A Discovered Memory of Seventh Street Park

We know from Anna Bradbury's History of the City of Hudson, New York, that prior to 1878, when the Public Square was beautified to become the park as we (more or less) know it today, the land, which had been donated to the City with the intention that it be a park, "was denuded of its fine old forest trees and paved with cobblestones." This early picture of the corner of Warren and Seventh streets gives a sense of what the Public Square was like before 1878.

Today, Gossips discovered this memory of the Public Square in the Hudson Evening Register for September 21, 1914. It appeared in "Personal Notes and Jottings," a regular feature that primarily reported trips made and visits received by Hudsonians.

James M. Doran, a Troy undertaker, was a Sunday visitor in town. He was a former resident of Hudson, attending old Public School No. 3, and he inquired after a number of his old schoolmates of thirty years ago. He visited the hose house on Public square and said that he recalled when Public square was not a park but had [a] big well in its center, from which the firefighters drew water with hand engines.

COPYRIGHT 2014 CAROLE OSTERINK
Photo of Warren and Seventh streets from Historic Hudson: An Architectural Portrait, by Byrne Fone
Photo of Edmonds House Company courtesy Historic Hudson