History Hudson, Massachusetts

apsley rubber company in 1911



wood square in 1907

over next twenty years, hudson grew several industries settled in town. 2 woolen mills, elastic-webbing plant, piano case factory, , factory waterproofing fabrics rubber coating built, banks, 5 schools, poor farm, , town hall still in use today. population hovered around 5,500 residents, of whom lived in small houses small backyard garden plots. town maintained 5 volunteer fire companies, 1 of manned eureka hand pump, record-setting pump shoot 1.5-inch (38 mm) stream of water 229 feet (70 m).

on july 4, 1894, fire started 2 boys playing firecrackers disastrously burned down 40 buildings , 5 acres (20,000 m) of central hudson. nobody hurt, damages estimated @ $400,000 (1894 dollars). town substantially rebuilt within year or two.

by 1900, hudson s population reached 7,500 residents, , town had built power plant, houses wired electricity. electric trolley lines built connected hudson towns of leominster, concord, , marlborough. factories in town continued grow, attracting immigrants england, germany, portugal, lithuania, poland, greece, albania, , italy. these immigrants lived in boarding houses near places of employment. 1928, 19 languages spoken workers of firestone-apsley rubber company. today, majority of hudson residents of irish or portuguese descent, lesser populations of italian, french, english, scots-irish, , greek descent. one-third of hudson residents portuguese or of portuguese descent. people of portuguese descent in hudson azorean island of santa maria, smaller amount island of são miguel or trás-os-montes region of mainland portugal. portuguese community in hudson maintains hudson portuguese club, who, in 2001, rebuilt state-of-the-art clubhouse. hudson portuguese club established in mid-1910s , has outlived several other ethnic clubs, such town s long-gone italian club. recent immigrants hudson arrive mexico, central america, brazil, , other south american countries, asia, , europe.

hudson s population remained same until after world war ii, when developers purchased farms surrounded town center. new houses built on land more doubled hudson s population. recently, high-technology companies have built plants, notably semiconductor fabrication factory digital equipment corporation built (now owned intel). although population of hudson 20,000, town continues traditional town meeting form of government.

former names

feltonville name of today town of hudson, massachusetts. before becoming separate incorporated town, hudson neighborhood , unincorporated village within town of marlborough, massachusetts, known feltonville. name derived name of silas felton (1776-1828), operated dry goods store in hamlet 1801 onward, served many years selectman, town clerk, town assessor, , in 1828 became first postmaster. name used 1828 until town incorporated hudson in 1866. today, felton name found in silas felton hudson historic district , 2 street names: felton street , feltonville road.

hudson has had other, earlier names:

from 1656 until 1700, present-day hudson , surrounding area known indian plantation or cow commons.
from 1700 1800, settlement known mills.
from 1800 1828, settlement called new city.




^ cite error: named reference halp081 invoked never defined (see page).
^ cite error: named reference halp011 invoked never defined (see page).
^ halprin 2001: 8
^ hudson portuguese club (web site),
^ hudson historical society 1976