The primary purposes of the Academy are to cultivate and advance the science of medicine, to develop and maintain a library, to encourage scientific work by its members, to promote fellowship among physicians, and to provide continuing professional education.

    Early meetings of the Academy were held at the Reynolds Library on Spring Street, where a
medical library, supported equally by the Academy and the Reynolds Library, was housed. In 1912 the lower floor of a building at the comer of East Avenue and Alexander Street was rented for meetings.

    In 1914 the Rochester Medical Association, a group similar in purpose to the Academy but broader in its membership, was organized and bought a building on the comer of Chestnut and Euclid Streets. Thereafter, the Academy shared its library and the Association its facilities, but the two groups met separately.

    In 1923 the Association moved to the building at 15 Prince Street, which provided a more adequate auditorium, better library space, and committee rooms. The Academy went with it.

    The two societies continued to hold separate monthly meetings until 1929, when they were amalgamated under the name of the Rochester Academy of Medicine. The waning of sectarianism in medicine and the coming of the medical school in 1924 were probably important factors in this unification.

    In 1939 the Academy moved to 1441 East Avenue, to what had been the home of the Edmund Lyon family and which was given to the Academy by the three daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Lyon. To provide funds for the construction of an auditorium and to make other necessary alterations in the building, $150,000 was raised, about one-third from physicians and the rest from the community. In the 1970's, the auditorium was extensively renovated to make it more suitable for the increasing continuing medical education activities of the Academy.

Historical Interviews With Local Physicians