The Naming of Buildings

Jeffrey Dodson, executive director of the Hudson Housing Authority, has been soliciting suggestions for a name for the HHA development being proposed. At the last meeting of the HHA Board of Commissioners last week, Dodson shared the suggestions that have been received thus far: 

• Bliss Gardens
• Harbor of Hope Homes
• Hudson Housing Community
• Legacy Commons
• New Horizons
• New Roots Community Homes
• Riverview Apartments
• The High End
• The Hudson Collective
• The Pearl Collective
• The Pearl of Hudson Unity Project

Dodson explained that the two suggestions that included "Pearl" were a tribute to Ida Pearl, someone he admitted he did not know. Gossips has confirmed that the reference is to Ida Pearl Cross, a matriarch of Hudson's black community and the wife of former Second Ward supervisor Rev. Ed Cross. 

The process of naming the proposed new HHA development is an occasion to recall why Bliss Towers has the name it does. It was named for Dr. Roger Courtnaye Bliss (1903-1996), who practiced medicine in Hudson for four decades. The first picture below shows Bliss in 1932, around the time he completed his medical education at Syracuse University. It was while in medical school that Bliss met and married his wife, Elah Harriet Cook, who also became a doctor. The second picture shows Elah and Roger Bliss. 

The following is quoted from a biography of Bliss found on WikiTree.

Roger Bliss served in the military during World War II as a Captain in the Medical Corps with the Eleventh Airborne Division campaigns of Leyte and Luzon. He received a Bronze Star and the Purple Heart and attained the rank of Major. He left the military in 1946 to continue his medical practice in Hudson, New York, which had been maintained by his wife, Elah, who was also carrying on her own medical practice while Roger was in the service. They both practiced medicine from October 1933 to June 1971 in Hudson where he was Attending Obstetrician at Columbia Memorial Hospital for 25 years and she practiced Pediatrics. Roger also was Police Commissioner of the City of Hudson from 1950 to 1960, and for 2½ years prior to his retirement in 1971 he was Chairman of the City of Hudson Housing Authority. He was instrumental in having low income housing constructed there and one of the buildings was named "Bliss Tower" in his honor. In 1972, a plaque was placed in the reference room of the Hudson Area Library honoring both Drs. Roger and Elah Bliss for their contributions and efforts in founding the library.

The plaque mentioned above is currently on display in the History Room at the library.

COPYRIGHT 2026 CAROLE OSTERINK

Thanks to Brenda Shufelt for providing the picture of the plaque.