If you’ve ever taken a good look at 72-80 West Main Street, you may have noticed that the words “Wegman Building” grace the top of its façade. How and why the building earned this moniker is a long and winding tale…
The edifice first appears on the 1875 plat map, but its ownership is not specified. The 1888 plat map identifies the owner as B.J. McQuaid.
Properly speaking, the owner was the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester, of which Bernard John McQuaid was the first bishop. The diocese purchased the plot to establish a headquarters building for the Young Men’s Catholic Association, a counterpart to the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA), which initially limited its membership to evangelical Protestants.
Rochester’s Young Men’s Catholic Association had been formed in 1872, and initially held its meetings in Corinthian Hall (at State and Corinthian Streets, where the Holiday Inn parking lot now sits) and the Elwood Building (at State and Main, where the Crossroads Building is now located).
The organization purchased the plot at the corner of Montgomery Alley and West Main Street in 1873, and after the existing structures on the lot were demolished, construction began. The association enlisted the services of noted architect Andrew Jackson Warner, who designed the Powers Building among other iconic Rochester edifices.
The entrance to the four-story building featured a hallway leading to a wide stairway. The floor above the ground level contained a meeting space–capable of accommodating 1,200 attendees–for lectures and various performances. The room also included a small stage and numerous large windows.
The next level contained a library and reading room. Its initial holdings were small (mostly magazines and newspapers), but plans were in place for regular additions “until it becomes one of the best in the city.” The floor also housed a billiards room and debate rooms, where debate clubs and literary societies could meet.
The fourth floor held the music hall, where the association’s musical society gathered. Behind that space lay a gymnasium and dressing rooms. Gas fixtures and wood stoves provided light and heat throughout the building. The total cost of the impressive structure was around $70,000 (equivalent to almost $1.9M in 2024).
Despite the grand ambitions of the association’s founders, the building’s construction costs burdened the organization with so much debt that the facility soon became unprofitable.
During the building planning phase, they had deliberately set aside four large stores on the ground floor to be leased, which provided the building a range of addresses (72-80 West Main Street) as well as a potential revenue stream.
The association also allowed outside organizations, such as the Rochester Literary Union and the Irish Land League, to rent space within the building. However, these arrangements did not adequately meet the group’s financial needs, and more and more of the building was turned over to commercial enterprises.
The clearest picture we have of the commercial takeover of the edifice is offered by the 1892 Rochester house directory. Occupying the building once wholly owned by the Young Men’s Catholic Association were:
The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company would continue to occupy space in the building for some time. As its name implies, A&P initially sold tea upon its founding in 1859. In 1878, George Huntington Hartford bought the company and transformed it into the country’s first grocery store chain.
72-80 West Main Street retained the Young Men’s Catholic Association name until 1912, though the group had vacated the premises by 1887, when they moved into offices at St. Patrick’s Cathedral at the corner of North Plymouth and Brown Street.
In 1913, the building was rebranded the St. Bernard’s Building, although as far as can be discovered it had no connection with St. Bernard’s Seminary on Lake Avenue. Despite its religious name, the edifice continued to house commercial enterprises, such as a produce dealer, a variety shop, a restaurant, and the A&P grocery store.
How the building transitioned into the “Wegman Building” will be uncovered in part two.
-Christopher Brennan
For More Information:
Rochester City Directories 1827-Present.
“A&P,” Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A%26P).
City Atlas of Rochester, New York (Philadelphia: G.M. Hopkins, 1875).
“Evening Entertainments: Rochester Literary Union,” Rochester Evening Express, p. 2, col. 6.
“The Irish Land League,” Democrat and Chronicle, February 16, 1880, p. 4, col. 7.
Robert F. McNamara, The Diocese of Rochester in America, 1868-1993 (Rochester, NY: The Diocese, 1998).
“A New Institution: Opening of the Rooms of the Young Men’s Catholic Association, A Brilliant Affair,” Union and Advertiser,” Union and Advertiser, October 30, 1873, p. 2, cols. 4-7.
Elisha Robinson, Robinson’s Atlas of the City of Rochester, Monroe County, New York (Philadelphia: E. Robinson, 1888).
The Rochester House Directory and Family Address Book (Rochester, New York: Drew, Allis and Co., 1892).
The Rochester House Directory and Family Address Book (Rochester, New York: Drew, Allis and Co., 1913).
“Y.M.C.A.: Formal Opening of the Rooms of the Young Men’s Catholic Association Last Night,” Democrat and Chronicle, October 30, 1873, p. 4, cols. 4-7.
“A Young Men’s Catholic Association,” Union and Advertiser, February 19, 1872, p. 2, col. 1.
“Young Men’s Catholic Association: A Description of the New Building, the Opening This Evening,” Democrat and Chronicle, October 29, 1873, p. 4, col. 4.