Editing Hudson, Illinois (section)

===Origin and naming===
Hudson was laid out by Horatio Petit on August 13, 1836. It was one of eight towns founded in [[McLean County, Illinois|McLean County]] during the great real estate boom that swept through central Illinois between 1835 and 1837.<ref>''The Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of McLean County'' (Edited by Ezra M. Prince and John H. Burnham; 2 vols; Chicago: Munsell, 1908) p.902.</ref> It also shares the distinction of being one of two "colonial" settlements in the county; the other was the Rhode Island colony in the southwestern part of the county. Traditional sources say that the town was named for the town of [[Hudson, New York|Hudson]] in [[Columbia County, New York]], which, so it was said, was the home of its early settlers.<ref>{{cite book
  | last = Gannett
  | first = Henry
  | title = The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States
  | publisher = U.S. Government Printing Office
  | url=https://archive.org/details/origincertainpl00ganngoog
  | page = [https://archive.org/details/origincertainpl00ganngoog/page/n200 194]
  | quote = Mclean county.
  | access-date = January 22, 2008 | year = 1905
  }}</ref> However, in her book on the Hudson Colony, Ruth Biting Hamm has pointed out that, while some settlers were from [[Queens|Queens County]], New York, none came from near the town of Hudson. She suggests that it is more likely town was simply named for the [[Hudson River]].<ref>Hamm, Ruth Bitting, ''The Hudson Colony'' (Hudson; Bicentennial Commission, 1976) p.7.</ref>