Colonel Nathaniel Rochester began his military service in 1775 at the time of the Revolutionary War. He was appointed colonel of the North Carolina Line in 1776 and commissary general for North Carolina regiments. He spent the next several years engaged in fighting a war and supplying troops in the field during a time of desperate shortages.

Colonel Rochester was a founder of the city of Rochester and the Rochester Athenaeum. In 1803, he and his two partners purchased the One Hundred Acre Tract, which was to become the nucleus of the future city. He was a community builder, active in banking, civic affairs, and religious and cultural institutions.

The Rochester Athenaeum, one of the forerunner's of RIT, was founded on June 12, 1829. Colonel Rochester became its first President. It was located downtown, in the original Reynolds Arcade building. At the time, it was generally considered the commercial and cultural center of the city.