Rollin’ All Around North Central Troy

A Troy Story

(Photo: Suzanne Spellen - taken before the current occupant moved in)

I’m always eager to learn more about my neighborhood’s past. North Central has a great history and is poised, like the rest of the city of Troy, for the next step in the restoration of greatness. Our problems are challenges, not obstacles. I think one of the ways we can grow is to realize what we’ve got. And as far as our architectural heritage, we’ve got quite a lot.

I noticed this wonderful little building the first time I ever laid eyes on North Central. It is 3001 6th Avenue, at the corner of Ingalls Avenue, across the street from School #1. At the time I first saw it, it was a restaurant supply company, with chairs and tables stacked to the tops of the display windows. Of course, I thought “That would make a great restaurant or café.”

Coming from Brooklyn, where a building like that would have been snapped up so fast you would have heard the crack of the sound barrier, it amazed me that wasn’t already being used as such. What a great size and location, here on the corner along one of Troy’s major corridors. I had much to learn about Troy’s more recent history.

So what was this building originally? Not surprisingly I found out that it was an automobile dealership. It makes sense. From the large showroom windows, to the 1920s winged emblem above the door, to the loading dock on the Ingalls Avenue side, an automobile dealership is the logical answer.

Because I limit my search to what I can find out on line, I was not able to find the exact year it was built, but it’s a great building. It’s got varied and intricate brickwork, and that fine pressed metal ornament, most of which is in very good shape.

Troy’s Automobile Row

It also turns out that this part of North Central was a major portion of Troy’s “Automobile Row.” It seems that throughout the early 1930s through the 1970s, and even still today, this area, roughly from about Jay Street to Ingalls was full of automobile related businesses. Although the names have changed, many of the automobile businesses are still there. 

Take Bob Karl’s Sales and Services, at 2791 6th Avenue. Back in 1932, it was the site of Troy Buick, Inc., which sold used cars. Gendron’s Truck Center, across the street at 2702 6th Avenue, was Knowles Pontiac in the 1960s and ‘70s. The lot next door once was home to Whitbeck Motors, Troy’s “Oldest, Largest, and Only DeSoto –Plymouth dealer.” The ad is from 1959.

Whitbeck Motors ran ads in the Troy Record, linked to this location – 2788 6th Avenue, from 1952 to 1973. They will be important to our story a bit later.

Of course, there were also service stations at Ingalls and River, as well as other locations in the area. But the jewel in the crown is this building, at 3001 6th Avenue – now the best of the remaining automobile mobile buildings left in this part of North Central.

Wright Motor Sales

From all indications, the building was built for Wright Motor Sales. They occupied the building from at least 1932 until 1941. The company started in nearby Delmar, and first established itself further down the street, at 3025 6th Avenue, which today is the back entrance to Quality Glass. They sold used Chryslers and Plymouths.

In May of 1938, Arba R. Wright, one of the partners in the firm, died of a heart attack while selling a car. He had been demonstrating it to a potential client on a road in Brunswick when he stopped the car, got out, and collapsed. Mr. Wright was only 57 years old. The company continued on, and got the nod to become Nash dealers in 1940. The dealership remained with the partners under the Wright name until 1941.

Whitbeck Motors

Later, in August of 1945, Whitbeck Motors was founded by William J. Whitbeck. He soon occupied this prime corner location. He began selling De Sotos and Plymouths, and was soon the area’s best De Soto dealership. He later added Chryslers. Customers were familiar with the location as those three makes of cars had always been here, no matter the company name.

Early in their history, Whitbeck struggled to survive, as auto parts were very hard to come by, due to war and post war rationing. But by 1966 they had 25 employees and had expanded to the large corner of Middleburg and 6th Avenue, where they had one of the city’s largest car lots, holding over a hundred vehicles. They called the new lot “Whitbeck’s Autorama.”

In 1968 they were celebrated in the Troy Record as the second oldest remaining auto-dealership in Troy. Ads show up for Whitbeck’s until the late 1960s. Whitbeck’s was the last auto dealership to occupy 2001 6th Avenue. Today, the Autorama lot is part of John Ray & Sons fuel oil company.

After the Cars Leave

For the next 50 years, all kinds of other businesses operated out of 3001 6th Avenue. By now, many car dealerships had gone the way of Whitbeck’s – large open lots, or large showroom buildings. Small boutique showrooms like 3001 6th Avenue no longer made sense for auto dealerships.

It became an oil heating equipment showroom for a while. It was also an outpost of Catholic Charities, the Ron Levesque Sign Studio, and was Restaurant Equipment Liquidators when I moved to Troy in 2012. When they left, it was empty for a few years. I know several people looked at it for the purposes of a café, but decided the neighborhood just wasn’t ready. That’s too bad, because improved amenities draw people, and vice versa. It’s a symbiotic relationship.

A couple of years ago it opened again as a convenience store, or a “bodega” as we know them in New York. Today, the showroom windows that once revealed the gleaming automobiles of the day now advertise microwavable Philly steak sandwiches, soda and chips.

The building has been home to many businesses since the 1930s. It’s a good, strong and beautiful building; one of the jewels of North Central, and part of Troy’s business history. Long may it stand.