Hudson

Hudson is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, with a total population of 20,092 as of the 2020 census. It was originally part of the town of Marlborough and was known as Feltonville. From around 1850 until the last shoe factory burned down in 1968, Hudson was a mill town specializing in the production of shoes and related products. The many factories in Hudson attracted immigrants from Canada and Europe. Today most residents are of either Portuguese or Irish descent with a smaller percentage being of French, Italian, English, or Scotch-Irish descent. Hudson is served by the Hudson Public Schools district, which was founded in the 18th century. The town's oldest building, dating from 1702, is the Brigham Rice Farm (formerly known as the Curley Rice Farm) on Brigham Street (formerly known as Rice Farm Farm) Hudson is located on the banks of the Assabet River, which runs through the town. The Assabet is a tributary of the Merrimack River. It is the source of the Narragansett River, one of the oldest rivers in the United States, which flows into the Connecticut River. The Narragani tribe lived in the area for thousands of years before European settlement. In 1650, English settlers forcibly evicted the Indians from their plantation, imprisoning and killing many of them; most survivors did not return after the conflict. In 1743, area residents Samuel Witt, John Hapgood, and others petitioned to break away from Marlboro and become a separate town. Their petition was denied by the Massachusetts General Court.

History

Indigenous people lived in what became central Massachusetts for thousands of years prior to European settlement. In 1650, the area that would become Hudson and Marlborough was part of the Ockookangansett Indian Plantation for the Praying Indians. The first recorded European settlement of the Hudson area occurred in 1698 or 1699 when settler John Barnes was granted 1 acre (0.40 ha) of Indian lands straddling both banks of the Assabet River. In June 1743, area residents Samuel Witt, John Hapgood, and others petitioned to break away from Marlboro and become a separate town. By 1860, Feltonville had 17 shoe and shoe-related factories, which attracted Irish and French Canadian immigrants.Feltonville residents fought for the Union during the American Civil War. Two existing housesthe Goodale Homestead on Chestnut Street (Hudson's oldest building, dating from 1702) and the Curley home on Brigham Street (formerly known as the Rice Farm)have been cited as waystations on the Underground Railroad. Two woolen mills, an elastic-webbing plant, a piano factory, and a rubber coating factory were constructed by private banks, also built by Hudson. Private banks, five schools, a poor farm and a current town hall were also built in the current town of Hudson. In 1866, Hudson was named after Congressman Charles Hudson, who was born and grew up in the neighborhood. The town's name was changed to Hudson on March 16, 1866.

Geography

The Assabet River runs prominently through most of Hudson. The river arises from wetlands in Westborough and flows northeast 34 miles (55 km) It descends through the towns of Northborough, Marlborough, Berlin, Hudson, Stow, Maynard, Acton, and finally Concord, where it merges with the Sudbury River to form the Concord River. The town is bordered by four towns and one city: Bolton and Stow on the north, the city of Marlboro on the south, Sudbury on the east, and Berlin on the west. The neighborhood and unincorporated village of Gleasondale straddles Hudson and StOW. The Town of Hudson owns and maintains Centennial Beach on the shores of Fort Meadow Reservoir. It is open to residents and non-residents for the cost of a daily or season pass, typically from June to August. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates the town has a total area of 11.8 square miles (30.7 km²), of which 11.5 square miles of land and 0.3 square miles. (2.9 km²) of water. A portion of the Assabet river National Wildlife Refuge is located in Hudson. It was once a popular vacation spot prior to the widespread adoption of the automobile but now a primarily residential neighborhood. It has a population of 2,816, with a population growth rate of 1.7% since the 1970s. It had a population increase of 2.4% between 2000 and 2010.

Demographics

As of the 2000 census, there were 18,113 people, 6,990 households, and 4,844 families residing in the town. As of 2017 Census Bureau estimates, Hudson's population increased to 19,994. The town's racial makeup was 92.6% white, 1.3% Black or African American, 0.1% Native American, 2.7% Asian, and 2.5% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.06% of the population. The average household size was 2.57 and the average family size was 3.11. The median income for a household was $58,549, and the median family income was $70,145. The Census Bureau estimated that in the five-year period between 2013 and 2017, 86.3 per cent of Hudson households had a broadband internet subscription. According to 2017 Census bureau estimates, 90.3 percent of Hudson residents graduated high school or higher, while 39.8% have a bachelor's degree or higher. In the town, the population was spread out, with 24.0% under the age of 18, 6.7 per cent from 18 to 24, 33.5 percent from 25 to 44, 23.6 percent from 45 to 64, and 12.2% who were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females age 18 and over, There were 94.6 males. The population density was 1,574.4 people per square mile (608.1/km²).

Government

The Town of Hudson has an open town meeting form of government, like most New England towns. The Select Board is a group of publicly elected officials who are the executive authority of the town. There are five positions on the Hudson Select Board, currently filled by Michael Burks, Scott R. Duplisea, Fred P. Lucy II, Shawn Sadowski and James D. Quinn. The Massachusetts legislature abolished the Middlesex County government in 1997. Former county agencies and institutions reverted to the control of the state government of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Certain county government positions, such as District Attorney and Sheriff, still function under the stateGovernment instead of a county government. The current executive assistant is Thomas Gregory. The town has a population of 2,000. The population of Hudson was 2,100 in the year 2000. It has an population of 3,000 in the 2010 Census. It is the largest town in New England with a population over the age of 20. The city's population is 2,200. It was the largest city in the United States in the 1990s. It had a population in the 2000 Census. The number of people living in the town was 1,788. It now has aPopulation of 2.9 million. It also has an unemployment rate of 1.7%. The town's population has a poverty rate of 0.8%. It has a crime rate of 3.2%. It is one of the smallest towns in the state. The state has the highest poverty rate in the U.S.

Education

Hudson's local public school district is Hudson Public Schools, a district open to Hudson residents and through school choice to any area students. Hudson High School is open to students from Berlin, Hudson, Maynard, Northborough, Southborough, Westborough, and Marlborough. Prior to starting ninth grade Hudson students may choose to attend either Hudson High or Assabet Valley Regional Technical High School. A former private Catholic school district known as Saint Michael's Schools and administered bySaint Michael's Catholic Parish closed in 2011. The original St. Michael's School building stood empty for a few years before the parish demolished it to expand its existing parking lot. The parish sold the former HCHS lot, on which now stands a Walgreens pharmacy. The former Hudson Catholic High School building was then used as the Saint Michael’s School building, which itself closed in May 2011, and has since been demolished. The principal was Caroline Flynn and the assistant principal was Mark Wentworth at the school's closure. The school was closed by the Boston Archdiocese due to lack of enrollmentand, as a consequence, fundsfor the 2009-2010 school year. The current superintendent is Dr. Marco C. Rodrigues, who has been in charge of the district since 2007. The district's website is www.hudsonpublicschools.org.

Library

The first public library in Hudson opened in 1867 thanks to $500 in financial assistance from Charles Hudson and matching funds provided by the nascent town. In 1873 the library moved to a room in the newly completed Hudson Town Hall. The current Hudson Public Library (HPL) building is a Carnegie library first built in 1905 using a $12,500 donation from Andrew Carnegie. It opened to the public on November 16, 1905. The original structure was a two-story Beaux-Arts design typical of Carnegie libraries and other American public buildings of the early twentieth century. Despite numerous additions over time the Carnegie building is mostly intact, including its original front entrance and handsome main stair. In fiscal year 2008, the Town of Hudson spent 1.19% ($614,743) of its budget on its public library approximately $31 per person, per year. The library's collection has grown to approximately 65,000 books, periodicals, audio recordings, video recordings, historical records, and other items as of 2020. As part of its collection HPL owns three oil paintings, each a portrait portraying one of the library's major benefactors: Charles Hudson, Lewis Dewart Apsley, and Andrew Carnegie, while the portrait of Carnegie was a 1935 gift from the Carnegie Corporation. These portraits are displayed on the landing of the stair going up to the third floor reading room. The children's department was expanded and renovated in 2002. The second floor serves as the adults' and teens' department.

Religion

The majority of Hudson residents who practice a religion are likely Roman Catholics or Protestants, based on the churches existing in town. A small portion of town residents are Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, or Orthodox, but there are not currently synagogues, mosques, temples or Orthodox churches in Hudson. The town lends its name to the 1907 Hudson Incident, in which an Albanian nationalist died in Hudson and was refused burial rites by area Greek Orthodox priests. The Portuguese Roman Catholics in Hudson hold annual feasts or festivals honoring and celebrating the Holy Ghost and Our Lady of Fátima. There are three related but distinct festas in Hudson: the Império Mariense, the lmpério Micaelense, and the Lady Of FáTima Feast / Festa da Nossa Senhora de Fá tima. The oldest of these is the ImpalérioMicaelense festival, which traces its origins to 1914. The Seventh-day Adventist Church on Marlboro Street was built in the 1960s. The current lead pastor is Marc Peña Peña. The church boasts a pipe organ and a current pastor is Rev. Rosanne Roberts. The congregation has grown from an original 1,200 members to a current 25 to a congregation of more than 1,300. The first United Methodist Church of Hudson on Felton Street was completed in 1912 or 1913 after the previous one, which was located across the street from the Unitarian Church in central Hudson, burned in a 1911 fire.

Popular culture

Portions of the 2018 comedy film Father of the Year were shot in Hudson in 2017. Filming for the television programs Castle Rock and Defending Jacob took in place in 2019. The town is home to the Hudson Valley Film Festival, which takes place in the fall and winter. The festival runs until the end of the year.

Air Quality, Water Quality, Superfund Sites & UV Index

The Air Quality index is in Hudson, Middlesex County, Massachusetts = 43.5. These Air Quality index is based on annual reports from the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The number of ozone alert days is used as an indicator of air quality, as are the amounts of seven pollutants including particulates, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, lead, and volatile organic chemicals. The Water Quality Index is 43. A measure of the quality of an area’s water supply as rated by the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The EPA has a complex method of measuring the watershed quality, using 15 indicators such as pollutants, turbidity, sediments, and toxic discharges. The Superfund Sites Index is 10. Higher is better (100=best). Based upon the number and impact of EPA Superfund pollution sites in the county, including spending on the cleanup efforts. The UV Index in Hudson = 3.5 and is a measure of an area's exposure to the sun's ultraviolet rays. This is most often a combination of sunny weather, altitude, and latitude. The UV Index has been defined by the WHO (www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/radiation-the-ultraviolet-(uv)-index) and is uniform worldwide.

Employed

The most recent city population of 1,171 individuals with a median age of 40.5 age the population grows by 9.10% in Hudson, Middlesex County, Massachusetts population since 2000 and are distributed over a density of 1,747.1 residents per square mile of area (674.2/km²). There are average 2.48 people per household in the 6,268 households with an average household income of $68,493 a year. The unemployment rate in Alabama is 7.80% of the available work force and has dropped -3.26% over the most recent 12-month period and the projected change in job supply over the next decade based on migration patterns, economic growth, and other factors will increase by 25.68%. The number of physicians in Hudson per 100,000 population = 389.3.

Weather

The annual rainfall in Hudson = 46.5 inches and the annual snowfall = 63.7 inches. The annual number of days with measurable precipitation (over .01 inch) = 122. The average number of days per year that are predominantly sunny = 197. 81 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily high temperature for the month of July and 14.6 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily low temperature for the month of January. The Comfort Index (higher=better) is 49, where higher values mean a more pleasant climate. The Comfort Index measure recognizes that humidity by itself isn't the problem. (Have you noticed nobody ever complains about the weather being 'cold and humid?) It's in the summertime that we notice the humidity the most, when it's hot and muggy. Our Comfort Index uses a combination of afternoon summer temperature and humidity to closely predict the effect that the humidity will have on people.

Median Home Cost

The percentage of housing units in Hudson, Middlesex County, Massachusetts which are owned by the occupant = 63.49%. A housing unit is a house, apartment, mobile home, or room occupied as separate living quarters. The average age of homes = 42 years with median home cost = $242,250 and home appreciation of -3.12%. This is the value of the years most recent home sales data. Its important to note that this is not the average (or arithmetic mean). The median home price is the middle value when you arrange all the sales prices of homes from lowest to highest. This is a better indicator than the average, because the median is not changed as much by a few unusually high or low values. The property tax rate of $11.70 shown here is the rate per $1,000 of home value. If for simplification for example the tax rate is $14.00 and the home value is $250,000, the property tax would be $14.00 x ($250,000/1000), or $3500. This is the 'effective' tax rate.

Study

The local school district spends $7,585 per student. There are 13.6 students for each teacher in the school, 961 students for each Librarian and 360 students for each Counselor. 7.18% of the area’s population over the age of 25 with an Associate Degree or other 2-year college degree, 16.00% with a master’s degree, Ph.D. or other advanced college degree and 9.61% with high school diplomas or high school equivalency degrees (GEDs).