Exhibit about Clarissa Street’s history opens Wednesday at Rochester Central Library

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — An exhibit reopening at the Central Library of Rochester on South Avenue will celebrate the legacy of Clarissa Street, a thriving hub of Black-owned businesses through the 1960s.

The library hosted the exhibit in summer of 2022 and will make its return on Wednesday starting at 4 p.m. The exhibit, called Clarissa Uprooted, works to preserve the history of Clarissa Street in partnership with Teen Empowerment and Clarissa Street Legacy.

Clarissa Street in the Corn Hill Neighborhood was known as Rochester’s Black Wall Street and was home to popular jazz clubs and restaurants. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Clarissa Street’s businesses were bulldozed while building the I-490 highway.