General Content
Henry Gold Danforth, Lawyer, three time member of the House of Representatives, President of Board of Directors. Born in Gates on June 14, 1854, he attended schools in Rochester, and Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter New Hampshire. Received his Law degree from Harvard University in 1880. He married Edwine Blake of Buffalo in 1888.
Mr. Danforth became associated with Rochester City Hospital in 1889. In 1900 he was elected president of the Board of Directors a position he held until his death in 1918. He became a potent force in the development of the hospital. During his tenure he was responsible for the "Eastman" gift that rebuilt the hospital, and modernized it making the hospital one of the leading healthcare institutions in the country in the early twentieth century. He also presided over the hospital’s name change from Rochester City Hospital to Rochester General Hospital.
In 1911 he was elected to the first of three terms in Congress. During his second term he served on the House Judiciary Committee. Through out his professional life he made contributions to the judiciary field as editor of the New York Court of Appeals Digest, 1884, the U.S. Supreme Court Digest, 1886, and the Digest of the New York Supreme Court Reports in 1902. He also was elected president of the Rochester Bar Association.
From 1900 to 1902 he was on the board of managers of the New York State Reformatory at Elmira. Later during the Hughes administration he was appointed a member of the Commission on Prisons.
He was a member of many civic organizations and a trustee of the Reynolds Library. After a period of illness he died at his home on West Avenue April 8, 1918. He is buried in Mount Hope Cemetery. His family home is currently the site of the Danforth Community Center.