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When my husband and I were considering buying a house
in Troy, we looked at many neighborhoods. I grew up
in Lansingburgh and Melrose and spent much of my teenage
years with my best friend who lived downtown, so I had
opinions about Troy's areas. My husband, however, is
a Cleveland native. His eyes took in the city as a whole
lot of possibilities, and we spent a lot of time exploring
south - South Troy, mid South Troy, central South Troy,
Hill Street, and downtown in addition to Hillside, where
we were renting.
My husband wanted more of the city's intensity than
I did, but he was happy to settle here. I am a very
light sleeper, so noise was a big consideration. I liked
how quiet the Hillside gets at night, and that most
of our roads are not raceways.
The other advantages of Hillside life, which we were
already enjoying as tenants, helped persuade him. This
neighborhood is close to downtown but not immersed in
it. We can walk to the Troy Waterfront Farmers Market,
which is my job as well as my supermarket, to the library,
Riverfront Park, and our downtown business obligations.
Fifteenth Street's restaurants, Beman Park's playground
and pretty city-softening hills, The Junior Museum and
RPI are even closer. Access to the highways is ideal.
Within the neighborhood itself, we have two parks,
Riley Park and Eloise Small Park, both of which get
a lot of use by kids. Trees line the streets, and the
shade was great in this summer's heat.
Our own block has four houses. Three of these are owner-occupied,
and in two of those, the owners have lived for 40 years.
This is not odd for the Hillside. Twenty houses out
of about 160 total in the neighborhood have multi-generation
families or people who live in the houses they grew
up in. I like that kind of stability.
Plus, this area is not densely populated. The reasons
for the many empty lots are varied. Mansions along Eighth
Street were harvested for highways that were never built,
and other houses had to be torn down due to fires or
neglect. But what grows where the buildings were is
not always weeds. We are Troy's Garden District because
so many of our empty lots are lush with flowers, fruit
and vegetables. Capital District Community Gardens lives
on Eighth Street, where it is getting ready to build
and plant an educational center.
Eighth Street is the site for Community Gardens and
RPI's Fall Festivals.
An 1881 map of the city shows the Hillside very thinly
populated, in contrast to nearby North Central and Downtown.
The rocky slope made building difficult; the open spaces
you can see today don't mean this is a graveyard for
loads of homes. In the cellar below our basement, the
shale nearly hits the ceiling.
Upstairs, tree limbs hug the windows, and brush against
them during storms. I like being surrounded by nature,
and in the midst of humanity, too. I like to brag that
our house came with more property than most suburban
developments, and we don't have to drive every time
we run out of milk, or have a meeting.
On the land, we can grow some of our food, once we
get the indoors more done. We look forward to repopulating
at least our share of the neighborhood with fruit trees.
We've heard that when the Hillside was their village,
the Armenians grew every kind of fruit the climate would
support.
Apricots, peaches, plums, and apples all grew here,
people who grew up in the neighborhood tell us.
Another strong point of the Hillside is its Neighborhood
Association.
Leaflets for meetings hit every house and each of its
residents, be they owner or tenant. Regular park cleanups
are organized, as well as indoor Halloween parties at
the Armenian Church, and outdoor barbecues once a summer.
And if I haven't convinced you to buy here yet, think
about RPI's grant to encourage owner-occupancy. Buy
here, or within a perimeter defined by the school, and
you can get $5,000 for free, provided you stay here
for five years. Just enough time to get moved in and
get the fruit trees planted. By that time, you'll want
to wait and see what kind of fruit your trees, and our
neighborhood, will bear.
Neighborhood Contact: Beth Steckley, Hillside Neighborhood
Association President, 273-0729.
Written by: Amy Halloran, Resident
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