February has been an active month for HHA as we continue to track ongoing community issues relevant to our mission, promote excellence in historic preservation and provide resources and information to our members.

The Hudson BoE continues its deliberation over the fate of the 1927 Building.  Recommendations regarding its future are expected this month. As the deadline for a decision looms, I am reminded of the following quote:

                                        Richard Moe, National Trust for Historic Preservation

Hudson Heritage Association will host its next program, open to all members of the community, on Thursday, March 10, 7:30 p.m. at Barlow Community Center. Park Ranger Rebecca Jones Macko, of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, will speak about the Ohio & Erie Canal. We hope to see you there!

In February a new monthly feature titled "HHA - Celebrating 60 Years of Preservation" was introduced to highlight HHA's history and key accomplishments since its founding. This month Pat Eldridge describes HHA's involvement in the formation of Hudson's Architectural Board of Review, now known as the Architectural and Historic Board of Review.

Another new feature, "Hudson's Historic Homes & Buildings," has been added to highlight the history of significant homes and buildings in Hudson. The first article, written by Diccon Ong, provides a wonderful history of the Brewster Store, located at the corner of North Main Street and Aurora, across from the Clock Tower.

We hope you enjoy these new monthly features and would appreciate receiving your feedback at info@hudsonheritage.org.

HHA recently updated the Links & Resources section of our website. The community may now access Hudson’s National Register nomination submittals. They include the downtown business district (1973), Western Reserve Academy (1977) and the Historic District boundary expansion (1989), as well as six homes/properties that are listed individually.  The nominations are an excellent source of Hudson history and provide insight into the architectural and historical significance of our built environment.

Additionally, links are now available to eight buildings in Hudson that are included in the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS). Administered since 1933 through cooperative agreements with the National Park Service, the surveys use measured drawings and photographs to document some of our country’s most historic buildings.

By Pat Eldredge

Editor’s note:  Past-president Pat Eldredge wrote this piece in approximately 1992.  We appreciate the opportunity to share it on the occasion of HHA’s 60^th anniversary and thank Pat for her many efforts in support of Hudson Heritage Association.

Certainly, no structure in Hudson is more iconic, nor more associated with the town by both residents and visitors alike, than its historic Clock Tower. Located on the Village Green at the corner of Route 91 (Main Street) and Aurora Street, it was a gift to the town, in 1912, from its native son and later benefactor, James W. Ellsworth.  This brick timepiece served, in the era of its construction, as a fitting symbol of industrial America, a nation which in the early 20^th century was, like a clock, driven by standardized time and characterized by mechanical precision.  Of course, given such symbolism, it sits somewhat incongruously on the northwestern corner of Hudson’s common green space, itself a legacy of the community’s far more agrarian roots.  Still, despite the inherent irony of its geographical placement, the Clock Tower has become a beloved edifice, almost a trademark for our small city.

The Brewster Store is a fine example of a late Federal style brick building, featuring a sandstone foundation, stone pilasters framing the three first story windows and main entrance, and solid stone lintels topping every window. A wood entablature and balustrade accents the flat roofline on the front façade, and simple ornamental wood panels accentuate the second floor windows facing Aurora Street. A gradation in scale from the first to second story of the building contributes to a pleasing sense of overall symmetry and proportion.

Under Brewster’s stewardship, the Kent and Brewster Dry Goods store prospered and became one of Hudson’s most successful commercial operations.  Eventually, Brewster bought out Kent’s interest in the operation and became sole proprietor of the newly renamed A. A. Brewster Store.  His establishment was a place where Hudson families could procure a wide range of goods: sugar, flour, coffee, tobacco, toiletries, clothing, tools, and hardware.  The level of success enjoyed by Brewster is evidenced by the construction of a number of properties he financed along Aurora Street just to the east of his store.  In 1846 he paid for the construction of a new Episcopalian church.  Next, on a lot situated between the church and his store, he built an elaborate high-style Gothic Revival home for his growing family (Brewster Mansion, 1853).  He also purchased the house (Isham-Beebe, 1834) located just to the east of the Episcopal Church and gave it to his daughter Ellen A. Brewster Beebe as a wedding gift.  This portion of lower Aurora Street became known as Brewster’s Row and represented in many respects the zenith of economic development in the town in the 19^th Century.  

By the 1960s, the bank in residence in the old Brewster Store was the First National Bank of Akron.  This was during a period of extraordinary growth for Hudson.  This growth was largely fueled by the construction of the Ohio Turnpike in the 1950s.  In 1950, the population of the village was 1,538.  An additional 1,339 people lived in the surrounding township.  By 1980, those figures had increased to 4,615 and 8,030 respectively.  However, in the first decade of this expansion, the town’s leaders had yet to develop much of strategy for how best to manage this growth. Older housing stock and commercial buildings were both at risk of demolition.  To fully understand such a risk one needs only look at the communities surrounding Hudson today, many of which let economic interests alone guide their development.  Most traces of their 19^th-century origins and charm has thus been lost to time, much to their detriment.

In 1962, the First National Bank of Akron’s management announced plans to convert their Hudson property into a modern drive-through facility, likely sacrificing the original structure in the process.  A group of concerned citizens quickly coalesced around an effort to save the venerable Brewster Store from the wrecking ball.  Ultimately, they prevailed.  In the process, they formed the Hudson Heritage Association (HHA), now celebrating its 60^th anniversary.  The HHA has gone on to become an important advocacy group promoting the benefits of preserving and protecting the many nineteenth and early twentieth century homes and commercial buildings of Hudson’s historic district that, while privately owned, nevertheless collectively represent invaluable community capital.  The HHA’s Historical Marker Program has served to identify and catalog close to 170 of Hudson’s oldest buildings and record the history of the individuals who have lived and worked in them.

The Brewster Store recently changed hands and anyone walking or driving by it today can see the telltale signs that it is currently undergoing a major historic renovation. This welcome capital investment, guided by a vision which clearly sees the possibilities of harmoniously bringing our oldest and most venerated structures up to the technological standards demanded by 21st century occupants without a sacrifice to their original aesthetics, lends hope that this property, as well as the civic organization that once worked so hard to preserve it for future generations, will both last for at least another 60 years. Ellsworth’s clock will, no doubt, look on and faithfully mark the passage of this time.

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