Troy, New York - Education

Education

There were several important educational advances that took place in Troy, especially in scientific education and the education of women.

Under the patronage of Stephen van Rensselaer, Troy was the home of the first strictly scientific academic institution in the United States, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, founded in 1824, and which trained that corps of students which later founded the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sheffield Scientific School at Yale, and virtually every subsequent American scientific academic institution.

Emma Willard was a national leader in the education of women, and the author of standard instructional textbooks used for decades nationwide. She was involved in the establishment of several women's colleges, but most especially in Troy the Russell Sage College, and the Emma Willard School.