A Historic Photo for the Holiday
A reader shared this picture from the 1950s with Gossips. The family, dressed it seems in their Easter finery, is posing in Franklin Square, once located on South Front Street between Fleet and Ferry streets. The Ferry Street bridge and the waterfront appear in the background.
Troy?
ReplyDeleteNot Troy. Hudson.
DeleteGreat photo! That would be the old Hudson House hotel building on the left beyond the Ferry street bridge. The Hubbel Corner building that stood next door on Ferry street (beyond the hotel building) has already, obviously, been taken down. The old hotel building was still standing as per the 1961 Sanborn map while the Hubbel building came down sometime between 1930 and 1961. Good work all around the waterfront of late, thanks!
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ReplyDeletenice pic.
ReplyDeleteThe kids can't wait for the City to install the swings, seesaws, etc. as part of the Hudson City Playground Program that consisted of Franklin Park, St. Mary's, Charles Williams, Oakdale & Academy Hill.
Yes there was a Youth Dept. that offered many programs to the youths of Hudson all year long.
Now in the pic there are construction equipt. shown in the right center.
At the time the Hudson DPW was located at the end or to the right of the buildings.
As always, thanks GRT for sharing photos of Hudson's past.
Was there a fountain in Franklin Square? The family seems to be posing next to a basin that might have contained a fountain. Anyone know?
ReplyDeleteAs I understand it, in the 1950s, Franklin Square was one of the series of neighborhood playgrounds in Hudson, and each had a wading pool with a sprinkler. You can see a photograph of the one at Academy Hill here: http://gossipsofrivertown.blogspot.com/2010/09/mystery-discovered-mystery-solved.html. There is a similar fountain/wading pool (now never used) near the entrance to Promenade Hill. It was added there, I'm told, when the entire landscape of Front Street was being altered during Urban Renewal, to replace a favorite feature of Franklin Square, which of course was disappearing.
DeleteThere was a generous fountain in the square - and we enjoyed it as children well into the 1960s. There was also a historical marker on the edge of the square facing South Front. It remarked that Franklin Square was one of the earliest areas of settlement in Hudson.
ReplyDeleteThe Hudson Daily Star reported on November 28, 1946, that "fencing also is being put around Franklin Park, on Front Street, where a wading pool will be constructed next spring."
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