Unattended Death and Biohazard Cleanup in Troy, AL

Troy is a city in and the county seat of Pike County in southeastern Alabama.

The settlement was first known as Deer Stand Hill, then Zebulon and Centreville, before being renamed Troy in 1838, the same year it became the county seat; it was formally incorporated on February 4, 1843.

The 2020 census counted 17,727 residents in 7,248 households in Troy.

Troy is home to Troy University, the fourth-largest university in Alabama by enrollment, which began in 1887 as Troy Normal School, a state teacher-training school the city won over rival Lowndesboro.

Pike County, created in 1821 and named for explorer Zebulon Montgomery Pike, was originally so large — reaching to the Chattahoochee River — that it was nicknamed the "State of Pike."

The Three Notch Road, a military road blazed in 1824 by a crew that marked the route with three notches cut into trees, ran through Troy and funneled settlers into southeast Alabama.

About 20 miles east of Troy, the Skirmish at Hobdy's Bridge on May 19, 1865, killed Corporal John W. Skinner, who is argued to have been the last soldier killed in the Civil War.

Troy's old post office, built in 1920, now houses the Johnson Center for the Arts, and its 1908 Carnegie library building now serves as Troy City Hall.

Troy was previously considered one of the fastest-growing cities in Alabama before settling at just over 17,700 residents in 2020.

The city spreads across about 28.4 square miles at an elevation of roughly 535 feet, in a part of Alabama long settled by the Muskogee Creek along the Conecuh and Pea rivers.