A century ago, developers not only had different names, but more importantly different ethics, and a sense of responsibility to the community they served. In Troy, you can view symbols of businessmen that believed that to make a buck you not only provided customer satisfaction and good products, but also provided a sense of pride and taste in the buying environment. The ambience was half the battle. Look around Troy and you can see these lasting monuments. Cannon Place on Broadway was erected in 1835 by Le Grand Cannon. In 1866, G.V.S Quackenbush built the imposing building on the corner of Third and Broadway to make one of Troy's first department stores. William H. Frear, who initially made his money running a dry goods store out of the Cannon building, built the beautiful marble building that bears his name on the corner of Fulton and Third in 1897. It is Frear who is credited with the motto, "Satisfaction or your money gleefully refunded."

Skip ahead a century. Department stores are now national chains, run by CEO's and boardrooms in distant cities. They are faceless, no names, just some corporate neon logo lighting the skies on a square warehouse style box, and sucking the local financial resources out to their Midwestern corporate offices.

Another old Troy business landmark is in Lansingburgh. The Freihofer Baking Company was established in 1900 by William Freihofer, Charles Freihofer, and others, under the name of the Freihofer Vienna Baking Company. This company was created after it acquired the Charles and William Freihofer Baking Company, located in Camden, New Jersey in 1899.

The company's corporate offices and its baking plant were initially located at 24th and Master Streets in North Philadelphia. In 1913, the company moved its operations to 20th and Indiana Streets and expanded its operations in the early twentieth century, opening other branch bakeries outside of Philadelphia that included the William Freihofer Vienna Baking Company of Baltimore City, established in 1908.

In 1911, Charles F. Freihofer and his sons were traveling by train to Canada to examine a new line of ovens with a layover in Troy. After learning that most of the female population of Troy were too busy to bake because they worked in the collar and cuff factories, the three sons, Charles C, Edwin H, and Frank A, felt it was a great opportunity to create a commercial bakery to fill the void.

On Wednesday, March 12, 1913, the brothers opened their new baking company in Lansingburgh, followed by a Schenectady bakery in 1914, and one in Albany in 1915. Most of the buildings were designed by Quaker architect Charles Balderston (1852-1924) from Philadelphia, who specialized in bakeries and industrial buildings. Besides the Freihofer bakeries he built the Becker Bakery, Heermann Bakery, and Kolb Baking Co (Kolb bakeries), all in Philly; the Schultz Bakery in Montgomery County, PA, and the Bullock Bakery in Albany. He completed 79 projects in all that also included homes, boat and social clubs, factories, and even the Chicago World's Fair, Pennsylvania Building.

Two years ago, Freihofers (now owned by Best Foods) decided to abandon the Troy buildings and gave an option to Eckerd's who proposed to tear the buildings down, along with the Riverside Club next to it, and put up one of their ugly boxes with some 70+ car spaces. Historic Action Network, a local activist preservation group sued the project - and won. The group was not against the drug store. They simply asked that Eckerd's used the existing building, retrofit it, and save the historic integrity of the streetscape. They prepared an alternative design as well. Eckerd's said no. Now, Eckerd's is back. Not only did they pay absolutely no attention to the citizens asking to save their history, they came back with essentially the SAME design as before, minus a few parking spaces (but still too many). They are telling Troy, we'll going to cram this design down your throats, the hell with your history. Eckerd has said publicly that their new building would mirror the arches of the old building. Eckerd's doesn't get it. It isn't the "appearance" of history that makes it important. It's the very "fabric" of the building: the stones, bricks, and sweat from the men who built it. Even the city planning department recommend that Eckerd reuse the existing buildings. It has been tabled following the completion of an environmental impact statement, but this battle is far from over. Stay tuned.