Hudson, New York
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The City of Hudson, the first chartered city of the entire United States, is located along the west border of Columbia County and the east bank of the Hudson River in Columbia County, New York, USA.
The population was 7,524 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Columbia CountyGR6. The city is named after the adjacent river and ultimately after the explorer Henry Hudson.
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[edit] History
The land was purchased from the natives by Dutch settlers in 1662 and was originally part of the Town of Claverack. Settled by New England whalers and merchants hailing primarily from Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, and Providence, Rhode Island, Hudson was chartered as a city in 1785. The self-described "Proprietors" laid out a city grid, and Hudson grew rapidly as an active port, and came within one vote of being named the capital of New York State. Hudson obtained a new charter in 1895.
Hudson became notorious as a center of gambling and prostitution in the late 19th and first half of the 20th century, as described in some detail in Bruce Edward Hall's book, Diamond Street. These rackets were broken up in 1951 after surprise raids of Hudson whorehouses by then-Attorney General Thomas Dewey netted, among other catches, several local policemen.
After a steep decline in the 60s and 70s, the city has undergone a significant revival,spearheaded in the mid- 1980s by a group of antiques dealers who opened shops on Warren Street, the city's main street, their numbers growing from a handful in the 1980s to almost seventy shops now. Following this business revival, the town experienced a residential revival as well, and is now known for its active arts scene, antiques shops, restaurants, and nightlife.
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With hundreds of properties on the State and National Registers of historic places, Hudson has been called "a dictionary of American vernacular architecture." A discussion of Hudson's architecture, its history, and recent revival, together with a collection of 200 period photographs of the city spanning the mid-19th to the early 20th century, is Historic Hudson: An Architectural Portrait by historian Byrne Fone.
Between 1998 and 2005, the city was also the center of a fiercely-contested land use battle between private citizens and a subsidiary of what was then the largest cement company on earth, Holderbank (since renamed Holcim). The company proposed a massive, coal-fired cement manufacturing project sprawling over 1,800 acres in the City of Hudson and the town of Greenport, New York, which eventually was blocked through citizen opposition led by local activists Peter Jung and Sam Pratt. Some three dozen organizations joined in the opposition.
This six-and-a-half year struggle is the subject of a 2006 documentary, Two Square Miles, by filmmaker Barbara Ettinger. The title refers to the small amount of acreage within Hudson's borders, despite its classification by New York State as a "small city."
[edit] Geography
Hudson is located at (42.251230, -73.785066)GR1.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 6.0 km² (2.3 mi²). 5.6 km² (2.2 mi²) of it is land and 0.4 km² (0.2 mi²) of it (6.47%) is water.
Hudson is located on what began as a spit of land jutting into the Hudson River between the South Bay and North Bay, now both largely filled and degraded (but not without hope of restoration).
Across the Hudson River lies the town of Athens (town), New York and Greene County, New York; a ferry connected the two municipalities during much of the 19th century. Between them lies Middle Ground Flats, a former sandbar that grew due to both natural silting and also from dumping the spoils of dredging; today it is inhabited by deer and a few occupants of quasi-legal summer shanties.
[edit] Demographics
As of the censusGR2 of 2000, there were 7,524 people, 2,951 households, and 1,590 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,338.7/km² (3,468.2/mi²). There were 3,347 housing units at an average density of 595.5/km² (1,542.8/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 64.29% White, 24.02% African American, 0.28% Native American, 2.84% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 4.15% from other races, and 4.41% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 8.41% of the population.
There were 2,951 households out of which 28.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 29.4% were married couples living together, 19.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 46.1% were non-families. 39.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.26 and the average family size was 3.00. There is a subtle, growing gay community in the city.
In the city the population was spread out with 23.7% under the age of 18, 9.4% from 18 to 24, 30.0% from 25 to 44, 21.0% from 45 to 64, and 16.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 106.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 105.6 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $24,279, and the median income for a family was $27,594. Males had a median income of $26,274 versus $22,598 for females. The per capita income for the city was $15,759. About 23.8% of families and 25.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 37.7% of those under age 18 and 13.9% of those age 65 or over. That gap between rich and poor can be very apparent to visitors who venture off the main streets.
However, it should be noted that the demographics of Hudson have changed substantially since the data for the 2000 Census were gathered in the late 90s.
[edit] Other Notable Features
South of Hudson is the location of Olana, the home of noted landscape painter Frederic Church, now Olana State Historic Site.
Many movies have been filmed in Hudson. Most recently was Ironweed starring Jack Nicholson and Nobody's Fool starring Paul Newman.
[edit] Rail Transportation
Amtrak, the national passenger rail system, provides service to Hudson, including stops by the following trains:
The Adirondack, operating in both directions between Montreal, Canada, and New York City.
All Empire Service trains, operating in both directions between New York City and either Albany-Rensselaer or Buffalo, New York.
The Ethan Allen Express, operating in both directions between New York City and Rutland, Vermont.
The Maple Leaf, operating in both directions between New York City and Toronto, Canada.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- City of Hudson
- Two Square Miles documentary
- Peter Jung
- Sam Pratt
- Ken McCarthy
- FASNY - Fire Museum of Firefighting New York
- Hudson Athens LightHouse
- Hudson Home Tours and Web Design
- Maps and aerial photos
- Street map from Google Maps, or Yahoo! Maps, or Windows Live Local
- Satellite image from Google Maps, Windows Live Local, WikiMapia
- Topographic map from TopoZone
- Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA
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County Seat: Hudson |
|---|---|
| Cities |
Hudson |
| Towns |
Ancram | Austerlitz | Canaan | Chatham | Claverack | Copake | Gallatin | Germantown | Ghent | Greenport | Hillsdale | Kinderhook | Livingston | New Lebanon | Stockport | Stuyvesant | Taghkanic |
| Villages |
Chatham | Kinderhook | Philmont | Valatie |
| CDPs |
Claverack-Red Mills | Copake Lake | Lorenz Park | Niverville | Stottville |
