Building date: 1845 Palmer, 1850 Roudabush
Original use: Railroad Pumphouse
Corner structures:
Mortar application and content: Vertical heavy
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Map views courtesy Google Maps. Address is Google Earth confirmed; 43°00'31.50"N 77°28'01.74"W. Current owner of record, Town of Victor as of the 2019 Tax Roll.
Town of Victor and Ontario County Maps
The historic cobblestone pump house in the hamlet of Fishers near the village of Victor was erected in 1845 to furnish water to steam locomotives on the Auburn & Rochester Railroad. It is constructed of colored field stones and is believed to be the only such existing structure as well as the second oldest railroad building in the United States. The oldest is said to be the railroad station in Ellicott City, Maryland. Richard Palmer blog.
The Fishers cobblestone pump house was constructed to pump water from a small brook, running beneath it, to a nearby elevated water tank which was removed when diesel locomotives replaced steam about 1952. The structure stood right across the Auburn & Rochester Railroad tracks from the 1870s Fishers depot.
A pump apparently was installed on the first floor of the pump house. After being tapped for a locomotive from successive water tanks along the line, water for locomotives would be converted to steam en route by heating the water from burning wood, and later by burning coal.
Douglas A. Fisher, son of Sheldon Fisher, a historian in his own right, said: "My only recollection of the interior pump house apparatus was my father's bemoaning of the destruction of the Corliss pump by Romayne Webster, who lived nearby on Mill Street. This might have been in the 1930s or 1940s, based on other comments my father made about him. I have long wished that an authentic Corliss pump of the 1840s might be located that could be accurately installed back into the Fishers pump house. Would be a great teaching tool about both history and hydraulics."
Fisher said the Webster's had operated the mill on Mill Street that Charles Fisher had moved there in 1860 from Mile Square Road. He died in 1872. "This mill was powered by the same brook that powered the pump house. Possibly there had been some conflict with the railroad about water usage and diversion," he said. Richard Palmer blog.
Said to be the oldest railroad building in the state, this old cobblestone structure at Fishers, built in the spring of 1845, has been preserved as a historic landmark through the efforts of the Rochester Historical Society. Visitors yesterday were Edward Hungerford, special representative of the New York Central Railroad, and J. Sheldon Fisher, curator of the Local History Museum, after whose great-grandfather the hamlet was named. Photo courtesy of Douglas A. Fisher.
In the days when the cobblestone pumphouse on the Auburn branch at Fishers was built, the train that ran by it was drawn by a wood-burning locomotive called the "Young Lion."
The track went only from Rochester to Canandaigua and the trip took more than three hours, the locomotive zipping along at the snappy pace of 10 miles an hour.
That was in 1850. Recently, the old pumphouse was doomed to be demolished as a relic that had outlived its usefulness and as a means of saving taxes for the railroad. It is the oldest railroad building in the state.Made Plea for Building
Always interested in preserving historic landmarks, the Rochester Historical Society heard of the plan to raze the sturdy structure, and promptly set about to save it. Negotiations were begun with New York Central Railroad officials. Edward Hungerford, special representative of the railroad and a member of the Historical Society, succeeded in. persuading F. E. Williamson, New York Central president, to allow the building to stand.
Residents of Fishers, a venerable hamlet near Victor, rejoiced today that the mellow landmark will continue to be part of the familiar scene. Mr. Hungerford visited the building yesterday with J. Sheldon Fisher, curator of the local History Museum at 100 Lake Ave.Erect Marker
Work on the road began just 100 years ago at Fishers, where a marker points out the spot. It was Mr. Fisher's great-grand-father, Charles Fisher, who encouraged the builders to follow the present route by giving, them a mile and one-half right-of-way and building a railroad station. One of the mills he built is still in operation.
The only agreement was that every train should stop, at his station. The pumphouse is to be strengthened and cleaned up, and a marker erected telling its history.
This photo [and article], published in the Rochester Times Union on April 14, 1938 shows Sheldon Fisher, left, with noted railroad historian Edward Hungerford, then Vice President of Public Relations for the New York Central Railroad, who was instrumental in efforts to block the railroad from demolishing the pump house on four different occasions. The article stated that Fisher and the Rochester Historical Society were instrumental in preserving the structure. Fisher's great-grandfather, Charles Fisher, granted the railroad the right of way through his property. The only stipulation was that all passenger trains should stop at Fisher's. Passenger service on the Auburn Road was discontinued in 1958 and the line from Victor to Pittsford was abandoned two years later. It is now a hiking and bike trail. Richard Palmer blog.
"The Cobblestone Houses of Upstate New York", compiled by Dorothy Wells Pease. Research done in collaboration with Hazed B. Jeffery, supplemented with material furnished by Carl F. Schmidt, 1941. Reference the sixteenth paragraph on page 17.
"Old Railroad Building Will Be Preserved", Democrat and Chronicle circa 1961. Complete attribution is not available.
A Driving Tour of Historic Victor, page 20, # 54
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National Register of Historic Places Registration
- "Cobblestone Masonry", 1966, Carl Schmidt: Name reference, Railroad Pumphouse
- Page 112, Page 317
- "Cobblestone Landmarks of New York State", 1978, by Olaf William Shelgren, Jr., Cary Lattin, and Robert W. Frasch, Photographs by Gerda Peterich: Name reference, Pump House for Railroad
- Pages 132 - 133
- "The Era of Cobblestone Architecture", unpublished manuscript 1972. To access the manuscript content about this structure, see 69. Ontario County, Railroad Pumphouse, Fishers.
 Fishers Cobblestone Pumphouse.jpg ¹ |  Vic-3 Railroad Pumphouse 4.jpg ² |  GP Ontario Victor Vic-3 1-1 N.jpg ³ |  GP Ontario Victor Vic-3 2-1 N.jpg ³ |
 GP Ontario Victor Vic-3 3-2 N.jpg ³ |  Vic_3_1.jpg |  Vic_3_2.jpg |  Vic_3_3.jpg |
 Vic_3_4.jpg |  Vic_3_5.jpg |  Vic_3_6.jpg |  Vic-3 Railroad Pumphouse 1.jpg ² |
 Vic-3 Railroad Pumphouse 2.jpg ² |  Vic-3 7841 Co Rd 42 1.jpg 4 |  Vic-3 7841 Co Rd 42 2.jpg 4 |  Vic-3 7841 Co Rd 42 3.jpg 4 |
 Vic-3 7841 Co Rd 42 4.jpg 4 |  Vic-3 Railroad Pumphouse 3.jpg ² |  Fishers+1 2.jpg 5 |  Fishers 2.jpg 5 |
 20241117_103509.jpg 6 11/16/2024 Note the addition of black circular metal plates and rods added to stabilize walls. |
¹ Photography courtesy Douglas A. Fisher. Fishers Railroad Station Depot, Cobblestone Pumphouse, and Fowler's Store. Per Friends of the Railroad page on Facebook - 01-09-2013.
² Image courtesy Cobblestone Museum.
³ Photography courtesy Gerda Peterich. Cobblestone Museum.
4 Photography courtesy Martin and Sheila Wolfish.
5 Photography courtesy Richard Palmer.
6 Photography courtesy Gary Gaskin.
