When the city of Troy was celebrating the demise of the 19th century, and the dawn of the 20th, there were 10,000 more residents living in our fabled Troy. Troy was the seventh largest city in the State as it entered the new century in 1901. We're now 12th as we enter our third century and new millennium.

In those earlier years, mailing a letter cost two cents and sending a copy of the daily newspaper to subscribers was free.

It was a time when thirteen newspapers were printed in the city, including The Troy Record, the only morning paper, and which boasted "Republican in politics. Non partisan in news."

Troy still was on the upswing, not yet reaching a peak of almost 80,000 residents by the 1950's. Yet, it's interesting to look at some of the differences in the city as we move on from the 20th to 21st century.

Mobility was quite different. Chances are you owned a wagon or took the trolley to get around. There were 24 carriage builders, 24 blacksmiths, 14 harness makers, and 34 livery stables to accommodate the horse driven industry. Horse power had a different meaning. No gas stations either.

Well, actually, there was gas -natural gas - delivered to your home through miles of underground pipes. It began in April 1850, when five miles of mains were laid and lit up 61 street lamps, 32 homes, and a few churches. However, you were probably still using cast iron stoves for heat that were made by any of the 10 stove makers left in the city (at one time Troy was the cast iron stove capital of the world). Pick any of 51 coal and wood dealers to supply your fuel.

You could jump on a trolley (Troy City Railway) on any main street in the city, or if you wanted to go to Albany, or to New York City, you simply bought a ticket and hopped on a Dayliner, one of several steamships leaving daily at the bottom of State or Broadway.

You also had the option to walk down to Union Station between Broadway and Fulton and ride aboard one of several frequent commuter trains that ran around the Capital District "Belt Line."

There were no Price Choppers in the area so to purchase food a visit to any of the 75 bakers, 117 meat markets, and over 200 grocers scattered throughout the city would fill your basket. Or you could simply cater to one of 40 restaurants in the city.

You didn't need Eckards either since there were 42 druggists dispensing prescriptions.

Troy was indeed a worker's city and so it should be no surprise that there were 9 breweries making a variety of 'hopped' liquids and 235 saloons pouring it fresh to patrons. Troy was a very thirsty city.

Chances are you were not buying ready made clothes from Quackenbush, Frear's, or other fine stores. You may have hired any one of the 221 dressmakers, or 71 tailors to make a fit. Any of the 26 collar and cuff makers would provide a nice shirt with detachable collar, and you were probably getting them washed at any of 38 laundries in the city. This was long before the Maytag man.

You would fare better with your feet, however. There were 37 boot and shoe shops and four companies that actually manufactured them from scratch.

If you escaped getting Cholera or other nasty diseases like Consumption, Dropsy, Dysentery, Flux, or the like, you might still have visited any of the 118 doctors or 31 nurses, and perhaps got a checkup at the Troy or Samaritan Hospital . Unfortunately, a visit to any of the 21 dentists was before Novocaine - Ouch! It wasn't until 1906 that A.D. Einhorn recommended a novocaine and adrenalin combination for local anesthesia.

There were 162 insurance agents in Troy. This is not surprising when you consider the fire history of the city up to that time. Only 39 years before, most of downtown Troy burned to the ground taking with it 507 buildings. A fire in 1852 took out more than 200 buildings from Division to Jefferson. In 1848, all of the buildings between Ferry and Congress on both sides of River Street were burned. In 1820, 90 buildings burned from First, State and River Streets. Ironic, considering there were 46 cigar manufacturers in the city. Talk about a city going up in smoke!

There were four telegraph offices and three telephone companies for you to keep in contact with friends, family, or business mates. And no busy signals. If the inlaws visited, there were 47 hotels in the city. You could entertain them at four theaters mostly covering vaudeville, minstrel, burlesque, extravaganza, spectacle, musical revue or comedy.

However, some things never change. We still had way too many lawyers - 195 of them to be exact - including one named John Scanlon. Hmmm, I wonder?