Finger Lakes history · regional story
The college that began in Canandaigua storefronts
Before the Lincoln Hill campus, the Community College of the Finger Lakes borrowed its shape from downtown Canandaigua: classes in the rooms that were available.
A college does not always begin with a campus. FLCC’s history puts its early classrooms in available rooms around Canandaigua, mostly downtown storefronts. It gives the first cohort as 85 full-time students, 125 part-time students and seven full-time faculty. Our History.
The vote came first. According to the college, Ontario County supervisors approved establishing it on September 16, 1965, by 17 votes to two, with two absent. A later Senate resolution distinguishes that decision from the start of noncredit evening classes in September 1967 and credit courses in 1968. Our History; Senate Resolution J3590, commemorating FLCC’s 50th anniversary.
The college dates the move to Lincoln Hill to 1975, and the change from Community College of the Finger Lakes to Finger Lakes Community College to 1992. Authorization, teaching, a campus and a name arrived at different moments. A single founding date would flatten that sequence. Our History.
The next layer is at street level: which rooms were used, who rented them and what students remember about moving between them. We have not yet inspected the leases, contemporary class schedules or individual recollections.
Sources & research notes
Review status: Developing history. Human editorial review is pending.
Written and source-checked with AI assistance under an owner-authorized editorial process. This is not a personal review by Riley or an independent historian. Sources and unresolved questions are listed below; corrections are welcome.
- What the records establish
- The college’s account documents storefront classrooms and a later campus move. The Senate account separates the 1965 vote from the 1967 and 1968 teaching milestones.
- What remains uncertain
- These are institutional retrospective accounts, not independently collated board minutes or student testimony. The original leases and exact classroom addresses remain uninspected; no present property access is implied.
- What we are researching next
- Inspect the Hawkins Report, September 1965 board minutes, storefront leases and course schedules. Compare first-cohort accounts without assuming the commemorative sources are independent.
Sources
- Our History — Finger Lakes Community College; undated narrative; no publication date inferred. Locator: Creating the College, paragraphs 1–2: Hawkins committee and September 16, 1965 board vote, 17–2 with two absent. August 26 procedural wording not adopted. The Early Years, paragraphs 1–2: Canandaigua downtown storefront classrooms; first cohort of 85 full-time and 125 part-time students, seven full-time faculty; 1975 move to Lincoln Hill. CCFL Changes its Name, sole paragraph: 1992 change from Community College of the Finger Lakes to Finger Lakes Community College. Accessed October 22, 2026.
- Senate Resolution J3590, commemorating FLCC’s 50th anniversary — New York State Senate; introduced by Senator Helming; Adopted January 30, 2018; introduced January 25, 2018. Locator: Resolution J3590, historical WHEREAS clauses beginning In September of 1965, first classes, In 1975, and The Board of Trustees appointed Roy Satre: September 1967 noncredit evening classes, credit courses in 1968. Actions: adopted January 30, 2018. Accessed October 22, 2026.