Before the Council Tonight

The Common Council holds its regular meeting tonight at 6:00 p.m. Some new items have appeared on the agenda since Gossips published the list of this week's meetings. Among them is a resolution authorizing the honorary naming of the 200 block of Warren Street "Jacob and Barbara Walthour Way." 

The resolution contains the puzzling statement that the Walthours were, among other laudable achievements, "founding members of the Colored Citizen's Club in Hudson in 1970." Over the years, Gossips research has uncovered evidence that the Colored Citizen's Club existed long before 1970. In 1940, the Hudson Daily Star reported that the Colored Citizen's Club had purchased the former St. John's Methodist Episcopal Church at 255 Columbia Street to use as a meeting place. Accounts of the fire that destroyed Farmers National Bank in 1926 indicate that the Colored Citizens Club had rooms on the second floor of the bank.

It is not known when the Colored Citizens Club was first started in Hudson, but the evidence shows it already existed in the 1920s. Perhaps it lapsed into a period of inactivity at some point, and the Walthours were instrumental in its revival in 1970. Maybe 1970 was the year when the Colored Citizens Club expanded their meeting place and created the building shown below, which stood at the corner of Third and Columbia streets until it was demolished by the City at the end of 2011. It would be nice to know the full history of the club in Hudson.

Also new on the agenda for tonight's Common Council meeting is a resolution authorizing the mayor to enter into an agreement with CGS Group for the redevelopment of the Dunn warehouse.

The Council meeting, which begins at 6:00 p.m., is a hybrid, taking place in person at the Central Fire Station, 77 North Seventh Street, and on Zoom. Click here to join the meeting remotely.

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