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Troy Treasures Column- Troy Record

May 16th 2010

Troy's Treasures: Stickball at Troy's Little Italy market

by Rocco DeFazio and Mike Esposito

The former public market in Troy's Little Italy on Hill Street has secured its place in local history — first as a pottery works from 1816 to 1837, then as the gas works complex for 50 years from 1848 to the turn of the century, followed by a farmers market from 1918 until the late 1930s when the opening of the regional market in Menands began to diminish the importance of the Hill Street market. Many current and former neighbors have warm memories of the market in the 1940s, 50s and 60s as their four season playground — memories that will be the main topic of conversation on June 5, when the fourth Market Reunion is held at the Italian Community Center.

The 1930s era photo showing stickball being played in our “great good place” is one of the most popular images of the market. In a New York Post article that ran May 9 on the topic “Where Have All the Street Games Gone,” by Ginger Adams Otis, the author reminds us that stickball was one of the more popular of the inner city street games. Otis states that in the few places where street games are being played, they are the product of adult nostalgia rather then spontaneous youthful play. "Members of the Empire Stickball League which was formed 22 years ago are now teaching the art of street games like stickball." Troy may be one of the few places around that is trying to revive this simple urban game, not just for the nostalgia but as a great outdoor sport for people of all ages. Several teams will play on Sunday afternoons beginning June in the former public market. All are invited to watch or organize a team and play. Contact Rocco DeFazio at 274-8866 for details. In the meantime, the second annual stickball tournament, again billed as “We Play for Food,” resulted in $8,000 worth of food donated to the Roarke Center Food Pantry, much to the amazement of Sr. Linda O'Rourke, Sr. Marian Hamway and the Center staff who keep the shelves filled for the many inner city residents who rely on the service.

We appreciate the support of Mayor Harry Tutunjian and Council President Clem Campana as well as the Department of Public Works crew, Fire Chief Tom Garrett and the Troy firefighters and the Rensselaer County Sheriffs Department for their efforts in preparing the area for the crowds and the players. Marion Field and Jean Krueger arranged for the set up and clean up and organized neighborhood businesses, local organizations, and the volunteers who ran the food and beverage concessions — Terry and Lisa Jordan of Lisa's Gelateria, the CYO's Kelly Forenzo, Joe Pappa, Jerry Favata and the group from Troy Little Italy Bingo. Matthew and Michael DeFazio did another great job of organizing the tournament and George Regan and Bruce Vanderwater coordinated the tourney play. Capt. Dave Paul, president of the Troy Uniform Firefighters Association, coordinated the collection of food from fire stations and arranged for items to be brought to the MarketPlace in a vintage fire truck. The ARC's Jim Blessing provided a truck to collect and distribute the food donations.

Teams represented DeFazio's, the CYO, the ARC, the South Troy Hooligans, FLY 92, Mike Bouchard and the Wet Six (tourney winners), and Dominick Testo's Wynantskill Stables, who made a generous donation of food in memory of Don Fazioli. Also present were two teams from Siena College along with Vice President Linda Richardson and recently appointed basketball Coach Mike 'Mitch' Buonaguro (a long time stickball player from Queens), whose players stayed at the event signing autographs and greeting their many fans. The Troy High School effort was led by Mary Grace Tompkins; the School 12 effort was coordinated by Janice DeFazio, Ann Appicella and Tom Carroll. Local talk radio show hosts Don Weeks (WGY), Roger Wylands (980 AM), Brian Sinkoff (104.5 PM) and 'Tanch'(FLY 92), talked up the tournament. DeCresente Distributing provided the signs and banners and Vic Christopher of the Tri City ValleyCats ran our poster on his popular Times Union blog. Thanks for the PR guys and thanks Vic for your constant encouragement of our efforts. Once again, the musical entertainment venue was a crowd pleaser, with music provided by Maurizio Russomanno, SHELVING ROCK with Stephen Iachetta and T. Breeze VerDant, and Dave Cerrone and The Refrigerators.

The event keeps alive a great tradition — stickball in the market — and helps many people in need of food. A special thanks to the individual stickball players, volunteer workers, and all who attended and donated food.

Rocco DeFazio and Mike Esposito are members of Troy Little Italy. Troy Treasures is a project of Troy Rehabilitation & Improvement Program (TRIP), Inc.

March 21st 2010

Troy's Treasures: Join in our Troygle efforts

By Lisa Powell Graham

“Troy, New York – Where History, Culture and Technology Meet” is the new slogan adapted by a joint City Hall and Troy citizens’ effort to launch a new era of innovation in Troy. We’re applying to be a test site for Google to install ultra-high-speed broadband, thus making the Internet in Troy about 100 times faster than typical service.

The “Troygle” initiative, which could, as Google might say, “put Troy on the map,” has been itself a high-speed effort, bringing community members, city government, businesses, colleges, and more together to create an application that will dazzle Google. Applications are due March 26 so the team is moving fast.

The more people who apply, the better our shot of gaining Google’s attention. There is also an application from City Hall, a joint community application, and applications from local businesses, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and more. It’s a truly collaborative project.

You can learn more and apply to bring Google ultra-high-speed broadband to Troy at www.troygle.org

We are a city of innovators, with a history of impressive firsts. Troy was, as Tom Carroll of the Hudson Mohawk Gateway often says, “the Silicon Valley of the 19th century,” leading the way during the Industrial Revolution. This would be our chance to lead the way in the 21st century.

Troy is famous for its many firsts. The first railroad bridge to cross over the Hudson River was built between Troy and Green Island for the Rensselaer and Saratoga Railroad.

Emma Willard's Troy Female Seminary was the first female academy to offer math and science to the young ladies. Troy is the home of the detachable shirt collar, invented by Hannah Lord Montague in 1827, and the first successful collar laundress union formed by Kate Mullaney in 1864.

We were leaders in the steel and iron industry in the 19th century. Bessamer steel processes originated in Troy. Plates for the famous Civil War ironclad ship the Monitor were rolled in Troy at the Rensselaer iron works.

Inspiration for the Ferris Wheel came from Henry Burden’s giant waterwheel; it was invented by Rensselaer graduate George Ferris and introduced at the World’s Colombian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago. Of course, we’re the home of Uncle Sam.

Today, Troy is home to EMPAC, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s extraordinary performing arts center that features internationally renowned artists. We are the home base for countless hi-tech companies, artists, gaming companies, innovators, and multi-media artists.

Our universities lead the way, with Rensselaer, the nation’s oldest technological university blazing the trail in biotechnology, nanotechnology, Web development, e-science, and experimental media arts. Hudson Valley Community College leads the way with its cutting-edge renewable energy programs including solar power and biomass systems. Russell Sage has long been a leader among women’s colleges nationwide.

Troy is now poised to bring the next wave of innovation home by being one of the first communities in the nation to lead the way with ultra-high-speed broadband. And YOU can help make it happen.

We need everyone’s help and involvement this coming week. Please go to www.troygle.org to submit your individual or group application by March 26. And join us at a fun Troygle celebration, The Need for Speed!, Tuesday from 5 to 7 p.m. on Monument Square downtown.

Local roller derby team The Hellions of Troy will be performing and matched up against Uncle Sam. We’ll have Uncle Sam hats and beards for those who want to show Troy spirit – and we also encourage everyone to dress in Uncle Sam or “Google” attire.

We also need volunteer help to make this happen so please email lisa.powell.graham@gmail.com.

Whether we are selected by Google or not, we are committed to bringing high-speed Internet to Troy to help us lead the way, create more jobs, attract more hi-tech companies to launch and stay here; to further link our universities to the community; to allow nonprofits to provide more services to the lower-income population in Troy; to increase our ability to offer a better education to students of all ages; and to allow us to create “virtual tours” of Troy online — bringing Troy to the world!

Lisa Powell Graham is a strategic planning consultant, writer and dancer based in Troy who is working with the www.Troygle.org team to bring Google to Troy. Her Website is www.transformingcities.com Thanks to RCHS Historian Kathy Sheehan for the “firsts” detailed in this article.

March 7th 2010:

Troy Treasures: Troy’s role in the Underground Railroad

By Paul Stewart

The past is long past us but somehow it manages to be present in everything we do.

At the end of February I was pleased to participate in the conference held at Russell Sage College Troy campus on the story of the Underground Railroad. It was the ninth in a series of conferences organized by the Underground Railroad History Project of the Capital Region. This organization, founded in 2003, has worked to freshly research and tell the story of the Underground Railroad in a new way. What is new about the way it tells the story is that it looks at the story based on surviving documents, and with a focus on the African descendent participants in the story. So, rather than focusing on the abolitionists it focuses on the freedom seekers, the escaped slaves, and their stories.

Troy’s share in this story was weaved through out the conference but most especially it was the focus of an art display and bus tours toward the end of the conference. Artist Mark Priest, of the University of Louisville, Kentucky, has produced a series of paintings on the life of Harriet Tubman and nearly a dozen of them deal with the rescue of Charles Nalle in Troy in April of 1860. These dramatic paintings bring to life the story which was one of the greatest events for human rights that has ever happened in Troy. These paintings are on display right now at the Rensselaer County Historical Society and at the gallery at Russell Sage College.

In addition to these great paintings, Scott Christianson, a Rensselaer County resident and author, débuted his latest book Freeing Charles, the story of the rescue of Charles Nalle. This book is a well researched and well written telling of the life of Charles Nalle from his time in Virginia to his capture, rescue in Troy and his return to settle finally in Washington, D. C.

On the last day of the conference a bus tour was offered to participants where author Scott Christianson and County Historian Kathy Sheehan explained the history, geography and people of the city of Troy. In particular they outlined how African Americans participated in Troy’s history from the time of the Dutch through the Underground Railroad and to the present.

The bus departed from the front of the Rensselaer County Historical Society and in a two hour period toured around the heart of the city. We saw where African Americans marched in celebration of the end of slavery in New York in 1827, where African Americans were buried in pre-civil war Troy along the hillside under the where Troy University, the future Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, sat. We saw where Pinksterfest was celebrated. We saw where key churches in the abolition struggle were. We saw where the draft riots of the Civil War took place. We saw where the old Liberty Church sat, the church that was the location of numerous African American conventions took place and where the work of the Underground Railroad took place. Most especially we disembarked from the bus and walked near monument square and to First and State streets. At First and State is the place where Harriet Tubman played a key role in rescue of Charles Nalle, which the conference celebrated in the paintings of Priest and the book by Christianson.

The past is long past us but somehow it manages to be present in everything we do. Everything we are in the present day is built upon the work of the past. Troy was a place of refuge for many in the period of the Underground Railroad. The conference celebrated that role and work. It is my constant hope that the journey of the people who were escapees from slavery, freedom seekers, will be something that will bring us enlightenment about our humanity, will inspire us to greater virtue, and instruct us in how to be better citizens in our troubled world.

For more information about the Underground Railroad History Project of the Capital Region, go to http://www.ugrworkshop.com.

“Troy’s Treasures” is a project of the Troy Rehabilitation and Improvement Program

Paul Stewart is one of the conference organizers.