Last week we reestablished the original founding location of Troy at River and Ferry by proposing a permanent public market pavilion, children's park, pedestrian bridge, and four-star hotel complex in the area surrounding it. This week we reclaim the east and west sides of River Street from Division to Adams.

Proposal Two

Vanderheyden Square
Location: The entire rectangle beginning at Division Street, running the length of the west side of River to north side of Adams, east to the river.

This entire block should be developed into a retail/commercial mall styled after Guilderland's Stuyvesant Plaza, a great example of an upscale economy base without gaudy chain stores and vanilla box designs. Ours would have boutique & specialty shops, restaurants, outdoor cafes, etc, gracing the River Street frontage. There's easy access to this retail center since the southeast exit ramp of the Congress Street Bridge ends at Division.

Vanderheyden Square's building designs, themed in Dutch Colonial style, will surround a center public square with access to the river via the Hudson River Walkway. The Hudson River Walkway is a green line that runs along the entire length of the Hudson from Lansingburgh to the Menands Bridge. Notice I did NOT say bike path, but more on that later.

Existing historic buildings along this tract should be incorporated into the design plan and not demolished.

River Street should have the original Belgium block and trolley lines exposed. If the trolley lines are usable, they will be incorporated into a new trolley system from Congress to Division to Adams. If not, they should be dug up and a new trolley line installed that would run to the new train station, proposed later. The proposed trolley could end at the Ashley Ferry Inn, or continue along the access road to Congress Street to bring shoppers and sightseers into the historic River Street quadrant.

Proposal Three (A)

Troy City Museum
Location: Southeastern corner and lots of Division and River to First Street.

Located here are the 18th century Matthias Vanderheyden house, one of the founders of Troy, and the 19th century Knowlson & Kelley steam turbine factory. Today it's Russell Sage's parking lot. The site should be excavated archeologically and a museum should be built over the ruins, much the same way as Montreal's Point-a-Calliere Museum of Archaeology and History (www.musee-pointe-a-calliere.qc.ca/indexan.html). Here visitors can see the beginnings of Montreal, the first Catholic cemetery, canalized river that became the William collector sewer, stone stockade wall, and the town's first public square, all underground. Another great example of innovative archaeology is Montreal's Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel (www.marguerite-bourgeoys.com). The archaeological site under the chapel displays the foundation walls of the original 17th-Century chapel built of fieldstone in the early days of Ville-Marie, remains of the palisade of the second extension of the fortifications of the town in 1709, evidence of the fire that destroyed the chapel in 1754, and vestiges of a Native presence dating back to 400 B.C. It's also the resting place of nine religious members of the Hôtel Dieu who died in the epidemic of 1734.

Our three story Troy City Museum would allow visitors to explore the architectural ruins of both the 18th and 19th century ruins, along with any artifacts recovered, and the remaining two floors would house a museum covering Troy's history from prehistoric times to around 1840, leaving the industrial history to the Burden Museum and Hudson Mohawk Industrial Gateway located in South Troy.

Proposal Four

The Ilium
Location: Adjacent to the Jewish Synagogue, east side of River, between Division and Liberty.

Albany and Scotia have movie houses (Schenectady next year). Once, there were nine movie houses in Troy and it's time for a new one. The Ilium will be an Art Deco style theater with a large 1930s-style marquee. A multilevel garage can be erected adjacent to the theater for the movie house and Vanderheyden Square across the street. By locating it here, visitors and shoppers from the train ride or mall shopping can have easy access to all. Being only a short walk from the new train station (explained next week), tourists and shoppers can take a historic train ride to Troy, shop at the mall, visit the museum, and go to a movie.

Proposal Five

Meneely Bell Museum
East side of River Street adjacent to Old Brick House warehouse.

Between the Old Brick House Warehouse (a former shirt and collar factory) and a garage is the site of the Clinton Meneely bell foundry. This site should be excavated and enclosed as an open-air museum with a bell shaped roof. The site would be self-contained so that visitors could walk through it.

Next week's proposal calls for a new transportation center for Troy.