The West College Historic District Association joined the Keep Troy Beautiful Campaign by participating in Team Up to Clean Up. The Historic District Association has committed to recycle, pick up litter and plant new trees.

“We definitely support those types of initiatives with the city,” said Candy Shaughnessy, the president of the Historic District Association. “It’s important for us to keep our area clean just because of the history behind them with Troy. We want it to be one of those things that people see and attracts people to our city. We definitely want it clean, and we want to be supportive with the city as much as we can. It adds to the beauty of the neighborhood anyway. We felt that it was a good way to get involved and get our neighbors outside to be with each other.”

The group gathered Saturday, May 2 to kick off their initiatives by giving out trees. The Alabama Forestry Commission donated 20 trees for them to plant around their neighborhood. Shaughnessy said that a lot of the trees in the neighborhood have been damaged from weather or have died from old age, so planting trees will help with restoring the neighborhood.

When they got the trees, they also received a pamphlet describing how to care for the tree, how to plant the tree and what to expect when the tree grows.

The Historic District Association consists of residents living on West College, Murphree, Pine, China and Walnut Streets and was set up to preserve the historic district. Those five streets have historic homes and landmarks, and the members of the Association want to continue to see the area progress.

“The city has been really big on preserving the history of Downtown Troy,” Shaughnessy said. “We try to keep our houses up because they are registered with the state and the national historic registries. We make sure they are preserved, safe and well-kept.”

The West College Historic District Association can be found on Facebook under the name Troy Historic District.