Troy

Welcome to Troy, Ohio – “Where Civic Pride is City Wide!”

I’m afraid I’m going to have to agree on this one, folks! In researching for this article, I found every single employee and town representative passionately proud of their city and equally proud to share information and commentary! It was difficult not to be affected by this pride and it does have its foundation in some solid evidence of community-invested time and attention.

Troy has a population of approximately 22,000 people and has been featured in Ohio Magazine’s November 2009 issue as “Best Home Town for 2009“ after having competed with 16 other local communities of southwest Ohio!

As you enter the town, you’ll see the huge “Welcome to Troy, Ohio” sign which indicates the city’s emblems of pride. There’s an emblem for the famed Annual Strawberry Festival, one that represents The United Way which continually makes its annual goal”, and the Troy Foundation which has greatly benefitted the community with over $143,000 dollars in grants to local, public organizations-to name a few. Troy has been singled out for its ideal level of City government, great recreational trails, a great place to explore with your family, and a good quality of life environment. It’s a small town with solid small town values.

As you know, I enjoy highlighting whatever a town considers to be the greatest “joy-giver” to its population. However, Troy is no stranger to recreation! Its “joy-giving” events and facilities are quite numerous. In fact, according to the city’s Major, Michael L. Beamish, and the Director of Public Service and Safety, Patrick Titterington, their objective has been to broaden the array of recreational opportunities for its residents and it surely is accomplishing same! Troy stages many community events that are widely supported by surrounding residents addressing the arts, food, and music. Troy can boast a host of facilities servicing their public to include a 10,000 seat stadium, a new Olympic-sized aquatic center, (yes, you heard that correctly, “OLYMPIC-SIZED”), a 4500 seat ice arena, an 18-hole municipal golf course, a senior citizen center, to name just a few. Well, what the heck, let’s name some more! There are also 32 public parks with over 1000 acres of land to enjoy, the town maintains 19 ball fields, 15 soccer fields, 19 tennis courts, 2 football fields, 12 basketball courts, a new skate park, miles of biking trails, and a 90 acre nature preserve! And I guess I’ll put my feet up and name even more enticing recreational features, because the list goes on! The downtown area is considered to be a vibrant, river corridor, where the town endeavors to bring the river into play. In fact, this town seems to embody the definition of “play”. There are various annual competitions, a treasure island river adventure series, a canoe float, a mini-triathlon event, activities for kids and families, and a series of about 8-12 events during the summers, including the infamous “Taste of Troy” event and its renowned Strawberry Festival.

The “Taste of Troy” event is hosted on the third Saturday in September of every year and boasts the cuisine of 15 independent restaurants, live art, live entertainment, a corvette show, and generally brings lots of different people together–something to the tune of 5,000-6,000 people attend this event from all over the Ohio valley!

The Troy Main Street Inc. organization, whose motto is “Live Work Play Invest” is a unique, non-profit program designed and enlisted toward the goals of economic restructuring, promotion, design, diversification, and organization of the downtown area. In fact, if you are interested in opening a business in the downtown area, check out the Troy Main Street website. Ask for Karin Manovich, the Director, and she will advise you on available commercial spaces, what businesses and restaurants already exist, and anything else you’d like to know about its business opportunities, including residential space you might also be interested in.

Troy is obviously a very picturesque and well-preserved town, and…I’m told, its town square, Prouty Plaza, is considered the “living room of its community” which is well-preserved, dotted with numerous sculptures, and the town is quite proud of them. Also erected and still standing since 1888, is its neo-renaissance style courthouse.

Troy lands itself in a unique location. It is situated in what has been termed “The Crossroads of America” at the intersection of Interstates I70 and I75, “two of the largest U.S. interstate systems”, ( eh hem…this comes in handy when you’re ready to take a vacation across America) and is also situated north of Dayton by approximately 21 miles.

Troy was founded in 1807. The legislature wanted to find the best place for a county seat. The history forms say that there were three reasons they settled on this area: 1) because it was on higher ground, 2) because it was centrally located, and 3) because it was across the river from Staunton, the first European settlement which was originally surveyed to be a larger town. Land from three separate land owners was purchased by the state on which grew the city of Troy.

When one of Troy’s early pioneers were questioned about how the town was actually named and who was physically there first, and if there was a book it might have been written in—the pioneer replied, that “if you had a book here, it was usually a Bible, your 2^nd book was more than likely Pilgrim’s Progress, and if you were really “well off”, you might have possessed Homer’s Odyssey, which held stories of Troy.” So no one knows who was there first. But, the locals did have an affinity for the stories, and this actually may be how the town got its name. If you look across the globe, Troy, Ohio is almost along the same latitude as ancient Troy, which is now western Turkey. Troy later became incorporated as a village in 1814 and became a city in 1890.

This city demonstrates a broad range of housing units from “rental properties, condos, single family homes, to specialized housing specifically intended for the elderly”. And speaking of senior citizens, if you are bringing your extended family to Troy, there is a new sport taking off in Troy called Pickle Ball. It is a sport which is played on the tennis courts and is becoming quite popular with the seniors of the town.

The Troy City School system is a member of the Greater Western Ohio Conference, and has an “Excellence with Distinction” status as a district over all, including the high school, as well as a 90 percent graduation rate. “Troy students have access to over 40 extracurricular activities and numerous community-based organizations” including the Upper Valley Joint Vocational School, and with some of those courses even being offered right at the high school. “Troy High School has 84 professionally certified staff members [with] approximately 80% having masters degrees [and] with one third of these having additional post-graduate work beyond the masters level. 90% of Troy’s graduates enter college, 33% with Honors Diplomas, and 85% earning some form of scholarship dollars for post secondary education.” Troy proudly boasts “250 of their high school students attending either post secondary education, [that is attending colleges or vocational schools] for part of their high school day with a 95% graduation rate and a 96% attendance rate.”

The city welcomes you to come and discover your new home in Troy!