Rochester Institute of Technology is a private doctoral university within the town of Henrietta in the Rochester, New York metropolitan area. The Institute as it is known today began as a result of an 1891 merger between Rochester Athenæum, a literary society founded in 1829 by Colonel Nathaniel Rochester and associates, and The Mechanics Institute, a Rochester institute of practical technical trainingfor local residents founded in 1885 by a consortium of local businessmen including Captain Henry Lomb, co-founder of Bausch & Lomb.