Interesting insights, Hermod. Must have been quite a sight to see panicky homeowners.

Yeah, technically, Troy has had one or two spots over the last century or two that were sort of like downtowns, but they never took the way Birmingham did. [[Of course, Birmingham had a river running through it, giving its early mills power.) And then, of course, with the multimillion-dollar freeways being laid out with government money, they never had a chance after that.

I believe Troy incorporated in 1955, after some other communities annexed some of its industrial-zoned land in the south. [[I think it was Birmingham and Clawson.) What was the motto? "The City of Tomorrow ... Today!" And man did they build it all in the grand "Futurama" style. It's funny to look back and see how our idea of the future has changed.