Some History of 418 State Street

This morning, a reader posted a comment on the report about the demolition of 418 State Street which began, "Is it necessary to project anthropomorphic preciousness onto every building?" The answer to that rhetorical question, as far as Gossips is concerned, is yes. The violent destruction of a building, particularly one that has stood for more than a hundred years, always makes me wonder about the people who lived there, and the quest to learn about them is always rewarding. It provides a window into life in Hudson in an earlier time. Therefore, I persist. 

Today, I share what I've learned about one of the residents of 418 State Street, who made it his home in the latter decades of the 19th century and into the early years of the 20th century.

My quest began by searching for "418 State Street" in the amazing Fulton History newspaper collection. That helped me connect the house with a man named Obed Marshall, who seems to have been the house's most illustrious resident.

Obed Marshall died at home late in November 1907. His obituary in the Columbia Republican on November 23, 1907, called him "an aged and well known resident of Hudson" and reported he "had been in failing health for some time and suffered much from rheumatism." It also noted that he was "in his 76th year" when he died.

Marshall was a painter and a glazier, who seemed a tad accident prone. In November 1867, the Hudson Daily Star reported that he had fallen off a ladder while painting outbuildings on a farm in Greenport. W. H. Pitcher, the doctor who attended him, told the press his injuries were "more painful than serious." In November 1879, the Hudson Evening Register reported that Marshall had been "badly cut in the eye with a fragment of glass." (November seemed to have been an unlucky month for Obed Marshall.)

Marshall's local renown may have begun in January 1868 when he was appointed "Messenger of the Council and Janitor to the City Hall"--a job for which he received an annual salary of $150. It was a part-time job (he apparently continued his work as a painter and glazier and also worked as a special officer at the fairgrounds), but it was in his capacity as janitor of City Hall that Marshall was most often mentioned in the newspapers. In May 1869, the Hudson Daily Star reported on his efforts to deal with unruly boys who disrupted events at City Hall:

We have frequently made mention of disturbances occurring at City Hall when exhibitions have been given, by boys, which have been a source of annoyance to both those in attendance as spectators and the Janitor of the Hall. The nuisance at last became so abominable that Mr. Obed Marshall, the Janitor, caused warrants to be issued for two boys, who were guilty of disturbing the audience at an exhibition given by Logrenia, which were placed in the hands of an officer, but the guilty boys eluded the officer.

Charles Logrenia was a magician, billed as "the Greatest Living Wizard." 
  
In July 1872, the Daily Star reported Marshall's intervention to stop a wife beater.

Jasper Van Alen of Kinderhook . . . came to this city yesterday to see the "procesh," got drunk. then became ugly, and wanted to smash somebody. At last he tackled his favorite victim, his wife, who was in City Hall, enjoying the company of friends, and beat her as if she was a bag of meal. This sort of conduct stirred up the feelings of Mr. Obed Marshall, the faithful Janitor of the Hall, who went for Joseph [sic] and bounced him out doors, when Chief of Police Snyder took him in charge, and the rascal found the Jail to be a tabernacle which he could not dissolve by hard knocks.

My favorite reference to Obed Marshall appeared in the Columbia Republican in late June 1900. I like it not only because it gives quaint insight into what was considered newsworthy in Hudson at the turn of the century but also because it evokes an image of 418 State Street in its better days.

Has a Fine Rose Bush

The distinctively June roses are gone except a few climbers, which are nearly through blooming. The beautiful Crimson Ramblers, however, are just in their prime, and many fine masses of them are to be seen about town. In Obed Marshall's yard on State street is a fine bush which is a mass of crimson bloom and can be seen from the street.

COPYRIGHT 2019 CAROLE OSTERINK