Nathaniel Rochester House records

Nathaniel Rochester was born in Virginia in 1752. He spent the earlier part of his life in the south as an American Revolutionary War soldier and a wealthy businessman and land speculator. He resided in a number of locations over the course of his life, holding respected positions wherever he settled. Interested in the frontier of New York State, he purchased land in Dansville, New York in 1800, and then 1803 with two business partners another tract near Rochester's Upper Falls. A settlement named Rochesterville was established on the site, and renamed Rochester in 1821. Moving his family to Rochesterville in 1912, Nathaniel Rochester spent the latter part of his life as a leading citizen of the growing town.

Colonel Rochester died at home in 1831. The site of his house would later become the site of the Bevier Memorial Building, property of RIT’s predecessor, the Rochester Athenaeum and Mechanics Institute (RAMI). It was there that a bronze memorial tablet was placed in his honor by RAMI in 1928. Later, in 1959 RIT named a residence hall in his honor. One of the main dormitories on the Henrietta campus was also named after him.