The Great War: June 26, 1917

The New York State Military Census took place between June 11 and June 25, 1917. Everyone between the ages of 16 and 50—women as well as men—was required to register in the census, which was undertaken to identify the resources in the state that could be tapped for the war effort. On June 26, the Hudson Evening Register announced the results for Hudson. Of interest to us today is that the number of Hudsonians between the ages of 16 and 50 in 1917 is greater than the entire population of Hudson today.

The portion of the population that registered in the New York State Military Census and Inventory in 1917 numbered 6,889. In 2010, the total population of Hudson was 6,403. It's interesting to compare the numbers by ward: 

• First Ward: 1,044 in 1917; 593 in 2010
• Second Ward: 1,714 in 1917; 1,477 in 2010
• Third Ward: 1,529 in 1917; 1,076 in 2010
• Fourth Ward: 986 in 1917, 716 in 2010
• Fifth Ward: 1,616 in 1917, 2,541 in 2010  

The only ward in which the total population at the end of the first decade of the twenty-first century was greater than the number of people in the ward between the ages of 16 and 50 in 1917 was the Fifth Ward.
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