USA > New York > Rensselaer County > Landmarks of Rensselaer county, New York, pt 1 > Part 26
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The Free Masons in Troy, becoming desirous of organizing a lodge, forwarded to the Grand Lodge a petition for a warrant in 1996. June 19 of that year the Grand Lodge granted the charter prayed for, there- by constituting Apollo Lodge, No. 19, Free and Accepted Masons. A room in Moulton's Coffee House was rented for quarters and Decem- ber 12, the incorporators having elected subordinate officers one week previous, the new officers were installed. The charter officers were: Worthy Master, John Bird; Senior Warden, John Woodworth; Junior Warden, Samuel Miner. The installing officer was James Dole, master of Hiram Lodge of Lansingburgh, and his staff. The first regular communication was held Tuesday, December 13, and the by-laws were adopted Tuesday, January 3, 1797.
Jacob D. Vanderheyden, who at first had objected in most positive terms to the encroachment of trade upon his big farm, who had refused
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to sell at any price so much as a single square foot of his land to persons desiring to build stores, manufacturing establishments or anything savoring of business, and who had even refused repeated offers to pur- chase lots of his land for residential purposes, had now become one of the most publie spirited men in all Troy. He had practically given the land on which the court house was erected, as described in the history of the county ; he had sold for a nominal sum, a few shillings, the land on which the Presbyterian and the Baptist meeting houses stood, and he had performed various other acts which had entitled him to the highest respect and esteem of his fellow citizens. In pursuance of his benefi- cent policy, May 10, 1796, for five shillings, he deeded to the trustees of the village, "for the advancement of the interests and convenience of the inhabitants," three lots, bounded on the north by Congress street, on the east by Second street and on the west by an alley twenty feet wide, "for the use of a public square, and also for the purpose of erecting a public school house or academy," if the inhabitants decided that such a step were proper. Ile also conveyed to the trustees by the same deed the lot on the southwest corner of River and Elbow streets, for use as a publie ship yard; also land for two burial grounds-the first bounded on the north by State street, on the west by Third street, on the east by an alley and an the south by lot 231; the second a parcel of land 250 feet long and 130 feet wide, located on the northwest cor- ner of Seventh and State streets. To this day all these properties are owned and occupied by public or quasi-publie buildings.
At the beginning of the year 1797 Daniel Curtis, jr., under the firm name of Luther Pratt & Co., having moved his printing plant from Lansingburgh to Troy, began the printing of the weekly newspaper, the Farmers' Oracle, in the city. December 8, 1792, the store of Asa Anthony, on the northwest corner of River and State streets, and that of P. & B. Heartt, north of it, were consumed by fire. The inhabitants of Troy by this time had awakened to the necessity of providing some adequate means of protection against fire, and after the burning of these two stores it was decided to form a fire company and purchase a hand engine. A number of well known gentlemen of Troy were appointed a committee to purchase a suitable engine and went to New York for that purpose, having learned that a second-hand engine had been of- fered for sale there. The apparatus proving satisfactory to the then limited needs of the young village, it was purchased and shipped to Troy on a sloop. It was of a peculiar pattern seldom seen in these days,
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but very well adapted for such work as then was required of it. It had no hose attachment, the stream leaving the engine from a nozzle at- tached to a box above the trunk of the apparatus. It was capable of throwing an inch and a half stream of water over an ordinary two story building.
An act of the Legislature passed February 16, 1998, granted a second or amended charter to the village of Lansingburgh and reincorporated the village of Troy. That part of the act which formed the charter of Troy read as follows:
That the district of country described in a certain law of this State made and passed the twenty fifth day of March one thousand seven hundred and ninety four as the village of Troy be hereafter known and distinguished by the name of the vil- lage of Troy; and that the freeholders and inhabitants who may from time to time reside in said village, shall be a corporation by the name and style of " The Trustees of the Village of Troy," and shall have the same rights, privileges, powers and im- munities as by this act are given to the corporation of the village of Lansingburgh; subject however to the same regulations, restrictions, orders and provisions.
The village of Lansingburgh, for many years the leading place north of Albany, at this time was rapidly becoming of secondary importance as compared with Troy. The cause was mainly the geographical loca- tion of the two places. Troy was actually at the headwaters of the navi- gable Hudson, large vessels being able to anchor directly opposite the business portion of the village within a few feet of the cast bank of the river. Lansingburgh, on the other hand, had been founded too far up the river to reap the full commercial advantages of a location on this noble stream. Troy was rapidly becoming the trade center of a popu- lous and prosperous community. The number of manufactures had in- creased and stores were established at an amazing rate. One newspaper had found it to its advantage to remove from Lansingburgh to Troy. May 15, 1798, the Northern Budget, having removed its plant from Lansingburgh, where it had been established nearly a year, was pub- lished for the first time in Troy by Robert Moffit & Co., from their print- ing office, at the sign of Franklin's head, on the east side of the river- then Water street-" four doors north of Pierce's inn."
October 9, 1798, the office of the county clerk, which had been estab- lished in Lansingburgh upon the erection of Rensselaer county, was removed to Troy and the records were kept in a frame building on First street a short distance north of Congress. This change also brought increased business to Troy and made it more than ever the
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headquarters for trade of all kinds. Troy's prosperity from this time hence seemed assured.
In November, 1799, a writer in the Northern Budget made an appeal to the citizens of Troy for the establishment of a public library. He stated that the population of the village was 2,000 and rapidly inereas ing. Soon after the subscribers to a petition which had been eirenlated decided that public opinion would warrant the formation of such an institution and January 11, 1799, they met at the tavern of Jeremiah Pierce and organized the Troy Library by the election of Benjamin Tibbitts, Christopher Hutton, David Buel and Jeremiah Osborn as trustees. The library was opened in the fall of that year. The mem . bership was limited to stockholders. Ten years later, March 31, 1809, Apollo Lodge No. 49, F. & A. M., was allowed to purchase twenty- seven shares at fifteen dollars each, and thereafter the three senior offi- cers of the lodge were annually clected trustees of the library. In Jan- uary, 1835, the books of the library were placed in the library of the Troy Young Men's Association, Ten years later the stockholders de- livered their shares to the association, which also purchased the shares held by Apollo Lodge.
The beginning of the nineteenth century marked an important era in the history of Troy. Up to the year 180! the merchants of Troy, as well as those of Lansingburgh and Waterford, had been compelled to go to Albany to transaet their banking business. The trip always consumed half a day, sometimes a longer period. As the business of the community increased it necessitated more frequent journeys to Al- bany, but these were becoming too burdensome for the wideawake merchants of the three villages to bear Several consultations were held by the leading merchants and it was finally decided to ask the Legislature to grant permission for the organization of a bank with a capital of not more than $500,000. In pursuance of this request the Farmers' Bank was incorporated by act of the Legislature passed March 31, 1801, the charter extending to the first Tuesday in March, 1811. The capital stock was limited to $250, 000 in shares of $50 each, exclusive of any money which might be subscribed on the part of the State. The charter provided for thirteen directors, two of whom were to reside in Waterford, five in Lansingburgh and six in Troy. The first directors, named in the charter, were Samuel Stewart, Guert Van Schoonhoven, John D. Dickinson, James Hickock, Charles Seklon, William Bradley, Elijah Janes, Benjamin Tibbitts, Ephraim Morgan, John Woodworth,
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Daniel Merritt, Townsend McCoun and Christopher Hutton. It was also provided that "the said bank shall be established and kept, and the buildings necessary for the accommodation thereof erected, and the business thereof at all times hereafter transaeted at such place in the town of Troy as Hosea Moffat, Jonathan Brown, John E. Van Alen and James MeKown, or any three of them shall designate and point out, which location when made shall be unalterable; and said place shall be near the road leading from Troy to Lansingburgh and not further north than the mill creek, nor further south than the house of Joshua Raymond. And the said buildings necessary for the accom- modation of said bank shall be erected and so far completed as to ad- mit the transaction of the business of said bank by the first day of De- cember next after the passing of this act."
The directors of the bank met April 9, and elected John D. Dickin- son president and Hugh Peebles cashier. Jime 29, at a meeting held at Jacob's tavern in Lansingburgh, it was resolved that "in case the lot for the temporary place of the establishment of the bank shall fall to the village of Troy, that we will point ont to the commissioners the house of Joshua Raymond in the village of Troy as the house contem- plated in the act, and in case it should fall to the village of Lansingburgh, we will immediately canse a temporary building to be erected on the middle ground at or near the place contemplated by the commissioners for transacting the business until the Legislature shall have decided on the petition of the directors." The temporary location of the bank was decided by lot, the choice falling to Lansingburgh. Jacob D. Van derheyden having offered to the bank for a site for the building two lots in what was then known as Middleburgh, a number of honses at the foot of Mount Olympus, the land was accepted and it was decided to purchase two additional lots upon which to ereet a two-story brick building, thirty by forty feet. Work was begun in July and the bank opened for business December 1. April 6, 1808, the Legislature ex- tended the charter of the bank to the first Tuesday in March, 1821, and the directors were authorized to remove the bank to the business por- tion of Troy further south. November 15, 1808, the bank removed to its new building on the second lot south of the southwest corner of State and First streets. This structure was burned in the great fire of 1820 and business was continued in the building on the northeast cor- ner of State and First streets. In 1830 it built a new banking house on the next lot north, which it occupied until February 27, 1865, when it ceased to exist.
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By aet of the Legislature April 2, 1801, the boundaries of the village of Troy were described as follows:
Beginning on the north side of a certain creek called Poesten creek, where there was formerly a saw mill, fifty-eight chains from Hudson's river, and runs from thence down along the said creek to the said river, thence up along the said river to a small creek called the Meadow creek, thence along the said creek into the woods, south seventy degrees easterly, forty chains, thence south twenty three degrees and thirty minutes westerly, along the west side of the land of the late Albert Bradt, one hun- dred and six chains, to the place of beginning (the above courses to be run as the magnetic needle pointed in the year one thousand seven hundred and twenty).
By the general law dividing all the counties of the State into towns, passed April 2, 1801, the bonnds of the town of Troy were described as follows:
Southerly by Greenbush, easterly by Petersburgh, northerly by the north bounds of the manor of Rensselaerwyek, and westerly by the county of Albany, including such of the islands in Hudson's river as are nearest the east side thereof.
April 2, 1802, the Legislature passed an act authorizing the construc- tion of a turnpike from a point opposite the village of Troy to Sche- neetady. This step was taken in accordance with the wishes of a large number of the merchants of Troy, who wished to attract the trade of the farmers residing on the west side of the Hudson. The capital stock of the chartered company was placed at $17,500 and the first officers were: President, Ephraim Morgan; directors, George Tibbits, Abraham Oothoudt, Derick Lane, Abraham Ten Eyck, Albert Pawling, John Bird, Silas Covell and Daniel Merritt. All were residents of Troy excepting Abraham Oothoudt, who resided in Schenectady. The road was constructed at once and its heavy cost was amply repaid in a few years by the increased trade which it brought to Troy.
Changes in the boundary of the village had been made several times since its foundation, having been deemed necessary by the constant ex- pansion of the population. March 3, 1803, the north boundary along Meadow creek, near the line of Hoosick street, was made coincident with the south bounds of the village of Lansingburgh, near the Pis- cawen kill, which flowed into the river just north of Mount Olympus.
About the year 1803 the residents of Troy who were of the Episcopal persuasion began to agitate the question of constructing a suitable house of worship, none having been built up to that time. Several years before lay readers had officiated in various places in the city on occasions frequently long apart. As a rule these meetings were held
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in the Presbyterian meeting house. Rev. David Butler, rector of Christ church in Reading, Conn., was among those who conducted services in 1803. Learning that Trinity church in New York city had offered to assist the Episcopalians of Troy in building a church edifice, he urged the members of the little congregation to take advantage of the offer, to become an incorporated body and undertake the erection of a house of worship. In accordance with his advice the male mem- bers of the congregation met in the court-house January 16, 1804, and decided to become incorporated as a permanent body to be known as " The Trustees of St. Paul's Church in Troy." They then elected as church wardens Eliakim Warren and Jeremiah Pierce, and as vestry- men Nicholas Schuyler, David Buel, Lemuel Hawley, Thomas Davis, Thomas Hillhouse, John Bird, William S. Parker and Hugh Peebles. March 26 the society purchased for $425 the eastern halves of lots 183 and 184, a plot one hundred by sixty-five feet, on the northwest corner of Third and Congress streets. The building committee, David Buel, Thomas Davis and Nicholas Schuyler, were placed in charge of the work. The frame was filled in with brick, one thick. Rev. David Butler, the first rector, laid the corner stone July 2, 1803, and the edi- fice was completed early in the summer of 1805. Two thousand dol- lars of the expense of construction was paid by Trinity church of New York. The organ, which was made in England and for many years had been used in the old French church in Nassau street, New York, was the only instrument of its kind in Troy for more than twenty years. Rev. David Butler was installed rector of St. Paul's parish Jannary 8, 1806, and on the following day assumed the same formal relation to Trinity parish of Lansingburgh. The church was conse- erated August 21 by Bishop Benjamin Moore. The first three comniu- nicants, upon the organization of the church in 1801, were Eliakim Warren, his wife, Phebe Warren, and Lemuel Hawley.
The Quakers or Friends were the next seet to establish regular re- ligious services in Troy. In accordance with permission extended by the Easton Monthly Meetings the few Friends in Troy held their first service in the village-a preparatory meeting -- May 30, 1804. Over three years later, October 20, 1807, Abraham Staples and Edward Southwick, influential members of the local congregation, purchased of Jacob and Daniel Merritt an unfinished house on the southwest corner of State and Fourth street, which had been temporarily rented by the society a year before. Sixteen years later the society built the school
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house west of the meeting house. April 19, 1836, the society increased its temporal possessions by the purchase of the lot south of the building originally purchased. In 1874 the property was purchased by the First Unitarian church and in the fall of that year the old Friends' meeting house was razed to the ground,
As the population of Troy increased the problem of an adequate water supply became an important one. Early in the century most of the inhabitants were supplied by a small stream running along Spring avenue, then known as the Hollow road. The spring supplying it was on the farm of Stephen J. Schuyler. November 15, 1800, Stephen Van Rensselaerconveyed to Dr. Israel Clark of West Windsor, N. J., the right to use and control the water, which was then retained in a small reservoir. For several years Dr. Clark collected the rents for the use of the water. From time to time the waterworks were improved ac- cording to the needs of the growing village. June 16, 1812, Abraham Ten Eyck, Derick Lane, Platt Titus, Nathan Warren and Daniel Mer- ritt, trustees of the Earthen Conduit company of Troy, were given a franchise by the village authorities allowing them to pipe the streets to furnish a better supply to consumers. Two years later another com- pany was incorporated and granted the privilege of substituting iron pipes for the conduits then in use. The trustees of the new company were Daniel Merritt, Richard P. Hart, Nathan Warren, Townsend McCoun and Derick Y. Vanderheyden. This company laid the founda- tion for the present splendid system of waterworks in the city of Troy.
For the facilitation of the government of the village the Legislature passed a law April 4, 1806, dividing it into four wards. The first ward was described as that part of the village lying south of a line drawn through the middle of Ferry street; the second as that part between . the first ward and the line drawn through the middle of State street; the third as that part between the second ward and a line drawn through the middle of Elbow (Fulton) street; and the fourth as all that part north of the third ward. Up to this time the president of the vil- lage had been elected by the board of trustees from among their num- ber. Under the new law that official was to be appointed annually by the governor, with the consent of the Council of Appointment, and was to be an inhabitant of the village
In 1797 the members of the Methodist society in Troy, which had begun to hold meetings four years previous, numbered thirteen. In 1796 the class had been placed under the pastoral care of a traveling
Moses . 6lough
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preacher on the Cambridge cirenit. In 1800 it became a part of the Pittsfield and Whitingham circuit of the New England conference. The class then had increased to thirty members and was under the leadership of William Cleveland. Rev. Michael Coates was in pastoral charge. The class grew steadily and in 1808 it was decided to organize an incorporated society according to the laws of the State. November 29 of that year the members of the elass met at the residence of Sam- uel Scoby and organized by electing David Canfield, Eliphalet King and Samuel Scoby trustees of "the Methodist Episcopal church of the Village of Troy." The next step of the society was to purchase of Jacob D. Vanderheyden on Christmas day of that year two lots on the east side of the alley running between Fourth and Fifth streets and north of State street. For this property the society paid $500. Early in 1809 subscriptions to a fund for the erection of a church were taken and the edifice, a plain, two-story frame building, still unfinished and unfurnished, was used the first time for worship in 1811. A few months before, in 1810, Troy had been made a station by the New York conference of the Methodist Episcopal church and Rev. William Phoebus had been made pastor of the new church.
We have said, in the chapter upon the militia of the county, that the status of the early regular militia is vague and indefinite. This is so, but it is known that Troy had an independent military company even before the beginning of the nineteenth century. As early as 1796 Thomas Davis was captain of the Troy Grenadiers, the first military company in the village, which ceased to exist about 1804. In 1803 the Troy Fusileers were organized, with Nathaniel Adams as captain, AAmos Salisbury as lieutenant and Oliver Lyon as ensign. The Trojan Greens were organized in 1806 with Thomas Davis as captain, William S Parker as lieutenant and Stephen Warren as ensign. The Troy In- vineibles were organized in 1808 with Hazard Kimberly as captain.
Ten years after the incorporation of the first bank in Troy, the Farm- ers' Bank, that institution evidently had become inadequate to the needs of the business men of the thriving community, for March 22, 1811, the Bank of Troy was incorporated by the Legislature with a capital stock of $500,000, divided into shares of $25 each, exclusive of the amount taken by the State, which was limited to $50,000. The charter provided that the bank was to be under the management of seventeen directors, of whom three were chosen by the Governor and Council of Appointment. One of these was to reside in Troy, one in Lansing-
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burgh and one in Waterford. The remaining fourteen directors, six of whom were to reside in Troy, four in Lansingburgh and four in Waterford, were to be elected by the stockholders of the bank. The charter permitted the directors to establish a branch bank in Water- ford, for deposit and discounting paper. April 9, 1813, the charter was amended by allowing the directors from Lansingburgh to reside in either Rensselaer or Saratoga counties, By a still later amendment, passed February 4, 1814, the Waterford directors were privileged to reside anywhere in the State. The right to establish a branch bank in Waterford was taken from the directors April 22, 1829. The bank con- tinued in operation until February 26, 1865, when its corporate exist- ence ceased. The bank building was located on the northwest corner of First and State streets, and its first directors were Albert Pawling, Benjamin Smith, Joseph D. Selden, Ebenezer Jones, Esaias Warren, Richard P. Hart, Jacob Merritt, Thomas Trenor, Alanson Douglas, Jonathan Burr, John Stewart, Roger Skinner, John Cramer, John T. Close, Moses Scott, Richard Davis, jr., and John House.
The first attempt to popularize passenger traffic by water between Troy and Albany was made in 1810, when a boat named the Trial be. gan making regular trips between the two places. She was propelled by machinery, but whether steam was the motive power or not does not appear. Two years later, in the fall of 1812, the Fire Fly, a HIS-ton steamboat, began making two trips a day between the two places, leaving Troy at seven a. M. and one p. M., with extra trips three days in the week for the accommodation of passengers patronizing the boats plying between Albany and New York. The Fire Fly was undoubtedly the first steamboat that made regular trips between Troy and elsewhere.
Up to June 8, ISIR, the official records of Rensselaer county were kept, first in Lansingburgh, until October 9, 1698, and thereafter in a building on First street, Troy, a few doors north of Congress. In 1812 the Legislature authorized the board of supervisors to raise by tax the sum of $1,500 for the erection of a fireproof office for the use of the county clerk. Soon afterward a two story brick building was con- strueted on the southeast corner of Congress and Second streets. It was used thereafter by the clerks of the county until the building was demolished to make way for the court house which in turn was razed to the ground in 1895.
In 1812 a statistical writer said that there were in Troy 510 dwelling houses and 120 stores, beside a large number of shops. He continued :
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