Construction, Deconstruction, “Reconstruction” or Destruction--What Is Actually Planned for Hudson’s Tennis Center?

by Ken Sheffer

I am commenting on the proposed mysterious “reconstruction “ of the tennis facility at the Livingston/Smith Educational Center on Paddock Place that is within the Livingston campus.  This reconstruction plan is part of the $8.35 million Capital Project package the Hudson City School District will be putting to the taxpayers on May 20, along with the $58.5 million bill to run the schools. There is, however, zero detail available on what “reconstruction” of the courts actually means. Nor is there much detail on the rest of the Capital Project. Hmmmm. . . . Does reconstruction mean destruction? Anything is possible here as I know well.

First of all, I want to commend the Hudson Board of Education for even saying the words “tennis courts” in a fundraising or capital project document. For the thousands of us in the Columbia County area who are tennis crazy, we, hopefully, can breathe a huge collective sigh of relief and a scream of sheer delight when the plan is released. Might it be that before we age out of the tennis world we will see that once iconic facility shine again? Who knows? It all comes down to the word “reconstruction” and whether that is code for something else other than a return to former glory and beauty for those five courts.

Hudson Delivers Aces

As background, for members of the public who are non-tennis players and for the BOE, the true story must be told. Hudson, New York was once the mecca of world class tennis (or at least East Coast tennis) for about 50 years, ending with the end of the tennis boom in the early 1980s and with the “deconstruction” phase that set in on those courts and that continues to this day. Hudson, yes, tiny little Hudson, produced the finest tennis players around and certainly in New York State and then to some large degree on the East Coast. Hudson dominated local and regional tennis leagues for 90 years starting in roughly 1890. Many of us who caught the tennis bug went on, with tennis scholarships in hand, to play collegiate tennis and then to become teaching professionals. When tennis dried up, we took real jobs, of course, but our love for those Paddock Place courts never died . . . it just fizzled and faded just like the courts themselves. We continue to drive by hoping each time that we will see shining new courts.

Book Ends Update

My husband, Jeff, and I have finally put the finishing touches on our book about the Livingston Educational Center and are now editing its some 5,000 pages in the hope of putting out about 1,000 pages. Of course, we were insane to create such a large volume, and so, with help, it is being edited down. We have been at it for five years, but the obsession and passion remain. We have two editor friends at work on it and several artists still bringing it all to life. Apologies for the delay are owed to those who follow FreshHistory and, of course, to our dear friend and teacher Carole Osterink, who has always been there when FreshHistory needed it. And hats off to Gossips once again. Without Gossips, we would not know the City of Hudson at all. You are our morning newspaper, crystal ball, and mother ship of all that is right for Hudson.  Thank you.

In finishing up Husdson's Heart, we first finished the tennis chapter, and it is ready to go. For background, there is a tennis chapter in the book because tennis, and our passion for it, was the main reason Hudson's Heart was written in the first place. As well, our first draft of the separate book, The Hudson Five: The History of Tennis in Columbia County, has been rough-drafted and will come out after Hudson's Heart, followed by a definitive biography of Dr. Laurie D. Cox (a man) who designed the Livingston/Smith campus and those glorious tennis courts. So let us begin.

The Construction Phase

In 1927, Hudson Superintendent of Schools Montgomery C. Smith decided he was going to build the “school of schools” set on the “campus of campuses” in Hudson, New York. Smith himself was born in London but was brought to the USA at a young age. For decades he wandered around the schools of upstate New York and graduated from Syracuse University, where he met a “landscape man” named Laurie Cox. Smith settled in as Superintendent in Goshen, New York, in the 1910s, and then he succeeded Charles Williams in Hudson in 1922, after Williams passed quickly and unexpectedly.

Immediately, Smith went on a money- and land-hunting expedition in Hudson. It started on Smith’s Day One. From his career-long residential perch on Green Street, he roamed the hills and pastures of the northern part of the city for a place to land a school. Secretly, he also hired Dr. Cox, head of landscape architecture at Syracuse College of Forestry, to help him with his secret plan. At the time, landscape architects also posed as full-on architects (same skills, just cheaper), and so Cox also helped plan and place the Livingston/Smith building and provided its first physical design. See how the building tilts boldly and proudly toward our glorious Catskills in the form of a bow. You have Laurie Cox to thank for that.

 
In short, by 1929 and 1930, Smith had raised most of the the money and acquired the land for the new school. (The building would get tied up in the New Deal a few years later.) You see, buying land for a school did not require a citywide vote. Building a school did. Smith then pooled monies (with the help of Common Council boss and later mayor, Michael Degnan) to buy the land. Much of the money came in the form of allocations for “improving the Charles Williams fields,” which never happened. It was a money fake. Degnan just kept feeding Smith money knowing full well that nothing was going on regarding that field that sits below that giant slope near the old Charles Williams building. Actually, money was just rolling down that hill into the BOE planning department (Smith).
 
Then, between 1932 and 1934, Laurie Cox and M. C. Smith lobbied the Livingston family (think Janet, Honoria, and Reggie Livingston) to get permission to use Chancellor Robert R. Livingston’s name for the entire 28-acre campus. Approval was sent to Smith in a letter from Reggie Livingston (FreshHistory has a copy from Smith’s diary), and Smith and Cox were off to the races. With Eleanor Roosevelt being a direct descendant of the Chancellor and FDR himself a friend of the family, Hudson was in prime position for the approval and funding of the entire proposal, school building and all (details are in the book). Janet Livingston and Honoria Livingston both toured the campus and the tennis facility in 1932 and 1935, when it was under construction and when it was finished and opened. Reggie did as well. Both Janet and Honoria spoke at these events. Reggie deferred to them and stood in the background. Other famous visitors include Lorena Hickok, best friend of ER and WPA inspector general, and Mrs. Huey Long, who had heard about the facility and stayed a weekend at the St. Charles Hotel to see the Livingston Center and the Rip Van Winkle Bridge. She brought along her son Russell Long as her driver. (Her husband, Huey, was assassinated a week after their visit.) Hundreds of governmental types toured the campus and the courts and gave their approval.  These were heady times for the Livingston Center and tennis in general.

Turmoil and Panic
The initial construction began in turmoil and panic in 1932 because, as it turned out, Smith had not bought enough land to house the courts.  In our chapter “He Forgot to Buy Paddock Place,” we spell out how Cox first attempted to place the five courts on the area where the current cinder track is and to move everything over to accommodate the courts. This presented problems as there is s deep gully on the side of the old baseball bleachers, and this was unfixable. So, off Smith went to the Common Council, and he bought what we now call the Paddock Place parcel. He paid $3,500 for the extra four acres where the courts now sit.
 
The Paddock Place parcel presented problems, too, of steepness and hidden blocks of natural stone and slate, but Cox was undaunted. Cox laid out his tennis court drawings for Smith in a BOE meeting in 1932. (We have originals of the plans from the Cox diaries, which were granted to us by the Cox family. And we have his first rough drawing on how to build that massive retaining wall that sits just below Paddock Place proper and nearly towers over the Hudson Five courts. We present the drawings here here.)  

 

Though construction costs are hard to figure out, it can be pieced together through the diaries of Smith and Cox, through the litigation that engulfed the Livingston campus work, and through public works financials from the Works Progress Administration (WPA). You see, in the end, the tennis courts became a New Deal deal and were paid for, in part by the WPA, the City of Hudson, and the Hudson School District/Board of Education. Meetings of the Hudson BOE at that time, especially on financial matters, were not open to the public. Basically, M. C. Smith. John L. Edwards, and Laurie Cox put those courts together--game, set, and match.
 
First, there was the excavation, dynamiting, and removal of the shale stone that made up that huge mound on the Paddock side. Estimated cost from the Cox diaries was $1,800 for the excavation. The retaining wall was actually pre-poured over at the Hudson cemetery and brought to the site in lengths of 21 feet at 2 feet thick.  Cost of the pre-fab walls according to Cox was $725.  The iconic cement steps leading up and down to the courts cost $285. The unbelievably iconic cement stamp of the number “1935” (right under the Coach Hamblet dedication sign--shown below) cost $28 and was imprinted by a local cement and stoneworker named Samuel J. Law. (Just in time for Hudson 150th birthday in July of 1935.) The 1-9-3-5 numbers are still there, worn but there, and should be preserved at all cost. Hudson’s set of five (not four, not six) tennis courts soon became the industry and school standard across the United States.  School matches were played on a five-court basis so that there could be no tie matches. Smart of Cox. And by placing the courts under the Paddock hill, he created the ultimate wind-free tennis amphitheater, perfect for spectator use as well. That genius construction and all its bones are still there and should remain there.

Other costs, as listed in the sources mentioned above, include $40,774.13 for 14,554 man-days to dig out by hand (meaning to carry away the stone as per Cox) and put new drainage in for the retaining wall, bleachers, and Paddock itself. It was by far Hudson’s largest work project during the Depression, so much so that Smith had then Mayor Frank Wise pull ALL the workers off of the cemetery project, some 100 men, to focus on finishing the fields and the courts. By 1933, Cox had also spent $10,499 on drainage pipes, cinders, crushed stone, preliminary surveys, and his own fees. Cox was paid approximately $2,500 per year for his work. Cox also spent about $1,000 on trees and shrubs, most of which are still in the area of the courts. Cox hid the costs of the heavy machinery, and it was suspected at the time that the City of Hudson “donated” the one machine they had to this cause. There is a letter from Smith in his diaries that mentions his “demand” for the one “digging machine Hudson has.” Of course, no records were kept of that interaction, and Cox hid all receipts for this work.

Is There a Doctor on the Courts?

By February 1934, Dr. John L. Edwards had taken control of the tennis court "issue" at the encouragement of Smith. Edwards reported in February 1934 to the BOE that he had purchased the "dirt" for the five tennis courts (150 cubic yards) for $217.50, to be precise. He also personally purchased 1.5 tons of calcium chloride for $37.50 and put up $1,000 for a truck to carry all this stuff over to the court area for staging. Edwards paid for all of this himself. Never did he present a single bill to the BOE.

Next would be the fence issue, and FreshHistory has dealt with this before. In April 1935, the iconic fencing that surrounds the tennis courts was installed by J. C. Rogerson Co. at a cash cost of $1,018.22. (This fencing should be fixed and preserved as a tribute to the Rogerson family. James Rogerson was a famous tennis player in Hudson in the 1890s.)

On April 30, 1935, M. C. Smith and Dr. Edwards drove to Dobbs Ferry to see some tennis courts installed by the then famous court expert Arthur Johnstone. Smith and Edwards knew nothing about court surfaces, but Johnstone did. Smith and Edwards played a bit of tennis on that April day, but neither was very good, according to Johnstone. It didn't matter. Johnstone proposed a fee to install a "Tennisturf" dirt surface on the courts for $3,750. Edwards approved this cost "on the spot." The courts were actually branded and sold under the name of "Grass-flite." Grass-flite had a surface of fine stone chips in a pale green coloring. The chips, or fabricated dirt, were often placed over asphalt and usually lasted just a few years. (Grass-flite went out of business soon after it was installed in Hudson.) Johnstone's assistant and project manager was paid $10 a day for two months, and the City of Hudson used all of its trucks and manpower to finish the courts. No estimate is given on this.

A young man (HHS student and tennis player) by the name of Douglas Washburn was the first court attendant hired by Smith in 1935. He was paid $50 per summer, lived on "Parkwood Street," and his job was to roll and smooth the dirt every morning and to give tennis lessons all day. Washburn proved to be a formidable player himself, taking down trophies all over the Hudson Valley.

Wednesday, August 7, 1935

On August 7, 1935, the Hudson tennis center opened to the public and was immediately jammed up. And, as with all new ventures, problems arose. First, the maintenance costs were high, so Smith and Edwards implemented an interesting plan. Families could “join” the tennis center by paying a $1 dollar fee per summer to get priority times for play. Others would wait. In the summer of 1935, thirty-seven families paid the $1 dollar fee. The second issue was that Dr. Edwards had only ordered four nets for the five-court facility, and so it opened with one dead court, which Washburn used to store court equipment for a few weeks. This dead court issue was quickly solved by Laurie Cox, who drove out to Syracuse, “borrowed” a net from the Syracuse warehouse, and delivered it to Hudson himself. Cost of the extra net: $3.50.  Finally, and hopefully forever, the Hudson Five were fully alive.
 
As a final step, Cox perfected a “spectator area” on the side of Court 1 to allow for the residents of Hudson “to see this new great sport.” That spectator area is still there but in great disrepair.  It should be upgraded and preserved. Total cost to establish the spectator area was $185 according to Cox. It too was put in by Samuel J. Law of Hudson (as were the Hamblet football bleachers and the now demolished baseball bleachers.)
 
The final problem was “tennis court manners” which JLE was upset about. Fighting had broken out (no fists) over tennis court usage. So, Dr. Edwards had four blue and white metal signs made up at Syracuse College by Cox that laid out the rules. FreshHistory has an original of one of the metal signs from the Cox collection, and it is shown here. The final rule was always appropriate and very much the signature style of Dr. JLE: “The courts are for the use and enjoyment of all who wish to play according to the rules. . . ."

 
The courts, the rules, the prestige lasted as long as the tennis boom did, until  about the mid-19802, and since then the courts have not been renovated at all. In fact, the opposite has happened.
 

The Deconstruction Phase

After the tennis boom ended and the courts emptied, interest in maintaining the courts evaporated. Cox, Smith, and Edwards were long gone, and our local superstar players had since retired. The courts and the stands and the fences began to crumble, and they are still crumbling. Efforts to repair the courts were left to individuals, meaning me and my husband, Jeff. We repainted the lines on those courts four times at our own expense. We also repaired holes in the fencing, replaced nets, and every spring, after landing from Hong Kong, we weeded the courts on the Paddock Place wall side. We just could not stand looking at those weeds. We even rebuilt the crumbling historic brick pillars that guard the end courts at the school at our own expense, spending tens of thousands of dollars. Such is our love for that shining facility. It is the place that gave me and many others a real shot at life and sport. 

 
Feeling Abandoned

Other than that, there seems to be zero interest in the courts. No one plays, and the deterioration has been swift and stunning. When HCSD decided to abandon the Livingston field and move ALL sports to the Soviet-style school on upper Harry Howard, we thought all was lost for those courts. In fact, during our summer returns to Hudson, we were convinced we would see a parking lot on Paddock’s hill instead of the five tennis courts. On their loneliest days, they look like they could hold a lot of cars.

History Is Made

Such was the state of the mess created by the leadership at the time of the last Capital Project, when they decided to “totally abandon” the Cox/Livingston recreation center. They even had a bonfire party to celebrate its demise, burning down its history. That’s when Jeff and I were startled into action to preserve that special place.

 
When the Board of Education and its administrators got fed up with our activities to preserve the Cox/Livingston project, we took the case to the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO), and the facility was declared historic and eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. Noting that the Smith/Livingston school was one of the last “intact” Cox masterpieces, it was declared that it must be preserved. The tennis courts were of specific note. (The SHPO determination is presented here.) Finally, Dr. Laurie Cox was granted his Fellowship in the American Society of Landscape Architects (the ASLA) primarily for his work on the State Parks of New York (of which he designed nearly all of them) and the work he did to create the Livingston Educational Center, including the tennis facility.

 
SHPO’s appreciation of Cox’s work is well known, but their appreciation of the Hudson facility was nonexistent when we approached them. There is always too much on their plate. No one had alerted the SHPO that a Cox masterpiece existed (as built) in little old Hudson, New York.  SHPO moved quickly to place an historic bubble over the entire facility and school building.
 
Still, as the fight went on over placing the baseball field on the old Cox-built football and baseball field, it became clear that everything was in deconstruction mode--including the tennis facility. Everything old could be wiped out. It was a secret garage sale in full motion. 
 
Investing in Plastic

New plastic tracks were the rage (they aren’t anymore), and Hudson taxpayers approved $19 million for that gleaming facility out on Harry Howard (which by the way is dedicated in great part to the Galvan Foundation, which only donated $250,000. Galvan’s name is billed in equal size to the taxpayers of Hudson who paid the rest of the bill. And yes readers, still are paying off that debt.)
 
Neglect was actively pursued, in our opinion, and you only have to take a glance now at the courts to see that someone has spray painted new lines for the courts but not fixed any other part of the historic facility.
 
As deconstruction continued, the then powerful baseball lobby got their field moved back to the Livingston heart, ugly fences and all, and to make it “world class” TWO $50,000 dugouts were purchased by the HCSD and crane-lowered onto the field. 
 
The promised widening and restoration of the cinder track and the placement of “new and classy baseball bleachers“ behind home plate never happened. What did happen was the slicing down of historic light poles and lights that were placed on the field by Niagara Power (at their own expense) for the 1935 Hudson 150th celebration. If you want proof, the poles still lay there in the tall grass behind the baseball dugouts.
 
The Reconstrution Phase

It is almost impossible to believe that we know more about the construction phase that happened nearly a hundred years ago than we do about the current plan for “reconstruction” of the tennis facility. Yes, meetings are scheduled, and they have been announced. Yes, the public will approve the $8.35 million for renovating the schools, but shouldn’t we know now what the “reconstructors” are planning to do with our courts? I am partly thrilled and partly chilled by what is about to be announced. (And shouldn’t there be a mandatory timing element to such a proposal. Shouldn’t there be a two-month announcement window?) 
 
So, does reconstruction mean shrinking the facility? Does it mean tearing down historic fences and walls? Does it mean ripping out the historic 1935 concrete stamp? Does it mean moving the courts elsewhere? Does it mean that the HISTORIC tennis courts are about to be changed in a way that destroys their very essence and history? Or will reconstruction honor its regal history and bright future? 
 
A Few Promising Notes
The Facilities Committee consists of three promising people, if they are indeed staying on the Board. The first is Kjirsten Gustavson who has experience with facility management. The second is Calvin Lewis, a Bluehawk who loves the young learners and their “Patroon Conference” activities. Go Calvin. And finally, the lovely and always elegant Willette Jones, who somehow has landed on right side of every issue as far as the fields and courts are concerned. She may be leaving the BOE this year (I don’t know who is leaving), but she could leave a mark on this “reconstruction” as well. 
 
Mystery Not Solved

The mystery about the $8.35 million Capital Project seems bizarre. The vote on this is just days away. Hopefully, a full plan with a full budget and drawings has been crafted for the entire project and the reconstruction of the courts. And the HCSD should note here that the United States Tennis Association (USTA) has a program of offering financial assistance to communities and school districts who are building or replacing old tennis courts. Application for the monies is quite simple and highly encouraged by the USTA.
 
Boom!

Also, for the first time since the 1970s, America is experiencing a massive tennis boom,  according to the U.S. Tennis Association. As pickleball plateaus, tennis is once again exploding, across the American spectrum. In its fifth consecutive year of growth, America is verging on 35 million serious players--a record. The sport itself is growing at 8 percent a year now. Players under the age of 25 are driving 45 percent of the growth, with those under 35 driving 60 percent of the growth. There was 26 percent growth among black players from 2023 to 2024 and 15 percent among Hispanic players. And those of us who are now seniors increased our numbers by 20 percent. The boom is back baby! This time for everyone.
 
The Celebration Phase

If this is a reconstruction that should be celebrated I would offer this--the facility should be officially named “The Hudson Tennis Center” and should be dedicated to the champions and pioneers of our sport and of that facility. (The criteria I used in selecting the first honorees are as follows: The individual must possess one or many of the following qualities or strengths: strokes of genius; classic tennis skills; a commitment to the sport and to coaching others; a competitive spirit in play; an understanding of the technical aspects of the game including grips, equipment, strings, scoring etc.; sportsmanship; knowledge of tennis history; and assistance in growing the sport locally. Winning is also a factor. Based on this criteria, the Hudson Hall of Fame nominees for 2025 are as follows: Charles Esselstyn, Samuel Wheeler, Richard Koweek, Richard Koskey, Marion Roller, Joanne Armstrong, Richard Cummings, Sr,  Robert Blything, Douglas Washburn, Craig Thorn, Sr., Richard Heron, Nancy Ketz, John Vertitis, Dr. Carl Whitbeck, Gus Erickson, Buddy D’Onofrio, Don Woods, Kathi Yeats, Dr. John L. Edwards, Harold Schnitzer, Tom Patterson, M. C. Smith, and Samuel J. Law. Their names could sit gently and respectfully beneath the new name of the Center to inspire future stars. (I will describe each of these champions in a future post and will also offer resumes to the Board of Education.)
 
Future Hall of Famers

Speaking of future stars, let me add one last note--a local and personal one. Two weeks ago, while running the cinder track at the Livingston/Smith Center, I noticed a young lady hitting tennis balls against the large Paddock Place wall. As I stood on the opposite side of the track from the courts, I could see that she had “IT"! Even from that distance. She had the strokes and the desire and the athletic skills and the hand/eye coordination to make herself known in the tennis world. Her name is Britney (I think), and she is 16 years old, with strokes of brilliance. I stopped by the court (she was alone), gave her a brief lesson, corrected a few things, and left her with the message that “the faster you swing, the less chance of error you have.” It’s true in tennis and mostly true in life. She tried it. It worked. I changed her grips and gave her the warning that no one has ever beaten that giant wall so don’t get frustrated. It is a wall that built champions I told her. She laughed. 
 
I don’t know anything else about Britney except that she is a tall, smiling young lady with long black hair. She is currently constructing her own game, and it needs deconstructing and reconstructing quickly. Someone at the HCSD should jump in give this young lady a chance.  This is the mission: FIND BRITNEY! She says she has a good coach at the school, so coach, get Britney down to the Chris Evert Academy in Florida NOW. You see, reconstructing is not just about the courts, it's about the young players who want to shine on them as well. Britney should be under reconstruction now. That’s why that center was built and must be maintained.
 
Recreational Slums

As I have written in all of my past chapters and columns, Dr. Laurie Cox used to tell his students the following on the first day of landscape school, “Let no one say it to your shame, that all was beauty here until you came.” And by the way, in 1946 Dr. Cox published THE seminal work on how to plan, build, and maintain tennis courts. His great fear, which came true in Hudson, is that the Depression-era parks would turn into “recreational slums,” so he began to standardize the way in which tennis courts should be built and maintained. Hudson is featured in his book. Schools across America were building tennis courts too small with bad surfaces, and so Cox put down the markers and ended the mess. His thesis could apply to Hudson again today.

Hit Some Balls
So, HCSD and BOE, let’s see the details of the Capital Project and especially that tennis court “reconstruction” plan. Then let’s all get out there and hit some balls and teach some future stars as the new tennis boom arrives.

Ken Sheffer