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Don Rittner

Don Rittner

The Saratogian

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RITTNER: Batestown and the Fair, Part 2

In 1848 the Agricultural Society leased five acres for seven years and erected buildings and fences in Batestown beginning on the north side of...

27.04.2024 10

The Saratogian

Don Rittner

RITTNER: Batestown and the County Fair, Part 1

As I wrote in my previous columns, Batestown, the area of Troy between Middleburgh Street and 101st Street, was sort of a wild west during the 19th...

20.04.2024 8

The Saratogian

Don Rittner

RITTNER: April 26, 1953

If you were in Troy then you may be dead, or have had some form of cancer. Physicists experimenting with radioactivity at RPI noticed a sudden surge...

13.04.2024 4

The Saratogian

Don Rittner

RITTNER: Yes Virginia, There WAS a downtown

Back on January 16, 2001, 23 three years ago, I wrote the following column. It seems timely for all the Troy newbies. In my lonely pursuits to fight...

06.04.2024 7

The Saratogian

Don Rittner

RITTNER: Where are they now?

In my Jan. 7, 2003 column — that’s 21 years ago — I featured my Top Ten Endangered List for Troy. 1. Troy Bell Foundry, First and Adams 2....

30.03.2024 7

The Saratogian

Don Rittner

RITTNER: Save the Academy

When Abraham Lansing laid out his village in the 18th century he gave it a public square located in the center of the upcoming village of...

23.03.2024 6

The Saratogian

Don Rittner

RITTNER: Is your home historic?

Chances are the answer is yes if you live in Troy. The NYS and National Register of Historic Places says, “Eligible properties must represent a...

16.03.2024 7

The Saratogian

Don Rittner

RITTNER: Stop tearing our history down

There are too many X’s on buildings around Troy. They’ve been left to deteriorate by many absentee landlords and some locals who just don’t seem...

09.03.2024 5

The Saratogian

Don Rittner

RITTNER: Troy is the sum of its parts — Part 3

Batestown, Middleburgh Street to 101st Street, was mentioned by Horatio Gates Spafford in his 1824, Gazetteer of the State of New. “I suppose I must...

02.03.2024 8

The Saratogian

Don Rittner

RITTNER: Troy is the sum of its parts — Part 2

Prior to his death in 1809, at age 50, Jacob D. Vanderheyden laid out a roughly rectangular area of lots beginning on the North side of present North...

24.02.2024 6

The Saratogian

Don Rittner

RITTNER: Troy is the sum of its parts — Part 1

Many Trojans do not realize that the city of Troy was created from three Dutch farms, a couple of villages and hamlets, and a sort of no-man land...

17.02.2024 8

The Saratogian

Don Rittner

RITTNER: Play ball! (In Troy)

Troy, New York is an honorary member of Baseball’s National League. Origins of the sport of baseball in the mid-1840s is given to the New York...

10.02.2024 5

The Saratogian

Don Rittner

RITTNER: Give Charlie a marker

On April 27, 1860, a crowd assembled at the corner of State and First Streets at the Mutual Bank Building, later the National Bank Building. A young...

03.02.2024 10

The Saratogian

Don Rittner

RITTNER: Things invented in Troy

Thousands of inventions were patented from many a Trojan over the last two hundred years. Periodically I will give a sample of some of those...

27.01.2024 5

The Saratogian

Don Rittner

RITTNER: Helen of Troy (New York)

Helen Ford was born Helen Isabel Barnett in Troy on June 6, 1894. Helen’s father was a manufacturer in Troy, and she was considered a musical...

20.01.2024 6

The Saratogian

Don Rittner

RITTNER: What will you tear down next?

A month or so ago Rensselaer County —- without warning — demolished the historic Telegraph Building at the top of State Street. This is nothing...

13.01.2024 7

The Saratogian

Don Rittner

RITTNER: Early feminist writer had Troy roots

Sarah Wilkinson, aka Solita Solano, was born on October 30, 1888 and came from a middle-class family. She attended Emma Willard School and Sacred...

06.01.2024 5

The Saratogian

Don Rittner

RITTNER: Who was Catherine Armstrong?

Things are not always what they seem when you visit local cemeteries. In the old Mt Ida Cemetery on the east side of Pawling Avenue there is one...

30.12.2023 6

The Saratogian

Don Rittner

RITTNER: Troy and the Boy Scouts — Part 2

Troy’s influence on the Boy Scouts doesn’t end with the fact that the first Scoutmaster in America was Troy’s Simeon F. Lester. The Boy Scout...

23.12.2023 6

The Saratogian

Don Rittner

RITTNER: Troy and the Boy Scouts — Part 1

Chances are everyone knows a Boy Scout or two. This youth-building movement began in London back in 1908. It was brought to America shortly after by...

16.12.2023 6

The Saratogian

Don Rittner

RITTNER: The Rensselaer Vampire

Vampires originated during the Medieval Period and have been part of folklore since the late 17th and 18th centuries in Eastern Europe, while becoming...

09.12.2023 7

The Saratogian

Don Rittner

RITTNER: Play it again, Sadie

Sadie G. Koninsky was an American composer, music publisher, and music teacher who lived most of her life in Troy. A prolific composer, she authored...

02.12.2023 6

The Saratogian

Don Rittner

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