Welcome to 365 Stories. On December 12, 1955 Troy Township was incorporated as the City of Troy. A great deal has changed in our local community, the State of Michigan, our country and the world in the last sixty years. Technology, communication, environmental awareness, human rights, medicine, scientific discoveries, global political and economic policies, and even the furnishings and gadgets in our own homes have all changed. Our goal is to publish a different story each day in 2015 that highlights a person, discovery, or event that occurred locally, regionally, nationally, or even globally between 1955 and 2015 that helped shape our lives and our community. We will try to post stories on important anniversary dates, but we also realize that dates are less critical than content and context.
We invite you to read and comment on the stories. Your suggestions for topics are also welcome and can be posted on our Facebook page, www.facebook.com/TroyHistoricVillage.
You can also email stories or ideas to the 365 Story Editor at ed@thvmail.org. A story should be between 150- 250 words and include at least two references. Attach illustrations as jpegs at 300 dpi. Please respect copyrights when quoting material or attaching images. Also remember that 60 years is a lot of time to cover. We can’t possibly include all noteworthy events. But our collective memory and research will provide a good historic perspective and a wonderful way to actively commemorate this important anniversary year in Troy.
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To begin the year, here are a few Troy facts related to a favorite topic: Roads.
The original Troy Township was thirty-six square mile sections. The nineteenth century residents established a system of roads that followed the section lines across the flat countryside. These grid roads were notoriously muddy during spring and fall. Early settlers built corduroy roads by laying logs across the paths. Improved plank roads were constructed using wooden planks. (Yes, Romeo Plank in Macomb County was originally a plank road.) The main north-south road through Troy Township was Paint Creek Road, later renamed Rochester Road. By 1920 six miles of the section roads in Troy had been paved, ten were gravel, the rest were dirt.
