By Revolutionary War times, the Troy area consisted of only a few farms scattered along the river. These farms were occupied by William Rogers, the Vanderheyden's (Jacob I, Jacob D, and Matthias), Jan Van Beuren, Cornelius Van Beuren, Philip Wendell, Abraham Jacob Lansing, and others.

In 1763, Lansing purchased a 5000 acre area in an area known as the Stone Arabia Patent from Robert Wendell, Jr. It was originally called Tascamcatik by the Mohicans.

In 1771, Lansing hired Albany surveyor Joseph Blanchard to divide his land into a rectangle of about 1300 by 2000 feet with 288 building lots, streets, alleys and an oblong square village green in the center. This area today coincides with First Avenue, 111th Street, 7th Avenue, and 114th Street.

Blanchard laid out the new city "...in a regular square for the erecting a city by the name of Lansingburgh." He notes on the map that "The Oblong Square in the Center is reserved for Public uses." Lansingburgh was located in the town and burrough of Stone Arabia, however, it was wise to change the name of the city since another Stone Arabia further west could have confused early immigrants to move to the wrong area.

What is most interesting about the lay out of Lansing's new city is it closely matches the layout of 1733 Savannah, Georgia. Savannah is perhaps the first city in colonial America to be laid out using alternating service alleys through every single block.

Lansingburgh's design closely matches one of Savannah's blocks with a center public square, surrounded by evenly spaced blocks of streets and alleys, with a major street entering the center of the public square. This design in general with the oblong blocks laid out in a uniform grid pattern may have originated in 8th century BC with the Greeks. It is well known that the grid system was often used when Greeks created colonies in other parts of the world.

Lansing named his new city Lansingburgh, yet it became known as 'Nieuw Stadt' (New City), as opposed to Albany, or "de Oude Stadt" (Old City) to the south, the only other 'city' in the region.

Many New Englanders flocked to the newly created city and purchased lots from Lansing. Several lots were sold in 1770 before the official map was drawn up, indicating that there may have been an earlier unofficial map. These early lots were sold to Robert Yates, John Dunbar, Benjamin French, Elinor Taylor, Jacob A. Lansing, Abraham Blaau, Issac Lansing, Jonathan Wickwire, and Samuel Halstead.

With the release of the official Lansingburgh map in 1771, Lansing sold lots to: John Barber, Anne Hamersley, Flores Bancker, Charles Meal, Anthony Rutgers, Evert Banker, Peter Curtinus, Alex McClean, Waldron Blaau, Jonathan Brewer, Eldart Funda, John D. Funda, Mayekie McCoy, and Issac II. Lansing.

More than seventy individuals purchased lots from Lansing until 1790, when records cease to exist. Four lots were created for the establishment of public schools (lots 108, 109, 182, 183). As early as 1774, a school was erected by Maus R. Van Vranka who also agreed to read a sermon in English and Dutch most Sundays.

The government of Lansingburgh was a curious mixture of democracy and oligarchy. A committee of five persons would be elected each year along with the officers of moderator, town clerk, path master and three fence viewers. The agreed upon arrangement was that there always would be a member of the Lansing family (Abraham Jacob or one of his heirs) as one of the five committee members.

Almost a decade after the layout of the city, Elkanah Watson, while surveying for location of a western canal visited Lansingburgh and wrote the following:

"I spent a day in examining this locality [speaking of the Troy area] and then walked on the banks of the Hudson, a distance of three miles to New City, where I continued several days. This place is thronged by mercantile emigrants, principally from New England, who have enjoyed a very extensive and lucrative trade, supplying Vermont and the region of both banks of the Hudson, as far as Lake George, with merchandise; and receiving in payment wheat, pot and pearl ashes and lumber."

The "Burgh," as it's called today, was annexed to the city of Troy in 1900, but Lansingburgh contributed its own share to national politics, literature, and sports, and economic prosperity for many years before it became part of Troy.