The Albany Iron Works was in operation one hundred and fifty years before the furnace was shut down for good in 1989. Admittedly, a pretty good run for any American business, but why did the foundry lie and fall into disrepair for the last decade without anyone noticing? Maybe it's simply a part of the American psyche - our throwaway mentality of use it then toss in the trash. Why would an old industrial building be any different? Forget that it's important to preserve any kind of structure that represents a unique chapter in American history as the Albany Rolling Mill does. But the real $64,000 dollar question is who's responsible for preserving our heritage - Private business or government?

Portec, formerly the Rail Joint Company of New York, owns the Rolling Mill. They purchased it sometime in the early 20h century to make rail joints and remained in operation here until 1989. There's been a 'For Sale' sign on it ever since. Let's face it, the Northeast is not the industrial belt anymore. It's difficult to sell or even lease a building that was made to roll iron, unless of course you want to roll iron - fat chance of that. So for a decade the building sat unused and started falling apart. Is it Portec's fault? Is it the city's for not insuring that the building was kept up to code? Even though they left Troy thirteen years ago, Portec has a picture of the Monitor on their Web site with the caption "Former Troy New York plant manufactured the armor plating for the Civil War's ironclad monitor." Apparently they are still proud of that foundry building.

Four years ago, Dan Wolfe and his Troy Transfer Company obtained a 20 year lease on the property from Portec. Dan and his 25 employees use the property as a waste transfer station. Contractors bring demolition debris to the site, pay a fee, and Troy Transfer takes it to the landfill. Unfortunately, since the foundry and surrounding buildings were in disrepair, Dan felt it necessary to dismantle some of the foundry and this is the situation we are in, although he tells me there will be no more demolition at the present time. Parts of the side wings and walls and roof of the foundry have been demolished. The main part of the foundry is still there and you can see the structural members. The front facade is intact for the most part. Troy Transfer put a new roof on an adjacent building. Dan wanted to knock the whole building down but Portec felt differently about it.

There probably is too much of the original building gone now to get historic preservation money to restore it, but the basic foundry building could be rebuilt and reused. Dan said he would even rehabilitate the building for the right tenant.

It still raises the question, who is responsible for preserving our history? Maybe it's all of us? There needs to be a policy in the city that states that our history is important and all steps should be taken to preserve it. This includes a policy that any building not in use still needs to be kept in code. That means a good roof, heat, and bordered up, or "mothballed," until a new use comes its way. Perhaps an added incentive would be a tax reduction if the building is mothballed properly. If a building owner does not comply, take emergency action to mothball it and put the cost of it on the tax bill of the owner. This has been done in Albany as far back as the 17th century and as recently as this year. When Troy condemns a building, and demolishes it, do they not bill the owner?

Why not have a program that encourages mothballing over demolition instead of the city's current program of seek and destroy. Certainly by keeping our historic stock in shape it will be cheaper in the long run to rehabilitate it. The city let the roof of Proctor's Theater leak for 20 years! It will never see entertainment purposes again because of the cost to repair it. Vacant buildings do come back to life. Most downtown buildings in Troy have seen that happen more than once. Imagine what the corner of River and First would look like now if the Rice Building was permanently lost, instead of being the jewel it is now? So, the answer is that all of us have a responsibility to save our local history, but it must become part of a collective mind set of all Trojans to make it happen. Every fool knows you can't save every building, but it doesn't stop a wise person from trying.