Editing Hudson, Illinois (section)

===The Illinois Land Association===
Hudson was created by the Illinois Land Association, who developed it as what was then called a colony. Colonial schemes such as this were popular in the 1830s. Rather than settlers migrating individually and buying land on their own, participants in a colony would band together, pool their money, and appoint a committee to select a large tract of land, which would then be divided among the participants. Such colonial developments do not imply that the group had any common social or religious agenda. Sometimes, the people involved came from a single area, but often, as was the case in Hudson, they were clusters of individuals who had no connection forming the colony: several of the founders of Hudson were from [[New York (state)|New York]], but others were from [[Maine]], [[Massachusetts]], [[Pennsylvania]] and [[Illinois]].

The Illinois Land Association was formed in February 1836 in [[Jacksonville, Illinois|Jacksonville]]. Each participant would contribute $235 to the common pool and would receive four kinds of property: three lots in the main part of the town; one out lot (see below); {{convert|160|acre|m2}} of prairie land for farming; and {{convert|20|acre|m2}} of timber for fences, firewood, and building material. The association also anticipated a profit from the sale of untaken land, which would be shared among the participants. An executive committee selected the land, supervised the laying out of the town, and presided over the drawing of lots to select the division of the property.<ref>Hamm, 1976, pp. 7-23.</ref>