USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : containing carefully prepared histories of every city and town in the county, Vol. I > Part 86
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Though Hudson may be regarded as a good agri- cultural town, she is now more distinguished for the products of her workshops than of her soil. The shoe manufacture is what has built up the place and given it a distinctive character. Her manufactures being of a recent date, she has prob- ably a larger proportion of modern improved ma- chinery than any town in the state. Her shops
are all of modern construction, two or three stories in height, high-studded, with large rooms or halls, well-lighted and ventilated, and warmed by steam. As the buildings are all separated or isolated, they enjoy the best air, and are comparatively safe from fire in consequence of their location, and the hose and other appliances which they possess.
The reputation of Hudson's shoe-manufacto- ries is such, that when the Boston merchants and manufacturers, intending to show the Japanese Embassy the best specimens of our productions, after taking them to Lowell and Lawrence to ex- hibit the facility of weaving cloth, conducted them to Hudson to show them the best method of mak- ing shoes.
There is also in this village a striking illustra- tion of the principle that one branch of business creates another. Shoes are made upon lasts ; and hence a factory is established which turns out fifty thousand lasts annually. And as heels and leather generally are cut by dies, these articles are in de- mand ; and so an establishment was set up, where dies to the amount of $75,000 a year are pro- duced. The lasts and dies here manufactured are not all consumed in the place ; but the local de- mand gave birth to these factories. Then shoes, when prepared for the market, must be boxed up, and this calls for box-factories; and so two sprung up in the village, demanding not only laborers, but lumber and all the appliances of the lumber busi- ness. The annual product of these box-factories is $20,000. Another branch of business allied to the shoe-manufactory is that of a tannery, which is found in the midst of the village, with a capital of about $125,000, employing one hundred hands, with a monthly pay-roll of $ 12,000.
The above manufactures seem to be connected with the shoe business. But there are other manu- factures in the place. A piano factory, which makes cases, has a capital of $30,000, employs twenty- three men, and has a monthly pay-roll of $ 2,000. They produce eight hundred cases annually. There is also a rubber-factory company, which has a capi- tal of $500,000. They make a kind of India-rub- ber cloth, and employ only nine or ten hands, as their work is mostly done by machinery, and they have hardly got under way. Growing out of, if not connected with, the above is the New England Cloak Company, which manufactures the rubber cloth into garments, employs ten or twelve hands, and produces annually $50,000 worth of goods, with a monthly pay-roll of $500. There are also
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a cigar factory and two green-houses, which sell their products in and out of the town.
The aggregate capital employed in the five prin- cipal shoe factories - Francis Brighamn & Co's, William F. Trowbridge's, George Houghton's, Luman T. Jefts's and Stowe, Bills & Whitney's - is $430,000, and the annual production of shoes is 1,785,000 pairs ; the estimated value of sales is $1,425,000 ; giving employment to 1100 persous, 345 of whom are females. The united pay of the laborers is $350,000 a year, or $29,166 a month. So much for the shoe business alone. But there are other branches connected with the shoe manu- facture which should be taken into the account. The tannery, the die factory, the last factory, and the box factory furnish a capital of $175,000, with a monthly pay-roll of $20,000.
And when the India Rubber Cloth Company ; the New England Cloak Company, employing some ten or twelve hands ; the piano factory, with a cap- ital of $30,000, employing twenty-three men,-are taken into the account, the monthly disbursements, with what is paid to the shoe hands, cannot fall short of $55,000; and all this is confined to the income of manufactures proper, to say nothing of the receipts of the mechanics, artisans, &c., and the income from the products of the soil.
Hudson is bountifully supplied with artisans, mechanics, aud traders of every kind ; with stores and shops to meet the wants of all classes of both sexes ; and professional men to supply the needs of the community. It has a post-office, with three daily mails ; a printing-office ; a weekly news- paper; a savings-bank, with $192,000 deposits; a tasteful cemetery ; a free library, containing 2,500 volumes ; and a full and very efficient fire department.
Financially, Hudson is situated like most of the towns in the state. Her town debt is $112,180, a large indebtedness for a small country town. But when we consider that in 1874 her debt was $162,000, and that it has already been reduced nearly $50,000, we have reason to believe that this debt will soon be brought down to a nominal sum. While wisdom would admonish towns not to incur heavy liabilities, IIudson has had some inducements peculiar to herself. The purchase of territory from Bolton, the building of an expensive town-hall, and the large subscription to the Central Railroad, an enterprise of vital interest to the town, - these all seemed to be necessary for her fu- ture welfare; and the reported public property of the
town, viz., $141,600, shows that there is no necessity of having receivers appointed to settle her affairs. At this time she has a population of 3,783, polls 953, dwelling-houses 642, and a valuation of $1,818,298. She has 6,993 acres of land included in her tax list. Her rate of taxation the present year is $13 on the $1,000, which can not be considered high.
True to the Puritan spirit, the people at Felton- ville early provided for religious instruction. About 1800 Phinehas Sawyer from Harvard settled in the village, and being a Methodist by profession had frequent meetings on his premises. Subsequently the Methodists built themselves a small church in the northeasterly section of the town, which, in 1852, was destroyed by fire. This practically broke up the society, a part going to Rock Bot- tom, in Stow, and most of the rest to the centre of Marlborough. A remnant in the village of Felton- ville, with others that have settled in the place, liave built a good and handsome church in Hudson.
Long before they aspired to become a town, the people of all classes and sects associated for the support of stated preaching. A meeting-house was erected, which was controlled by the Baptists. But in the spirit of the age they have recently erected an elegant and commodious house, at a cost of $19,000.
The Unitarians have a neat and convenient house, erected about 1860, the steeple of which is graced by a clock, a gift of the late Stephen Rice.
The Roman Catholics have a church known as Saint Michael's. It was organized by Father M. T. Maguire in 1869. This house is situated a little out of the centre of business on a rise of ground, and overlooks the village. These different societies are well sustained, and have their respective minis- ters ; and what is more and better they dwell to- gether in harmony, and have less of sectarian bit- terness than is found in most country villages where rival sects exist.
Hudson is situated in the northwest part of the county of Middlesex, adjoining the county of Wor- cester, and is bounded northerly by Bolton and Stow, southerly by Marlborough, westerly by Ber- lin, and easterly by Sudbury. It is situated in the valley of the Assabet River, a stream which rises in Westborough, passes through a part of Northborough, thence into Marlborough, thence into a corner of Berlin, thence into Hudson, where it passes directly through the village, furnishing a good water-power. The stream from the village
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HUDSON.
of Hudson pursues a northeasterly course about a mile and a half, when it enters the town of Stow on its passage to Concord, where it unites with the Sudbury River. At Hudson village the Assabet receives a stream from Berlin, which furnishes a small water-power, and empties into the mill-pond ; and another from Bolton bearing the name of Wattaquadock, and supplying the tan yard at the lower end of the village. Though the other streams in Hudson are small, they meet the wants of agri- culture. Fort Meadow Brook, below the reservoir, traverses a large section of the easterly part of the township. There is also a beautiful sheet of water lying partly in Hudson and partly in Stow. It is situated in a level sandy section, and takes its name " White Pond " from its white sandy bot- tom.
Though a small section of the northwest corner of the town is somewhat rough and rugged, that part situated in the valley of the Assabet, and the eastern portion, is generally level; yet there is a pleasing variety of rolling land which adds to the beauty of the landscape. Mount Assabet, near the village, rises on the south side of the river, directly opposite the principal settlement, to the height of from one to one hundred and fifty feet, and is capable of cultivation to its summit ; and, to use a military term, it commands the whole village, and a large portion of that section of the town. It is a graceful swell of land, and would afford elegant sites for those stately mansions in which retired capitalists delight to dwell. There are a number of these gradual elevations within a mile of the village, which would afford beautiful country-seats. Hudson is about twenty-eight miles from Boston, and its facilities for general communication are good. The branch railroad from the Fitchburg at South Acton passes directly through the village,
furnishing five daily trains, and having a station in the centre of business. This road connects the village with Boston and all the important places on the east, and with Fitchburg and the towns above ou the west. The Massachusetts Central Railroad is located, and partly graded directly through the village, and if completed it would make Hudson an important railroad centre. And if the other towns on this contemplated road would manifest the same spirit, and afford the same pecu- niary aid, as this young and generous town, that line of communication would not long hang in donbt. Hudson as a town appropriated $55,000 towards the building of that road, and paid it in promptly. And recently she has agreed to transfer to certain contractors three fourths of her stock, if they will finish the road in two years. With this enconragement from the towns, the contractors will soon again commence labor upon the work, if they have not already done so. If this road is con- structed, and opened for public travel, it must add materially to the prosperity of the place.
. As an agricultural township, Hudson will com- pare favorably with the surrounding towns. Her loamy hills are capable of great production, and her lighter soils, with less labor, are well adapted to grain and vegetable crops.
On the whole, taking into view the nature of her soil, the topography of the township, the salu- brity of the atmosphere, the orderly condition of the village, with the admitted enterprise of the people, Hudson would not suffer by a comparison with the towns around her. And if we add the facilities of communication present and prospective, she holds out inducements to those seeking country residences not surpassed by any town in this sec- tion of the state.
END OF VOLUME I.
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