Cannon Place in Troy, NY

From the Dec. 9th Times Union "Cannon Place in Le Grand Building" by Don Rittner.

The building is located on Monument Square in downtown Troy, New York. The building opened Jan. 1, 1831 on the site of the popular Bull's Head Tavern and housed eight stores and was four stories high.

Le Grand Cannon came to Troy from Connecticut and established the Conduit Company of Troy, supplying water. Later he was president of the Rensselaer Saratoga Railroad.

In 1846, he established the Le Grand Cannon & Co., a rolling mill that later became the Rensselaer Iron Works which made the rivets as well as other items for the USS Monitor.

His son, Leland Bouton Cannon was born in 1815 and was involved in various transportation companies as an adult.

In 1838, he was an aide to general John E. Wool of Troy and became a colonel at Fortress Monroe. During the Civil War, Cannon wrote a report on the escaped slaves flocking to the fort and carried out orders that led to the effective emancipation of former slaves some four months before the Emancipation Proclamation.

He was a witness to the monumental battle between the Monitor and the Virginia.

After the war, he purchased the old Fort St. Frederick on Lake Champlain and restored it. He died at age 91 in 1906.

In 1970, the Cannon Building was added to the NRHP.

A Real Monitor Thing. --Old B-R'er