Troy Sentinel Troy Sentinel The Troy Sentinel was a semi-weekly newspaper published between 1823-1832, which served Rensselaer County in upstate New York. It was published in historic downtown Troy at 225 River Street. The newspaper is famously known for the first published edition of the poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas", also known as "The Night Before Christmas" and “Twas the Night Before Christmas," its first line. It was published anonymously on December 23, 1823 and is generally attributed to Clement Clarke Moore. In July 2012 Gramercy Communications moved their corporate offices into the former home of the "Troy Sentinel". The company
A Visit from St. Nicholas for whom he had originally written the piece. Moore's conception of Saint Nicholas was borrowed from his friend Washington Irving, but Moore portrayed his "jolly old elf" as arriving on Christmas Eve rather than Christmas Day. At the time that Moore wrote the poem, Christmas Day was overtaking New Year's Day as the preferred genteel family holiday of the season, but some Protestants viewed Christmas as the result of "Catholic ignorance and deception" and still had reservations. By having Saint Nicholas arrive the night before, Moore "deftly shifted the focus away from Christmas Day with its still-problematic religious associations." As