Friday, December 3, 2010
Mystery Solved
How to get people from Promenade Hill down to the waterfront is a perennial problem when talking about waterfront development in Hudson. The 1996 Vision Plan proposed an elevator descending the west face of the bluff. A consultation with landscape architect Robert Toole during the planning period for the Quadricentennial in 2009 came up with the idea for a staircase, with lots of turns and landings, winding down the south side of the bluff. During that conversation, someone recalled this historic picture of Promenade Hill, which shows something like steps going down the west face of the bluff.
The description of Parade Hill from the 1970 application documents for National Register of Historic Places, which Gossips published yesterday, holds the clue to when this picture was taken and what it shows: "In 1878 further improvements were made. A retaining wall was constructed along the west and south boundaries and a new iron fence constructed." The people, the steps, the missing fence--this is 1878, and these are the masons and laborers who worked on the retaining wall. The steps were very likely constructed as a means to get the workers to the work site.
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My brothers and I -- and various neices and nephews -- built a wonderful stairway down the side of a cliff much like Promenade Hill on the Oregon Coast. And I can tell you this: if we can do this, anyone can.... --peter m.
ReplyDeleteWhy haven't you mentioned Chappel Street? Chappel Street ran East and West between State and Columbia from 1st to 2nd street. It was a block long. It was abolished when the High Rise was built. Chappel street also extended on the West side of Front Street.
ReplyDeleteThe simple answer, Barb, is that Chapel Street was not part of the Front Street-Parade Hill-Lower Warren Street Historic District.
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