Today, people now live and work in different locations thanks to automobiles and highways that make commuting easier.
However, years ago before the Model-T and interstate highways, people lived and worked in almost the same location.
Joni Blackman, Fenton History Center director, said industries like Broadhead Worsted Mills on East First Street, which employed 500 to 600 people, had most of its workers living within a block or two of the factory.
Article Photos
Almet Broadhead rides on a trolly that was used to transport workers to Broadhead Worsted Mills.
P-J photo by Dennis Phillips
''The houses (where workers lived) were right up the street, which would now be across from the (Jamestown) high school,'' she said. ''The houses all looked alike and was where employees would live.''
Not only did the employees live in the same area near the mill, but they also traveled together. In fact, the owners of the mill, the Broadhead family, constructed a trolly system to transport employees to work.
''They put in the trolleys to make commuting easier,'' she said.
Another example of people working and living in the same area was evident with the American Aristotype Company. The business was formed in 1889 by Porter Sheldon and Charles S. Abbott, and they were joined by Sheldon's son, Ralph, in 1890. The business had four buildings between Prather and McKinley avenues. Ms. Blackman said the employees lived near by near where Newland Avenue is today.
''The people lived in houses all around the business. You can still see some of the row houses today,'' she said. ''Up a few blocks behind Newland Avenue hill area, that is where the houses were that were used by the workers.''
The American Aristotype Company developed and manufactured one of the first photographic papers produced in the United States. The wealth from the successful business eventually led to the Sheldon Foundation, which was established in 1948 by Isabella Marvin Sheldon, in memory of her husband, Ralph.
American Aristotype was extremely successful in the 1890s and attracted the attention of George Eastman as he was creating the Eastman Kodak Company. Eastman became an early investor and eventually bought the company and moved the manufacturing process to Rochester in 1909.
Ms. Blackman said another example of people living in working in the same area involved the furniture factories that were located in Brooklyn Square.
''Swede Hill, which today is Willard Street, people that worked in the furniture factories would walk down the hill every day into Brooklyn Square,'' she said.