In late 2014, the State Historic Preservation Board began considering an adjustment to the district's boundaries that would be a net expansion, particularly in its southeast;[6] that increase was made official in 2016.

The district reflects Troy's evolution from its origins as a Hudson River port into an early industrial center built around textile manufacture and steelmaking.

After the decline of its industries in the mid-20th century, downtown Troy was threatened by urban renewal efforts that galvanized local preservationists, leading to the early NRHP listings and eventually the creation of the district.

Today, the city of Troy protects and preserves the district with special provisions in its zoning and programs which, with assistance from the state of New York, encourage and subsidize property owners who maintain and restore historic buildings.

With the collaboration of nearby Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), Troy is hoping to make the district a center for the development of cutting-edge technologies, a "Silicon Valley of the 19th century.

[10] To the south it includes the older buildings of Russell Sage College, Washington Square Park and the houses on Adams Street, the district's southern boundary.

The entire district is densely developed, primarily residential in its northern and southern portions, with commercial use concentrated in central blocks near Monument Square.

Most of the major streets and the central area of the district are lined with multi-story dwellings that are primarily commercial but with a mix of office and residential space on their upper floors.

In 2014 the State Historic Preservation Board considered a boundary adjustment that removes a small area at the northeast corner but adds far more, primarily at the southeast.

It would include a total of 200 new contributing properties and extend the district's period of significance to 1978, to take into account the city's urban renewal era.

To its south another proposed extension reaches across a small park on First to include the 1905 Beth Tephilah synagogue, a neoclassical brick structure that retains most of its integrity.

On the north, the Uncle Sam Atrium shopping mall and parking garage complex, occupying most of the block between Broadway and Third, Fourth and Fulton streets would now be included.

Two years later, the visiting Duke de la Rochefoucauld noted the "neat and numerous houses" and active businesses engaged in river-based trade.

[19] Unlike its classical namesake, Troy rebuilt quickly, with newer brick homes and commercial buildings, built to stricter standards, replacing the old ones and expanding again.

Although it was previously attributed to Philip Hooker, new research has determined that the house's architect was Martin Euclid Thompson and the builder was John Bard Colegrove.

[23] These trade routes were enhanced by the Erie and Champlain canals,[24] which opened new markets to the north and west, while the Troy Steamboat Company's debut did likewise for the south.

Modeled on contemporary British residential squares such as those found in London's Bloomsbury neighborhoods,[28] its first phase, on Washington Place, featured rows of townhouses with a unified facade fronting on a park reserved exclusively for residents, whose deeds require a monthly maintenance fee.

A locomotive's spark ignited the wooden Green Island drawbridge that existed at the time, and when that could not be contained to the bridge it spread to the east, ultimately devastating 507 buildings over a 16-block area.

As before, the city rebuilt quickly, with the area along Fifth between Broadway and Grant Street, where Cummings built a row of houses between Fifth and Sixth, most strongly reflecting this era of rapid construction and reconstruction.

[37][38] The Panic of 1873 put a damper on this growth, and in the interim the city's steel industry began to decline, squeezed by competition from newer, more efficient producers in Western Pennsylvania and the Midwest on one side and labor unrest at home.

The 1880 pharmacy building at 137 Second Street featured a highly decorated cast iron storefront and curved windows showing the influence of the Queen Anne Style.

They came to Troy very quickly when Marcus Cummings and his son Frederick designed the Classical Revival county courthouse at 80 Second Street, the third to occupy the site, the following year.

A short distance away three years later, the Renaissance Revival Hart Memorial Library was built of Vermont marble, joining the similarly styled 1895 Frear Mansion, also on Second Street.

[41] As the 20th century dawned, builders and architects concentrated their efforts in the northern half of the district, primarily on commercial structures as the downtown area was no longer popular as a place for new residences.

Most notable among them is the Hendrick Hudson Hotel on the east side of Monument Square, a six-story structure that was the largest building ever built in the city at the time.

The enameled metal facade on a Third Street storefront, dating to 1940, makes it the only building in the district to show any trace of the Streamline Moderne style.

[51][52] In the late 1960s, public opposition to the planned demolition of some of the historic structures downtown like the McCarthy Building[53] led to them being placed on the then-new National Register.

In 1993, Martin Scorsese used the Second Street area, particularly the Paine Mansion, and some of the Russell Sage buildings as locations for his adaptation of Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence, since they replicated the appearance of 1870s Manhattan.

[70] The city's current master plan calls for enhancing the district's mixed-use character, by encouraging both residential use and businesses that serve consumers, particularly retailers, and providing tax incentives for the rehabilitation of historic homes.

River Street's development into a center for antique stores came about without any public effort or intent, and the restoration of the music hall at the Savings Bank led to many new restaurants opening in the neighborhood.