The County's grand plan to turn a 50-year-old failed strip mall on lower Warren Street into a county office building involves the County divesting itself of 610 State Street. This former school building, constructed in 1887, is one of three school buildings in Hudson that the County acquired back in the day when school districts could dispose of unwanted property by transferring ownership to a municipality for a dollar or some other token amount. The other two buildings are 401 State Street, built in 1915 as Hudson High School, and Charles Williams School, constructed in 1924. (The County owned Charles Williams School from 1970 to 2005, when the City of Hudson did a swap with the County. The County got land it needed to build 325 Columbia Street; the City got the former school building. The City sold Charles Williams School to the Second Ward Foundation in 2010.)
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| Photo courtesy Historic Hudson |
The building at 610 State Street was designed by the very prolific and successful Hudson architect Michael O'Connor and was constructed in 1887 as the very first Hudson High School. When the new high school building at 401 State Street was completed, 610 State Street became an elementary school, the Sixth Street School, and continued to be used as an elementary school until John L. Edwards was completed in 1965. Very likely it was at that time that the County took possession of the building. The photograph below shows the building in 1960.
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| Photo: PhotobyGibson.com |
The building is a contributing structure in the National Register Hudson Historic District and hence eligible for historic preservation tax credits.
When it was announced that the County was planning to buy 11 Warren Street, a building owned by the Galvan Foundation, it was thought there might be a swap. The county no longer wanted 610 State, and its location made it desirable to Galvan. It was the missing piece in Galvan's "Depot District." They already owned the rest of that block--the house at 618 State Street and the site of the original Hudson Orphan Asylum, which Galvan demolished in 2019.
Matt Murell, chair of the Columbia County Board of Supervisors, denied the notion of a swap. The following is quoted from an article in the Register-Star, which appeared on August 12, 2023, soon after the acquisition of 11 Warren Street was announced:
Murell said the purchase does not mean the county and Galvan, which has evinced an interest in 610 State St., plan to swap buildings.
"If at some point we decide to sell 610, Galvan is free to submit a bid like everyone else, but the county would like at some point to get rid of it," Murell said.
We can only hope that when the County decides to sell 610 State Street the process will not be as sub rosa as the acquisition of 11 Warren Street has been. The building is architecturally significant and historically significant to the City of Hudson, and it deserves to have a good steward to ensure its future.
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