Caption goes here.
Caption goes here.
On Monday, April 8, 2024, a total solar eclipse was on display over a 124-mile wide path of totality across New York State, including in Rochester. Students from the School of Photographic Arts & Sciences, School of Film & Animation, and the School of Individualized Study at Rochester Institute of Technology participate in a one-credit class where they worked collaboratively to document some of the buildup, as well as events on the day of the eclipse. Once the storytelling was complete, students from a web coding class designed and built this website to share stories of the 2024 solar eclipse as experienced in the Greater Rochester Area.
Ninety-nine years ago, on January 29th, 1925 the last total solar eclipse moved across he City of Rochester and like in 2024, a thick blanket of clouds obscured the spectacle both before and during totality. Nevertheless, Rochestarians stood outside in snow flurries from 8:00 am to 10:26 am to witness the event as morning temperatures dipped to 4F. Newspaper reports recounted over two thousand eclipse viewers who gathered along the Upper Platt Street Bridge, known today as Pont De Rennes Bridge. The weight of the crowd caused the structure to crack, which today has become one of the most well-documented moments of the 1925 eclipse.
From the Albert R. Stone Collection, curtesy of the Rochester Museum & Science Center of Rochester, NY. Upper Platt Street Bridge, known today as the Pont De Rennes Bridge was featured in an article published in The Rochester Herald on Sunday, January 25, 1925. The crack occurred from the strain of 2,000 eclipse fans who crowded together to catch a view of the eclipse. (From the Albert R. Stone Collection, curtesy of the Rochester Museum & Science Center of Rochester, NY.)
Detail photograph of the crack that was featured in an article published in The Rochester Herald on Sunday, January 25, 1925. The crack occurred on Upper Platt Street Bridge, known today as the Pont De Rennes Bridge, from the strain of 2,000 eclipse fans who crowded together to catch a view of the eclipse. (From the Albert R. Stone Collection, curtesy of the Rochester Museum & Science Center of Rochester, NY.)
Scientists from Bausch and Lomb, Eastman Kodak Company, and the University of Rochester waited beside large telescopes and photographic gear. At 9:05 am darkness began to creep from the northwest over the clouded sky. Onlookers at the Gate House at Cobb’s Hill saw bands of yellow, orange, mauve, and lavender coming from the southeast, according to many newspaper accounts.
A group of scientists at the US Navel Observatory in Washington, DC prepare to photograph the 1925 eclipse of the sun. (Photo from the Library of Congress Collection)
While photographers, hotel guests and the staff of the Democrat and Chronicle watched from rooftops, a black shadow swept across the city at the speed of thirteen hundred miles per hour as totality lasted from 9:08 - 9:09 am. Other reporting from the Democrat and Chronicle noted street lights illuminating throughout the city, the drop in air temperature by two degrees and other oddities like fish gathering at the bottom of rivers, hens laying a second egg and roosters crowing. Like in 2024, the skies in 1925 cleared a few hours after the eclipse to Rochesterians’ disappointment.
Utilizing smoked panes of glass, President Calvin Coolidge and his wife, Grace Goodhue Coolidge, view the 1925 solar eclipse from the White House. (Photo from the Library of Congress Collection)
“Sun’s Total Eclipse,” taken at 9:11 A.M. Bronx Park, N.Y.C. Fassbender photographed the only known image of the event that shows both the landscape and eclipse in one shot. (Photograph by Adolf Fassbender, curtesy of New York Historical Society)
Mark your calendars, the next time a total solar eclipse will occur in Rochester is October 26, 2144. If that doesn’t fit your schedule, the next total solar eclipse will occur within the U.S. on August 23, 2044. It will be visible in three states: Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota.