USA > New York > Rensselaer County > Landmarks of Rensselaer county, New York, pt 1 > Part 29
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LANDMARKS OF RENSSELAER COUNTY.
During the period of business depression in the United States which began in 1837 Troy was seriously affected with other cities. The Troy banks were finally compelled to suspend specie payments and for the purpose of continuing business James A. Zander, then city conimis- sioner, assumed the personal responsibility of issning temporary local currency, a plan followed in many other cities of the country. Bills of four denominations-one, two, three and four shillings, of 121/2 cents each-were printed and widely circulated for several years. These read as follows :
On demand, I promise to pay to the bearer, - cents in New York Safety Fund bills, on the presentation of Five Dollars at my office. Troy, July 1st, 1837. James A. Zander.
The people had confidence in Mr. Zander, who was famed for his integrity, and the bills practically saved the business of Troy. They were eventually redeemed by the city.
The city was increased in size in 1836 by the addition of a part of the town of Lansingburgh, the northern boundary of Troy then being established as it has since remained. April 22, 1837, the Legislature passed an act dividing the fourth ward into two wards, that part lying north of a line running through the middle of Jacob street becoming the seventh ward. Those parts of the first and sixth wards lying be- tween Liberty street and Canal avenue by the same law became the eighth ward,
The market facilities of Troy were greatly improved during the years 1839 and 1840 by the ereetion of two brick market buildings. The first was Fulton market, which was built on the site of the old ship- yard on the southwest corner of River and Elbow ( Fulton) streets; the other was Washington market, situated on the southwest corner of Division and Second streets. In the second story of each building was a large hall in which publie meetings of all kinds were held. Both markets were opened to the public in May, 1811. The first market in Troy had been established forty years before in a long, low wooden building in the middle of State street between First and Second streets. Six years later, in 1806, a new market building was erected on the northwest corner of Third and State streets, and in 1812 two other markets were built, one in the northern part and the other in the southern part of the village. To meet the increasing demands, sixteen years later a new North market was erected on the south side of Fed- eral street, between River street and Fifth avenue, and a new South
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market was built on the northeast eorner of Division and Second streets. The market on Third and State streets then became Centre market. All these markets were finally abandoned when the new markets were established in 1839.
April 13, 1839, the Troy Episcopal Institute, which had been estab- lished the preceding year by Rev. William F. Walker, reetor of Christ Episcopal church, was incorporated. It was located on the east side of Eighth street between Federal and Jacob streets, one of the finest sites in the city. The school was not a paying institution and after a career of less than three years it was closed.
In the summer of 1840 transportation facilities to and from Troy were greatly enhanced by the construction of the handsome passenger and freight steamer Troy, which began regular trips between Troy and New York July 17. The steamer was 294 feet in length and 61 feet in width and cost $100,000, a large sum to be put into a steam vessel in that period. The Troy was well patronized by all elasses of trade and its owners soon realized that it would not be long before they would be compelled to put a companion boat on the line.
Five years after the people of Troy had shown the inhabitants of Albany that they were not dependent upon the latter for railroad facil- ities and had begun the operation of the Rensselaer & Saratoga rail- road, the construction of another line of road was begun under circun- stances somewhat similar. When the Rensselaer & Saratoga road was constructed the Trojans consulted the business men and capitalists of Albany, with the end in view of securing their consent to the extension of the Utica & Schenectady railroad to Troy. The application was vigorously opposed by Albanians, however, who believed that by refus- ing to give their consent to the plan the matter would be dropped in Troy, and the rapidly increasing and very valuable trade of Central and Western New York would continue to be monopolized by the busi- ness men of Albany. But the latter evidently had not reckoned upon the indomitable energy which characterized the people of Troy, though it had been illustrated in an emphatic manner, for the Legislature was immediately petitioned, May 21, 1836, to pass an act incorporating the Schenectady & Troy Railroad company. This request was granted and, the Rensselaer & Saratoga railroad having been found to be a paying institution, work was begun in 1840 upon the road eonneeting Troy and Schenectady. The expense of the work, $649, 142, was borne by the city of Troy, which bonded itself for that amount. The first
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regular trains were run over the road beginning in November, 1842, the cars being drawn by horses across the Rensselaer & Saratoga rail- road bridge to the company's office on River street. In the spring of the following year the tracks were extended along River street from the Troy house to State street, in order that both roads might land and receive passengers and freight at the steamboat landing. The business of both the railroad company and the steamboat company had begun to assume large proportions. The steamer Empire, a companion boat to the Troy, began running regularly between Troy and New York May 17, 1843, bringing additional business to the railroads. The Empire was much larger than the Troy, being 330 feet in length, with 360 berths and 72 staterooms.
The development of local transportation facilities boomed in those days. With a railroad from Troy to Saratoga and another from Troy to Schenectady; with a donble line of steamboats from Troy to New York and adequate ferriage across the Hudson, the people of Troy be- gan to see great possibilities in a railroad to New York city. As early as April 17, 1832, a charter was granted the New York and Albany Rail- road company, upon the application to the Legislature of a number of the representative men of Troy and Albany. The act permitted the construction of a railroad from the junction of Fourth avenue and the Harlem river in New York to a point opposite or near the city of Albany, with power to extend the road to Troy. The building of the road was delayed for several years, but in 1840 and 1841 a track was laid from Greenbush to Troy; but its use was temporarily prohibited by the passage of a law in 1842, which provided that that section of the road was not to be used until $250,000, in addition to the amount previously expended, were actually paid out for the construction of that portion of the New York & Albany railroad south of the northern boundary of Columbia county. This legislation was enacted, it was charged, at the instance of Troy's old-time enemy, Albany, which was still jealous of the commercial supremacy of the former city. Within three years, however, the $250, 000 called for by law had been expended on the New York & Albany road, and May 11, 1845, the people of Troy secured a charter for the road which they had built, under the name of the Troy & Greenbush Railroad company, and one month later trains on the road began making regular trips. The road extended to Wash- ington street, at which point it intersected the Schenectady & Troy railroad, and the cars were drawn by horses over the track on River
JOHN W. BURNS.
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TROY AS A CITY.
street to the station built in 1845 at the intersection of River and King streets. The office of the road was at No, 161 River street, June 1, 1851, the road was leased to the Hudson River Railroad company, the local company retaining the management of the business between Troy and Albany. In July, 1851, an office was established at No. 197 River street by the Hudson River Railroad company and in December of the same year through trains between Troy and New York began running on the new road.
A good idea of the general impression of Troy among strangers at this time may be gathered from the following extracts from " Histor- ical Collections of the State of New York," etc., written by John W. Barber, a noted historical writer, and Henry Howe, also a writer of considerable repute, and published in New York in 1841 :
The city of Troy is regularly laid out, on a plan similar to that of Philadelphia. The principal street is River street, which extends along the Hudson the whole length of the city, and is ornamented with many splendid and spacious stores. It is thethea- tre of a very extensive business. The remaining portion of the place generally ex- hibits the quiet aspect of the country. Many of the buildings, both publie and pri- vate, are spacious and elegant. The court-house, built of Sing Sing marble, is a splendid edifice, after the Grecian model. St. Paul's church is a noble Gothic edifice, erected at an expense of about 50,000 dollars. There are in Troy twelve places of pub- he worship-viz., 3 Presbyterian, 2 Episcopal, 2 Methodist, 1 Scotch Presbyterian, 1 Ro- inan Catholic, I African church and 2 Friends meeting houses. On the Wynant and Poestens Kills, which here empty into the Hudson, are several manufacturing estab. lishments. The city is abundantly supplied with excellent water from the neighbor. ing hills. Hydrants are placed at the corners of the streets with hose attached, which in case of fire, as the natural head of the water is 45 feet above the city level, super- sedes the use of fire engines. Troy is indebted in a great measure for its pros- perity to its advantageous situation, and the enterprise and industry of her inhabi- tants. She has extensively availed herself of the facilities afforded by the river and the Erie and the Champlain canals. The tides of the Hudson frequently as- cend to a dam thrown across the river about a mile and a half above the centre of the city. By means of a lock, sloop navigation is thus afforded to the village of Waterford. Within the last few years Troy has increased rapidly in wealth and population. In 1820 hier population was 5,268; in 1830, 11,566; in 1810, 19,373. The Rensselaer & Saratoga railroad, 21 miles to Ballston Spa, crosses the Hudson at this place by a bridge 1,600 feet in length. . The Troy Female Seminary, located in this place, holds a high rank among institutions of learning in our country. John II. and Sarah 1. Willard are the principals, and Nancy Hinsdale the vice- principal; there are besides 21 teachers and officers. . This school has edu- cated at least five thousand pupils; of whom about one-tenth have been teachers, and it has furnished principals for many of the most distinguished female schools in every part of the Union. The present principal of this seminary, Mrs. Sarah L.
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Willard, spent nineteen years in the institution as pupil, teacher and vice-principal, before assuming its government. But the larger number of the young ladies here educated have married, and are now, many of them, standing in the first circles and among the first women of our country in regards to piety and moral worth, domestic usefulness, and intellectual and social accomplishments. Several of the pupils have been distinguished as authors. About twenty teachers are constantly employed. The number of pupils being about two hundred, gives an average of one teacher to
ten pupils. . . Great care has been bestowed on health, and but one death of a pupil, and that a sudden one from organic affection of the heart, has occurred. The Rensselaer Institute is an excellent institution under the charge of Professor Eaton. Many young men are here fitted for the profession of civil engineering. The system of teaching is thorough and practical.
In the same year, the Buffalo Gazette, the leading newspaper of Western New York, in commenting upon the prosperity induced by the energy of the people of Troy, said:
The Trojans are proverbial for their enterprise and public spirit. Everything which they take hold of "goes ahead." For two or three years past they have been endeavoring to compete with Albany for the western travel to New York and the East. For this purpose a railroad had been constructed to Schenectady which inter- cepts the great western line at that point and upon the river a line of most splendid steamers has been put. Having recently passed over this route we can speak of it advisedly. The railroad is one of the best constructed in the United States, and passes through a section of country abounding in beautiful scenery. This, with the gentlemanly attention of those in charge of the cars-which by the way are superb -- being like those of the Attica & Buffalo road-renders it a trip of pleasantness and comfort. And then upon the noble Hudson! We thought we had seen steamboats on our own Erie, and so we have, some of the finest specimens of this class in the world. But the boats comprising the Troy line, being fitted up especially for passen- gers, surpass in beauty and magnificence anything we have ever beheld in the shape of water craft. There is the Buffalo-named as a compliment to our city --- with the gentlemanly and attentive Captam R. B. Macy. She is one of the most elegant boats on the river. The Swallow, Captain A. McLean; the Troy, Captain A, Gorham, and the Empire, Captain S. R. Roe; all well known and popular with the traveling public. The two former compose the Night Line and the two latter the Day Line. The Empire is the longest boat on the river.
A fire which destroyed many thousands of dollars' worth of property occurred on the afternoon of Sunday, June 6, 1841, when nine wooden buildings and two brick buildings on the west side of River street, bounded on the north by Fulton market and on the south by the store of Haight, Gillespy & Co., were destroyed. This fire was the most disas- trous which had occurred since the conflagration of 1820. On the burned area several handsome business buildings were immediately erected.
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TROY AS A CITY.
Two years after the founding of the Church of the Holy Cross by Mary Warren, wife of Nathan Warren, in 1844, this noble woman, as- sociating with her her sons, Nathan B., Stephen E. and George H. Warren; her son in-law, Edmund Sehriver; the Rev. John Ireland Tucker, pastor of the Church of the Holy Cross, and Amos S. Perry, established " The Warren Free Institute of the City of Troy." This day school for girls was incorporated May 19, 1846, it having been es- tablished first in 1815 by Phoebe, wife of Eliakim Warren, as a Saturday sewing school for poor girls. At her death in 1835, Mary Warren, her daughter-in-law, succeeded her in its management, and four years later changed it to a charity day school, finally incorporating the institution as described. When the latter ehange was made the school was located in the old Vanderheyden mansion on the southwest corner of Eighth and Grand Division streets. April 5, 1859, the name of the school was changed by act of the Legislature to " The Mary Warren Free Insti- tute of the City of Troy," the act providing that a fourth of the income of the institute might be applied for the instruction of children of both sexes, and a fourth for maintaining services in the Church of the Holy Cross, of which the institute was a branch. Joseph D. Lomax, M. D., for many years was principal of the boys' department of the sehool. The building was burned May 10, 1862, and at the beginning of the following year the new school building south of and adjoining the church was opened. This is the edifice now occupied by the insti- tute.
The year 1846 marked the introduction into Troy of the first Morse magnetic telegraph line. In June of that year the construction of a line between Troy and Whitehall was begun, and July 24 the first mes- sage was sent to Saratoga Springs from the Troy office, located in the basement of the Athenaeum building, on First street. August 6 the line from Troy to Buffalo was completed and the first message sent over those wires. October 6 the first message from New York to Troy was received by way of Boston. Moses Johnson was the first super- intendent of the Troy station. The operations of the mysterious apparatus ereated a widespread interest in Troy and were even more inexplicable to the wondering masses than was the telephone, in- troduced thirty years later.
A year later the inhabitants of Troy were onee more given an oppor- tunity to marvel, this time over a new illuminating gas which its inventors endeavored to have introduced into the city. July 19 of that
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year an exhibition of the wonderful qualities of the gas was given in front of the court house, which resulted in creating such a general de- mand for its introduction in Troy, that February 16, 1848, the Troy Gas Light company was incorporated with a capital stock of $100,000. Of this amount $11,000 was subscribed by Trojans and the balance by Philadelphia capitalists. Conduits were laid at once and the streets of the city and many public and private buildings were illuminated by gas for the first time on the evening of October 2, 1848. An attempt had been made many years before, first as early as 1818, to introduce an inferior quality of gas; and March 29, 1825, a number of citizens even went so far as to become incorporated as " The Troy Gas Light com- pany," with a capital stock of $150,000, but the company never began the manufacture of gas and the project ended with the granting of the charter. The leading spirits in this early unsuccessful company were Nathan Warren, George Tibbits, Richard P. Hart, Samuel McConn, John D. Dickinson, Jedediah Tracy, Gurdon Corning, Elias Patterson, Gilbert Reilay, Daniel Southwick, John Paine, John Gary, Warren Kellogg, James Van Schoonhoven, James Van Brackle, Jeremiah Dau- chy, Ephraim Gurley, Alsop Weed and Gurdon Grant.
St. Peter's Roman Catholic church, which was built in 1826 and 1827 on the corner of Hutton and North Second streets and later enlarged by a brick addition, was totally destroyed by fire February 10, 1848, caused by sparks from a stove-pipe. The new church was erected the following year and was dedicated December 16, 1849, by Bishop John McCloskey of Albany.
The third of the disastrous conflagrations occurring in Troy was one which began about 9.30 o'clock in the evening of Monday, May 1, 1848, in a stable in the rear of Mechanics' hall on the east side of River street between Congress and Ferry streets. Most of the buildings were of wood and within a short space of time the entire block was destroyed, beside the MeCoun block on the south side of Congress street and five large buildings on the west side of River street. Help was sent from Albany, West Troy and Lansingburgh and the firemen of these places did splendid service in preventing the progress of the flames to other parts of the city. No lives were lost, but seventeen horses of the Troy and Albany stage line and seven belonging to S. J. & A. C. Halstead were burned to death.
The Troy Board of Trade was organized by a number of prominent merchants and shippers October 13, 1849, the first meeting being held
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four days later in the hall in the Athenaeum building. The body con- tinued in existence 27 years, during which time many products were listed and the business men of Troy and vicinity drawn into closer relations.
The consecration of Oakwood cemetery October 16, 1850, was at- tended by solemn and impressive ceremonies. The plans for the establishment of this handsome and imposing burial ground, which occupies one of the finest sites in the country devoted to a similar pur- pose, had their inception in the fall of 1846, when a number of citizens agreed to contribute money sufficient to purchase and lay out the land selected by the majority of them. Their original plan was deemed impracticable, and two years later they determined to take advantage of the law authorizing the incorporation of rural cemeteries. Conse- quently the Troy Cemetery association was organized September 9, 1848, with Isaac MeConihe, George M. Tibbits, John Paine, D. Thomas Vail, John B. Gale and Stephen E. Warren as trustees. The committee appointed at the time of organization reported in favor of the selection of the present site on the high hill near the northeastern limits of the city, and the next fall the trustees purchased about one hundred and fifty acres of land on that spot and engaged J. C. Sidney, a landscape architeet, to lay it out in an artistic manner. The dedication cere- monies were very impressive. A procession headed by the Watervliet Arsenal band, composed of the officers of the cemetery association, the members of the Common Council, the pastors of the various churches and other representative citizens, under the escort of the local military companies, proceeded from the court-house to the grounds under the leadership of Colonel A. 11. Pierce, grand marshal. The exercises began with a prayer by the Rev. Dr. Nathan S. S. Beeman, pastor of the First Presbyterian church, followed by the reading of the Scriptures by the Rev. Robert B. Van Klecek, pastor of St. Paul's church, and the sing- ing of the dedication hymn composed for the occasion by Rev. John Pierpont, pastor of the First Unitarian church. The dedicatory address was delivered by the Hon. David Buel, jr., who declared the name of the ground to be Oakwood cemetery. The exercises were brought to a close by the benediction pronounced by the Rev. Dr. George C. Bald- win, pastor of the First Particular Baptist church.
June 6, 1850, witnessed the formal inauguration of the work upon the Troy & Boston Railroad, a charter for which had been granted April 4, 1848. As early as 1819, during the construction of the Erie and the
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Champlain canals, it had been proposed by a civil engineer to make a canal from the Atlantic ocean at Boston to the Hudson river at Troy. The project was investigated, the commissioners appointed by the Massachusetts Legislature reporting that the work could be best accomplished by means of a tunnel through the mountains of western Massachusetts. Before any practical steps toward the construction of the road were taken, however, the era of steam railways had dawned and the eanal project gave way to plans for the construction of a rail- road over the same route. In 1849 several Troy capitalists had surveys made for a road from Troy to the Vermont line, for the purpose of reaching Boston temporarily by way of Rutland, Vt., and ultimately by way of Greenfield, Mass., through the contemplated tunnel through the Hoosac mountains. The survey proving satisfactory the charter of 1848 was granted and the work was begun in 1850 as stated. The ceremonies of June 6 were as imposing as the event was important. A long procession, composed of the militia and numerous civic organiza- tions, started in the morning from the court-house to a field in the eastern part of the city, near the line of Glen avenue, where, after speechies by representative Trojans, General John E. Wool, one of the directors of the company and a most enthusiastic promoter of the road, broke the first ground. Mayor Day O. Kellogg, secretary and treasurer of the company, loaded the soil upon a wheelbarrow, which Amos Briggs, president of the company, dumped to the ground a short dis- tanee away. After the ceremonies a banquet was served at the Troy house in which more than a hundred persons participated. Thus started the work progressed favorably. The construction of the Hoosae tunnel was begun in 1864 by the Troy & Greenfield Railroad company, the State of Massachusetts extending a credit of $2,000,000 to facili- tate the work. On the evening of June 28, 1852, the first passenger train on the Troy & Boston railroad, from Eagle Bridge, arrived in the city. But it was not until February 9, 1875, that the first train of cars passed through the Iloosac tunnel. October 13 of that year the first passenger train from Boston arrived in Troy, and July 17, 1876, the first through train to Boston left Troy, the journey occupying seven and a half hours.
It may be added, in connection with the development of railways running out from Troy, that the city about this time was a prominent centre for the manufacture of passenger and freight cars, which were sent to all parts of the country. This industry was started in 1841 by
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the manufacture of railroad passenger cars at the works of Eaton & Gilbert. Eleven years before the works of Charles Veazie and Orsa- mus Eaton had turned out fifty post coaches, used on the various stage lines in and about Rensselaer county, in addition to which many vehicles of other kinds were made. The firm of Eaton & Gilbert built the first eight-wheel passenger cars used on the Schenectady & Troy railroad. In 1844 Edward O. Eaton was admitted to the firm, which was then known as Eaton, Gilbert & Co. In the year 1850 the output of this concern, which at that time was located on Sixth street, be- tween Fulton and Albany streets, was thirty passenger cars and 158 freight cars, besides 100 stage coaches and fifty omnibuses. The stages and cars built by that establishment were used, not only in all parts of the United States, but also in Canada, Mexico and South America.
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