Revisiting the Wards

In January, at the organizational meeting of the Common Council, the new Council president Claudia DeStefano announced her intention to form a "bipartisan committee to examine ward boundaries" with the goal of making a proposal about amending the ward boundaries, presumably to address the inequity of the weighted vote, which would be presented to voters in a referendum in November 2016. The November election is now only five months away, and if such a committee has been formed, Gossips is unaware of it. Since January, it seems, the attention of DeStefano and the rest of us has been focused on other things.

A day or so ago, Gossips' thoughts were drawn back to the ward boundaries (and the inherent inequity of the weighted vote) by a reader who wanted to know when the five wards were formed. The short answer to that question is: They weren't all created at the same time. The Fifth Ward was the latecomer, carved out of what had originally been the Fourth Ward in 1886. But when were the boundaries of the original four wards established?

In his History of Columbia County, Franklin Ellis reports that on May 5, 1785, Seth Jenkins issued a proclamation announcing the incorporation of the City of Hudson and his appointment as mayor and calling for an election to be held on May 9. In that election Jenkins became the mayor by popular vote, and four aldermen were elected: Stephen Paddock, Ezra Reed, Benjamin Folger, and William Mayhem. Four aldermen--but there's no indication that they represented four wards. In fact, at the time, the conceptualized part of Hudson (i.e., streets laid out, etc.) did not extend beyond what is now Third Street.

The city charter of 1823 enumerates the officers of the city, but makes no mention of wards: 

And be it further enacted, That there shall be the following officers in and for the said city, to wit: one mayor, one recorder, four aldermen, four assistants, one clerk, one marshal, one chamberlain, one supervisor, and as many assessors, collectors and constables, as the common council for the said city shall, from time to time, direct to be chosen.

The wards are mentioned for the first time in the amended city charter that was adopted on April 10, 1854.

The said City shall be divided into four Wards, as follows:

The part lying southerly of the centre line of Warren Street and westerly of the centre line of Third Street, shall be the First Ward;

That part thereof lying Northerly if the centre line of Warren Street and Westerly of the centre line of Third Street, extended to the northerly bounds of the city, shall be the Second Ward;

That part thereof lying southerly and easterly of a line running from a point in the centre of Third Street, in the south bounds of the city, along the center line of Third street to the centre line of Warren Street, thence along the centre line of Warren Street to the centre line of Seventh Street, thence diagonally across the Public Square to the centre line of Columbia Street and Columbia Turnpike road to the line of Greenport, shall be the Third Ward, and

That part thereof lying northerly and easterly of a line running from a point in a line with the centre of Third Street, in the north bounds of the city, southerly along the centre line of Third Street to the centre line of Warren Street, thence easterly along the northerly line of the Third Ward to the line of Greenport, shall be the Fourth Ward.

It would seem that the charter amendments passed in 1854 created Hudson's original four wards.
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