Editing Troy, New York (section)

====Financial success and flaming destruction====

Through much of the 19th and into the early 20th centuries, Troy was one of the most prosperous cities in the United States. Prior to its rise as an industrial center, it was the transshipment point for meat and vegetables from Vermont and New York, which were sent by the Hudson River to New York City. The trade was vastly increased after the construction of the [[Erie Canal]], with its eastern terminus directly across the Hudson River from Troy at [[Cohoes, New York|Cohoes]] in 1825. Another artery constructed was the Champlain Canal. In 1916, Troy Federal Lock opened as one of the first modern locks along the present-day canal system.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Champlain Canal Guide: Albany to Troy – Erie Canal, Oswego Canal and Champlain Canal Guide |url=https://www.nycanals.com/Champlain_Canal_Guide:_Albany_to_Troy |access-date=February 24, 2021 |publisher=www.nycanals.com}}</ref>

Troy has nearly been destroyed by fire three times. What was known as the [[Great Fire of Troy|Great Troy Fire of 1862]] burned down the W. & L. E. Gurley Company factory, which later that year was replaced by the new [[W. & L. E. Gurley Building]], now a [[National Historic Landmark]]: Gurley & Sons remains a worldwide leader in precision instrumentation to this day.

Troy's one-time great wealth was produced in the steel industry, with the first American [[Bessemer process|Bessemer converter]] erected on the Wynantskill Creek, a stream with falls in a small valley at the south end of the city.<ref>''A Resourceful People: A Pictorial History of Rensselaer County, New York''</ref> The industry first used charcoal and iron ore from the nearby Adirondack Mountains. Later, ore and coal from the Midwest were shipped via the [[Erie Canal]] to Troy and were processed before being sent down the Hudson River to New York City. The iron and steel also were used by the extensive federal arsenal located—as it is today—across the Hudson at [[Watervliet, New York|Watervliet]], a community then called West Troy. After the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], the steel production industry moved west to be closer to raw materials. The presence of iron and steel also made it possible for Troy to be an early site in the development of iron storefronts and steel structural supports in architecture, and some significant early examples remain in the city.