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Historical Maps of Troy by Mike Esposito A 1789 map of Vanderheyden, the place that would one day be the village and city of Troy, appears in the book, "Troy's One Hundred Year's, 1789-1889" by historian Arthur Weise, The map identifies 289 lots along the Hudson River, from Ferry St. to what is now Fulton and from River to Third, Several nineteenth century maps of Troy and Rensselaer County have been acquired and preserved by the Troy Public Library. Four major collections are the maps accompanying the City Directories, the City Atlas of Troy, the County Atlas of Rensselaer New York and the fire insurance maps of the Sanborn Map Company "City Directory Maps" were prepared expressly for the annual city directory published over the years by Sampson, Davenport & Co., Sampson, Murdock & Co., and the R.L. Polk C . Eventually library staff removed the maps from the directories and encased them in mylar for preservation and ease of handling, At present the collection covers the years 1873 to 1959. The maps contain symbols representing schools, churches, and public buildings, which identify the location of the structures. Ward boundaries are designated. Circles mark the distance in half miles from City Hall. The maps are used in several ways. Census records cite ward numbers after the names of individuals, which lead genealogy researchers to the directory maps to locate the area of the city where family members resided. Because the maps were updated each year it is easy to identify patterns of growth and expansion in the city as new streets were added or extended and residential developments were built creating new neighborhoods. "The City Atlas of Troy, New York" was prepared from official records, private plans and actual surveys published by Philadelphia Civil Engineer, G. M. Hopkins in 1881. It is a remarkable collection of twenty maps at a scale of one hundred to two hundred feet to the inch. The explanation key identifies brick, stone and frame buildings, sheds and stables, the location of city sewer and water lines railway lines and fire hydrants and wells. Among the structures identified are schools, churches, banks, public buildings, factories and businesses. The maps have been encased in mylar for preservation and ease of handling. In preparing a recent article on the Beman Park neighborhood I could identify several huge private estates owned by the Warren's, the Tibbits and other wealthy Troy families, brick factories along Hoosick, and the location of many prominent public and private institutions in the hilltop neighborhood. "The County Atlas of Rensselaer New York" from actual surveys and records under the superintendence of F.W. Beers was issued in 1876. The art includes maps of the towns, cities and villages of Rensselaer County, identifying the owners of estates, lots, and farms in the towns and villages and contains a business notices section listing principal merchants, manufactures and farmers in the towns. These and other bits of information are valuabla for genealogical, historical, and legal researchers, "The Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps" were issued by the Sanborn Map Company for hundreds of Ameerican cities and towns for calculating fire risks on business and residential structures following a series of major fires in urban areas during the early nineteenth century. Production was time-consuming, cumbersome and expensive. By the mid-twentieth century modern building construction, better fire codes, improved fire protection and inspection services maintained by fire insurance companies resulted in a decline in the use of the maps. Thousands of maps were reproduced in 1983 in the Chadwick-Healy microform edition from the original copies at the Librarv of Congress, The New York State Library is the only area library that owns print editions. The collection at our public library consists of three reels of 35-mm microfilm with maps of Troy from 1885 through 1955. A paste-on service for individual sheet maps was available for updating essential information,. The set includes a street index with beginning and ending street numbers, A "key" to the explanations on the maps includes all essential information on structures used by fire insurance underwriters. This includes details on construction materials of structures (brick or frame building), number of windows, windows with iron shutters, steam boilers horizontal or vertical), chimneys (brick or iron), and other descriptions. Also identified are hydrants, fire alarm boxes, railroads, parks, ponds, and the width of streets, Businesses, public buildings, churches, schools, and many other structures are identified by name and each building is outlined. At a scale of fifty feet to the inch, the level of detail offered in the maps is incredible. While doing research on my former neighorhood, Havermans (once part of Sixth Avenue) and St. Mary's Avenue (once an alley), I was able to identifv a huge two-story frame building containing tenement flats and a roller-skating rink. The building, Temperance Hall (later known as St. Mary's Hall) was located on property between 7 and 17 St. Mary's Avenue, the site of a residence and land my family purchased in 1948. Other historical maps available at the Trov Public Library include The 1845 "Map of Troy" from an actual survey by Civil Engineer, S.A. Beer; three maps, each called the "New Map of the City of Troy", issued in 1868, 1869 and 1870 by Sampson, Davenport & Co, "The Map of the City of Troy,West Troy and Green Island from an actual survey by William Barton, Cartographer, City Surveyor and Civil Engineer issued in 1869 and the 1895 "Map of the Proposed City Parks" accompanying the report of William S. Egerton, Landscape Architect. A brochure accompanying the Sanborn Maps lists reasons for their continued importance years after they served the needs of fire insurance underwriters. "Genealogists and local historians locate and identify buildings and neighorhoods. Architectural historians study the location and construction of architecturally significant buildings. Urban planners study the growth of cities and towns, the spread to the suburbs, and the development and movement of industry and commerce". Both the City Atlas and the Sanbom Maps present a detailed view of our downtown business center from the later part of the nineteenth century to mid-1950. Urban renewal thirty years ago drastically changed the appearance of our center city. The maps remind us of what Troy was like. Each of the nineteenth century maps preserved and available for public use at the Troy Public Library will continue to serve a variety of users. In cooperation with Troy United Ink Corp., a not-for-profit corporation 
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