TROY, a city of eastern New York, U.S.A., the county seat of Rensselaer county; on the east bank of the Hudson river, 7 m. above Albany, at the mouth of the Mohawk. It is on Federal highway 9 and the State Barge canal, and is served by the Boston and Maine, the Delaware and Hudson, the New York Central and electric railways, motor-bus and truck lines and river steamers. Pop. (1920) 72,013 (83% native white) ; 72,763 in 1930, by Fed eral census. Across the river are Cohoes and Watervliet, connected with Troy by bridges, and Schenectady is only 15 m. north-west. The city has a water front of 7 m. and an area of 9.32 sq.m., rising from the river to hills on the east 40o ft. high. Its seven parks cover 276 acres. The Catskill mountains are visible on the south-western horizon. Troy is at the head of steamboat naviga tion on the Hudson. Two rapid streams, Poesten kill and Wynants kill, flowing into the Hudson from the east through deep ravines, furnish water-power, and hydro-electric current also is available. Troy has long been an important industrial and commercial city. It is the principal centre in the United States for the manufacture of collars, and among its other leading products are shirts, men's clothing, surveying instruments, abrasives, valves, hydrants, bells, chains, brushes and automobile parts. The aggregate factory out put in 1927 was valued at $47,081,220. Among the educational institutions in the city are the Rensselaer Polytechnic institute, founded in 1824 by Stephen Van Rensselaer of Albany, the oldest school of science with a continuous existence in the country.
The site of Troy was part of the Van Rensselaer manor grant of 1629. In 1659 it was bought from the Indians, with the con sent of the patroon, by Jan Barentsen Wemp, and in 1707 it passed into the hands of Derick van der Heyden. In 1777 Gen.
Philip Schuyler had his headquarters on Van Schaick's island, in the Mohawk and Hudson. After the close of the Revolution there was an influx of settlers from New England ; a town was laid out on the Van der Heyden farm; in 1789 the name of Troy was adopted in town-meeting; in 1793 the county seat was estab lished here; in 1794 the village was incorporated, and in 1816 it was chartered as a city. A newspaper, The Farmer's Oracle, began publication in 1797. In 1812 a steamboat line was estab lished between Troy and Albany, and in 1825 the Erie canal was opened. During the War of 1812 Troy filled large contracts for army beef. Puddling works were opened in 1839, and for many years the city was the centre of the iron and steel industry of New York. The second Bessemer steel works in the United States was established here in 1865. During the Civil War Troy supplied much cannon and ammunition, and made the armour-plate and part of the machinery for the "Monitor." The last steel and iron works discontinued operations about 1896. The collar industry dates its origin from 1819, when Hannah Lord Montague of Troy had the ingenious idea of making separate collars for her husband's shirts. The idea spread, and in 1829 Ebenezer Brown, a local merchant, had collars made to sell in his store. The manufacture of cuffs was begun in 1845. After the introduction of the sewing machine in 1852 the industry grew rapidly, reaching its peak about the time of the World War. The city had a population of 28,785 in 1850; in 1860; 56,747 in 1880; 60,651 in 19oo; 76,813 in 1q10. In 1820, 1854 and 1862 it suffered from destructive fires.