Troy, New York is a very historic city located in Rensselaer County on the banks of the Hudson River in the east-central portion of the state. It is several miles north of the city of Albany, near the juncture of the Erie and Champlain canals. Troy serves as the county seat and as of the 2000 census, the population was 49,170 residents. Named for the legendary city made famous in Homer's Iliad, Troy's motto is "Ilium fuit, Troja est," which means "Troy was, Troy is." This very prestigious town is home to the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Russell Sage College, the Hudson Valley Community College, the Emma Willard School - and was the hometown of Uncle Sam. The latter was a meat-packer who moved to Troy in 1789 and went into business there in 1797. It is claimed that he is the source of the personification of the United States known as "Uncle Sam." As the story goes, at the time of the War of 1812, Samuel Wilson obtained a contract to supply beef to the Army in its campaign farther..