SUMMER 2003
$2.00
Volume
Volume 22 Number
Number One
One
Published
Published by
by the
the Columbia
Columbia County
County Historical
Historical Society
Society
IN THIS ISSUE:
Take a Close Look
at Warren Street
PAGE 7
Hudson’s South Bay—
Landscape and Industry
PAGE 10
The Private Community
of Willard Place
PAGE 14
A Hudson Album
PAGES 18 & 19
News of the
Columbia County
Historical Society
PAGE 20
History Around the County
PAGE 24
Collections Highlights
PAGE 26
A Visit to Hudson in 1890
PAGE 27
Hudson’s History
A Bibliography
PAGE 28
The Columbia County
Court House
PAGE 29
Columbia County
Historical Society
Events Calendar
PAGE 31
Early Hudson’s Proud History PAGE 3
Batchellor’s Bazaar, between 2nd and 3rd Street, north side of Warren Street c 1870
Columbia County Historical Society
A Message from the President
Columbia County
HISTORY HERITAGE
&
T
he first issue in our second year of publication
and, as you can see, bigger than ever! What a
great job we feel our energetic editor, Jim Eyre
and his staff have done, not to mention the
dynamic graphic design work of Ron Toelke.
How grateful we are to them and to all the contributing writers and advertisers who have made this publication possible.
And how grateful we are to the most important people in the
equation, our readers, whose enthusiastic acceptance and
continued encouragement inspire us to try to make each
issue more enlightening than the last.
In this number we embrace the broad sweep of history in
our county seat, the City of Hudson. Not always the county
seat, not always a city, Hudson’s story illustrates the vagaries
(or are they really the ineluctable trends?) of history itself.
It’s a fascinating story, with dark moments and light, with
uncertainty and progress and with the promise of a happy
ending — at least in our time.
As the historical society of all of Columbia County, CCHS
has much material in its collections from Hudson and about
Hudson. And as a historical society, we take great delight in
the current renaissance of this long unappreciated gem of a
small city.The silver lining — in the cloud of economic vicissitudes Hudson survived — is that there was not the incen-
COLUMBIA COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Stephan M. Mandel
President
John B. Carroll
Vice President
Woodruff L.Tuttle
Treasurer
Russell Pomeranz
Assistant Treasurer
Beth O’Connor
Secretary
Dr. David William Voorhees
Assistant Secretary
www.cchsny.org
Arthur Baker
George N. Biggs, III
Albert Callan
Nancy Clark
David Crawford
Joan K. Davidson
Henry N. Eyre, Jr.
Mimi Forer
John Hannam
Willis Hartshorn
Timothy Husband
Brian Kelly
Julia Philip
Richard Ryan
Samuel O.J. Spivy
Colin Stair
S TA F F
Sharon S. Palmer Executive Director
Helen M. McLallen Curator
Ruth Ellen Berninger Educator
Carla R. Lesh Registrar/Assistant Educator
Rita Laffety Membership
Juanita Knott Administrative Assistant
A Message from the President continued on page 21
Editor’s Preface
Any attempt to include all of the City of Hudson’s history in thirty-two pages would
be doomed to failure. There is just too much to tell. Therefore the reader of this issue
of our magazine will find omissions both in content and in periods of time.
With more space we might have written more about the venturesome individuals
who founded Hudson, the artists, the writers, about music and theater, or about the
politicians and the captains of industry. We could have described Hudson in its days
as a major agricultural center and market. We could have told about the layers of dust
from cement plants that — for many years — daily filled lungs and coated leaves,
darkened fields of snow, and left a powdery film on cars and household furniture in
the city and for miles around it. We could have told more about steamboats, the
river trade and ice boating in winter. We might have talked about prostitution on the
infamous Diamond Street, or the depression years and prohibition. Or we could have
given praise to the Hudson’s brave and daring soldiers who fought so well in all
of our many wars. And, also important, we could have chronicled our city’s recent
renaissance as one of New England’s largest antique centers.
It might well be that we will cover each of these subjects in a future issue. Until
such time, however, we highly recommend that you visit the “History Room” on the
second floor of the Hudson Area Library at 400 State Street. You will find a treasure
of information there and personnel willing to assist you.
We hope that in this issue we have given you a glimpse of Hudson and the way
it was in its early days and how it developed through the efforts of an industrious
and inventive people into a major port and gateway to New England. We feel that
though all cities may have a story to tell, Hudson’s is unique.
We always welcome our reader’s comments and suggestions. Also, we encourage
those who wish to submit articles on our county’s history to contact us.
COLUMBIA COUNTY HISTORY & HERITAGE
EDITORIAL BOARD
Editor
Henry N. Eyre, Jr.
“Jim”
Around the County
Julia Philip
Editorial Committee
George N. Biggs, III,Albert S. Callan, Joan K. Davidson,
Mimi Forer, James P. Hamilton, Stephan M. Mandel,
Mary Faherty Sansaricq, Dr.Will Swift,
Susan Gerwe Tripp, Dr. David William Voorhees
Design and Production
Ron Toelke and Barbara Kempler-Toelke
Ron Toelke Associates, Chatham, NY
Columbia County History & Heritage is published by the
Columbia County Historical Society and is mailed to all
members of record at the time of publication. Copies may be
obtained, as available, at $2.00 per copy from the Society
offices at the Columbia County Museum, 5 Albany Avenue,
Kinderhook, New York, 12106; 518-758-9265; www.cchsny.org
Hours: Monday,Wednesday, Friday 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.,
Saturday 1:00 – 4:00 p.m. Call for expanded summer hours at
518-758-9265.
Jim Eyre
Editor
2
Columbia County Histor y & Heritage
Summer 2003
Early Hudson’s
Proud History
By Craig Thorn IV
Phillips Academy Andover, MA
Editor’s Note: Craig Thorn IV is a
teacher of English at Phillips
Academy in Andover, Mass., and
is the son of Craig Thorn III, a
member of one of the old families
of Hudson. The original of this
article has been framed and
hangs in the entry hall of
Proprietors Hall, a building on
Seventh Street constructed by his
father. In the planning of this
building the architect was
requested that his design follow
as closely as possible the lines of
the D.A.R. house at 113 Warren
Street. We commend this effort.
We have taken the liberty of
making a few small changes and
additions to the article for its best
use in the magazine.
n September 27,
1609, Henry Hudson’s
ship, the Half Moon,
ran aground on an alluvial
island directly across from
what are now the docks at
Hudson. Friendly Esopus
Indians, most likely the
Minnisinks, plied him with
“stropes of beads”. Hudson
described the surrounding
land as “…the finest for cultivation that I ever in my life
set foot upon, and it also
abounds in trees of every
description.”
Nearly half a century later,
Jan Frans Van Hoesen purchased the grant that still
defines much of Hudson
(today) from the Mohicans
who battled the Mohawks for
river rights until they found
themselves on either side of
America’s fight for independ-
O
The Proprietors resolved without
debate or dissent, to change the
name of the settlement from
Claverack Landing to Hudson…
ence. The lands descending
by primogeniture for another
century, it came to pass that
relatives, Peter Hogeboom (a
son of Van Hoesen’s granddaughter) and Colonel John
Van Alen (married to a
descendent of Van Hoesen),
ran the two primitive
wharves that established
“Claverack Landing,” forerunner of the present day
Hudson.
Early settlers in Claverack
Landing and the surrounding
area were principally farmers,
but some were also engaged
in fishing in the Hudson
River. The area was filled
with “…luxuriant fields of
indigenous white clover…”
which gave rise to its name,
the Dutch word for clover
being klauver and the word
for field being rachen.Around
the early 1780’s Claverack
Landing consisted primarily
of the two rude wharves,
described above, on piers
with small storehouses connected to these. There was
a ferry operated by Conrad
Flock there and a watermill for grinding grain.
However, this was all to
change radically in 1783,
when four “sober, undemonstrative Quaker men” arrived
at the obscure landing place.
Their prosperous whaling
businesses jeopardized by the
British tariffs after the
View of the City of Hudson by Guy Wall c. 1820; a dramatic vista
of the Catskill Mountains looms in the distance.
3
Revolutionary War, these four
men represented a group of
families from Providence,
Newport, Nantucket and
Edgartown who wanted to
move their enterprises to a
more sheltered location. In
short order, the leader of this
group, Thomas Jenkins, Esq.,
purchased properties from
Hogeboom, the Van Hoesens
and the Van Alens. He was a
spectacularly successful businessman who, unbeknownst
to his associates, had every
intention of building an
entire city. Sensing the importance of the venture for
themselves and their families,
they called themselves “The
Proprietors” and drafted articles of agreement that
insured total commitment
among their number. “That
each and every one of the
proprietors shall settle there
in person and carry [there]
his Trading Stock on or before
the first day of October, a.
Dom., one thousand seven
hundred and eighty-five”.
Upon the arrival of his fellows, Jenkins called a meeting
in which all the streets—
including Front, Second,
Third, Union, and State—
were laid out as well as the
promontory now known as
Promenade Hill. Many of the
families arrived with premade houses. On November
14 1784, The Proprietors
resolved without debate or
dissent, to change the name
of the settlement from
Claverack Landing to Hudson,
over the objections of then
governor George Clinton,
Columbia County Historical Society
who “was much displeased at
their disregard.”
Under The Proprietors,
Hudson grew from a small
settlement to a full city in
very short time. In two years
there were two shipyards,
ship-carpenters, caulkers, riggers, ship-smiths, sail-makers,
numerous water lots for
sloops from Europe and
South America, and goods
bearing the mark of “exotic
parentage festooning the marketplace.” There were soon a
wide variety of new businesses, such as: West Indian and
New England Rum, Iron, Salt,
and Dry Goods; Green and
Mansfield, merchants in dry
goods; other merchants
Cotton Gelston and Schubael
Worth; Dilworth’s spelling
books; Bunker and Easton,
tanners; Latham Bunker,
blacksmith; John R. Bolles,
saddler; Dr. Levi Wheaton,
the town’s first physician;
Webster & Stoddard, printers;
Thomas Worth’s Silk & Stuff
Shoes; Peter Field, watchmaker and jeweler; Dennis
Macnemara, tailor; Ezekiel
Gilbert, lawyer; Titus Morgan,
ship-builder; a brewery which
brewed “Hudson’s Ale;” and
James Robardet,“instructor in
the polite accomplishment of
dancing.” A school was soon
opened after the arrival of
The Proprietors. There were
public houses to accommodate the “many figures of foreign aspect,” seventeen all
told, fifteen of which were
jointly owned by The
Proprietors and descendants
of original settlers. In 1785
Ashmel Stoddard and Charles
R.Webster commenced publication of a weekly newspaper, called the Hudson
Gazette “…to be issued
weekly at the rate of twelve
shillings per year; money to
be refunded to subscribers
who were not satisfied with
the paper.” In 1786, a circulating library was established
with approximately 300 volumes. Subscribers to the
library were permitted “…to
keep books as long as
desired, except books new,
www.cchsny.org
having agreed nearly unanimously that they had realized
Jenkins’ vision of a thriving
commercial
community.
Cotton Geltson, however,
In less than a decade, the city
enjoyed an international
reputation, became the third
port of entry and the third
site of a bank in the state.
and in great demand, which
must be returned within
one week.” In this span of
time one hundred and fifty
dwellings, wharves and
shops were built. Truly The
Proprietors had performed a
remarkable transformation in
a very brief period of time.
In 1785 The Proprietors
won their petition before the
State Assembly to have their
town fully incorporated and
enjoy the rights of a city in
the State of New York. “A
prison being a necessary
appendage to a city government,” the governing council,
Seth Jenkins presiding as the
town’s first Mayor, built a
gaol, and began city hall on
the corner of Fourth and
Main. In 1790, Hudson was
made a port of entry. In less
than a decade, the city
enjoyed an international reputation, became the third
port of entry and the third
site of a bank in the state.The
citizens enjoyed one of the
few postal offices in the state.
They published their own
currency.They had their own
constables. They had taxes.
Those first taxed to finance
the nightwatch were ancestors to families living
in the county today: Allen,
Plass, Decker, Hallenbeck,
Hathaway,Worth, Paddock.
Two years after Jenkins
died in 1808, the Proprietors
Association disbanded itself,
resisted the decision to dissolve the organization and
had to be restrained in his
attempts to forestall the transfer of all deeds and records to
the common council. Gilbert
Jenkins finally wrested the
books from Geltson, who
remained unassailably disconsolate despite the fact that as
city clerk the deeds and
records were to be turned
over to him anyway.
The Proprietors had made
a city far more sophisticated
than the farming community
of Van Hoesen’s day. Oil
works and other industries
dominated the river view.
Though the end of whaling
challenged Hudson’s economic future, many of the
men and women who lived in
the city were direct descendants of the enterprising
Jenkins and Van Hoesen
clans.
Furthermore, the
opportunities to be found
along Hudson’s bustling
streets created ventures that
anticipated the future of
America’s small cities. The
late 1840’s witnessed an
industrial
revolution
in
Hudson presaging the more
dramatic change in America’s
entrepreneurial spirit after
the Civil War. Hudson would
survive the challenges of history, remaining the commercial center of the county
without losing its charm as
the sheltered harbor of
4
charming vistas that first
attracted The Proprietors to
Claverack Landing.
Hudson’s illustrious history
of whaling bespeaks the
resilience of the early
American frontier businessman. Many of The Proprietors
were whalers from Nantucket, including Stephen
Paddock, the first in an
extraordinary line of twentythree sea pilots.When Thomas
Jefferson dealt the final blow
to American whaling in 1807
by initiating an embargo in
response to England’s blockade of France and Napoleon’s
blockade of “all the British
Isles,” Hudson sea captain
Rueben Folger observed that
“(the embargo) was a signal to
the nation to heave to under
bare poles; that the ship of
state had been turned out of
her course and yawed about
by a lubberly helmsman, until
the voyage was ruined and
the owners half broken.”
However, Hudson continued
to look to the water, both
its past rewards and future
promise. Not four months
before Jefferson’s ominous
decree, the citizens turned
out to cheer Robert Fulton’s
Clermont as it churned
upstream past Hudson docks.
In New York and all along the
river, ship’s captains had abandoned their vessels in terror
and “fled into the woods” and
upon seeing the “fiery monster” ladies fainted. In Hudson
sloops fired their cannons and
“raised huzzahs” to the triumph of “Fulton’s Folly”. The
ladies waved handkerchiefs
from the docks. It was a
telling contrast to the reception Fulton and Livingston
had received elsewhere.
Barely a decade later,
Hudson reestablished itself
as a major port of entry
with two steamboats of its
own, the Bolivar and the
Legislator. At the forefront
once more, Hudson surprised
Columbia County Histor y & Heritage
many nay-sayers with the formation of a new association
“having for its object the
revival and prosecution of the
whale-fishery.” The president
of this new association was
Laban Paddock, direct descendant of the original Paddock
of Nantucket. It was called
the
Hudson
Whaling
Company and the founders
came up with $300,000 to
finance the construction of
and financing for the
Alexander Mansfield, which
set sail on a cloudy day in
June 1830. On March 29,
1831, the following report
appeared in the Hudson
papers: “Huzza for the
Mansfield… has returned
with a full cargo having on
board 2,020 barrels of whale
oil, 180 barrels of sperm oil
and 16,000 lbs. whale bone.
On Sunday evening she
arrived at this place and safely moored at the company’s
dock amidst the loud huzzas
of the citizens, and the firing
of cannon… The Mansfield
will be immediately refitted
for a second voyage…. Such is
the spirit of the young men in
this vicinity that there are
already more applications for
berths than will be wanted to
man her.” In three years there
were fourteen ships built and
launched in Hudson, including the James Monroe,
George Clinton, and America
which brought in $80,000
worth of sperm oil, the most
“valuable cargo brought to
our hamlet ever.”
However as whaling succumbed to more economic
ways to obtain the same materials, Hudson remembered the
vision of Robert Fulton’s
steamboat, and despite cries
that the enterprise was a
“manifestation of insanity” the
“railway agitation” among
Hudsonians was so strong
that the citizen themselves
began their own company.
While larger firms in New
York,
Connecticut
and
Massachusetts bickered in the
courts over road rights, the
Hudson Gazette proudly
reported that three days after
opening the books for subscription to stock in the
Hudson and Berkshire Railroad
a total of $746,550 was subscribed, “an astonishing sum
three times what was needed
to open the railroad.” Those
same families who first paid
taxes nearly half a century
before were among those
who chiefly financed the venture: Allen, Power, Reed,
Hallenbeck, Barnard and fittingly Paddock. A primitive
affair of ordinary flat-bar iron
and wooden stringers, the
Hudson-Berkshire line was so
uneven that one of the first
lady passengers was instructed to tie a seat cushion to her
hat. Nevertheless, in 1838, the
citizens of Hudson turned out
once more to greet the promise of a new future, yet another connection to the sea and
the impossibly distant city of
Boston.
By 1841, the unbroken
route between Hudson and
Boston was opened, ending
just south of the city’s great
docks. Around this great connection, now establishing
Hudson as the link between
Boston and New York, the
industries of the future found
a home:The Hudson Foundry
Summer 2003
and Machine Shop, The
Hudson Iron Company, Hunt
& Miller’s Stove-Foundry, The
Clapp & Jones Manufacturing
Company, The Phillips Spiral
Corn-Husker Company, The
Hudson Paper Car-Wheel
Company, Herb’s Tobacco
Factory, The Hudson Knitting
Mill, Clark’s Clothing Factory,
and the New York and
Hudson Steamboat Company,
originally founded by Captain
Judah Paddock. A visitor
wrote in the American
Traveler that one “could hear
the steady hum of new pulse
in this inventive little town,
the hum of engines.”
Eventually, the HudsonBerkshire line was absorbed
by a cooperative venture that
became the Boston-Albany
railroad.The line moved north
to Chatham, but Hudson
remained a major business
center, reincarnated yet again
as an industrial city inventing
new ways to use steam
engines and turbines in the
production of goods.
Hudson had been a quiet,
rural agricultural community,
a fledgling mercantile town,
an exotic trading port of
entry, a bustling whaling port
and finally a growing industrial town.As pioneer farmers in
those early times and venture
capitalists in more recent
times, Hudsonians always
envisioned change as oppor-
Hudson and South Bay in the early 19th century, seen from the
Athens shore.
5
tunity. When the whaling
industry faded in 1845, a
cynic wrote in Random
Recollections of Hudson“that
the cause for quiet docks was
the lack of liberality and
enterprise in the citizens
who, although possessed of
sufficient pecuniary means,
were afraid or unwilling to
risk one farthing for the general good, having neither the
public spirit or energy of
character to employ those
means to advantage.” He did
not know Hudson’s past. He
had not known the native
Hudsonian, Andrew Brink,
Captain of Fulton’s Clermont
on its maiden voyage. He did
not know the story of
Jenkins, Gelston, Hudson,
Van Hoesen, Hogeboom or
Paddock. He never knew
about the three thousand
farmers who came to Hudson
on one weekend in 1801 to
deliver their goods to twentythree ships which were prepared to ship them all over
the world. He never came to
know the recurring theme of
natives on Claverack Landing
greeting new people and new
ideas with huzzas and cannon
fire. And he did not know
Hudson’s future. He would
never know about the town
that built its own railroad.
He could not know about
Hudson’s role as a leader in
the use of the river as a
source for power in manufacturing. He didn’t know about
the foundries and the iron
works, the textile mills and
tanneries. He could not know
that by 1860 Hudson would
enjoy the services of six
banks, including The Hudson
City Savings Institution,
which opened its doors with
$1,000,000 in assets in 1850
and which much later helped
finance the building of
Proprietor’s Hall on Seventh
Street, which was constructed by this author’s father. Columbia County Historical Society
www.cchsny.org
New historic site panel to control city aesthetics
Editor’s Note: We are reprinting this article as it appeared in the
Independent because of importance that we attribute to the creation
of a strong Historic Preservation Commission. We applaud the
enactment of the new law and hope that the Commission will act forcefully to prevent the further destruction of the city’s fine buildings and
architectural heritage.
members: an architect experienced in the original methods of
construction and historic buildings, a historian, a member of
the Planning commission, a resident of the historic district, and
a person who has shown interest in and commitment to
preservation.
The term of service on the commission is four years.
Among the other powers of the commission are:
• Adopting criteria to identify significant historic, architectural and cultural landmarks and delineating historic districts;
• Conducting surveys of significant historical, architectural
and cultural landmarks and historic districts;
• Designating identified structures or resources as landmarks and historic districts;
• Increasing public awareness of the value of historic, cultural, and architectural preservation by developing and participating in public education programs;
• Making recommendations to city government for utilization of state, federal or private funds to promote preservation;
• Employing professional consultants;
• Recommending acquisition of landmarks when private
preservation is not feasible.
The Independent, Friday, June 13, 2003
By Diana Ladden
HUDSON — A measure creating a commission to establish and
preserve landmarks and historic districts in Hudson was
signed into law Tuesday by Mayor Richard Scalera.
Under the new law, no one who owns a building designated as historic, or lying in a defined historic district, can proceed with exterior work that could change the appearance of
the building or the cohesiveness of the district, without the
Commission’s okay.
Any alteration, restoration, reconstruction, demolition or
new construction—including painting the exterior—requires
a Certificate of Appropriateness from the Historic Preservation
Commission before a building permit can be issued.
The seven-member commission will be appointed by the
Mayor, but the law sets specific criteria for five of the seven
Used with permission
Taken from a story in the April 1941 CCHS Bulletin by Ruth A Sickles
THE INDOMITABLE CAPTAIN COFFIN FROM NANTUCKET
T
he principal Yankee settlers of Hudson at the turn of the nineteenth century were Quakers, mostly whalers who
left Nantucket after the British destruction of their industry during the War of the Revolution. One of the prominent families of old Hudson was the Coffins. There is an interesting story told of Captain Coffin, an honorable,
belligerent man, who seems the perfect type of this great race of sturdy sailors.
Since the Federalists had started party strife in Hudson, The Captain declared that it was up to the Democrats to finish
it. Coffin, therefore, offered to be one of twenty men to meet twenty picked Federalists to fight the matter out. The
Captain was undoubtedly sincere when he suggested this novel method of settling political difficulties, but fortunately it
was not adopted.
The old man was a man of strong political prejudices and a fiery temperament and was always ready for a fight. One
election day, while he was at the polls, a dog passed between his legs causing him to fall. The Captain was unaware of the
cause of his misfortune, and so naturally attributed it to some political opponent. Turning in a belligerent frame of mind,
he shouted, “Come on, I can whip the whole d––n lot of you.”
On another occasion, the story is told that a young man, who wishing to explain some matter then in dispute, laid his
hand upon the Captain’s shoulder and requested him to step to the door. Mistaking the object of the demand he cried,
“Yes sir — fist or pistols; don’t care a d––n which!” The absurdity of this reply evoked a hearty laugh, in which the
Captain joined as soon as he saw his mistake.
Under the direction of men like this and many other seafaring folk, Hudson became a noted port for shipping. It is quite
generally believed that the ships of Hudson about the year 1786 were almost wholly engaged in whaling; this idea, although
erroneous, probably arose from the fact that many of the proprietors were from the whaling port of Nantucket. Only a
few of these ships, however, were engaged as whalers, and the greater part were busy with trade with the southern ports of
the United States, Havana, Santo Domingo and Brazil.
6
Columbia County Histor y & Heritage
By Bruce Hall
Editor’s Note: Bruce Edward Hall
is well known to many as the
author of Diamond Street, a
book which ably describes a
different and equally famous
aspect of Hudson’s history—one
of prostitution, vice and corruption.
This book is available for purchase
at the Columbia County Historical
Society Museum in Kinderhook.
ight layers of wallpaper.
Eight layers of thick,
impenetrable wallpaper,
some with two coats of paint
and a crumbly layer of Spackle
over that. Endless scraping and
steaming and scraping and
stripping in the spaces that
became the kitchen,the dining
room, living room, library,
down the long center hallway,
crawling up the stairs until one
came to the spot where I finally gave out, and where the old
wallpaper continued to hang
until the day I moved out.
People questioned the wisdom
of buying the long-neglected
townhouse at 239 Warren
Street. It was 1982, the place
hadn’t been lived in for years,
and across the street, the
Tainted Lady Lounge was still
in full swing. “An attached
house?”my sister-in-law wailed.
You bought an attached
house?” I pointed out that her
suburban condo was attached,
to which she snorted,“I don’t
live in an attached house! I live
in a condominium unit!” Still,
I was seduced by the wistful
forlornness of the old place,
the proportions of the small,
but stately rooms, the architectural detail that seemed to defy
period. The Federal layout on
the ground floor was accented
with dark-varnished, late
Victorian woodwork, an
upstairs parlour had a set of
magnificent Greek Revival
pocket doors, while most of
the bedrooms sported modest
Federal mantelpieces. Then
there was the façade, square
and symmetrical, yet bursting
E
Summer 2003
Take a close
look at
Warren
Street
with bay windows, dormers,
and sharp gables,unique to the
block. And oh yes, further
inducement was the purchase
price of $14,500 (marked
down $500 when the garage
burned down the day before
closing).
But to get back to the wallpaper. As I scraped through
the final layer on the kitchen
sidewall, I was stunned to
find a blocked-up window,
which would have lead
original exterior chimneys of
my own house. A little
research showed that the two
neighboring buildings—one
formerly an oyster house, the
other the exclusive private
hospital of one Dr. Abijah
Cook—had been built in the
1850s. The lot my house
stood on had been purchased
by Proprietor Joseph Barnard
in the 1790s, meaning that for
possibly 40 or 50 years my
now-attached house had
With a little imagination
one can still see Warren Street
as the Proprietors knew it
around 1800.
directly into the house
next door. Further down, a
bricked-up fireplace opening
was bisected by the wall now
separating the kitchen and
dining room. On the other
side of the house, blocked up
fireplaces were partially obliterated by the wall separating
the library and the living
room, and more oddly, by the
current living room fireplace,
which projected out from the
wall in a huge chimneypiece,
one of four interior chimneys
in the building.These ghostly
hearths had me stymied until
I realized that they lined up
with my neighbors’ chimneys—chimneys that had
apparently once been the
been blissfully unencumbered, a freestanding, foursquare Federal villa from the
turn of the 19th century.
A gut remodeling job in
1899 resulted in all those
dormers and bays, plus new
interior walls blocking the
old hearths. Stepping out
onto the street, I began to see
that many of my “attached”
neighbors may have been
freestanding 200 years ago.
Apparently, this busy, built-up
thoroughfare had once been
a quiet street of prosperous
men’s homes, surrounded by
gardens, fruit trees, and pigs,
encouraged to roam and act
as municipal garbage collectors.Who knew?
7
When the Proprietors
arrived in 1783, the town
they laid out had its commercial center on Front Street, a
main road out of town in
the form of Partition Street,
and a couple of residential
avenues, poky Union Street
and the much grander Main
Street, which after 1799
would be called Warren, after
a popular Revolutionary War
hero. Main Street was the
broadest boulevard in the
fledgling city, starting at
Parade (later Promenade) Hill
and petering out four blocks
east at the deep gully which
ran along what is now Fourth
Street. Access to Main Street
was somewhat restricted by
rocky outcroppings on Front
near Union, setting it apart
from the rest of the town. It
was the first street to have
paved sidewalks (before
which it was said that it cost
two shillings to extract a lady
from the mud) and the first
street to be served by a
municipal water supply.
While other Hudsonians had
to trudge down to one of the
public pumps, Main Street
residents could tap into a
wooden water main fed by a
spring further up the hill. In
1797 there were 126 people
in the city who had estates
worth at least £100, making
them Hudson’s wealthy elite.
With Main Street’s attractive
amenities, it was only natural
that these nabobs should
choose to build there.
With a little imagination
one can still see Warren Street
as the Proprietors knew it
around 1800. Of course, it’s
much easier to imagine their
well-heeled lifestyle the closer one goes to the river.
Urban renewal may have cost
us some fine town mansions
in the first block of Warren
Street, but the north side of
the street remains remarkably
intact. It is a solid row of substantial Federal houses, start-
Columbia County Historical Society
www.cchsny.org
ing with what was once an
imposing, single-family threestory mansion at number 8,
and ending with the flamboyant Greek Revival Curtis
House on the corner of First.
But other fine examples are
hidden by years of abuse and
“improvements.”For instance,
across the street at 102
Warren, a good hard look
reveals a handsome antique
home, with its 6 over 6 windows on the attic floor. And
The D.A.R. house at 113 and the Jenkins mansion
then there are the obvious at 115 Warren Street.
stars such as the D.A.R. house
at 113 and the magnificent Jenkins mansion next door at 115. The exquisite
1805 Adams style First Bank of Hudson
at 116 was a harbinger of the commercial future of the street, notwithstanding
the fact that it went out of business
seven years later. Despite all the
Victorian fill-buildings, these freestanding landmark houses make it easier to
visualize life in Hudson during the first
Adams administration.
Where such visualization gets tough
is Warren Street’s 200 block. Across the
street from my old place, there is the
great, hulking gray Federal mansion at
244, still surrounded by garden, and as
recently as 15 years ago, still sporting the
original magnificent star-burst stenciling
on the floors of the principal parlours.
Once its windows were graced with
shutters, and a decorative wooden cornice-board ran along its roofline. In the Built in 1805, the First Bank of Hudson
lot to the east, where Ben Eaton’s nurs- was the harbinger of Warren Street’s
ery is now, there stood, until the late commercial future. However, it went out
‘80s, half of a pair of Greek Revival town- of business 7 years later.
houses, with elegant doors and eyebrow
windows, surrounded by their own and roughly the same size as 244. It has
greenery.To the east of that, there are the been heavily renovated over the years,
foundations of an L-shaped brick house, with entrances moved and commercial
which burned down in the 19th century. windows added, but it seems as though
Its replacement burned down in the this could have been another free-standmid-20th century, (along with one of the ing town mansion of the late 18th cenpair of townhouses). Old-timers remem- tury, festooned with an impressive entryber the surviving townhouse as the way, window shutters, and a decorative
home of the barbershop where Legs cornice board of its own. And
Diamond used to come for a shave and a in the westernmost of the buildings,
haircut, shades tightly closed, armored number 222, one can still see a lovely
Packard at the curb.
early fireplace inside, served by a masTo the west of the gray Federal man- sive chimneystack, bespeaking its origision now stands a row of apparently nal role as a gentleman’s home.
nondescript buildings. But looking at
Next door at 216–218 stands the long
these structures, one notices that the neglected side-by-side building, which is
easternmost of them is made of brick, at last undergoing a welcome renova-
8
tion. It started out as a singlefamily house, the palatial residence of Thomas Jenkins, one
of the original Proprietors.
Good Quaker that he was, Mr.
Jenkins couldn’t resist the old
maxim,“If you’ve got it, flaunt
it,” and was roundly criticized
for the supposed ostentation
of his home. One is reminded
of the stately, three-story
brick mansions of Newburyport, Massachusetts, with
their gently hipped roofs and
black shutters, stunning in
their simple elegance. Later in
the 19th century, part of the house was
incorporated as “The Misses Peakes
Seminary for Young Ladies.” In the 20th
century, another kind of young lady was
in mind when “The Tainted Lady
Lounge” was opened in a cheap brick
addition in the front yard. Next door, 212
looks like a farmhouse dropped from the
sky, and in 201 Warren, which has been
much abused over the years, one can still
make out the plain, Federal edifice that it
once was.
The 300-block of Warren Street is the
hardest place to pick out the gems.This
block was difficult to build on in the
early days. Deep gullies transversed the
street with some early builders forced to
build wooden gangways to reach down
to the ground. A bridge was built over
the deepest gully, with the street ending
at Fourth where the plain city hall and
jail stood across from each other, a simple footpath continuing on towards
Claverack and beyond. Still, there were
some magnificent houses in this block as
well, all of which are unfortunately long
gone. The elaborate, high style Federal
mansion at 308, was torn down in the
1930s to erect a utilitarian building for
Sam’s Market. And the exquisite house
across the street where there is now a
parking lot eventually housed the somewhat notorious Lincoln Hotel.
As the 19th century progressed, commerce and hubbub came to Warren
Street.The roadway was leveled off with
bridges and landfill, allowing it to be
extended, making it the principal commercial street of the town. Gradually the
side yards and gardens were filled in
with merchants’ houses of the 1840s and
‘50s. Elegant hotels, banks, and an opera
house took advantage of the traffic. The
Columbia County Histor y & Heritage
200 and 300 blocks became the center of
Hudson’s medical establishment. Abijah
Cook built his private hospital at 241 in the
1850s, Dr. Benson constructed his imposing
mansion at 306 in the 1880s, and in 1877,
Dr. Logan caused a stir when he removed a
giant tapeworm from one Mrs. Sarah
McGuire in his office in one of Thomas
Jenkins’s former bedrooms at 216–18. It was
put on display at the Opera House where
“the reptile… was alive for over an hour
after it was removed from the lady.”
But one thing that is great about Hudson
is the many layers of the past still visible for
those who know where to look. The little
city on the river has gone through a myriad
of reinventions and image transformations
over the last 220 years. Like the wallpaper in
my old house, as each layer is peeled back, a
new pattern is revealed, and who knows the
scope of surprises lurking the closer one
gets to the beginning. Summer 2003
216–218 Warren Sireet, once the palatial residence of original Proprietor Thomas
Jenkins — later the Misses Peakes Seminary for Ladies. In 1877 Dr. Logan removed
a giant tapeworm here from Mrs. Sarah McGuire and in the 20th century the front
yard was the site for the “Tainted Lady Lounge.”
Of the Night Watch and the Town Crier
By Mary Faherty Sansaricq
anuary in Columbia County brings
frigid cold air and bitter winds that
turn the hamlets and towns into
desolate and quiet byways by the river
and the mountains. With the fallen darkness, folks are happy to stay by the safe
and warm comfort of their home
hearths secure in the knowledge that
they are protected.
In the late 1780’s the cold weather
nights were often a time of fear and
dread for the residents of Columbia
County. Hudson was a growing seaport
with whale ships and sloops that traveled the world over. Seamen and traders
from Ireland, Turkey, Africa, South
America, and the Indies came in and out
of Hudson daily. Robberies and rowdy
drinking were frequent, and the city was
not yet equipped with padlocks, window latches, or safes.
It was on January 5th in 1788 that a
group of Hudsonians, with the approval
of the Common Council, voluntarily
joined into a “Night Watch” to protect
against thieves and fires, and to preserve
and protect order in the city during
the night.
The Night Watch consisted of four cit-
J
izens for each night to begin at 9 o’clock
in the evening and continue until daybreak. Jonathan Worth was appointed by
the council to notify each citizen in turn
from the roll of residents at least 12
hours before he was to come to The
Watch. Each Watchman was provided
with a large oak club that he would bang
against the walkways (mostly plank
wood) or hitching posts calling out the
hour and “all’s well.”
The Watch was empowered to interrogate any person out at an unreasonable hour and to confine any suspect in
the Watch House until the following
morning.
One such Watchman who found favor
with the Common Council was appointed Town Crier. His name was Jemmy
Frazer. The Town Crier would walk
through the streets of the town, ringing
his bell, and calling out the news and the
hours. A story is told of how Jemmy,
“who loved his glass of grog, and was
happier, it is said, with two than with
one,” was called upon to help the Bank
of Columbia located at the foot of
Warren Street. James Nixon, the first
cashier, working late one night lost the
key to the Bank. Afraid to call attention
9
to the situation, Nixon told Jemmy to cry
the lost key through the streets of
Hudson without letting on that it was
the key to the Bank that was lost.
Jemmy had been up much of the
night in the lower wards hanging with
the boys, giving his speeches, and enjoying his grog. So, as he made his round
through the streets calling his “Hear ye,
hear ye, lost at night a large key,” his
mind was foggy and somewhat confused. One of the boys, always happy to
taunt Jemmy, asked him, “what sort of
key was it?”
Jemmy cried out in his tipsey state,
“Go to the Devil, and I tell ye that, ye’ll
be after getting into the Bank with it!”
After the next gathering of the
Common Council, who regularly met in
the various public houses, Jemmy lost
his commission.
The offices of the Night Watch and
the Town Crier continued on for many
years and the citizens of Hudson long
enjoyed the sense of personal security
these watchers and criers gave on cold
winter nights. Reprinted with permission from the
Columbia County Weekly Shopper.
Columbia County Historical Society
www.cchsny.org
Hudson’s South Bay
LANDSCAPE AND INDUSTRY By Don Christensen
t the time of Hudson’s
founding in 1785, the
open waters of South
Bay covered some 110 acres.
This tidal estuary of the
Hudson River and its companion bay on the other side
of Hudson—North Bay—
along with the river itself on
the west all but encompassed
the new city in water. From
the beginning, the water surrounding Hudson served a
dual purpose. It defined a natural landscape beauty that
was fully appreciated at the
moment of the earliest settlement in the area, and it provided the means to pursue
commerce.
While landscape beauty
and commercial potential
was seen in all the waters
around Hudson, South Bay
attracted particular attention
in both regards.
The view across South Bay
from Hudson offered a stunning vista of Mt. Merino rising
at the south shore of the bay
with the Hudson River and
the Catskill Mountains in the
background framing the
scene in an almost idealized
mixture of landscape features
of water and varying mountain heights. In the mid-19th
century
virtually
every
Hudson River School artist
would paint some version of
this scene. Literally hundreds
of different interpretations of
this vista have been done -seen in oil paintings, watercolors, drawings, lithograph and
chromolithograph reproductions, photographs, postcards
A
Detail from Columbia County Historical Society’s Penfield Map,
1799. Originally the City of Hudson extended out into the
Hudson River with deep bays north and south.As this maps
shows, however, the outer edges of the bays were already being
filled in to widen the waterfront for commercial purposes.
ties for cargo boats to shipbuilding and sail making. One
early commentator claimed
that the ships moored in
South Bay were so plentiful
that you could walk from one
to the next across the entire
width of South Bay without
ever setting foot on land or
water. One early industrial
and even reproduced in the
1830s on a set of Staffordshire
China dinnerware.
At the same time, South
Bay was continually being
rethought for commercial
use. At first, the deep waters
of the Bay offered a calm harbor for every sort of maritime
activity, from docking facili-
View Near Hudson. C 1820. Lithograph after watercolor by William
Guy Wall (1792-1865?). Irish artist William Guy Wall captured this
view of South Bay, Mt. Merino, the Hudson River and the Catskills
from a vantage point that is today Third Street and Allen Street in
Hudson. The road leading down to the bay is today’s US Rt. 9G —
then the Highland Turnpike, opened in 1806 and maintained as
a toll road until the turn of the century.
10
use of South Bay included
leather tanning. The name of
the street that once edged the
north shoreline of South Bay,
Tanners Lane, provides lasting
evidence of the importance
of the tanning business in the
early years of Hudson’s development.Tanners Lane can still
be visited today; it is lined by
many of the street’s original
buildings.
As Hudson grew, land owners of the dock areas on the
Hudson waterfront started filling in portions of both South
and North Bays to expand
their warehouse and docking
capabilities.The 1799 Penfield
Map of Columbia County in
the collection of the Columbia
County Historical Society
shows that the waterfront
edges of the city had already
begun to extend into the bays.
Since Hudson was the last
place on the Hudson River
with a natural water depth
sufficient to accommodate
oceangoing ships, it became
the virtual last stop for many
ships to unload cargo to be
transported by shallow-bottomed boats and land wagon
to other destinations north.
(The Hudson River wouldn’t
be dredged to accommodate
large ships toward Albany and
Troy until the 1920s.)
The competition for attracting docking fees in South Bay
was fierce. It is perhaps one of
the reasons that, when in 1837
the residents of the countryside area of Hudson successfully petitioned to form their own
town, they included the south
shore line of South Bay in their
new town and tried to attract
Columbia County Histor y & Heritage
ship owners into using the harbor docks in that area by naming the town for this commercial use—the green port.
The
formation
of
Greenport split civic ownership of South Bay in two,and
the first railroad leading from
the river’s edge to the inland
area of the state was built
across the north edge of
South Bay. The Hudson and
Berkshire Railroad, which was
first operated in 1838, was
built on a trestle across the
bay, cutting off Tanner’s Lane
from navigable access to the
bay and the river. Initially, this
rail line reached West
Stockbridge, Massachusetts
(and an iron ore mine there).
Later it was extended to
Pittsfield and Boston. Today
the same rail line is used for
rail traffic to the ADM Mill in
Greenport, leading from the
river and traveling through
the public park at Seventh
Street in Hudson. (When the
railroad was first built, the
waters under the open trestle
were maintained. The two
parts of the bay were referred
to as Big Bay and Little Bay. By
1890, however, the trestle had
been filled in and Little Bay
became the sold land mass
seen today.)
Any success that the dock
owners in South Bay may
have enjoyed in the first part
of the 19th century was
abruptly ended when the
Hudson
River
Railroad
(today’s Amtrak path) was
constructed in 1851 across
the mouths of both South and
North Bays. Apparently there
was very little resistance to
the closing of navigable
access to South Bay. Like
other river communities,
Hudson was anxious to be a
stop on the north/south railroad. In addition, the proposal
to build across the bays was
made during a depression in
the 1840s that almost bankrupted the Hudson/Berkshire
Summer 2003
Mount Merino and South Bay, c. 1840. Unknown Painter. This
early oil painting of South Bay and Mt. Merino is in the collection
of the Columbia County Historical Society. It follows the "classic"
composition that innumerable artists would follow in countless
other interpretations: The waters of South Bay in the foreground,
Highland Turnpike (today’s Rt. 9G) to the left, Mt. Merino in the
middle ground, the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains on the
right in the near and far distance.
Railroad; the owners of that
railroad—mostly local Hudson
businessmen—hoped
that the direct connection
with the Hudson River
Railroad would improve their
fortunes.And it did.
At this point, the industrial
development of South Bay
increased rapidly. First, the
Hudson Iron Works received
a “grant of land underwater”
in 1855 from the State
Legislature to fill in
several acres of
the river on
the west
side of
the
new railroad. The Iron Works
was built on these lands
“reclaimed from the water”
and remained a dominate
presence on the Hudson
waterfront until it went bankrupt and was torn down in
the late 1890s. Later, the area
of the river first filled in for
use by the Hudson Iron
works was taken over by Atlas
Cement for its dock facility
and is today owned by St.
Lawrence Cement.
Waste material
from
the Iron
Works
was
Clew Staffordshire China, produced 1829-1836. The scene on this
plate was based on Wall’s interpretation of South Bay and Mt.
Merino. The China set featured eight scenes of the Hudson Valley
after the work of Wall.
11
poured into South Bay
throughout the second half of
the 19th century. The resulting land fill was later occupied by a variety of factories—from a knitting mill to a
glue factory to wheel manufacturer and others—all clustered around the convenience of rail and river shipping capabilities.
As the industrial activity
within South Bay increased,
its role as a defining natural
landscape feature declined.
Few artists found inspiration
from the South Bay/Mt.
Merino viewshed after 1880,
although postcard images of
the view looking south down
Bay Road (today’s US Route
9G) were produced through
the 1920s.
One of the most significant
impacts on the waters of
South Bay was the construction of a second railroad bed
running east and west
through the center of the bay.
Approved by the people of
Hudson in 1874, following
nearly 20 years of opposition
to similar proposals, the railroad linked the waterfront
and the Hudson River
Railroad to stone quarries of
Fred W. Jones at Beecraft
Mountain two miles from the
river. Prior to the building of
the railroad the stone was carried by mule-pulled wagons
through the streets of
Hudson to the river’s edge.
The Jones railroad was
approved after assurances
that it would be built on an
open trestle and occupy less
than 16 feet of width through
the South Bay waters to protect what remained of South
Bay. Although approved in
1874, the railroad was not
completed or used until
1889. By 1900, the rail bed
had been filled in and
widened to nearly 80 feet
with only a culvert opening
between the north and south
portions of the bay. Jones’
Columbia County Historical Society
South Bay Road and Mt. Merino. Postcard. C. 1900. By the time
the photograph was taken for this postcard, the river’s edge and
the Catskill Mountains were cut out of the picture to avoid recording the massive industrial use of South Bay. Vegetation can be
seen growing within the Bay in this postcard image, showing the
effects of silting fill into the bay.
stone quarry business went bankrupt in 1900. In 1903 the
Hudson Portland Cement company acquired the combined
property of the bankrupt Hudson Iron Works and the bankrupt
stone quarry and railroad to establish the first cement producing operation in Hudson and Greenport.
By the beginning of the 20th century, the constricted
waters of South Bay had begun to deteriorate rapidly and
began taking on the characteristics of a shallow swamp that
can be seen today. In the 1920s, dredging waste from the clearing of the Hudson River channel to Albany and Troy were
deposited on the Greenport shoreline of South Bay.
Throughout the 20th century, all of the factory buildings
built on fill in the South Bay during the 19th century were
abandoned.
In the early 1980s further fill was made into South Bay for
the construction of a facility for the furniture manufacturer
L&B Industries.
While today the actual waters of South Bay bear little resemblance to the images we see in the artistic interpretations of
the Hudson River School artists of the 19th century, traveling
south down Rt. 9G still offers an impressive open view of Mt.
Merino and the Catskills in the background. Hudson Iron Works and South Bay. C. 1895. This photo shows the
peak of 19th century industrial use of the waters of South Bay.
All of the area shown as land up to the doorstep of the house at
the bottom with the Dutch-style roof was originally open water.
(This house still stands.)
12
www.cchsny.org
Columbia County Histor y & Heritage
By Patricia Fenoff, Hudson Historian
green and weathered bronze
statue of St. Winifred keeps
watch over the City of Hudson
and the river from a rocky promontory
called Promenade Hill. A saint of Welsh
origin,Winifred has been called by some
the Patron Saint of Mariners.
Indian dugout canoes, Dutch sloops,
whalers and sealers, and most of the
steamboats had disappeared from the
river traffic before St. Winifred took up
her vigil by the Hudson River in 1896. Today, the only mariners
that pass beneath her watchful eye are the seamen on the
tankers, tugs, barges and the occasional Coast Guard cutters
that ply the river from New York City to the Port of Albany and
those operating the many and varied pleasure craft.
The statue of the Welsh saint was not originally created to
stand watch over this city. But, before we look at how her likeness came to be here, let’s look briefly at her life.
Legend has it that Winifred, more than any other Welsh
saint, was known and venerated outside her own
country. But, oddly, there were no written records
about her until 500 years after her death. This fact
has led some authorities to assert that she may have
never existed.
According to Butler’s account, Winifred’s father
was a wealthy man. His wife’s brother was St. Bueno
(Buenno), who lived nearby, and who was a great
influence on the young Winifred. She spent many
of her early years listening to her uncle’s teaching and seemed destined for a religious life.
We are informed, Butler continues, that a
young man, Caradog by name, a chieftain from
Hawarden, had fallen in love with her. Finding
it impossible to gratify his desires, he
became enraged. And one day he pursued
her, as she was fleeing from him to take
refuge in the church that St. Bueno had
built, and cut off her head.
In an account by Prior Robert of
Shrewsbury’s Abbey, the earth then swallowed up Caradog’s body, and a spring
sprang forth at the very point where Winifred’s
head fell.The maiden was raised to life again by
the prayers of St. Bueno, who set the severed
head upon her shoulders where it healed at
once, showing only a scar.
Winifred eventually left home to enter the
nunnery of Gwytherin in Denbighshire and later
was chosen to be the abbess at St. Eleri, where
she died 15 years after her “miraculous resuscitation.”A spring called St.Winifred’s Well is located
in a place called Holywell by the English and
Treflynnon (Welltown) by the Welsh. Many
cures and pilgrimages have been recorded
at this site over the year.
While the events surrounding the
history of the real Winifred remain
A
Summer 2003
clouded in mystery, much more is
known about the placement of her
image in Hudson overlooking the river.
From the Hudson City Minutes, we
learn that the Proprietors voted on March
9, 1795 to set aside that “certain piece of
land, known by the name of Parade, or
Mall, in front of Main street, and on the
banks fronting the river, which should be
granted to the Common Council forever,
as a public walk or Mall, and for no other
purpose whatever.”
According to Stephen B. Miller’s “Sketches of Hudson” this
mall remained in an “unimproved condition for many years
except for the addition of an octagon shaped refreshment
house called the Roundhouse.”
In 1834, the area was improved with proper walks and the
Roundhouse, “which had become a nuisance” was removed.
After some lengthy deliberation the park was given its present
name, “Parade Hill.” One local source notes that during the
height of the Victorian era, the word “Parade” seemed too common, so numerous strollers began referring to the
area by its alternative name,“Promenade Hill.”
General John Watts DePeyster had become
owner of Lower Claverack Manor through his
grandfather, John Watts, and as such was called
the “Last Patroon.” He was a resident of
Tivoli. According to the history of that village written by Richard Wiles, the general
purchased “a plot of land 25 feet square
south of the church (St. Paul’s Episcopal)
which allowed him to indulge in his penchant for erecting monuments.” It was
one of his practices to select and purchase a site and then offer a statue to be
erected.
One of the gifts or monuments
ordered by General DePeyster was the
$10,000 statue of St. Winifred created
by sculptor, George E. Bissel, in Paris. It
was intended to be a gift to the
Methodist Church of Tivoli and to be
surrounded by a fountain of running
water.The fountain was not part of the
gift, and since the Methodist congregation did not have the funds to provide
the water supply, they declined the
offer.
The general who delighted in erecting memorials was not deterred by the
action of the Methodists, and promptly
offered the bronze statue to the City
of Hudson. Hudson’s Public Works
Commission gave $2,600 to provide
water for the fountain, and work
began on the base and pedestal when
the statue arrived from Paris in May
of 1896.
Saint
Winifred
Continued on page 31
13
Columbia County Historical Society
www.cchsny.org
The Private Community of
Willard Place
By Dr.Will Swift
or a glimpse of
Hudson’s 19th
century aristocratic heritage, head south
from Warren St. on Third
Street, take a left on Allen
Street and the first right by
St. Mary’s school into Willard
Place where six grand
Victorian era homes, ranging
from Tuscany-style to Second
Empire to Colonial Revival
styles, form a privileged
enclave far from the bustle of
Warren Street. There were
originally eight homes, but
the elegant Second Empire
mansion at 1 Willard Place
was torn down in the early
1950’s, and the similar home
next door (#2) was also
removed in the 1970’s.
C. Van Rensselaer in his
1887 pamphlet Historical
Reminiscences of Hudson,
NY & Vicinity says that Willard
Place “received its name
from the original proprietor
[Henry A. Willard] of Willard’s
Hotel, Washington D.C., of
world wide reputation.”
According to Van Rensselaer,
Mr. Willard was a guest for a
time in the Scovill Mansion
adjacent to Willard Place. Mr.
Willard briefly considered
retiring to Hudson and purchased a large plot of land in
Willard Place, which he
owned from 1864 to 1867.
Based on the strength of
the transportation, iron and
textile industries, and its
place as the county seat for
government and legal professionals in the 1870’s, Hudson
entered a period of increased
F
prosperity.This
is exemplified
by the elaborate rebuilding
of the façade of
Warren Street’s First
Presbyterian Church. Many
Irish immigrant families, who
had arrived in Hudson only
one generation before, prospered and moved onto
the main Front Street. In
response, the established families, descendants of the city’s
Nantucket founders and the
early Dutch settlers, moved
uptown to create exclusive
neighborhoods. Influenced
by a nationwide movement to
create aristocratic enclaves in
the midst of a burgeoning
democratic society, and by
the lawlessness of the city,
some of Hudson’s wealthiest
and most prominent citizens
wanted a private, gated neighborhood of their own to rival
New York City’s Gramercy
Park and Sutton Place.
Surprisingly, Hudson was
also a hotbed
of crime and
prostitution. In
September
1869 the editor of
the Hudson Evening
Register decried the unsafe
situation in the city:“The fact
is, murderers, robbers, pickpockets, assassins, and criminals of every dye are invited
to operate in our city by the
inducements of dark streets,
an inefficient police force,
and a frail structure for the
keeping of prisoners. It is useless to attempt to conceal the
fact that there is no security
for life or property in our
midst…”After a series of daring Warren Street robberies
shocked the public in 1872,
Hudson’s penurious residents
finally funded a municipal
police force and developed a
private citizen’s organization
to help clean up the
city, which the Hudson
Republican called “the most
lawless city on the River.”
A period postcard showing Willard Place with five Victorian
homes on the right leading to 8 Willard Place at the end.
14
According to Bruce Hall’s
Diamond Street, criminals
had full reign at night; the
street lamps were still only lit
when there was no moon,
and then only until midnight.
In 1876 Hudson was fired up
when, just before Christmas,
brothel owner Johnny Kiere
killed Charles Hermance,
who was trying to rescue a
friend’s fifteen year old wife
from a whorehouse on North
Second Street. A near riot
broke out as Kiere was arrested. Though he tried to pin
the murder on his wife, a
madam of the house, Kiere
was sentenced to a lifetime of
hard labor in a sensational
trial,which captured Hudson’s
lurid and unruly spirit
On April 1, 1872, the
Hudson Register announced
plans for Willard Place, conceived as a private, gated
community. It was described
as “the most important
improvement that has been
projected in this city for
twenty years;” and one that
would realize all its projectors contemplate.” Civicminded attorney and real
estate agent Willard Peck,
who served as police
justice, postmaster and who
reformed the school system
as a member of the board of
education, placed regular
front page advertisements in
the Register. He sold the corner lot at Third and Allen to
lumber yard owners William
I. Traver and his son William
H.Traver.The lot would “open
a street fifty feet wide… to
terminate upon the brow of a
Columbia County Histor y & Heritage
hill with a park [Willard Park] one hundred and fifty feet square, handsomely
adorned with trees and shrubbery, with
circular carriage way around it.” There
would be fourteen “handsome lots...
designed to erect handsome villa houses… the sites are most eligible and sightly on the Hudson River.”
Willard Place was inaugurated on
April 10, 1872 in a ceremony conducted
by the Travers,Willard Peck, and attorney
Herman Esselstyn. At the junction of
Allen Street and Willard Place, there were
wrought-iron gates to keep out undesirables. Only four blocks away on Diamond
Street (now Columbia Street) there
were many houses of ill-repute. Several
decades earlier the brothels had coexisted with the smells of the slaughter house
and the oil and candle works, which used
sperm oil and whale blubber.
Thereafter, sandwiched in the
Register between advertisements for
vinegar bitters, to invigorate the stomach
and cleanse the liver, Kennedy’s
Hemlock ointment, Bachelor Hair Dye,
and a book on Soul Charming, a guide to
instant winning of love and affection,
Williard Peck offered the “valuable building lots” on Willard Place. Later William
Traver placed a notice in the paper offering the lot at what is now 8 Willard Place
(originally 9 Willard Place before Hudson
changed house numbers) for sale for
$2600. Intriguingly, the lot remained
unsold for eighteen years until Traver
built on it himself in 1892.Willard Place
was not as successful as its founders had
projected. Not all of the fourteen lots
were developed. The financial panic of
1893, set off by railroad, bank, and stock
market failures, and the ensuing economic depression of the 1890’s caused
Summer 2003
On April 1, 1872, the
Hudson Register
announced plans for
Willard Place, conceived as a private,
gated community.
great economic insecurity. Citizens of
Hudson were not immune. No further
homes were built in Willard Place after
1892.
One of the founders eventually lost
his home. By the middle of 1875 two of
Hudson’s leading society figures —
Herman Vedder Esselstyn, a prominent
attorney and surrogate court judge, and
his wife Margaret — moved from the
increasingly Irish neighborhood around
their Front Street home. They built a
three story house at 5 Willard Place. It
William Traver’s Second Empire home
at 1 Willard Place. It was torn down
in the 1950s.
was in the Second Empire style, the most
fashionable design used in America in
the 1870’s and 1880’s. Then, wealthy
American families copied the elegant
homes being built along the newly constructed grand boulevards in Paris under
Napoleon III’s Second Empire. The window lintels are Gothic or elaborately
carved. Over a projecting front bay, a
tower extended above the mansard roof,
but both were destroyed in a 1939 fire
and not rebuilt. The two lower floors
remain today. The entrance hall has an
elegant curved staircase, which is said to
be one of the most beautiful in Hudson.
By 1887 Esselstyn’s career foundered.
In May of that year he mortgaged the
house for $4,500 and was unable to pay
the mortgage when it came due in 1892.
Starting a series of lawsuits, he bought
two years reprieve before the house was
sold at auction on the steps of the Court
House for $5,166.73 in 1894. Herman
Esselstyn, eulogized by the Hudson
Gazette as “one of the most brilliant of
lawyers,” died five years later leaving an
estate valued at less than fifty dollars. In
1989 Meg Mundy, the British-born stage
and television actress, bought the home
and renovated it during the decade she
lived there.
Both William I. and William H. Travis
mentioned above ran a lumber yard producing household woodwork and molding. A collection of letters William H.
Traver wrote to his son Charles during a
European trip in 1891, show him to have
been a well-spoken, thoughtful and sensitive man who was a keen observer of
his environment. He was the epitome of
the 19th century small-town version of a
self-made man: he parlayed success in his
wood-working business into a job as the
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15
Columbia County Historical Society
President of Hudson City
Savings Institution and a
political career, serving as the
mayor of Hudson. Traver
moved his family to a Second
Empire mansion at 1 Willard
Place, which St. Mary’s
church tore down in the
1950’s and replaced with St.
Mary’s school.
Traver also built a two
and one-half story Colonial
Revival style home at 8
Willard Place for Charles, his
eldest son and business partner, in celebration of his marriage to Grace Boynton,
daughter of a Warren Street
boot and shoe maker.The rectangular house with its gambrel roof, pierced by three
shed roofed dormers, was
built over the course of a year
commencing in November
1892. The facade features a
frieze of swags of bell-flowers
mounted with decorative ribbons. Fluted pilasters define
the corners. The paired double sash windows on the first
floor and the bowed second
story triple window have
ornately detailed cornices. On
the steep hillside behind the
house there is an elaborate
turn-of-the-century woodland
garden. In the heyday of the
enclave, there was a carefully
manicured park (Willard
Park) within the circular
drive in front of the house.
The center-hall house
served as an advertisement
www.cchsny.org
bathroom has an original,
built-in, zinc-lined, copper
bathtub. The house has only
had three owners. It was rented from 1946 until 1955 until
Charles Traver’s daughter sold
it to a pharmacist and his
wife, who in turn, sold it to
the current owners, Don and
Jo Christensen in the 1980’s.
Because Willard Place was
privately owned until 1969,
the city did not provide services like snow removal; there
were neither utility poles nor
sewers on the street. Most
likely in order to obtain city
services, the owners petitioned the city council to purchase the street and its park,
which the city bought on May
15, 1969. The original gates,
for the William Traver & Son
planning mill and woodworking plant, which was later
known as Griffin’s Supply. On
the first floor there is elaborate beaded oak woodwork in
the formal front parlor, the
back library and the entry
hall, which also has the kind
of decorative Delft-tiled fireplace that only wealthy families could afford. The library
features a built-in seat under a
windowed bay looking out
toward the famous view of
Mt. Merino and South Bay,
which Hudson River painters
so favored. Around the ceilings in the second floor bedrooms there are decorative
wood moldings, different in
every room. The third floor
The Charles Traver House built by William Traver in 1892 for
Charles, his son and partner in business, on the occassion of his
marriage.
16
enclosing the street, had been
removed in the early 1950’s
when St. Mary’s school was
built.
A new owner is restoring
the Second Empire style
frame house at 4 Willard
Place, formerly divided into
apartments, into a one family
home.Today, for the first time
in sixty years, and reflecting
Hudson’s new era of prosperity, all of these grand homes
are once again single family
residences. The current residents are worried that the
proposed development of the
former gardens of the Scovill
mansion (more recently
known as the Martin residence), which is adjacent to
Willard Place, will compromise the integrity of the
neighborhood. They fear
building on the left side of
Willard Place will spoil the
magnificent cul-de-sac and a
viewers trip back in time. Dr. Will Swift has just finished a
joint biography of the Roosevelts
and the British Royal Family to be
published next spring by John
Wiley&Sons. The Roosevelts
and The Royals tells the story of
the Roosevelt dynasty and the
British Royal Family from the
1880s to the present. It highlights
their friendship, which helped
restore British-American relations,
and save democracy during World
War II.
Columbia County Histor y & Heritage
Summer 2003
TRAVELING FACILITIES
OF HUDSON: 1846
Steamboats and Hotels
This is an old time article as it appeared in
waves of adventure, they care not whiththe Columbia Washingtonian newspaper,
er. Our neighbors in the States East of us,
Hudson, N.Y., May 14, 1846,Vol.V, No.3,
and along the line of the great “Western
Whole No. 211,William Rockwell, Editor
Railroad” are our brethren. They still
he steamer Hudson — This popu- enjoy a view of the scenes of our early
lar boat has come out this spring years, and we still are brethren, and we
most tastefully painted and orna- meet as such.
mented, by that skillful artist, Mr. Ary, of
The Hotels of Hudson, too, deserve a
our city. Her extensive accommodations passing notice. We have ample accomand conveniences, her cabins, saloons
and state-rooms have now elegance and
beauty added to the real home comforts
which they presented last season. Her
officers were “never better”! Capt. King
needs but to be named to bring pleasant
recollections to the mind that may seen
in the countenance of every traveler to
the “great city” from this quarter of the modations in these for every grade of
country.The steward gives just that kind travelers. Hudson may well boast her
of evidence of his unwearied attention Hotels Those in the upper part of the
and skill in his department which one city, the Eastern House by Mr. Martin, and
loves to witness, as you gather around the Columbia House by Mr. Rogers, are
the richly furnished board, amid the well known establishments, obliging
cheering steam of “Golden Chop,” “Old pleasant landlords who are truly what
Hyson,” and here and there a richer per- are called good-hearted clever fellows.
fume that tells of “Java’s Isle,” of “Mocha’s Their accommodations are convenient
Shore” and then
Pleasant as travel by steamboat often
the friendly recogwas, it was not without its hazards!
nition and the
pleasant chat,while
every want is
anticipated by the
faithful, busy waiting ones around.
Every evening in
the week, except
Sunday, passengers
embark for New
York, either in the
Hudson or the
Fairfield, no less
accommodating,
sure and safe, without fear of pickpockets or a rough
and uncouth crowd
gathered from the
purlieu of our
large cities, and
floating on the
“T
Here we are happy
to assure the public,
“there is nothing that
can intoxicate.”
17
for both men and teams. They both sell
(we are sorry for it) pernicious beverages which ruin many of our fellowmen,
and against the use and traffic of which
we have waged an uncompromising war.
The Mansion House by Mr. Bradley, is
an old stand, too well known to require
any notice here. It has long enjoyed a
very extensive patronage, and has fine
accommodations, and as many comforts
for the weary traveler or his horses as
can be found anywhere; and is a landlord
that will never do worse than he says.At
any rate, it is a favorite principle with
him “That every man should mind his
own business.” He does it and therefore
his business is well done.
The Hudson House by Mr. Bontwell
[is] A large commodious establishment
affording genteel accommodations for
travelers and visitors. Families from the
South and from our large and crowded
cities find here a pleasant retreat from
the dust and bustle and heated bricks of
their own haunts. Mr. B. is extensively
known as a liberal, generous provider.
Attentive
and
polite, his house
has long been the
resort of gentlemen and ladies
from all parts of
the land.
These last two
also keep the “spirit of mischief,” but
as if aware of its
evil tendency it is
not exposed to
view, except when
“called” for.
The National
Hotel by Mr. D. B.
Stranahan, late of
the Kinderhook
House. This is a
new house, just
opened, on the
Continued on
page 25
Columbia County Historical Society
www.cchsny.org
Hudson River Trust Company, c1875; building demolished.
Warren Street, between 3rd and 4th Street; City Hall Place
and Opera House at left. For a time City Hall and the
Police Department were located in the Opera House.
Ferry steamer George H. Powers, the ferry boat that traveled
between Hudson and Athens, late 19th century.
Park Square, Warren Street and Park Place, late 19th
century; the statue of Venus and the fountain stands in the
center of the park.
Looking down Columbia Street from Academy Hill, mid
19th century; the Federal period house on left was demolished by Columbia Memorial Hospital for a parking lot.
Waldron House (left) looking down Warren Street
from 1st Street, c1860s; most of these buildings are gone.
18
Columbia County Histor y & Heritage
Laying cobblestones on Warren Street between 4th and 5th
Streets, late 19th century.
Summer 2003
Looking south from Warren Street, with Christ Church and
the Parish House, late 19th century.
A HUDSON ALBUM
Images from the Rowles Studio Collection, Courtesy of Historic Hudson
“BusinessDock” area between 6th and 7th Streets (across from Park Square), looking west down Warren Street, 1868.
19
Columbia County Historical Society
www.cchsny.org
New at The Columbia County Historical Society Museum
By Julia Philip
THREE TOWNS JOIN
IN HISTORY EXHIBIT
A small model of a Hudson River icehouse now stands just inside the
entrance to the exhibition room at the
Columbia County Historical Society’s
Museum on Albany Avenue in
Kinderhook. It is an important part of
“Around Columbia County,” the first in a
series of exhibits the Society is mounting in collaboration with town historians. This first installment was created by
the town historians of Clermont,
Germantown and Livingston to show
the agricultural and industrial heritage of
the southern part of the county.
On the wall to the right of the gallery
hang examples of the tongs, grappling
hooks and two-man saws that were used
to harvest ice from the river.This was an
essential industry before the days of
refrigerators and refrigerated cars and
trucks. Facing the entrance a flail, two
hay forks and a saw are displayed. These
were used to harvest hay and other grain
crops that were the basic fuel for horse
powered machinery and transportation
in the early 19th century. Barrel and box
making frames and packinghouse equipment for the fruit producers of the county are displayed with photographs of a
horse drawn spray rig at work in an
orchard. A photograph of the mine
entrance at the Burden Mines in
Linlithgo, the mine payroll box and a
large piece of iron are the reminders of
this industry that was dominant until the
mid-1800s.There are photographs also of
the brick kilns along the river and samples of old county-fired bricks.
All of the items displayed come from
the collections gathered and maintained
by town historians — Mary Howell of
Livingston who is also county historian,
Anne Poleschner of Clermont and
Marguerite Riter of Germantown — as
well as several private collections. Ruth
Ellen Berninger, educator, Sharon S.
Palmer, executive director, and Carla R.
Lesh, registrar/assistant educator, of the
Columbia County Historical Society,
mounted the exhibition. It will remain in
the Museum gallery through November
22nd.
MUSEUMS IN
THE CLASSROOM
The fourth grade class taught by
Stephanie Bell at the Martin Van Buren
Elementary School has produced the
exhibit that greets visitors at the
entrance to the exhibition galleries at
the Society’s Museum in Kinderhook.
The students chose a theme of simple
machines — the lever, the inclined
plane, the screw, the pulley — and have
demonstrated them in a collection of
ingenious (and sometimes almost “Rube
Goldberg”) inspiration. There are working models to show these machines in
action. They raise a flag, move a theater
curtain, lift wood planks, and return a
mechanical car to a starting point.
Others of the 23 children in this class
have made posters illustrating the theme
of simple machines.
The exhibit is the product of the
“Museums in the Classroom” program
created by Ruth Ellen Berninger, the
Society’s educator, assisted by Carla R.
Lesh, the Society’s new registrar/ assistant educator. This school program,
sponsored by the Society for the past
three years, involves over 200 students
each year from the third and fourth
grades of several elementary schools in
the region.
AN EXHIBIT OF
PHOTOGRAPHS FROM
ARTHUR BAKER’S NEW BOOK
A strikingly impressive collection of
photographs from Mr. Baker’s book,
Wooden Churches: Columbia County
Legacy will hang in the CCHS gallery
through November 22nd. The book is
reviewed elsewhere in this publication,
and is available for purchase in the
Museum Shop.The Museum is now open
Monday through Friday from 10 am to 4
pm and on Saturdays from 1 to 4 pm. • THE 1737 LUYKAS VAN ALEN HOUSE •
The 1737 Luykas Van Alen House, Route 9H, Kinderhook,
NY, is open for the summer season: Thursdays, Fridays and
Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays from 1 to 5
p.m. Visit the grounds of this National Historic Landmark
and tour the site with informative guides before the house
undergoes a year or two of restoration work. Funded by the
federal “Save America's Treasures” grant, the New York State
Environmental Protection Fund, and other donors, the
restoration will focus on the roofing system, brickwork, site
drainage, and archeology. Don’t miss the opportunity this
summer to visit this outstanding surviving example of rural
Dutch architecture. Over ten years ago, filming for “The Age
of Innocence” took place at the site. Group tours may also
be arranged by calling the Society’s office at 518-758-9265.
20
Columbia County Histor y & Heritage
Summer 2003
News of the Columbia County Historical Society
A Message from the President continued from page 2
THE SOCIETY
NEEDS YOU
tive, in a less enlightened age immediately past, to “modernize”
most of the city. We are therefore able to enjoy urban
streetscapes like Warren and Union Streets with a remarkable
stock of period architecture. In this issue we hope to bring
that architecture to life.
It has always been our intention that this be a magazine of
local history with broad appeal (if we are not fulfilling that
intention, let us know), rather than a conduit for Society news.
During 2002, when it was our only publication, we felt compelled to include important Society news and we will continue to do so. But to a lesser degree, leaving more room for
real history, for we are now beginning a supplementary publication, a members’ newsletter, The Bulletin of the Columbia
County Historical Society. Members can expect to find it in
their mailboxes three times a year.
The Columbia County Historical Society depends upon volunteers to help it
in its many endeavors.We are seeking individuals with experience and interest in any of the following areas to contact the Society and volunteer their
time and effort. Don’t hesitate to contact us even if you think that your
background is not suitable. We can explore with you our needs and your
interests to determine how best you can help us.
If you are skilled in typing and/or inputting materials into computers,
you could help us manage and catalogue our collection. Museum or archival
experience would be helpful. Please call Helen McLallen, Curator, at
758-9265. She will be happy to discuss in more detail the type of assistance needed and what is required.
We need people who have an interest in either writing or presenting
educational programs to help the staff Educator in this important outreach
effort. If you have an interest in developing such programs or working
with students, please contact Ruth Ellen Berninger, Educator, at 758-9265.
Finally, the Society can use help handling a wide variety of tasks in its
library and office at the Museum in Kinderhook. If you would like to assist
us in these areas, please call Sharon Palmer, Executive Director, at the telephone number shown above.
Stephan M. Mandel
President
Board of Directors
Our Mission
he Columbia County Historical Society is a
private, not-for-profit organization dedicated to
the preservation and interpretation of the history and
culture of Columbia County for its residents and
visitors.
It is the Society’s goal to encourage understanding,
knowledge, and preservation of the county’s heritage
through the acquisition and conservation of historic lands,
buildings, objects and documents, and the sponsorship of
research, publications, exhibitions, and educational programming. To help achieve its mission, the Society owns,
maintains, and interprets to the public, buildings and collections of historical significance, and operates a museum
that includes exhibition galleries and an extensive research
library.
T
Columbia County History & Heritage is interested
in hearing from you — if you have articles, pictures, or
other items about Columbia County history and cultural
heritage suitable for publication, please let us know.
The Editorial Board will review all submissions, and all
submissions considered for publication are subject to
editing.We regret that we cannot guarantee publication.
Want to advertise your business in Columbia
County History & Heritage? Call 518-758-9265
for more information.
21
Columbia County Historical Society
www.cchsny.org
WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO VENUS ?
By Pat Fenoff
Editor’s Note: Pat Fenoff enjoys the title of
HUDSON HISTORIAN and is a very knowledgeable and capable local goverment official
appointed by the Mayor of Hudson. She has
been most helpful by reviewing the articles in
this issue for accuracy.
The words below are taken from an
article found in the Hudson Gazette,
dated August 2, 1883:
HUDSON PUBLIC FOUNTAIN
Now that the beautiful fountain in the public
park is nearly completed and our citizens have
enjoyed the sight of “Venus Rising From The
Sea,” exhibiting in the most effective manner
the power of our water supply, and proving
that it can be put to ornamental as well as useful purposes, it is proper to speak in detail of
this work of art, and award credit to those who
were chiefly instrumental in procuring it.
The total height of the fountain, including
the foundation is eighteen feet. The pan is gargoyle octagon, eight feet five inches above the
base, diameter of pan, eight feet eleven inches.
The ground basin is twenty-five feet in diameter. The foundation is of Coral Marble, handsomely cut, from the quarries of Supervisor
Fred W. Jones, and was donated by that energetic and public-spirited gentleman. The foundation is capped by a fine slab of Vermont marble, which was generously donated by Mr.
Patrick Hoctor, of the Hudson Granite and
Marble Works.
From this rises the base surmounted by the
figures all in graceful proportion and artistic
design. But to be fully appreciated, it must be
seen when the water in full force is playing
through its numerous jets and rising and
falling in fantastic forms.
Mr. D. Martin Haviland is entitled to much
credit for his persevering efforts in securing to
the city not only this beautiful fountain, but
also the handsome park in which it is located.
One of the most unsightly spots in the city
has within a few years been converted into one
of the most attractive. In this enterprise Mr.
Haviland’s efforts have been generously seconded by the Boston and Albany Railroad
Company, by the action of our Common
Council, by the contributions of citizens and by
the local press.
At the outset we said the fountain was
nearly completed. It only lacks the finishing
touches of the artist brush. This we understand, Mr. Silas W. Tobey, the veteran artist, has
volunteered to do, and this assurance is sufficient guarantee that the work will be well done
and in keeping with the fountain and it’s
surroundings.
or 89 years, as an ornament to the
city and a monument to public
minded citizens, Venus, flanked by
her accompanying dolphins, reigned
majestically in the park and was very
much appreciated by adults and children
alike.
In June of 1974 the statue was painted blue by Charles Rogers Jr. of
Stockport, Mass. and was cleaned. In
1975 Inspiration Fountain was added to
the park and the statue of Venus was
moved to a new location at the
Columbia Street and North 7th Street
end of the park.
F
22
Then in 1978 it was damaged by two
vandals. The statue was removed to be
repaired by Robert Allen of Ghent who
was at that time affiliated with a museum in Albany. It was returned to its site in
November of that year. The cost of the
repairs was $800, paid by the vandals.
It was again removed from the site by
Mr. Allen for repairs in October of 1978
after being severely damaged by a
drunken driver. It was returned to the
park in 1980.
In 1978 Roderic H. Blackburn, then
Assistant Director of at the Albany
Institute of History & Art, estimated the
statue’s value at $3000–$5000. He wrote
that the statue appeared to be a late 19th
century or early 20th century scuplture
modeled in the academic tradition of the
Beaux Arts style. He claimed that it was
of high quality and worthy of being preserved and properly restored.
Suffering from continued damage at
the hands of children who played on it,
the statue of Venus was removed by the
city in recent years and has not been
returned to the site. It is hoped that the
city still has the statue — that it will be
repaired and returned to a spot where it
can be again enjoyed by public minded
citizens but protected from damage. Columbia County Histor y & Heritage
Summer 2003
Book Review:
Wooden churches
Columbia county legacy
A Book by Arthur A Baker
Stephan M. Mandel
ith painstaking and meticulous care and attention
to detail Arthur Baker has most successfully captured and chronicled the elegant and silent beauty
of Columbia County’s wooden churches. In the days prior to
radio and television, these churches, most of which were
built in the nineteenth century, served not only as centers for
worship but for meetings both political and social. It naturally followed that religious groupings and their clergy played
powerful and important roles in the development of rural
and city governance.This book gives one the opportunity to
better understand their influence
and appreciate the fine buildings
that housed them.
The book is published by
the Columbia County Historical
Society, and was supported in part
by grants from Furthermore, a program of the J.M. Kaplan Fund,
and The Graham Foundation for
Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts.
The large format publication features duotone photographs of all 63
extant old wooden churches in the
county. It contains an incisive essay
by local historian Ruth Piwonka
that reveals the manner in which
both the nation’s and the county’s
closely meshed religious and secular history not only influenced the
growth and development of the various faiths, but also everyday life in
the community. Basic historic and
architectural data relating to each church illustrated is numerically keyed to the photographs and the church locations on
the included Columbia County Church Location Map.
The historic data were verified and augmented by many of
the county’s town and church historians. Ron Toelke
Associates of Chatham designed the book.
A resident of East Taghkanic, Arthur A. Baker states in his
introduction,“Columbia County, New York is endowed with a
rich heritage of wooden church architecture which covers
the full design spectrum, from the simplest vernacular shelter to imposing Gothic Revival structures. In microcosm, it
exhibits the influences of the nation’s changing architectural
styles, and the growth of the varied religious denominations.
Collectively, the churches reflect a remarkably creative,
diverse range of building design and form.” He also stresses
that the wooden churches are an integral part of Columbia
County’s visual heritage and form part of the continuum link-
W
23
ing the past, present and future, and that their preservation is
of paramount importance.
Baker is uniquely qualified for this project.A distinguished
architect who practiced in London, England and New York as
the partner of such iconic figures as Sir James Stirling and
Peter Eisenman, he has for some years been devoting himself
to large format photography. This exhibition and book are
the culmination of a project that began over ten years ago
with a smaller exhibition at the County Museum.
The churches have been photographed from a consistent
frontal view, in a black and white format that encapsulates the
essence of each structure, presenting it in a manner that
emphasizes the church massing and
silhouette rather than its denomination, location, period or architectural style. This approach enables an
easy comparative analysis of the
similarities and differences of the
church designs. Critics who have
seen the photographs and the book
have been enthusiastic.
“A skilled photographer, who
trained as an architect, Arthur
Baker has produced an historically significant record of the wooden churches of Columbia County.
His calculated documentary
approach enhances the visual
and structural character of his
subject, while in its entirety,
Baker’s project underscores the
importance of the cultural heritage that surrounds us.”
Willis E. Hartshorn
Director, International Center of
Photography, New York
“Just contemplating these wooden churches of Columbia
County so serene and splendid, ranging from the all
but invisible to the energetically Gothic in West Copake and
the majestically classical in St. Thomas in Churchtown
imbues one with peace and tranquility and a longing for
a purer age.”
Thomas P. F. Hoving
Author, former Director of the
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The book is available for $24.95 ($22.45 for CCHS members)
at the County Museum Shop and for $24.95 at other
locations in the area. Columbia County Historical Society
www.cchsny.org
History Around the County
BLUEBERRY DAY
AT AUSTERLITZ
Blueberry pies, blueberry
muffins, blueberry jams, blueberry ice cream and even
blueberry bushes to plant in
your yard will be featured at
the Austerlitz Historical
Society’s Blueberry Festival
on Sunday, July 27th. The
event will be held at the
Austerlitz Fire House on
Route 22 from 9 to 4 o’clock.
Blueberry pancakes will be
served from 9 to 1 o’clock
and are included in the admission fee of $5 for adults, with
children under 12 admitted
free.
19th century crafts will be
demonstrated, and there will
be a display of antiques and
collectibles many of which
will be for sale along with
handmade gifts with a blueberry theme. Entertainment
for children will include
Roger the Jester and performances presented by Stageworks’
Summer
Stage.
Proceeds from this event will
benefit the educational programs of the Austerlitz
Historical Society.
AUTUMN IN
AUSTERLITZ
On Saturday, September 20th,
townspeople in period dress
will greet visitors and offer
them a glimpse of life in the
community as it was in the
1830’s. Demonstrated will be
many of the skills and tools
needed to provide the necessities of life in that earlier
time. The event will also provide an opportunity to see
the progress made in reconstructing
the
MoreyDevereaux House on the site
donated by Robert Herron.
The building was transported
from Nassau in over 3000
numbered pieces.
The Autumn Soup Kitchen
ANCRAM PLANS
A THREE DAY
BICENTENNIAL
CELEBRATION
will offer homemade breads
and soups for sale as well as
items from the gift shop and
the Baker’s Table.Admission is
$5 for adults with children
under 12 admitted free.
Under the leadership of
Town Historian Clara Van
Tassel Ancram’s Bicentennial
Committee has planned a
three day festival beginning
with a chicken barbecue on
Friday evening, September 12,
5 to 7 o’clock at the new
Town Hall. Saturday morning
boasts a flea market from 7 to
10 AM with tours of the
Ancram Mill and the newly
renovated Simon’s General
Store from 10 to 2 PM followed by a show of antique
cars. At 5 PM there will be a
parade of fire companies from
the area preceding the official
dedication of the new Town
Hall and observance of the
Town’s bicentennial by state
and local dignitaries. There
will be refreshments available, a sale of raffle tickets and
activities for the young. The
day will close with a display
of fireworks. On Sunday
there will be an Ecumenical
Worship Service at 1 PM at
the tent at the Town Hall followed by an Ice Cream Social,
tours of the Town Hall and the
drawing for the raffle.
FALL GARDEN
PARTY AT
STEEPLETOP
An early autumn “Garden
Party at Steepletop” will be
held on the afternoon of
September 20th from 3 to 5
o’clock by the Friends of the
Millay Society at the home of
the late poet, Edna St.Vincent
Millay.
The house,on a remote hilltop in Austerlitz, was named
by the poet for the steeplebush, a tall pink wildflower
that grows in the surrounding
fields. Her home and its contents are virtually as she left
them on her death in 1950
and include her personal
library, music, clothing, shoes
and household goods. Millay’s
grave and that of her husband
and her mother are located in
a clearing in the woods a halfmile from the house.
The autumn gathering will
be the first major effort of the
Friends Society to expand its
membership and to support
major preservation of the
house and grounds so that in
time they can be opened to
the public.
To reach Steepletop, turn
off Rte. 22 at Austerlitz onto
East Hill Road by the small
town Post Office. Continue
up the hill for 2.5 miles until
you reach the house on the
left across from the Millay Art
Colony. For more information
about the gathering call (845)
757-3214, (212) 777-0283 or
(518) 851-7744.
TAGHKANIC
CELEBRATES
BICENTENNIAL
Banjo music by the Jug Band
from 11 to noon and the
Ghent Brass Band playing
from 2:30 until 3PM will
welcome visitors to the
Taghkanic Town Bicentenial
celebration on August 2, 2003
to be held on Route 82 at
West Taghkanic. Displays of
early Taconic baskets and
historical documents are
planned accompanied by displays of wood carving, basket
weaving and blacksmithing as
it was done in the time of the
24
town’s first settlement. These
crafts and fly fishing will be
demonstrated by expert
craftsmen from the community. Town fire fighting equipment will be displayed.While
Indian skills of fire building
and survival are shown, a
smoke trailer from the
County Fire Association will
demonstrate escapes from a
modern burning building.
There will be craft vendors
across the highway, food for
sale and a tent with entertainment and rides for children
followed by fireworks at dusk
at Lake Taconic State Park.
Nancy Griffith,Town Historian,
has been in charge of planning the event’s festivities.
C ANAAN
The Canaan Historical Society
has announced plans for
weekly informal Saturday
afternoon programs to be
held at the Meeting House at
Canaan Center from 1 to
4p.m in July and August.
• The first program on July
19th will concentrate on
barns and be presented by
Richard Babcock who is the
author of Old Barns in the
New World .
•On July 26 the subject
will be the Underground
Railroad presented by Beverly
Mills from Troy who has lectured about Harriet Tubman,
the conductor of over 300
slaves to freedom.
• Paul Marino, who has
lectured extensively for historical societies in the
Berkshires, will talk about old
cemeteries on August 2.
• On August 9, Jack Trowel,
President of the Berkshire
Scenic Railway, will talk about
the rails that serviced and
passed through Canaan to
other towns and cities.
• The Historical Society’s
Meeting House and other his-
Columbia County Histor y & Heritage
Summer 2003
Traveling Facilities of Hudson, continued from page 17
south side of Franklin Square, but a few steps from the steamboat landing and the ferry. It is large and neatly and elegantly finished and furnished. The parlors are spacious and well furnished, and present an airy inviting appearance.The numerous
lodging rooms are of good size and airy, not cramped, confined
and unventilated—they have the look and aspect of health and
purity. The comfort of the guests seems to have been the one
object of the experienced occupant, while superintending the
finishing of the interior of the building, and collecting the furniture for his commodious and handsome edifice.
The beauty and extent of prospect from the windows of this
house would furnish ample material for a volume descriptive of
nature’s beautiful, picturesque, grand and sublime scenery.The
artist might spend half a life in transferring to his canvass the
extended landscapes here presented to his view. A more
delightful place to while away the days of flowery Spring, or
the weeks of sultry Summer’s heat we cannot conceive.
Here we are happy to assure the public,” there is nothing
that can intoxicate.” Mr. Stranahan has opened this new and
pleasant house,A Temperance Hotel.” toric buildings will be the subject of David Snook’s presentation on August 16.
• Archeologist Steve Oberon who is directing the digs at
the Warner Tavern in Canaan will speak on August 23 about his
findings there and at other sites.
• On August 30 the Historical Society’s Meeting House will
be open to visitors to explore this museum and its many
artifacts and memories of Canaan in celebration of its 30th
anniversary year. 851-9629
Thomas Holmes
Terri Holmes
Holmquest Farms
Reprinted by courtesy of the
Columbia County Historical Society
Freshest Home Grown Vegetables Available
Best Corn in the County
516 Spook Rock Road, Hudson, NY 12534
— or —
Fairview Avenue, Greenport
JOHN CAIOLA
REMODELING, RENOVATION & REPAIR SERVICES
FOR HOME AND BUSINESS
30 year’s experience, B.S. Construction Management
VOICE/FAX 518-794-9158
East Chatham, NY 12060 • References upon request
25
Columbia County Historical Society
www.cchsny.org
Highlights from the Society’s Collections
his unusual and visually appealing c1850 Hudson
Business Directory was recently donated by David
Johnson. The directory offers 25 local advertisements,
along with information useful to business proprietors, such as
railroads and steamboat lines, telegraph services, a map of the
Hudson River from Troy to New York, and monetary and
political information. Some of the businesses didn’t survive
long; several were not listed in the 1851-52 Hudson directory,
which was published in the more familiar book form. Others
were long-term enterprises, enduring for decades. Stained and
worn, particularly along the top edge, the directory would benefit from conservation so that it may be used in exhibits.
Anyone wishing to support its treatment is welcome to call
the Society’s curator, Helen M. McLallen, at (518)-758-9265. T
Law offices of
441 East Allen Street, Hudson, NY 12534
Connor, Curran
& Schram, P.C.
(518) 828-1521
Fleet Bank Building, Chatham, NY 12037
Since 1959
(518) 392-3641
A Full Service Practice Emphasizing…
Personal Injury • Automobile Accidents • Medical Malpractice
Product Liability • Wrongful Death
Civil Trial Practice • Business • Corporations • Real Estate • Medicaid • Title Insurance • Estate Planning • Wills • Trusts
Earl Schram, Jr., Theodore Gutterman II, Nelson R. Alford, Jr.,
Andrew B. Howard, Jonathan D. Nichols, Paul M. Freeman, Virginia D. Smith
26
Columbia County Histor y & Heritage
Summer 2003
A Visit to Hudson in 1890
By Mary Faherty Sansaricq
or many years the city of Hudson was “one of the most
beautiful and flourishing towns on the noble river whose
name it bears.” Visitors came from all over because of the
popularity of the mountains, the natural springs, and the rich
and varied political and religious residents who attracted public attention and notoriety.Whether visitors were just stopping
over or staying on for a while, Hudson had a great deal to offer
the typical guest in 1890.
Visitors to Hudson might stay at The Hotel Lincoln which
was described in 1890 as one of the finest hotels on the
Hudson River, supplied with all the modern improvements
such as steam heat, electric bells, and electric lights. The Hotel
Lincoln offered “handsome suites of rooms for gentleman and
wife or families.” Other guests who did not require such select
finery could find shelter at The Central House which provided
“good rooms, good table, and good attention for commercial
travelers and businessmen.” It is interesting to note how in
1890 hotel accommodations were advertised for gender and
marital status, in addition to amenities.
Shopping was a popular diversion in Hudson because of the
variety of goods and services easily available due to the city’s
position as an active international port.At Tilley & Aldcroftt at
401 Warren Street, overcoatings “of the smoother effect of
meltons and fur beavers, and suitings and trouserings in a variety of fine foreign woolens are shown exclusively from the
mammoth stock of novelties.” For the ladies, black dress goods
were available at Guernsey & Terry on lower Warren including
black cashmeres, brocade cashmeres, and silk and wool
Henrietta cloths that are “jet black and color guaranteed.” For
handmade clothes, Bachman & Co. at 601 Warren Street
offered remnants of “one price goods marked in plain figures.”
Boots and shoes in French kid, hog’s calf, pebble goat, alligator and calf kangaroo were featured at Wm. S. Hallenbeck at 533
Warren Street where “new styles of elegant designs in opera toe
and common sense for ladies and misses will warrant a perfect
fit.”Also rubbers made from pure gum, pebbled leg, artic Alaskas
in light and heavy weight for both sexes and all ages.
Nearby at 536 Warren, J.T. Rider offered the best in second-
hand instruments that have been taken in trade and will be disposed of at a very low cost. And for reading pleasure, books
could be purchased at S. B. Miller’s at 532 Warren Street.
Ladies and gentlemen visiting Hudson could benefit from
the tonsorial arts of Monsieur Hyacinth Lescure who offered “a
choice lot of Essences near the Market House also, he would
furnish cushions to the ladies, and queues to gentlemen of
excellent human hair for which he would take his pay in
wheat and Indian corn.” Monsieur Lescure is described as
walking back and forth before his little shop door, humming a
tune and snapping his fingers. It was said he served as a drummer under Burgoyne, and “his dress was in keeping with his
person and profession; a broad striped calico gown, a short
white apron, tight nankeen small clothes, ruffled shirt, completed with silk stockings and yellow slippers.”
And at the end of a busy day in downtown Hudson, visitors
could attend the Hudson Opera House presentation “for one
night only the superbly lyric and scenic production of Newton
Beers’ Lost in London with Miss Jessie Lee Randolph as Nellie
and with the talented young character actor Sam C. Young,
along with the celebrated North Britain Pan Pipe Singers who
will positively appear! F
Reprinted with permission from the Columbia County Weekly
Shopper.
The Main Street Cafe
3032 Main Street, Valatie, NY
518-758-9000
Breakfast • Lunch • Dinner
Mexican Night every Wednesday
Private Parties
27
Columbia County Historical Society
[
Hudson’s History...
a Bibliography
Joan K. Davidson
n search of the history of the City of
Hudson one would be well-advised
to begin with a visit to the excellent
Hudson Area Library, at State and 4th,
where a whole room is set aside for the
purpose. Here to be discovered are
books, pamphlets, reports, journals,
newspapers, photographs, maps, and
more, covering the history of New York
State, and Columbia County and all its
villages and towns, including Hudson.
Subject matter stretches from 18th century death notices to the poems of Edna
St.Vincent Millay, who lived in Austerlitz.
Closely related to the story of Hudson
is the grand literature of the Hudson
River and its Valley, full of fascinating
information about natural and cultural
riches, politics and economics, and
neighboring places — the Catskills,
Adirondacks, Berkshires, Dutchess
County — along with juicy biographies
of noted folks from all walks of life,
including the influential Livingston family. Most works are non-fiction, but novels dote the shelves too, quite a few for
children. To all these sagas the library
offers a guiding hand.
The great granddaddy of Columbia
County books, which includes a thorough section on Hudson, is the comprehensive work by Captain Franklin Ellis,
I
www.cchsny.org
published in 1878, whose name, so selfeffacing was he, does not appear on the
title page. The Ellis book’s dense, factfilled text is enlivened by delightful lithographs of 19th century worthies and
their country seats.This essential volume
has been reprinted in paperback by the
estimable Purple Mountain Press.Also in
print are the wonderful A Visible
Heritage: Columbia County, New York,
A History in Art and Architecture by Ruth
Piwonka and Roderic H. Blackburn,
2000, for which we have Black Dome
Press to thank, and Diamond Street: The
Story of the Little Town With the Big Red
Light District by Bruce Edward Hall
(1994 Purple Mountain Press).
Stay tuned. Several interesting new
books are due to appear: The Wooden
Churches of Columbia County, by
Arthur Baker, [ed. note: This book has
recently been published; please see
review on page 23] and Hudson: What
Happened to America. The story in text
and pictures of the rise and fall of a
small American Town, by Byrne Fone,
and a major effort (ten years in preparation!) Looking for Work: The Industrial
Archeology of Columbia County by
Peter Stott.
Among the many out-of-print works
about Hudson, some may be of more
general interest than others. Here’s a
sampling: History of the City of
Hudson, New York: With Biographical
Sketches of Henry Hudson and Robert
Fulton by Anna R. Bradbury, 1908, Most
Likely to Succeed: Multiple Murder and
the Elusive Search for Justice in an
American Town by Alan Gelb, 1990, The
Parsonage Between Two Manors:
Annals of Clover-Reach Hudson, New
York by Elizabeth Louisa Gephard, 1909,
Hudson Revisited by Jean Brice
McMullin, 1985, History of the Hudson:
Embracing the Settlement of the City,
City Government, Business Enterprises,
Churches, Press, Schools, Libraries by
Stephen B. Miller, 1862, The Hudsonian,
Old Times and New: A Home Record of
Historical Sketches Pertaining to the
City of Hudson, and Its Immediate
Vicinity by Robert M. Terry, 1895,
Recollections of Hudson by Gorham
Worth, 1847 First Reformed Protestant
Church: Semi-centennial Celebration of
the First Reformed Protestant Church
by M. Parker Williams, Register and
Gazette, 1856.
New and recent books are available
from the Columbia County Historical
Society and general bookstores in the
County. Out of print works might be
found at, or possibly ordered from
distinguished local purveyors of secondhand and rare books: Main Street
Books in Germantown,
The Book Barn in
Craryville, and Frisch’s
in Livingston.
For their researches
and title suggestions
we are immensely
grateful to Frank Rees,
Librarian, Hudson Area
Library; Tom Wermuth,
Dean of Liberal Arts at
Marist College and his
students;
and
to
Dr. Byrne Fone, Vice
President of Historic
Hudson. Hudson Area Library, 400 State Street — This historic building enjoyed many uses before becoming a
library in 1957: 1818 to 1830 – Almshouse; 1830 to 1850 – Insane Asylum; 1851 to 1865 – Academy for
Young Women; 1865 to 1881 – Private residence; 1881 to 1957.
28
]
Columbia County Histor y & Heritage
Summer 2003
The Columbia County Courthouse
By Emily Pulfer-Terino
Ms Pulfer-Terino is a scholar from
Sarah Lawrence College who is
engaged in continuing research on
the architecture of Hudson, NY.
mong Hudson’s architectural treasures, the
Columbia County Courthouse is one of the most significant and under-recognized. Beyond its beauty, the
building is of great historical
importance and must be recognized as such. It was
designed in 1908 by the New
York architects Whitney
Warren and Charles Wetmore,
who are acknowledged as
highly influential in the development of America’s modern
architectural sensibility and
are most famous for the
design of Manhattan’s Grand
Central Terminal. Warren and
Wetmore were early advocates of the City Beautiful
movement, America’s first
serious attempt at a new kind
of urban planning that would
create cohesive city environments with acute attention
both to beauty of design and
to efficient human activity.
The existing Courthouse is
the third on its site. After
fire destroyed the previous
two structures, Warren and
Wetmore drafted plans with
modern pragmatism.The current building is fireproof,
made almost entirely of granite, sandstone and iron.
Besides their attention to
functionalism, Warren and
Wetmore composed the
building with close reference
to surrounding structures.
Rather than dominating the
area, the Courthouse works in
concert with the square and
neighboring homes. At once
imposing and austere, it
employs classical composition, harmonious scale, and
A
with Washington Square,
makes the south end of
Fourth Street an elegant public space.
The architects avoided the
excesses common among
commissions of such significance by limiting ornamentation and diminishing the
apparent height of the building. The Courthouse’s main
body is set on a raised basement. The ground floor acts
as a plinth from which the
building rises above the park
in stately fashion. This tactic
stresses the exterior’s horizontality, reducing the building’s verticality and perceived
scale. That clever approach,
also used in Grand Central
Terminal,
elevates
the
Courthouse as an urban monument while balancing its
scale with the surroundings.
Warren and Wetmore used
classical design elements
inventively and flexibly. The
balustrade above the secondstory windows is set clearly
in relation with the heights of
neighboring houses. The
dome, which marks the termination of Fourth Street, is
shallow and set forward over
the main courtroom. This
reduction in the height of the
dome prevents it from domi-
The fourth Columbia County Courthouse (the second built on this
site); it was destroyed by fire in 1907.
The present Columbia County Courthouse, seen here in an early
photo shortly after completion.
29
nating Courthouse Square
while maintaining visibility
and stressing the building’s
civic importance.
The Columbia County
Courthouse deserves further
recognition and study, particularly regarding its exact relationship with Grand Central
Terminal, constructed soon
after the completion of the
Courthouse. Hudson is fortunate to have not one but two
Warren and Wetmore buildings.The former Hudson City
Savings Bank, now the
Department of Motor Vehicles
office on Warren Street, was
also designed by the firm.The
city is doubly fortunate for
the opportunity to preserve
the structures themselves as
well as the harmony between
these buildings and their
urban environments.
Editor’s Note: Interior renovations
to this remarkable and distinguished Courthouse building are
currently underway which include
the installation of lower ceilings,
the masking of fireplaces, and the
covering of masterful and important architectural details. On
the exterior white vinyl window
inserts with flat panels above —
some to accommodate air conditioners and some not — have
been installed in various window
spaces replacing the original
wooden windows. The renovated
interior spaces appear more modern and comfortable, but at what
a tragic cost to the architectural
integrity of one of Hudson’s most
important landmarks. What further destruction in the name of
modernization is planned for this
building is unknown. In so many
other cases approaches which
are more sensitive to continuing
historic values and the public
appreciation of such have been
extremely successful.
Columbia County Historical Society
Philp Orchards
PICK-YOUR-OWN
APPLES, PEARS AND PLUMS
Bartlett, Beure Bosc, Seckel,
Harrow Sweet Pears, Jonamac, McIntosh,
Cortland, Empire, Macoun, Spartan,
Idared, Greening, Red Delicious,
Jonagold, Golden Delicious, Rome,
Northern Spy, Mutsu, Stanley,
Bluefre Plums
Heritage Tomatoes • Fall Rasperries
Appple Firewood
SEPTEMBER THROUGH OCTOBER
Route 9H, one mile north of Claverack, NY
518-851-6351
30
www.cchsny.org
Columbia County Histor y & Heritage
St.Winifred, continued from page 13
Columbia County Historical Society
Calendar of Events
Please note in your calendars
the following events and
dates. For additional information regarding these, please
call the Society’s office at
(518) 758-9265 or visit our
website at www.cchsny.org.
Aug 31st
Concert and Picnic
On Sept. 28th of that year the statue was dedicated
with numerous public figures in attendance. Included was
General DePeyster who spoke of his family’s history in the
area and presented the saint “for the admiration not only of
Hudsonians, but of the countless thousands who pass up and
down the river.”
Water to St. Winifred’s fountain was long ago turned off.
In 1975 the sword was replaced, having been stolen several
years before. As old photographs have shown, the sword was
also missing in the 1930s.The sword was stolen again in 1994
and replaced in 1996. Aside from these indignities, the
good saint continues her vigil over the city and the river. Nov 8th
Jacobs Benefit Recital
Nathan Wild House
Dec 6th until
December 14th
Gallery of Wreaths and
Holiday Craft Boutique at the
Columbia County Museum
Aug 16th & Aug 23rd
Dec 12th
Monthie Slide Program
Hudson Opera House
Greens Show and House
Tour in Kinderhook Village
on Candlelight Night.
Summer 2003
C r a w f o rd & A s s o c i a t e s
E n g i n e e r i n g , P. C .
September
Second Century Circle
Dinner
Dec 12th until
December 14th
October 18th
Greens Show at the
James A.Vanderpoel House.
• Civil & Sanitary Engineering
• Site Planning
• Structural Analysis & Design
• Mechanical Design
• Environmental Consulting
Annual Meeting at the
Columbia County Museum
551 Warren Street, Hudson, NY 12534
(518) 828-2700
www.crawfordandassociates.com
Pat & Larry
Phone (518) 766-3008
Fax (518) 766-9818
4228 Route 203 Post Office Box 219
North Chatham, NY 12132
31
HISTORIC HUDSON
by Byrne Fone and Carole Osterink
istoric Hudson is a not-for-profit corporation founded in
1996 to promote the preservation of the unique architectural heritage of the City of Hudson, a remarkable
collection of largely intact 18th-, 19th-, and early 20th-century
buildings. By many Hudson is thought of as a veritable dictionary of American architectural style. The mission of Historic
Hudson is to preserve that heritage, which it achieves through
advocacy and public events and programs that disseminate
information about the city’s history and foster appreciation for
its historic architecture. Among its programs are the annual
Preservation Awards, lectures and exhibits on various aspects of
Hudson's architecture and history, creation of a guide and walking tour of the City of Hudson, which street by street describes
Hudson's many historic buildings by date and style, and maintenance of the Historic Hudson/Rowles Studio Collection of
photographs, numbering nearly 300 rare and unique images of
the City of Hudson from the 19th and early 20th century.
When the situation demands, Historic Hudson ensures the
survival of buildings through acquisition, stabilization, and
resale to new owners committed to restoration and preservation, a process which recently saved a historic 18th-century
house at 126 Warren Street from demolition.The organization
is the advocate for the preservation of the ca. 1812 Plumb-
H
Bronson House, on the grounds of the Hudson Correctional
Facility.The house was built in the Federal style for its original
owner, Samuel Plumb. In 1838, it was purchased by Dr. Oliver
Bronson, who commissioned Alexander Jackson Davis to “refit”
the house in the Picturesque style in 1839 and later to expand
the house, adding the west facade with a decorative veranda
and a three-story tower in the Italianate style. Historic Hudson
is currently working with the Hudson Correctional Facility and
the New York State Department of Corrections to acquire a
long-term lease, which will make Historic Hudson legal steward of the Plumb-Bronson House. Once this goal is accomplished, and with a grant from the Regional and Community
Historic Preservation Plan, matched by the generous donations
of its members, Historic Hudson will begin its first major
restoration project at the Plumb-Bronson House, repair and
restoration of the windows.
Historic Hudson’s Board of Directors includes Carole
Osterink, President; Dr. Byrne Fone, Vice President; Jamison
Teale, Secretary; John Ashbery, Lynn Davis, Richard Donovan,
Timothy Dunleavy, David Kermani, Robert Mechling, David
Petrovsky, Jeremiah Rusconi, Ann H. Scott, Dr. David Seamon,
Dr. David Voorhees, Rudy Wurlitzer, and Reggie Young.
Historic Hudson’s offices are located at 554 Warren Street in
Hudson. For more information about membership in Historic
Hudson, to contribute to any of its projects, including the
Plumb-Bronson House, please call 518-828-1785. Non-Profit Org.
U.S. Postage
PAID
Albany, NY
Permit #370
5 Albany Ave., Kinderhook, NY 12106
For updated information about events and other activites of the
Columbia County Historical Society, please visit our website at www.cchsny.org