College Pond

College Pond was a pond and stream that was located near the '86 Field. It was located near the Northeast edge of '86 Field, inside of a ravine, and extended north to the top of the ravine. The pond was filled in 1907-1908 as Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute continued moving uphill. Photographs of College Pond have not been found. However, it appears on old maps from 1876, 1881, and 1891 [1][2].

A map depicting Troy, New York. The triangular College Pond can be found on the left side near the hills [5].

Background: Troy Fires

On May 10th, 1862, a fire started at the location of the present-day Green Island Bridge. This fire, which would come to be known as the Great Toy Fire of 1862, spread throughout Troy, destroying almost 700 buildings [4]. Among those buildings destroyed were the two buildings that belonged to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at the time. After these losses, RPI started moving up the hill, out of downtown Troy. In 1904, two more fires caused damage to RPI buildings. The first one in May severely damaged the Winslow Laboratory. The second one on June 9th destroyed the Main Building [3].

Expansion of Campus

After all these losses, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute was faced with the decision of where to continue building the institute. Columbia university’s president proposed that RPI take over his university's engineering education. RPI President Palmer Ricketts, who was skeptical that most Rensselaer alumni would not approve of the merger, did not favor the idea. The idea was then rejected by Rensselaer’s trustees in December 1904 [3]. Instead, RPI started purchasing more land at the top of the hill, above downtown Troy.

Shortly before rejecting Columbia's proposal in 1904, RPI formed a committee of prominent alumni and worked with several prominent city residents to propose potential expansion sites. In February of 1905, the Institute acquired the 10 acre "Walter Phelps Warren" estate for $125,000 [3]. In the two years following, the Institute continued purchasing more land. A small 0.81 acre was purchased from the Troy Hospital and 1.41 acres was purchased from the Warren and Tibbits estates. An additional 10.6 acres was purchased in 1907 from St. Joseph's Seminary [1]. After these purchases, the institute owned 25 acres (including the 1.7 acres that was previously purchased in 1877) [1].

Leveling the Land

The surface of the new property was irregular, containing both a ravine and College Pond [1]. The ravine ran east-to-west between 13th Street and 8th Street. A map from 1876 shows the pond bordering 13th Street, which ran through campus, as well as a stream that flowed to the east. The depiction of 13th St. is believed to be erroneous, as the street was interrupted by Peoples Ave. and no evidence proving the street crossed the ravine has been found [1]. If 13th street really did run through campus, the east edge of College Pond would have been against the street.

In the years 1907-1908, the pond was filled in with clay, which was sourced from a large hill at the east end of the athletic field [1]. In 1908, after the pond was filled in, a continuation of Federal Street was cut up the ravine and partially through the filled pond, connecting the streets between 9th street and 15th street. This extension was named Avenue B, and is today known as Sage Avenue [1].

References

[1] Dojka, John. “Continuing Up the Hill: College Pond.” Institute Archives and Special Collections, February 26, 2015. https://archives.rpi.edu/blog/2015/02/26/continuing-up-the-hill-college-pond.

[2] Johnson, Carl. "Map Week: RPI Hill", October 30, 2012. https://hoxsie.org/2012/10/30/map_week_rpi_hill/.

[3] Dojka, John. “Continuing up the Hill: The Warren Property.” Institute Archives ans Special Collections, June 6, 2014. https://archives.rpi.edu/blog/2014/06/06/continuing-up-the-hill-the-warren-property/.

[4] Dojka, John. “The Great Fire.” Institute Archives and Special Collections, August 31, 2012. https://archives.rpi.edu/blog/2012/08/31/the-great-fire/.

[5] Beck & Pauli. Troy, N.Y. Milwaukee, 1881. Map. https://www.loc.gov/item/75694855/.