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| Second Street looking north from Union Street |
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| Union Street looking west from Second Street |
COPYRIGHT 2018 CAROLE OSTERINK
Thursday, August 30, 2018
Fifty-five Years Ago on a Corner Near Here
Recently, I discovered two pictures taken in 1963 at the intersection of Second and Union streets in the collection of photographs by Howard Gibson. I was inspired to share them and to compare them with pictures taken this afternoon, from more or less the same vantage points.
There have been some changes since 1963. The stucco was removed from the house on the northwest corner to expose its original clapboard, and the house was subsequently transformed into a faux Colonial Revival invention. Although all the buildings on the four corners remain intact, four buildings included in the 1963 photographs have been lost: the Dutch house that once stood at 128 Union Street and the two infill houses on either side (shown in the photograph below), and an old carriage house that once stood at the southwest corner of Second Street and Cherry Alley, which can be seen clearly in the photo by Gibson above.
Aside from that, the most striking difference between 1963 and today is that there's a lot more greenery now than there was fifty-five years ago.
COPYRIGHT 2018 CAROLE OSTERINK
COPYRIGHT 2018 CAROLE OSTERINK
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two features of the current streetscape should be noted. there are many fewer telephone poles now which enhances the buildings. secondly, there is much more planting.
ReplyDeletehudson should take a lesson from this and work on removing the telephone poles on north warren st up to worth avenue.
the town looks better with the telephone and electric wires in the alleys.
Actually, there are still lots of utility poles on Union and Second streets. What's missing, and notably so, are the poles between which the traffic light was suspended--the single blinking light being replaced by four-way stop signs.
DeleteLove that garage with the Pepsi sign. Also noticed: Tim Dunleavy’s house had what looks like asbestos shingle siding . And then of course the stoplight.
ReplyDeleteGreenery, greenery, greenery!!
ReplyDeleteThe absence of plants is quite remarkable. Would this be true throughout Hudson of that era? And what does it mean?
ReplyDeleteThe 60's was a time of great unawareness. My grandparents did everything they could afford to make one of the oldest houses in Rensselaer into a modern adaptation - then they had the ancient trees removed.They were a product of their times. imho
DeleteModern was all the rage - anything old or complicated was unpopular.
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