Blasphemy at City Hall? The legacy of Charles Gafney is at stake, and so is a precious city neighborhood
Sep 22, 2026 at 09:20 am
Harrison Thorp
If you walk east on Franklin Street from downtown you’ll pass by the Franklin Street Cemetery where you’ll find a 20-foot obelisk marking the grave of one of Rochester’s most iconic residents: Charles Benjamin Gafney, who bequeathed his Wakefield Street mansion to charitable causes following his death in 1898.
Trustees decided to utilize the magnificent Victorian as a home for senior living, and it opened as the Gafney Home for the Aged in 1904.
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