Collection on the Monroe County Water Quality Management Advisory Committee and the Maritime Discovery Center

The Maritime Discovery Center was a project led by Richard Swacen to develop center for Lake Ontario history and research at the Port of Rochester. Details about the Center are limited. It appears that Swacen, a former Kodak computer scientist, founded the organization around September1989, rapidly assembling a volunteer team and securing the use of space in Warehouse No. 3 at the port for a public exhibit area. However, conflict with the City of Rochester over code violations at the warehouse and with other groups involved in the redevelopment of the Port of Rochester led to the Center already being in limbo by December of 1990. The project continued to percolate throughout the 1990s, with Swacen arguing for the development of an institution akin to the Woods’ Hole Oceanographic Institute at the Port of Rochester (this goal was reflected by the organization’s name change to the Great Waters Institute by 1998) – two research ships were purchased to support this goal, but it is not clear that the either ship was ever used for research activities. The Maritime Discovery Center also engaged in historic preservation activities, including attempts to preserve the decommissioned Coast Guard light towers from the Rochester piers; the 1994 replacement of the West Pier tower caused further conflict with the City of Rochester regarding storage of the structure. By 1999, it appears that the project was moribund, but Swacen’s LinkedIn page still states that he is Director of the Great Waterways Institute in 2025.

The Monroe County Water Quality Management Committee is even less documented in the public record than the Maritime Discovery Center. The earliest reference to the committee is a reference to a member joining in 1984. The committee, which operated under the auspices of the Monroe County Health Department, existed until at least 2001, as a county document published that year references it. The materials in this collection show that the committee played a role in evaluating both water quality concerns associated with construction and development projects and in evaluating and supporting scientific work on water quality in Monroe County.