Scenes of Hudson

Peter Cipkowski has uploaded his grandfather's home movies in three parts onto YouTube. His grandfather was Jozef Cipkowski (1900-1977), who owned Chipp's Market at the corner of South Front and Fleet streets. (Fleet Street was the continuation of Partition Street, which, until 1942, carried a second bridge over the railroad tracks to the waterfront.) The movies depict life in Hudson from 1939 to 1954. 

The Cipkowski family lived in the building where the market was located, so much of the footage was shot on South Front Street, in the neighborhood devastated during Urban Renewal. For this reason, it is rare footage indeed for those of us who never saw Hudson before that time. There are also parades--on Warren Street, on Union Street, and entering the cemetery--and a soap box derby. If you look past the wholesome, fresh scrubbed faces of Hudsonians before, during, and after World War II, you can glimpse Hudson streetscapes as they were two generations ago.

To whet your appetite for watching these films, as if any enticement were needed, Gossips provides a preview: screen captures from each of the three parts.

Part 1

Click to view Part 1.

Part 2

  

Click to view Part 2.

Part 3

Click to view Part 3.