TROY, a town of the United States of North America, capital of the Rensselaer county, New York, stands on both sides of the Hudson River, 6 miles above Albany, and 151 miles N. from New York. The principal portion of the town is on the E. bank of the river, and communication between the two parts is kept up by means of a bridge and
ferry-boats. It extends for about 3 miles along the river, and is regularly laid out and well built. The streets are generally 60 feet wide, well paved, lighted with gas, and shaded with trees. Many of the public buildings are handsome, among which are the court-house, a fine marble building in the Doric style, and St Paul's Episcopal church, a costly Gothic edifice. There are about twenty other churches in the town, a lyceum with a valuable collection of natural history, the Rensselaer Institute affording a scientific and practical education to young men, the Troy female institute, and two substantial brick market-houses. The town is abundantly supplied with water by means of the Hudson, and two small streams which join that river within the town. Troy contains numerous flour and paper mills, cotton and woollen factories, tanneries, breweries, iron-foundries, machine-shops, rolling-mills, and forges. It is very favourably situated for commerce; four railways meet at this place, and steamers ply daily between it and New York. Pop. (1850) 36,349, of which West Troy contained 7564.