Model Needs a Home
Jamie Larson reports in today's Register-Star that there is a model of the City of Hudson that is seeking a new home: "Housing a miniature city." The model was commissioned by Richard Katzman during the SLC battle to show how the behemoth cement plant proposed for Greenport by St. Lawrence Cement (now Holcim US), which would have covered as much, if not more, area than the city itself and put an expanded dock on our waterfront to accommodate "Hudson max" cement barges, would overshadow and marginalize Hudson. During that time, the model, complete with a simulated plume from the stack suspended over the city, was displayed in the window of Vincent Mulford Antiques at 417 Warren Street.
The picture is from the Friends of Hudson website, where there are several more pictures of the model. It had been housed in the Kaz building on Route 9, but now since Kaz Inc. was first restructured and then sold, the model needed to move, and Katzman gave it to the City of Hudson. According to the Register-Star article, the massive cement plant structures on Becraft Mountain--the original focal point of the model--have been removed, but the expanded dock, complete with cement barges, remains. (It's not clear if the conveyor from the quarry to the dock is still there.) The model has been entrusted to the Department of Public Works, and Rob Perry is trying to find it a new home.
David Voorhees submitted this comment:
ReplyDeleteIt is surprising that a city with a history as rich and diverse as that of the City of Hudson has never established a municipal museum to house such objects. First settled by the Dutch in 1662 as Claverack Landing, developed in the 1780s by New England merchants as the City of Hudson under the first federal municipal charter, the center of American visual arts in the mid-nineteenth century, an industrial center with a rich immigrant heritage, and present-day Hudson's exploding arts and entertainment scene has resulted in centuries of neglected historic artifacts. It is time that the city's mothers and fathers begin to seriously think about establishing a municipal museum to house such objects as this model so that future generations can be educated about Hudson's rich cultural heritage. I would be willing to work on such a committee.
David William Voorhees, Ph.D.
More background on how this model was conceived and created is at:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.sampratt.com/sam/2011/04/the-story-of-the-model.html
--Sam P.
For the past year I've been suggesting that a model of Hudson be created to show what might be possible at the waterfront. I had no idea that this model was already in existence! It's hard to envision a future waterfront without knowing what we have and where things are. Most people are visual people and need to "see."
ReplyDeleteI suggest that this model be placed at Washington Hose (the future Chamber and HDC) and be available to the public to work at the potential possibilities of Hudson's future.