An invitation, beautifully printed and bearing a wood block image of that old-world bit of Rochester — the picturesque backsides of the buildings on Main Street Bridge (which Joseph Pennell said were as fine a printmaker's subject as the Rialto of Venice) were brought to the Memorial Art Gallery on December 3, 1930  by twenty-two print-lovers who became the founding members of the Print Club of Rochester. 

That wood block print had been sketched by Walter Cassebeer, architect and lithographer, and cut by Norman Kent, wood block printer, later editor of American Artist, who with Dr. Ewald Eiserhardt of the University of Rochester and Leroy Snyder, a Gannett executive, were the organizing committee whom the Gallery had enlisted to help promote an interest in prints in Rochester. 

They elected Carl F. Kaelber their president, Mrs. Horace Wolf as vice-president, James D. Havens as treasure, and Jean McCurdy and Mrs. James Finucane members of the first board. They also unanimously adopted the following "aims of purposes":  
... to stimulate interest in and appreciation of old and contemporary prints; to promote education in respect to them; to encourage the ownership of good prints; and to assist in the production of prints.

Soon these objectives were being carried out by one hundred and fourteen enthusiastic members in a program which has grown steadily these past years, producing a new generation of print-lovers and some very lively activity in printmaking in Rochester. Much of it has been experimental, freely combining multiple graphic techniques and manipulating traditional media with new technology.

The Print Club of Rochester's tradition, for over half a century, has helped establish it as one of the nation's viable print clubs.

Today the club is also committed to the future, to new ideas and directions in printmaking. As the nature of what a print can be has broadened, we encourage the searching, creative spirit of printmakers as artists. We look forward to the next half century for the club, a period which we anticipate as being conducive to this creative spirit and to prints which will be meaningfully reflect it.