Not
many people living outside the 19th Ward can understand why people choose to
live there.
Then
there are the 19th-Warders themselves, a group that has adopted the slogan
“Urban by Choice.” Many of these folks are fiercely loyal to their corner of
the city. And they sing the praises of its diversity.
Barbara
and Bill Sullivan are chairing the 19th Ward Community Association’s House Tour
this year. They have lived in the 19th Ward for 30 years. They love their home,
but are familiar with the misconceptions about the neighborhood.
“There’s
a big number of people in the community at large that are surprised that there
are middle-class people who live in the city by choice and happily,” Bill says.
“They’re
surprised that you’re white,” he adds.
The
Community Association has held the annual House Tour, when a handful of
residents open their homes to the public, since 1971. “It is among the most
important things we do in the neighborhood,” Barbara says. “It is one of the
very best ways we have of getting the word out.”
Typically
about 300 people come to the Tour. This year the Sullivans tried to gather a
range of homes — large and small, simple and lavish — as well as a range of
household types, levels of income, and races. “Because that’s what the
neighborhood is,” Bill says.
The 19th Ward is in
Rochester’s southwest corner. It is the city’s largest residential
neighborhood, with more than 22,000 people living there. It is also one of
Rochester’s most diverse neighborhoods, both racially and economically. And the
homes accommodate that diversity: small cottages and large houses sit side by
side.
One
thing you hear again and again from residents in the 19th Ward: they
deliberately chose to live there. These are people who want the diversity,
housing stock, and convenience of city living.
Bill
Sullivan thinks the diversity of the neighborhood is unique, and he credits it
to neighbors working together. “The community association staked that turf out
40 years ago and said, ‘This is what it’s going to be,'” he says.
The
19th Ward Community Association is the oldest continually operating one in the
city — it formed in 1965 to counter the threat of white flight. And it is
particularly active, organizing events, celebrating the neighborhood’s
beautiful homes, and promoting the tight community that many residents say is
what keeps them there.
The
Sullivans’ son recently moved back to the 19th Ward. On the block where his
house sits, there live five second-generation 19th-Warders. And that’s just
typical, they say. Once you live there, you never want to leave.
But in the
eyes of
manyoutsiders, both suburbanites
and other city dwellers, the 19th Ward is a neighborhood plagued by poverty and
crime.
“Certainly
there’s crime in the city,” Bill Sullivan says. “You can’t move away from
problems in society. But we work to make our community a better place.”
The
Reverend J. Brad Benson and Dr. Carl Johengen, who have lived in their 1930
19th Ward house for almost two years, agree.
“You
have to use common sense,” Johengen says. When they first moved in some things
were stolen out of their yard. But now they just put everything away.
They
came to the neighborhood because of the neighborhood. Benson had been looking
at real estate online and saw a house that looked like a mansion in its virtual
tour. “I came to the neighborhood, and the surroundings were just a gem,” he
says.
The
house wasn’t as big as it looked. “But I thought, the house may not be exactly
what I had imagined, but the neighborhood certainly is,” Benson says. They
joined the community association before they moved in.
Benson
and Johengen have a store of anecdotes about the kindness of their neighbors.
When Johengen fell in the yard and sprained his ankle, he reached for his
neighbor list and in no time there were people there to help. They adopted the
tradition of hosting parties to introduce newcomers to their neighbors. People
have parties when a new neighbor moves in, bring cake over, loan each other
lawn equipment.
“Those
are the kind of stories you hear all the time in the 19th Ward,” Johengen says.
The
19th Ward Community Association’s House
Tour is on Saturday, October 2, from 1 to 5 p.m. Tickets ($8 in advance,
$10 on tour day) are available at Creator’s Hands, Hunt’s Hardware, Parkleigh,
Borders, and Wegmans. Info: 328-1916.
This article appears in Sep 29 – Oct 5, 2004.
