of the year. But this is the last year. OK, it's a "kiddie" monorail but a monorail none-the-less!
A little background... Rochester, NY's Midtown Plaza opened in 1961 as the nation's first downtown indoor mall. (You can see it on YouTube and similar places in the old "Rochester, A City of Quality" movie.) It was quite a bit deal, with several department stores and walkways (above and below ground) to neighboring buildings. Well, like so many other cities, downtown Rochester deteriorated greatly over the years and Midtown has been a mess for a long time. I actually worked in Midtown Tower (a 14-story office area that was part of the mall, with a restaurant on top) for a couple years in the mid-'90s and it was a wreck then, with few open stores, vagrants wandering around, and a general sense of disrepair. Finally, it was announced a couple years ago that it's going to be demolished once and for all to make way for Paetec's new world headquarters. I think most locals agree that this is a positive step for downtown.
Back to the monorail - around Christmastime, a kid-size monorail is set up, along with a giant tree and a chance for kids to meet Santa. There used to be a "Magic Mountain", too, which went from the ground floor up to the second, and the monorail passed through it. That's been gone for many years.
There's been no word about the ultimate fate of the monorail, nor of the "Clock of Nations" that is a centerpiece of the mall year-round. The Clock hasn't been functioning properly for years but it still an interesting relic.
Midtown is probably busier now than it has been in years, as parents take their children to ride the monorail for probably the last time. We were one of those families.
Now, on to the photos! (Sorry about the white balance, it was very tricky as there was sunlight coming in from above as well as lots of artificial light.)
Here's a few monorail photos - as you can see, the cars have been through some rough times.
Here's one as it leaves the loading platform.
Here is the Clock of Nations in the background.
Evidence of why Midtown is closing - notice the huge empty areas on the directory! And not all the stores listed are open any more...
Here is the monorail area, with Santa in the foreground.
Kids were still enjoying the ride!
Here's a fisheye of the Clock of Nations. IIRC, originally it would rotate and play music and the doors would open every hour, with shutters over the nation dioramas the rest of the time.
Here's an example of one of the nations.
There is another area of floor behind where I took the second-floor fisheye shot above, that was mostly empty but home to a tall total pole. (The fisheye makes it look a bit shorter than it is!)
I hope you enjoyed seeing one of the few (if not the only?) remaining department store monorails in action!
A little background... Rochester, NY's Midtown Plaza opened in 1961 as the nation's first downtown indoor mall. (You can see it on YouTube and similar places in the old "Rochester, A City of Quality" movie.) It was quite a bit deal, with several department stores and walkways (above and below ground) to neighboring buildings. Well, like so many other cities, downtown Rochester deteriorated greatly over the years and Midtown has been a mess for a long time. I actually worked in Midtown Tower (a 14-story office area that was part of the mall, with a restaurant on top) for a couple years in the mid-'90s and it was a wreck then, with few open stores, vagrants wandering around, and a general sense of disrepair. Finally, it was announced a couple years ago that it's going to be demolished once and for all to make way for Paetec's new world headquarters. I think most locals agree that this is a positive step for downtown.
Back to the monorail - around Christmastime, a kid-size monorail is set up, along with a giant tree and a chance for kids to meet Santa. There used to be a "Magic Mountain", too, which went from the ground floor up to the second, and the monorail passed through it. That's been gone for many years.
There's been no word about the ultimate fate of the monorail, nor of the "Clock of Nations" that is a centerpiece of the mall year-round. The Clock hasn't been functioning properly for years but it still an interesting relic.
Midtown is probably busier now than it has been in years, as parents take their children to ride the monorail for probably the last time. We were one of those families.
Now, on to the photos! (Sorry about the white balance, it was very tricky as there was sunlight coming in from above as well as lots of artificial light.)
Here's a few monorail photos - as you can see, the cars have been through some rough times.
Here's one as it leaves the loading platform.
Here is the Clock of Nations in the background.
Evidence of why Midtown is closing - notice the huge empty areas on the directory! And not all the stores listed are open any more...
Here is the monorail area, with Santa in the foreground.
Kids were still enjoying the ride!
Here's a fisheye of the Clock of Nations. IIRC, originally it would rotate and play music and the doors would open every hour, with shutters over the nation dioramas the rest of the time.
Here's an example of one of the nations.
There is another area of floor behind where I took the second-floor fisheye shot above, that was mostly empty but home to a tall total pole. (The fisheye makes it look a bit shorter than it is!)
I hope you enjoyed seeing one of the few (if not the only?) remaining department store monorails in action!
