Sibley, Lindsay & Curr Company, known informally as Sibley's, was a
Rochester, New York
Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...
-based
department store
A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic app ...
chain with stores located exclusively in the state of
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
. Its flagship store, at 228 East Main Street in downtown Rochester, also housed its headquarters and featured an elegant executive dining room on the top floor.
History
The Department Store Years
Rufus Sibley
Rufus Adams Sibley (1841–1928) was an American businessman, best known as a founder of the Sibley, Lindsay & Curr Company department store in Rochester, New York.
Biography
Sibley was born in Spencer, Massachusetts on December 3, 1841. After c ...
,
Alexander Lindsay, and
John Curr
John Curr (c. 1756 – 27 January 1823) was the manager or viewer of the Duke of Norfolk's collieries in Sheffield, England from 1781 to 1801. During this time he made a number of innovations that contributed significantly to the development of t ...
were employees at the
Hogg, Brown & Taylor dry-goods store in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
. Wishing to go into business for themselves, they investigated potential sites and settled on the growing city of Rochester. Their first storefront, often called "the Boston store" by locals, opened in 1868.
When the company opened a new 12-story, flagship store in the
Granite Building, it was among the five largest department stores in the country at the time.
In 1905, after the disastrous 1904 "
Sibley fire
The Sibley fire was a 1904 fire in Rochester, New York.
The worst conflagration in the city's history at the time, the fire broke out shortly before 5 o'clock on February 26, 1904, in the basement of the Rochester Dry Goods company's store at 156 ...
" gutted the Granite Building and much of Rochester's dry goods district,
Sibley's moved to its final location, the
Sibley Building at the northeast corner of East Main Street and Clinton Avenue.
By 1939, Sibley's was the largest department store between
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
and
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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.
In 1962, competitors
B. Forman Co.
B. Forman Co. was a retail store in Rochester, New York, specializing primarily in high-end women's clothing. Once the largest store of its kind between New York and Chicago, the company, founded by Benjamin Forman in the first decade of the twenti ...
and
McCurdy's
McCurdy's (formally McCurdy and Company) was a Rochester, New York-based department store. Founded in 1901, the company was acquired by May Department Stores in 1994, but as a result of an antitrust settlement due to both McCurdy's and May's K ...
collaborated to construct
Midtown Plaza, right across Main Street from Sibley's. Sibley's was connected to the new mall by an enclosed third-floor walkway, part of the Rochester Skyway system.
The company was acquired by the
Associated Dry Goods Corporation in 1957, which, in turn, was acquired by
May Department Stores
The May Department Stores Company was an American department store holding company, formerly headquartered in downtown St. Louis, Missouri. It was founded in Leadville, Colorado, by David May in 1877, moving to St. Louis in 1905. After many ch ...
in 1986. The Sibley's name was merged into May Company's
Kaufmann's
Kaufmann's was a department store that originated in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Summary
The store was owned in the early 20th century by Edgar J. Kaufmann, patron of the famous Fallingwater house. In the post-war years, the store became a regi ...
name in 1990. Most of its suburban locations, after converting to Kaufmann's, became part of
Macy's
Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wi ...
by 2006.
Monroe Community College - Damon City Campus calls Sibley Building Home
In 1991
the
State University of New York
The State University of New York (SUNY, , ) is a system of public colleges and universities in the State of New York. It is one of the largest comprehensive system of universities, colleges, and community colleges in the United States. Led by c ...
's
Monroe Community College
Monroe Community College is a Public college, public community college in Monroe County, New York. It is part of the State University of New York. The college has two campuses; the main campus in the Brighton, Monroe County, New York, town of B ...
, also known as
MCC, opened its second campus at the Sibley Building.
The downtown campus continued to operate here until the completion of a new downtown campus in 2017, which is now located at nearby
Kodak Tower
Kodak Tower is a 19-story skyscraper in the High Falls District of Rochester, New York, and is part of the Eastman Kodak Headquarters complex. It has a roof height of and stands with its antenna spire included. It was Rochester, New York's tal ...
, the headquarters of the
Kodak Company.
Today - Sibley Square
Now under a new name
Sibley Square the iconic Sibley Building is undergoing a major overhaul, transforming the historic site into a combination of retail, commercial (offices), and upscale residential units. The renovations seek to combine the historic treasure of this architectural space while also creating a sleek, modern atmosphere for today's standards.
Developer
The curren
Sibley Squareproject is being developed b
WinnCompanies a
Boston, Massachusetts-based award winning development firm.
WinnCompanieswas founded in 1971 by Arthur Winn.
Address Change
The current address o
Sibley Squareis:
250 East Main StreetRochester, NY 14604ref name=":0" />
References
External links
DeadMalls.comSibley Square Official WebsiteWinn Companies
{{City of Rochester, NY
Defunct department stores based in New York State
Retail companies established in 1868
Retail companies disestablished in 1990
Companies based in Rochester, New York
Defunct companies based in New York (state)
1868 establishments in New York (state)