|
 |
Archives
Hours:
Monday through Thursday
9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Friday
9:00 a.m. to
1:00 p.m.
Saturday
9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Sunday
12:00 - 5:00 p.m. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
David Hudson |
|
Hudson is part of the Connecticut Western
Reserve, a 120 mile strip in the northeast corner of what is now
the State of Ohio. Claimed by Connecticut until 1795, the land
in this region was sold to potential pioneers by the Connecticut
Land Company through a land lottery. David Hudson and five
business partners—Birdsey and Nathaniel Norton, Theodore
Parmelee, Stephen Baldwin, and Benjamin Oviatt—purchased land
rights to the township designated Range 10, Town 4 in the
Western Reserve.
In the spring of 1799, David Hudson led a
settlement party west from his home in Goshen, Connecticut,
reaching the new land on June 26, 1799. |
|
| After completing a land survey, David left a small
settlement party and returned to Connecticut to get his family. He
returned with more settlers on May 28, 1800. In 1802, the town was
named “Hudson” in honor of its founder, who remained a
resident until his death in 1836. In 1806, David Hudson built a
frame house along the main road north of the center of town. That
house, at 318 North Main Street, is the oldest standing structure
built in what is now Summit County. |
|
 |
Hudson grew as settlers began
arriving, mainly from New England. One such settler was
Owen Brown, a tanner, who arrived with his family in
1805. His son, John, who was five when his family
arrived in Hudson, grew up here and stayed in Hudson
into adulthood. John Brown would eventually lead a raid
on Harpers Ferry and would be hanged for his efforts.
His actions helped to set the stage for the trauma of
the Civil War. |
|
|
In 1826, largely through the efforts of
David Hudson, a college was chartered here. It was named
Western Reserve College, and it rapidly grew to such
stature that it was known as “The Yale of the West”.
Not only was this one of the earliest institutions of
higher learning in the region, but it also boasted one
of the first observatories to be built in North America:
Loomis Observatory. Eventually, the college left Hudson,
moving to Cleveland in 1882 and becoming what is now
Case Western Reserve University. The old campus is now
the site of Western Reserve Academy, a private
co-educational prep school.
|
|
Also of importance to Hudson’s
history was the completion of the Ohio and Erie Canal between 1825-1830.
While the canal did not pass through Hudson, its presence through nearby
Peninsula meant increased trade, industry, and development throughout
the region. The canal was a key factor in the rapid population growth in
northeast Ohio. In 1837, the Village of Hudson was incorporated in the
center of Hudson Township and Heman Oviatt was elected the first
mayor.
The period from 1850 to the outbreak
of the Civil War was a boom time for Hudson. The building of the
railroads in the 1850’s caused a large influx of people, money, and
industry. Over-speculation in railroad stocks, however, would soon bring
financial ruin to many Hudson citizens.
Hudson was also an active stop on the
Underground Railroad, partly due to the presence of many abolitionists
such as the Brown family. The town was generally anti-slavery, but those
forces were divided between those who favored the immediate abolition of
slavery and those who favored a plan to re-colonize freed slaves in
Africa.
At the end of the Civil War, Hudson
experienced prosperity, but with the removal of the college in 1882, the
town’s fortunes changed. A fire in the industrial district in 1890 and
a major fire in 1892 which destroyed Hudson’s downtown caused economic
hardship. Western Reserve Academy closed its doors in 1903 and the town’s
only bank failed in 1904.
|
|
|
|
|
Caroline
Baldwin Babcock |
|
In 1907, a native son, James W. Ellsworth, returned to his
hometown after making millions in the coal industry. Sensing the
town’s distress, he decided to help bring Hudson back to
vitality by making it a “model town”. Ellsworth had elm
trees planted throughout Hudson. He reestablished Western
Reserve Academy, put wiring underground, closed the saloons,
brought in electrical service, revamped the telephone service,
paved the streets, and established the town’s first water and
sewer system. As a final gift, he paid to have the Clocktower
built in 1912. His son, Lincoln Ellsworth, was a noted American
polar explorer. James Ellsworth joined with another reformer,
Caroline Baldwin Babcock, to establish the Hudson Library and
Historical Society in 1910. |
 |
|
James Ellsworth |
|
| Hudson thrived in the time since the Ellsworth
era, and has managed to preserve much of its charm while
experiencing tremendous growth as a residential community. Its
New England atmosphere, together with its stunning architecture,
has earned it a spot on the National Register of Historic
Places. In January of 1994, the incorporated area of Hudson
merged with the township to form one municipality. In 1999, the
community began celebrating its bicentennial and started looking
forward to the next millennium, still maintaining the traditions
and values of its founders. |
|
|
© 2001-2005 The Hudson Library and Historical
Society |