Monroe Avenue throughout the years

Monroe Avenue, also known as NYS Route 31, is one of Rochester's principal commercial corridors and the main artery linking downtown Rochester with the suburban village of Pittsford to the east. Unlike East Avenue, which developed as a residential avenue for Rochester's wealthy, Monroe Avenue had mainly a commercial and mixed-use character throughout its history. The roughly one-mile section of Monroe Avenue between downtown Rochester and the Erie Canal crossing developed over the course of the nineteenth century with two- to four-story masonry commercial and institutional buildings along the avenue and smaller scale residential development along the nearby side streets.

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Monroe Avenue's development as a commercial corridor mirrors the establishment and expansion of public transportation, first with horse-drawn streetcars as far as Alexander Street, then extended to Goodman. With electrification of the streetcars in the 1890s, the line was extended to the Erie Canal (present I-490 bridge) and finally to Highland Avenue. In the early 1940s, the streetcars were replaced with the #7 Bus, although the Rochester Subway continued to stop at the Monroe Avenue Station until its demise in 1956.

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