I’ll Take Troy for $500, Alex!

By Don Rittner

The classic poem, "Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas, or Santa Claus." or better known as "‘Twas The Night Before Christmas," by Clement Moore, was first published in Troy by the Troy Sentinel newspaper on December 23, 1823.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin was first performed in the U.S. in 1852 in Peale’s Museum on River and Fulton Streets.

President Lincoln’s assassin, John Wilkes Booth, was himself shot dead by Sergeant "Boston" Corbett of Troy.

The first street signs in Troy were erected in 1805, and were boards with the names of certain streets hand painted on them.

Emma Willard, besides starting the first female school for higher education, wrote one of the first complete histories of the United States in 1829.

Uncle Sam Wilson, who packed meat for the troops during the War of 1812, lived and worked in Troy, but you already knew that. Welcome to Troy if you didn’t.

RPI is one of the oldest engineering schools in the country and began in Troy in 1824 in the old Farmers Bank on Middleburgh and River Streets. It is celebrating 175 years of teaching this year.

The iron plates for the iron-clad Civil War ship The Monitor were made in Troy by the Albany and Rensselaer Iron Works. The defeat of the Merrimack at Hampton Roads in 1862 was a turning point in the war.

Titus Eddy and family made the secret ink that was used to print all American paper currency during the 19^th century, and continued up to World War I. The home is now a public housing office.

Herman Melville wrote his first two novels in Lansingburgh, now Troy.

President Chester A. Arthur grew up in Lansingburgh, and taught school in Schaghticoke and Cohoes.

The first depositor in the Troy Savings Bank was a black woman named Martha Jefferson, depositing her life savings of $20.

Troy’s "Veiled Murderess," Henrietta Robinson, spent 52 years in Sing Sing prison for killing a Troy grocer and clerk in 1855. To this day no one knows anything about her life.

Mrs. Hanna Lord Montague is given credit for inventing the first detachable collar at her home on Third Street, and hence starting the city’s famous collar industry around 1827.

By 1925, nine out of ten people in the country were wearing collars made in Troy.

In 1825 there were 23 more women living in Troy then men.

Paper boats (rowing and canoes) were invented by Eliza Waters in Troy, in the 1860’s. They were made from manila paper and laminated, and were fast.

The Troy Council of the Boys Club of America was formed in 1911, and created Troop I. It was the first uniformed Boy Scout troop in the United States. A photograph of the troop was published in the first national Scout manual. Charles M. Connoly of Troy designed the Boy Scout uniform and the Scout badge.

Troy’s Kate Mullaney organized the Collarworkers Union in 1865, the first all female union, and was celebrated here last year by the First Lady, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

In 1818, the Troy Lyceum of Natural History was founded. It was one of the first of its kind. RPI’s Amos Eaton, one of the founders created a floating museum/school on the Erie Canal where students explored natural history to Lake Erie and back in 1826.

Two Trojans became Governor of New York State, William L. Marcy (elected 1833 and served three terms) and Frank S. Black (elected 1896). Marcy went on to become Secretary of War under President Polk, and Secretary of State under President Pierce.

Members of the Union "Haymakers," a baseball team from Lansingburgh and later Troy became the nucleus for the formation of the New York Giants baseball team, and were one of the first teams in the newly formed National League. Today the city of Troy is still an honorary member of the National League. Four Trojans are in the Baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown.

George R Poulton from Lansingburgh composed the song Aura Lee that became the melody for Elvis Presely’s "Love Me Tender." A colorful character, he was tarred and feathered for having an affair with a young student.

The largest water wheel in the country was the Burden Iron Works in Troy, 60 feet diameter, 22 ft wide and it had 36 buckets.

The Ferris Wheel was invented by George Ferris, an RPI Graduate. It too had 36 buckets (seats). It’s believed to be modeled after Burden’s Water Wheel.

Most of the horseshoes worn by the horses of the northern army during the Civil War were made at the Burden Iron Works. The southern confederacy tried to plant a spy to figure out how to make them. Burden’s patented horseshoe maker could make one every 4 seconds. The annual output of horseshoes was estimated to be 12 million sets in 1924.

On April 17, 1775, forty six of the leading inhabitants of Lansingburgh signed a proclamation opposing England’s rule which may be the first Declaration of Independence signed in the country, over a year before the colonies signed theirs on July 4^th, 1776.

The first Belgium Block pavement stone was laid on First Street in 1854. Before that roads were either dirt or cobblestone.

The largest bell in the world in 1924, weighing 7000 pounds, was in the tower of the College of the City of New York and made in Troy. The largest valve in the world, 96 inches in diameter, was in use in a U.S. Navy Yard and made in Troy.

Bessemer Steel, which profoundly changed the iron industry in the 19^th Century, was first made in the United States in Troy in 1865.

The first bridge across the Hudson River was the Waterford-Lansingburgh Bridge built in 1804. When it burned on July 10, 1909 it was the oldest covered bridge in America. It was 800 feet long and 30 feet wide.

The Troy Music Hall located in the Troy Savings Bank is world renown as having one of the best acoustics in the world.

Actress Maureen Stapleton is from Troy.

The first pianos made in New York State (and maybe the country) were made in Troy by Joshua Thurston in 1819.

The Marquis de Lafayette visited Troy Twice, 1824 & 1825, both times visiting with Emma Willard.

Presidents Chester Arthur, Martin Van Buren, McKinley, Taft, Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy, and Richard Nixon, have all visited Troy. This past year, Hillary Rodham Clinton, the country’s First Lady made a stop.

The Albany Law Journal was founded by Troy’s Isaac Grant Thompson in 1870.

Troy Donohue starred with Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh in the 1959 comedy movie The Perfect Furlough. Oops, sorry, wrong Troy!

Do you have any I missed? Send them along to drittner@aol.com.

©1999 Don Rittner