Troy, New York: A Collar City History

The New World, and especially New York, meant unparalleled opportunity for people in the 1600s with visions of expansion, colonization, and profit. Buying land from the Mohican tribe, the Dutch took control of much of the modern Empire State in the early part of this country's development. Under the patroonship of Kilian van Rensselaer, many pioneer farmers settled in the fertile land along the Hudson River. With each passing year, the number of Upstate settlers increased, and two villages ...