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New York - Troy - Points of Interest The BETSY HART HOUSE, 59 Second St., was built in 1827 by Richard P. Hart, a railroad magnate and merchant of the mid-nineteenth century, whose wife, Betsy, was said at her death in 1886 to have been the richest woman in America. The two-story-and-attic house with its marble front is an excellent example of Georgian Colonial architecture. The arched entrance and window trim are enriched with fine details, and the wrought-iron balustrade, newels, and fence are elaborate. The FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, SE. corner of Congress and First Sts., a stuccoed brick building with a stone foundation, erected in 1836, resembles a Greek temple with its Doric pedimented portico, heavy pilasters, and cornice. The congregation, organized in 1791, is the oldest in Troy. RUSSELL SAGE COLLEGE, NW. corner of Ferry and Second Sts., an institution of higher learning for women, was organized in 1916 through the generosity of Mrs.Russell Sage. The three stone-and-brick college buildings in Sage Park were formerly occupied by the Emma Willard School; the remaining buildings are near by. The curriculum includes four- year courses in the arts and sciences, nursing, business education, home economics, and physical education, leading to the degrees of A.B. and B.S. Enrollment is approximately 700. On the campus, facing Second Street, a bronze statue of Emma Willard marks the site of the Troy Female Seminary, predecessor of the Emma Willard School. The HART MEMORIAL LIBRARY, NE. corner of Second and Ferry Sts., headquarters of the Troy public library system, was erected in 1897 by Mary Lane Hart as a memorial to her husband, W.H.Hart. The building, a two-story-and-basement marble structure, is suggestive of an Italian palace, with two arched main entrances, pilastered and triplearched front windows, and five-arched loggia on the second floor of the Ferry Street side. The ornamentation is Italian Renaissance. The FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, Third St. between Congress and State Sts., erected in 1846, is a bulky red brick building with a massive white wood portico of six Greek Ionic columns and a pediment. From the roof rises a stepped tower and a tall, slender spire. The First Particular Baptist Church'of the village of Troy, as the society was called, was the second church organization in the community. Founded in 1795, it erected its first church building in 1805 on land donated by Jacob D. Vanderheyden in 1796. In 1824 there was installed in its tower the first town clock which was guaranteed 'to be seen from more than 1,000 windows . . . to strike a handsome blow, and to keep perfect time . . . and be an ornament for the church and city.' ST.PAUL'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH, NE. corner of State and Third Sts., erected in 1827, the oldest church structure in the city, is built of limestone with wood trim. The style is simple English Gothic. The severe plainness of the pointed arch windows contrasts with the intricate cut woodwork of the upper portion of the tower over the main entrance. The CLUETT PEABODY PLANT, 433-71 River St., is the largest shirt factory in the world. The main factory is a six- and nine-story modern building occupying an entire city block. Bleaching operations are carried on across the river near Waterford. RENSSELAER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE, Sage Ave. between Eighth and Fifteenth Sts., founded in 1824, is the first college of science and civil engineering now in existence to be established in an Englishspeaking country. It offers four-year courses in the engineering and scientific fields and in architecture and business administration. Graduate courses lead to master's and doctor's degrees. The institute was founded by Stephen Van Rensselaer 'for the purpose of instructing persons in the application of science to the common purposes of life.' Amos Eaton ( 1776-1842), pioneer in American scientific research and education, was appointed senior professor. A series of lectures on science that he delivered before the State legislature in 1818 at the request of Governor De Witt Clinton had won him the patronage of Stephen Van Rensselaer. In 1820 he made the first geological survey in New York, following the route of the Erie Canal, and created an interest that led to the establishment of the State Geological Survey in 1836. The Broadway Approach, an impressive stone stairway constructed on the site of the old main building of the institute, offers a direct approach from the center of the city to the campus on the hill. The main buildings, principally laboratories, extend in an irregular line up the steep hillside. Monumental in appearance, they are constructed of Harvard brick and Indiana limestone in English Georgian style. The Palmer Chamberlaine Ricketts Building, completed in 1935 and named for the man who was president of the institute from 1901 to 1934, houses the newer departments of aeronautical, chemical, and metallurgical engineering. ST. JOSEPH'S SEMINARY, Eighth St. between Sage and College Aves., now the Provincial House and Novitiate of the Sisters of St. Joseph, occupies the plot of ground contiguous to the R.P.I. campus. The Seminary and the chapel form a 'T' in plan. Built in 1856 of brick, the Seminary, Romanesque Revival in style with Gothic towers, is now finished in dark, rough-cast stucco. Two of the four original Gothic wood spires on the square central towers remain, together with the two pinnacled towers on the end wings. The Chapel, built in 1933, is constructed of seam-faced granite with cast-stone trim in the English Gothic style. The interior walls, columns, and altars are of varied rich marble, with effective lighting and decorations. The EMMA WILLARD SCHOOL, Pawling and Elm Grove Aves., an exclusive college preparatory school for girls, one of the oldest of its kind in the country, occupies a secluded, carefully landscaped campus on the brow of a hill. The buildings were made possible largely by a gift of Mrs.Russell Sage, an alumna of the school. Built of Schoharie limestone, they are English Collegiate Gothic (Tudor and Early English Renaissance) in style. Open tracery and gargoyles distinguish the octagonal main tower. The gymnasium has an impressive clock tower. The BELDING HOUSE, 9 Brunswick Road, is a fine example of the Greek Revival style. The pedimented portico with four fluted Ionic columns overlooks the mill pond across the road. The flush boarding of the main block is broken by floor-length parlor windows and on the left by an unusually squat side-lighted door surmounted by a wide transom. On each side are clapboarded wings with end chimneys. The interior retains its original doors, trim, and marble mantels. The house was erected in the late 1830's by Dennis Belding, Troy butcher, who owned the farm site from 1834 to 1854. TROY ORPHAN ASYLUM, SW. corner of Spring and Pawling Aves., is a private institution providing individual care for its inmates. The group of brick buildings in the Victorian Gothic style houses the dormitory, training quarters, recreational unit, chapel, hospital, power house, and barns. The institution is supported by voluntary contributions; admission is open to children of all sects from birth to 16 years of age. OAKWOOD CEMETERY, E. end of 101st St., extends over the western slope of the hills on the northeastern border of Troy. The Robert Ross Monument, a heroic figure of Ross by J.Massey Rhind, was erected by the women of Troy, with the aid of Nation-wide contributions. Ross was martyred while defending the purity of the ballot at a city election on March 6, 1894. A State investigation and a trial focused the attention of the whole country on the political corruption of Troy at that time and on the lax election laws of the State of New York. Public opinion forced the passage of corrective measures culminating in the use of the Australian ballot. The Russell Sage Monument marks the grave of Russell Sage, ( 1816-1906), who was born in a covered wagon in Verona, New York, and came to Troy as a boy to serve as apprentice in his brother's store. In 1837 he purchased the store and thereafter extended his activities into several commercial fields. In 1852, while serving as the district's representative in Congress, he supported the movement to establish Mount Vernon as a national shrine. The Samuel Wilson Monument, a finely proportioned rough granite block, was dedicated by the Veterans of Foreign Wars in July 1936. Samuel Wilson ( 1766-1854) was a Troy brickmaker who early in the War of 1812 opened a slaughterhouse and sold meat to Elbert Anderson, Gov-7ernment contractor. Wilson's beef and pork were shipped down the Hudson to the Army cantonment at Greenbush, each piece stamped 'US—EA.' Soldiers invented the story that the US ( United States) stood for 'Uncle Sam' Wilson. The phrase caught the public fancy and was applied to other Government property. The Wendell- Lansing House, 405 Second Ave., was built about 1750 in the early Georgian Colonial style. The white two-story superstructure is of Holland brick; the foundations are of cut stone, with a riverside wall more than three feet thick, probably to withstand ice floes brought down by freshets. The interior has been modernized.