Kodak’s fall carries an emotional punch, too, like seeing an enduring part of the American experience wither away.

James Ulrich, who volunteers as a docent at the Eastman House, thinks back with pride on the greatest summer job ever, traveling the country in a Kodak company car taking pictures of tourists taking pictures.

Robert Shanebrook, who until his retirement in 2003 spent most of his 35 years at Kodak working with world-class photographers like Ansel Adams and Yousuf Karsh, said: “We all had this personal investment and personal pride in being part of this organization; we felt we were working with the most capable people in the world. And then it all sort of crumbled, like finding out something bad about someone you were close to.

“You think, ‘How could that be?’ ”

The images of prosperity are being replaced by ones in shadows and shades of gray — the largely empty parking lots at the Kodak headquarters and its sprawling manufacturing complex, or seeing the “Kodak” sign blazing across the night sky downtown and wondering if before long the lights will go dark.

Rochester’s troubles go beyond Kodak. Xerox and Bausch & Lomb have shed thousands of jobs as well. Twenty-five years ago, the three companies employed 60 percent of Rochester’s work force. Today, it is 6 percent.

“Part of my job is convincing people we aren’t the place we once were,” Mayor Thomas S. Richards said.