Troy is the county seat of Rensselaer County in the U.S. state of New York.
Long inhabited by the Mahican Indian tribe, Dutch settlement began in the middle of the 17th century. Kiliaen van Rensselaer, the patroon, named the region Pafraets Dael after his mother. The Dutch colony was conquered by the English in 1664, and Derick van der Heyden bought a farm near the present-day city center in 1707. Abraham J. Lansing subdivided his farm in present-day Lansingburgh in 1771. Sixteen years later, Van der Heyden's grandson Jacob surveyed and laid out his vast estate, naming the new community Vanderheyden.
Following a popular vote in 1789, Troy adopted its current moniker. Two years later, Troy was incorporated as a town and extended east to the Vermont border, including Petersburgh. Troy became a village in 1796, and then a city in 1816. In 1900, northern Lansingburgh became a part of Troy. View more information on the geography of Troy.
History of Troy, New York
The name Troy (after the legendary city of Troy made famous in Homer's Iliad) was adopted in 1789; previously, it had been known as Ashley's Ferry. In 1791, a portion of the Manor of Rensselaerswyck was incorporated into the Town of Troy. The municipality contained both Brunswick and Grafton. Troy was designated a village in 1801 and a city in 1816. In the post-Revolutionary War years, when central New York was first settled, there was a strong trend toward classical names, and Troy's naming follows the same pattern as the cities of Syracuse, Rome, Utica, Ithaca, and the towns of Sempronius and Manlius, as well as dozens of other classically named towns to the west of Troy.
In the early 20th century, the New York Central Railroad was established from New York City to Chicago via Albany and the "Water Level Route." Circa 1903, a Beaux-Arts station was constructed. A short branch of the New York Central from Rensselaer connected at Troy. The Boston and Maine Railroad to/from Boston and the Delaware and Hudson Railroad to Canada also served the station. The railroads quickly rendered obsolete the canals constructed along the Mohawk in the 1800s. The former NYC operates today as CSX for freight service and Amtrak for passenger service, the latter operating from Albany–Rensselaer station, directly opposite downtown Albany on the east side of the Hudson River. The end of passenger rail service to Troy occurred in January 1958, when the Boston and Maine discontinued its Boston–Troy route. Later in 1958, the Troy Union Station was demolished.
Like many old industrial cities, Troy has had to deal with the loss of its manufacturing base, loss of population and wealth to the suburbs, and to other parts of the country. This resulted in deterioration and a lack of investment until later efforts were made to preserve the architectural and cultural heritage of Troy.
Since 2014, Troy has not revised its citywide comprehensive plan in more than 50 years. The Troy Redevelopment Foundation (with members from the Emma Willard School, RPI, Russell Sage College, and St. Peter's Health Partners) initiated the two-year "Realize Troy" initiative. (Toronto) Urban Strategies Inc. is planning the redevelopment of Troy.