Hudson, New York
Encyclopedia
Hudson is a city located along the west border of Columbia County
, New York
, United States
. The city is named after the adjacent Hudson River
and ultimately after the explorer Henry Hudson
.
Hudson is the county seat
of Columbia County
. Hudson is paired with Pallisa, Uganda
, as a sister city.
, the city has a total area of 6.0 km² (2.3 sq mi). 2.2 square miles (5.6 km²) of it is land and 0.2 square miles (0.4 km²) of it (6.47%) is water.
Hudson is located on what began as a spit of land jutting into the Hudson River between the South Bay and North Bay, now both largely filled and partially degraded by industrial-era waste.
Across the Hudson River lies the town of Athens
and Greene County, New York
; a ferry connected the two municipalities during much of the 19th century. Between them lies Middle Ground Flats, a former sandbar that grew due to both natural silting and also from dumping the spoils of dredging; today it is inhabited by deer and a few occupants of quasi-legal summer shanties.
of 2000, there were 7,524 people, 2,951 households, and 1,590 families residing in the city. The population was 7,524 at the 2000 census, and has since been estimated at 7,296 http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/genInfo.php?locIndex=891 in 2003, and at
6,985 http://www.city-data.com/city/Hudson-New-York.html in 2006, and at 6,713 at the 2010 census. These numbers include the approximately 500 residents of the local Hudson Correctional Facility. Recent population declines may be attributable to real estate trends in which retirees, young couples, childless couples, singles and weekenders have been gradually replacing larger families and converting apartment buildings to single-family homes, as the number of unoccupied homes and tax delinquency has declined.
The population density
was 3,468.2 inhabitants per square mile (1,338.7/km²). There were 3,347 housing units at an average density of 1,542.8 per square mile (595.5/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 64.29% White, 24.02% African American, 0.28% Native American, 2.84% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 4.15% from other races
, and 4.41% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 8.41% of the population.
There were 2,951 households out of which 28.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 29.4% were married couples
living together, 19.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 46.1% were non-families. 39.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.26 and the average family size was 3.00.
In the city the population was spread out with 23.7% under the age of 18, 9.4% from 18 to 24, 30.0% from 25 to 44, 21.0% from 45 to 64, and 16.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 106.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 105.6 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $24,279, and the median income for a family was $27,594. Males had a median income of $26,274 versus $22,598 for females. The per capita income
for the city was $15,759. About 23.8% of families and 25.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 37.7% of those under age 18 and 13.9% of those age 65 or over.
settlers in 1662 and was originally part of Town of Claverack
; formerly it was known as "Claverack Landing." Settled by New England
whalers
and merchants hailing primarily from Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard
, and Providence, Rhode Island
, Hudson was chartered as a city in 1785. The self-described "Proprietors" laid out a city grid, and Hudson grew rapidly as an active port, coming within one vote of being named the capital of New York State.
The city grew rapidly and by 1790 was the 24th largest city in the United States. As late as 1820, it was the fourth largest city in New York State. Martin Van Buren opened his first law office in Hudson. Margaret B. Schram's "Hudson's Merchants and Whalers: 1783-1850" tells the story of the city's maritime history. On March 1, 1794, General William Jenkins Worth, the future liberator of Texas
in the Mexican-American War, was born on Union Street in Hudson. The house where he was born still stands. Worth Avenue in the city is named after him, as is Fort Worth, Texas
. Sanford Robinson Gifford
, a member of the second generation of Hudson River School
of landscape painters, was born in Hudson on July 10, 1823, and following his death on August 29, 1880, was buried in Hudson's Cedar Park Cemetery. Hudson obtained a new charter in 1895. In 1935, to celebrate the sesquicentennial of the city, the United States Mint
issued the Hudson Half Dollar. The coin is one of the rarest ever minted by the United States Government with only 10,008 coins struck. On the front of the coin is Henry Hudson
's ship the Half Moon
and on the reverse is the seal of the city. Local legend has it that coin was minted on the direct order of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to thank the Hudson City Democratic Committee for being the first to endorse him for State Senator and Governor.
In the late 19th and first half of the 20th century, Hudson became notorious as a center of vice, especially gambling and prostitution
, as described in Bruce Edward Hall's book, Diamond Street: The Story of the Little Town with the Big Red Light District. (The former Diamond Street is today Columbia Street.) At the peak of the vice industry, Hudson also boasted of more than 50 bars. These rackets were mostly broken up in 1951 after surprise raids of Hudson whorehouses by then-Governor Thomas E. Dewey netted, among other catches, several local policemen.
After a steep decline in the 60s and 70s, the city has undergone a significant revival. A group of antiques dealers opened shops on the city's main thoroughfare, Warren Street, in the mid-1980s, the earliest being the Hudson Antiques Center, founded by Alain Pioton, and The English Antiques Center. Their numbers grew from a handful in the 1980s to almost seventy shops now, represented by the Hudson Antiques Dealers Association (HADA). Following this business revival, the city experienced a residential revival as well, and is now known for its active arts scene, antiques shops, restaurants, art galleries and nightlife.
In the last few years, perhaps encouraged by the number of gay
business owners among the original antiques dealers, Hudson has become a destination for gay people who have opened new businesses, moved here from larger urban areas, and who have been in the forefront of the restoration of many of the city's historic houses. In 2010, Hudson hosted its first gay pride parade, which was attended by several hundred people.
With hundreds of properties listed or eligible to be listed in the State and National
Registers of historic places, Hudson has been called "a finest dictionary of American architecture in New York State." The vast majority of properties in the Register-listed Hudson Historic District
are considered contributing
. A discussion of Hudson's architecture, its history, and recent revival, together with a collection of 200 period photographs of the city spanning the mid-19th to the early 20th century, is Historic Hudson: An Architectural Portrait by historian Byrne Fone.
In the 1990s and early 21st century, Hudson has had five mayors: William Allen, Dolly Allen, Richard Scalera, Kenneth Cranna and Richard Tracy. During that time Scalera has been elected Mayor seven times, but declined to run twice. This period has been marked by unusual levels of friction between elected officials and residents as the demographics and economics of the city have shifted.
This was followed from late 1998 'til spring 2005 by a land use conflict between St. Lawrence Cement (SLC), a subsidiary of what was then one of the world's largest cement companies, the Swiss multinational giant Holderbank (since renamed Holcim
), and private citizens. The company proposed a massive, coal-fired cement manufacturing project sprawling over 1800 acres (7.3 km²) in the city of Hudson and the town of Greenport, Columbia County, New York. Sustained grassroots opposition to the project was spearheaded by business owner Peter Jung and journalist Sam Pratt, co-founders of Friends of Hudson (FOH). The controversy garnered national attention from news outlets such as CNN and The New York Times, as well as media outlets in Canada and Switzerland. The project was withdrawn after Secretary of State Randy Daniels
determined that the company's plans were inconsistent with the State's 24 Coastal policies, an outcome which opponents described as "a colossal relief" and supporters denounced as "flawed in its logic". Nearly public comments were received by the State's Division of Coastal Resources (87% of them opposed to the project), a record for that agency.
, the national passenger rail system, provides service to Hudson, including stops by the following trains:
Columbia County, New York
Columbia County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2010 census, the population was 63,096. The county seat is Hudson. The name comes from the Latin feminine form of the name of Christopher Columbus, which was at the time of the formation of the county a popular proposal...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The city is named after the adjacent Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
and ultimately after the explorer Henry Hudson
Henry Hudson
Henry Hudson was an English sea explorer and navigator in the early 17th century. Hudson made two attempts on behalf of English merchants to find a prospective Northeast Passage to Cathay via a route above the Arctic Circle...
.
Hudson is the county seat
County seat
A county seat is an administrative center, or seat of government, for a county or civil parish. The term is primarily used in the United States....
of Columbia County
Columbia County, New York
Columbia County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2010 census, the population was 63,096. The county seat is Hudson. The name comes from the Latin feminine form of the name of Christopher Columbus, which was at the time of the formation of the county a popular proposal...
. Hudson is paired with Pallisa, Uganda
Uganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
, as a sister city.
Geography
According to the United States Census BureauUnited States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
, the city has a total area of 6.0 km² (2.3 sq mi). 2.2 square miles (5.6 km²) of it is land and 0.2 square miles (0.4 km²) of it (6.47%) is water.
Hudson is located on what began as a spit of land jutting into the Hudson River between the South Bay and North Bay, now both largely filled and partially degraded by industrial-era waste.
Across the Hudson River lies the town of Athens
Athens (town), New York
Athens is a town in Greene County, New York, USA. The population was 4,089 at the 2010 census.The Town of Athens has a village also called Athens...
and Greene County, New York
Greene County, New York
Greene County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. Its name is in honor of the American Revolutionary War general Nathanael Greene. Its county seat is Catskill...
; a ferry connected the two municipalities during much of the 19th century. Between them lies Middle Ground Flats, a former sandbar that grew due to both natural silting and also from dumping the spoils of dredging; today it is inhabited by deer and a few occupants of quasi-legal summer shanties.
Demographics
As of the censusCensus
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
of 2000, there were 7,524 people, 2,951 households, and 1,590 families residing in the city. The population was 7,524 at the 2000 census, and has since been estimated at 7,296 http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/genInfo.php?locIndex=891 in 2003, and at
6,985 http://www.city-data.com/city/Hudson-New-York.html in 2006, and at 6,713 at the 2010 census. These numbers include the approximately 500 residents of the local Hudson Correctional Facility. Recent population declines may be attributable to real estate trends in which retirees, young couples, childless couples, singles and weekenders have been gradually replacing larger families and converting apartment buildings to single-family homes, as the number of unoccupied homes and tax delinquency has declined.
The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
was 3,468.2 inhabitants per square mile (1,338.7/km²). There were 3,347 housing units at an average density of 1,542.8 per square mile (595.5/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 64.29% White, 24.02% African American, 0.28% Native American, 2.84% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 4.15% from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, and 4.41% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 8.41% of the population.
There were 2,951 households out of which 28.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 29.4% were married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
living together, 19.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 46.1% were non-families. 39.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.26 and the average family size was 3.00.
In the city the population was spread out with 23.7% under the age of 18, 9.4% from 18 to 24, 30.0% from 25 to 44, 21.0% from 45 to 64, and 16.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 106.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 105.6 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $24,279, and the median income for a family was $27,594. Males had a median income of $26,274 versus $22,598 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...
for the city was $15,759. About 23.8% of families and 25.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 37.7% of those under age 18 and 13.9% of those age 65 or over.
History
The land was purchased from native Mahicans by DutchDutch people
The Dutch people are an ethnic group native to the Netherlands. They share a common culture and speak the Dutch language. Dutch people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in Suriname, Chile, Brazil, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and the United...
settlers in 1662 and was originally part of Town of Claverack
Claverack, New York
Claverack is a town in Columbia County, New York, United States. The population was 6,401 at the 2000 census. The town name is a corruption for the Dutch word for "Clover Fields" or "Clover Reach"....
; formerly it was known as "Claverack Landing." Settled by New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
whalers
Whaling
Whaling is the hunting of whales mainly for meat and oil. Its earliest forms date to at least 3000 BC. Various coastal communities have long histories of sustenance whaling and harvesting beached whales...
and merchants hailing primarily from Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard
Martha's Vineyard
Martha's Vineyard is an island located south of Cape Cod in Massachusetts, known for being an affluent summer colony....
, and Providence, Rhode Island
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...
, Hudson was chartered as a city in 1785. The self-described "Proprietors" laid out a city grid, and Hudson grew rapidly as an active port, coming within one vote of being named the capital of New York State.
The city grew rapidly and by 1790 was the 24th largest city in the United States. As late as 1820, it was the fourth largest city in New York State. Martin Van Buren opened his first law office in Hudson. Margaret B. Schram's "Hudson's Merchants and Whalers: 1783-1850" tells the story of the city's maritime history. On March 1, 1794, General William Jenkins Worth, the future liberator of Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
in the Mexican-American War, was born on Union Street in Hudson. The house where he was born still stands. Worth Avenue in the city is named after him, as is Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth is the 16th-largest city in the United States of America and the fifth-largest city in the state of Texas. Located in North Central Texas, just southeast of the Texas Panhandle, the city is a cultural gateway into the American West and covers nearly in Tarrant, Parker, Denton, and...
. Sanford Robinson Gifford
Sanford Robinson Gifford
Sanford Robinson Gifford was an American landscape painter and one of the leading members of the Hudson River School...
, a member of the second generation of Hudson River School
Hudson River school
The Hudson River School was a mid-19th century American art movement embodied by a group of landscape painters whose aesthetic vision was influenced by romanticism...
of landscape painters, was born in Hudson on July 10, 1823, and following his death on August 29, 1880, was buried in Hudson's Cedar Park Cemetery. Hudson obtained a new charter in 1895. In 1935, to celebrate the sesquicentennial of the city, the United States Mint
United States Mint
The United States Mint primarily produces circulating coinage for the United States to conduct its trade and commerce. The Mint was created by Congress with the Coinage Act of 1792, and placed within the Department of State...
issued the Hudson Half Dollar. The coin is one of the rarest ever minted by the United States Government with only 10,008 coins struck. On the front of the coin is Henry Hudson
Henry Hudson
Henry Hudson was an English sea explorer and navigator in the early 17th century. Hudson made two attempts on behalf of English merchants to find a prospective Northeast Passage to Cathay via a route above the Arctic Circle...
's ship the Half Moon
Halve Maen
The Halve Maen was a Dutch East India Company vlieboot which sailed into what is now New York harbor in September 1609. It was commissioned by the Dutch Republic to covertly find an eastern passage to China...
and on the reverse is the seal of the city. Local legend has it that coin was minted on the direct order of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to thank the Hudson City Democratic Committee for being the first to endorse him for State Senator and Governor.
In the late 19th and first half of the 20th century, Hudson became notorious as a center of vice, especially gambling and prostitution
Prostitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
, as described in Bruce Edward Hall's book, Diamond Street: The Story of the Little Town with the Big Red Light District. (The former Diamond Street is today Columbia Street.) At the peak of the vice industry, Hudson also boasted of more than 50 bars. These rackets were mostly broken up in 1951 after surprise raids of Hudson whorehouses by then-Governor Thomas E. Dewey netted, among other catches, several local policemen.
After a steep decline in the 60s and 70s, the city has undergone a significant revival. A group of antiques dealers opened shops on the city's main thoroughfare, Warren Street, in the mid-1980s, the earliest being the Hudson Antiques Center, founded by Alain Pioton, and The English Antiques Center. Their numbers grew from a handful in the 1980s to almost seventy shops now, represented by the Hudson Antiques Dealers Association (HADA). Following this business revival, the city experienced a residential revival as well, and is now known for its active arts scene, antiques shops, restaurants, art galleries and nightlife.
In the last few years, perhaps encouraged by the number of gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
business owners among the original antiques dealers, Hudson has become a destination for gay people who have opened new businesses, moved here from larger urban areas, and who have been in the forefront of the restoration of many of the city's historic houses. In 2010, Hudson hosted its first gay pride parade, which was attended by several hundred people.
With hundreds of properties listed or eligible to be listed in the State and National
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
Registers of historic places, Hudson has been called "a finest dictionary of American architecture in New York State." The vast majority of properties in the Register-listed Hudson Historic District
Hudson Historic District (New York)
The Hudson Historic District includes most of downtown Hudson, New York, United States, once called "one of the richest dictionaries of architectural history in New York State". It is a area stretching from the city's waterfront on the east bank of the Hudson River to almost its eastern boundary,...
are considered contributing
Contributing property
In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing resource or contributing property is any building, structure, or object which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic district, listed locally or federally, significant...
. A discussion of Hudson's architecture, its history, and recent revival, together with a collection of 200 period photographs of the city spanning the mid-19th to the early 20th century, is Historic Hudson: An Architectural Portrait by historian Byrne Fone.
In the 1990s and early 21st century, Hudson has had five mayors: William Allen, Dolly Allen, Richard Scalera, Kenneth Cranna and Richard Tracy. During that time Scalera has been elected Mayor seven times, but declined to run twice. This period has been marked by unusual levels of friction between elected officials and residents as the demographics and economics of the city have shifted.
This was followed from late 1998 'til spring 2005 by a land use conflict between St. Lawrence Cement (SLC), a subsidiary of what was then one of the world's largest cement companies, the Swiss multinational giant Holderbank (since renamed Holcim
Holcim
Holcim is a Swiss-based global company supplying cement and aggregates . The company also supplies ready-mix concrete and asphalt including associated construction services.-Holcim Group:...
), and private citizens. The company proposed a massive, coal-fired cement manufacturing project sprawling over 1800 acres (7.3 km²) in the city of Hudson and the town of Greenport, Columbia County, New York. Sustained grassroots opposition to the project was spearheaded by business owner Peter Jung and journalist Sam Pratt, co-founders of Friends of Hudson (FOH). The controversy garnered national attention from news outlets such as CNN and The New York Times, as well as media outlets in Canada and Switzerland. The project was withdrawn after Secretary of State Randy Daniels
Randy Daniels
Randy Daniels is an American journalist and educator who served as Secretary of State of New York from 2001 to 2005. He resides in Westchester, New York and is currently employed as Vice Chairman of , a real estate investing firm....
determined that the company's plans were inconsistent with the State's 24 Coastal policies, an outcome which opponents described as "a colossal relief" and supporters denounced as "flawed in its logic". Nearly public comments were received by the State's Division of Coastal Resources (87% of them opposed to the project), a record for that agency.
Attractions
Hudson is home to the FASNY (Firemen's Association of the State of New York) Museum of Firefighting, one of the largest fire service centered museums in the world. It is on the grounds of the FASNY Firemen's home, the first old-age/nursing home for firemen in the country.Film and television
Several movies and television shows have been filmed in Hudson:- The Wonder YearsThe Wonder YearsThe Wonder Years is an American television comedy-drama created by Carol Black and Neal Marlens. It ran for six seasons on ABC from 1988 through 1993. The pilot aired on January 31, 1988 after ABC's coverage of Super Bowl XXII....
- Odds Against TomorrowOdds Against TomorrowOdds Against Tomorrow is a 1959 film noir produced and directed by Robert Wise for HarBel Productions, a company founded by the film's star, Harry Belafonte. Belafonte selected Abraham Polonsky to write the script, which is based on a novel by William P. McGivern. As a blacklisted writer Polonsky...
starring Harry BelafonteHarry BelafonteHarold George "Harry" Belafonte, Jr. is an American singer, songwriter, actor and social activist. He was dubbed the "King of Calypso" for popularizing the Caribbean musical style with an international audience in the 1950s... - IronweedIronweed (film)Ironweed is a 1987 film directed by Argentine-born Brazilian Héctor Babenco.The picture is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same title by William Kennedy and concerns the relationship of a homeless couple: Francis, an alcoholic, and Helen, a terminally ill woman during the Great...
starring Jack NicholsonJack NicholsonJohn Joseph "Jack" Nicholson is an American actor, film director, producer and writer. He is renowned for his often dark portrayals of neurotic characters. Nicholson has been nominated for an Academy Award twelve times, and has won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice: for One Flew Over the...
and Meryl StreepMeryl StreepMary Louise "Meryl" Streep is an American actress who has worked in theatre, television and film.Streep made her professional stage debut in 1971's The Playboy of Seville, before her screen debut in the television movie The Deadliest Season in 1977. In that same year, she made her film debut with... - Nobody's Fool starring Paul NewmanPaul NewmanPaul Leonard Newman was an American actor, film director, entrepreneur, humanitarian, professional racing driver and auto racing enthusiast...
and Jessica TandyJessica TandyJessie Alice "Jessica" Tandy was an English-American stage and film actress.She first appeared on the London stage in 1926 at the age of 16, playing, among others, Katherine opposite Laurence Olivier's Henry V, and Cordelia opposite John Gielgud's King Lear. She also worked in British films... - the documentary Two Square Miles, directed by Barbara Ettinger
Notable past and present residents
- Melissa Auf der MaurMelissa Auf der MaurMelissa Auf der Maur is a Canadian rock musician from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Her career has included 5 years as bassist with the band Hole and she later toured with The Smashing Pumpkins for their 2000 tour. Her second solo album, Out of Our Minds, was released on March 30, 2010. She is also a...
, musician (Smashing Pumpkins, HoleHole (band)Hole is an American alternative rock band that originally formed in Los Angeles in 1989. The band is fronted by vocalist/songwriter and rhythm guitarist Courtney Love, who co-founded Hole with former songwriter/lead guitarist Eric Erlandson...
) - John AshberyJohn AshberyJohn Lawrence Ashbery is an American poet. He has published more than twenty volumes of poetry and won nearly every major American award for poetry, including a Pulitzer Prize in 1976 for his collection Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror. But Ashbery's work still proves controversial...
, New York State poet laureate - Father John Corapi
- Philip GlassPhilip GlassPhilip Glass is an American composer. He is considered to be one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century and is widely acknowledged as a composer who has brought art music to the public .His music is often described as minimalist, along with...
, composer - Alan Dingman, illustrator
- Nicolas CaroneNicolas CaroneNicolas Carone belonged to the early generation of New York School Abstract Expressionist artists whose artistic innovation by the 1950s had been recognized across the Atlantic, including Paris...
, artist - Lynn Davis, photographer
- Byrne Fone, author of "Historic Hudson: An Architectural Portrait,"a history and portrait gallery of the city and its architecture from Hudson's founding to the present day and of Homophobia: A History and other books in gay studiesLGBT historyLGBT history refers to the history of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender peoples and cultures around the world, dating back to the first recorded instances of same-sex love and sexuality of ancient civilizations. What survives of many centuries' persecution– resulting in shame, suppression,...
, and of several novels including "Achilles: A Love Story." - Benjamin Feldman, writer, New York historian
- Dan Region, writer, actor, radio announcer and voiceover artist
- Rashad BarksdaleRashad BarksdaleRashad Emmanuel Unique Barksdale is an American football cornerback for the Kansas City Command of the Arena Football League. He was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in the sixth round of the 2007 NFL Draft...
, New York Giants cornerback - Dawn Langley SimmonsDawn Langley SimmonsDawn Langley Pepita Simmons was a prolific English author and biographer. Born "Gordon Langley Hall", Simmons lived her first decades as a male. As a young adult, she became close to British actress Margaret Rutherford, whom she considered an adoptive mother and who was the subject of a biography...
, author and famous hermaphrodite (Simmons lived quietly in Hudson during the 1980s while writing her biography of Margaret RutherfordMargaret RutherfordDame Margaret Taylor Rutherford DBE was an English character actress, who first came to prominence following World War II in the film adaptations of Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit, and Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest...
) - Daniel McGuire, author of a 1987 recipient of an American Book Award for his novel Portrait of Little Boy in Darkness (throughout his life, McGuire worked as a laborer in a factory in Hudson and never published another work)
- Stephen Bergman, psychiatrist and novelist who uses the pen name Samuel ShemSamuel ShemSamuel Shem is the pen-name of the American psychiatrist Stephen Joseph Bergman . His main works are The House of God and Mount Misery, both fictional but close-to-real first-hand descriptions of the training of doctors in the United States.Bergman was a Rhodes Scholar at Balliol College, Oxford in...
(Bergman grew up in Hudson and evokes the town frequently in his works, including in his most recent novel The Spirit of the Place (Kent State University Press, 2008), where Hudson is represented by a town called "Columbia") - Meshell Ndegeocello, musician
- Ted Patterson, DJ
- Tommy StinsonTommy StinsonThomas "Tommy" Eugene Stinson is an American musician best known for his work as the bassist for The Replacements and Guns N' Roses as well as the post-Replacements groups Bash & Pop, where he performed guitar duties, and Perfect...
, musician
Rail transportation
AmtrakAmtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union...
, the national passenger rail system, provides service to Hudson, including stops by the following trains:
- The AdirondackAdirondack (Amtrak)The Adirondack is a passenger train operated daily by Amtrak between New York City and Montreal. The trip takes approximately 11 hours to cover a published distance of , traveling through the scenic Hudson Valley and the Adirondack Mountains...
, operating daily in both directions between MontrealMontrealMontreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, CanadaCanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, and New York City.
- All Empire ServiceEmpire Service (Amtrak)The Empire Service is a train service operated by Amtrak within the state of New York in the United States. Trains on the line provide frequent daily service along the 460-mile Empire Corridor between New York City and Niagara Falls, New York...
trains, operating several times daily in both directions between New York City and either Albany-RensselaerRensselaer, New YorkRensselaer is a city in Rensselaer County, New York, United States, and is located on the Hudson River directly opposite Albany. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 9,392; in 1920, it was 10,832. The name is from Kiliaen van Rensselaer, the original landowner of the region in New...
or Buffalo, New YorkBuffalo, New YorkBuffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
.
- The Ethan Allen ExpressEthan Allen ExpressThe Ethan Allen Express is a 241-mile passenger train operated by Amtrak between New York City and Rutland, Vermont, via Albany. The total trip is scheduled to be completed in 5.5 hours. Its operations are subsidized by the State of Vermont, and the train is popular among vacationers travelling...
, operating daily in both directions between New York City and Rutland, Vermont.
- The Maple LeafMaple Leaf (Amtrak/VIA)The Maple Leaf is a 875-kilometre passenger train route operated jointly by Via Rail and Amtrak from New York City's Pennsylvania Station to Toronto's Union Station via Albany, Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo. The train travels during the day and takes approximately 12 hours for the 875-kilometre ...
, operating daily in both directions between New York City and Toronto, Canada.