Rochester Business Institute Records

The Rochester Business Institute was founded in 1863 by Bryant, Stranton & Chapman as the Bryant, Stranton & Chapman Business College (Peck 1908). Located at first in the Baker & Durand Building on North Clinton Avenue in the heart of Rochester, the school’s property holdings multiplied during the late 1800s as more space was needed to accommodate the growing student body. Accommodations were obtained in several other locations including a YMCA building erected in 1889 at the corner of Court Street and Second Avenue. In 1896 it formally became known as the Rochester Business Institute.

By the early 1900s RBI had gained repute as the leading business education institute in the country and saw its student body grow from 17 students in its first year to hundreds from across the United States. The Institute began publishing its own textbooks in 1881, with courses ranging from bookkeeping and accounting to grammar and correspondence. Throughout the 20th century, new courses such as typewriting were added to keep up with technological developments, while courses such as telegraphy were dropped. The program of Teachers’ Business Training Courses, established in 1907 under Dr. John Forbes, caused RBI’s reputation to soar so that in 1915 it was able to afford the construction of its own building at 172 Clinton Avenue South.

Though enrollments dwindled during World War One, RBI retained its renown and the post-war period saw its student body surge as soldiers came home and began returning to civilian life. During this time RBI became one of the first schools to reformat its courses so that only students at similar stages of educational development would be in one class. World War Two was similarly disruptive, however the Institute at this time again adopted the role of pioneer in being one of the first business schools to offer Army Air Force air-crew instruction.

In 1944, RBI suffered a fire in one of its buildings, the first of a number of difficulties that would afflict it during the second half of the 20th century. Although it retained its prominence into the 60s, by the end of the 1900s Rochester Business Institute was experiencing serious financial difficulties as it struggled to compete with the more modern college educational system. In 2006 it was purchased by Corinthian Colleges Inc. and became known as the Everest Institute (Daneman 2014). In 2013 its 150th anniversary was celebrated with proclamations from Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks, Irondequoit Town Supervisor Mary Joyce D’Aurizio, and Rochester Mayor Thomas Richards. The Institute finally shut down in 2015 amid Corinthian’s own financial troubles and an audit by the New York State Department of Education after it was discovered that the company had been exaggerating the job placement rates of its graduates (Lahman 2015).