Editing Hudson Falls, New York

{{distinguish|Hudson, New York}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2024}}
{{Infobox settlement
| name               = Hudson Falls
| settlement_type    = [[Administrative divisions of New York#Village|Village]]
| nickname           = 
| motto              = 
<!-- Images -->
| image_skyline      = Hudson Falls Historic District, July, 2014.jpg
| imagesize          = 250px
| image_caption      = Buildings in Hudson Falls, July 2014
| image_flag         = 
| image_seal         = 
<!-- Maps -->
| image_map          = Washington County New York incorporated and unincorporated areas Hudson Falls highlighted.svg
| mapsize            = 260px
| map_caption        = Location in [[Washington County, New York|Washington County]] and the state of [[New York (state)|New York]].

<!-- Location -->
| subdivision_type   = [[List of sovereign states|Country]]
| subdivision_name   = United States
| subdivision_type1  = [[U.S. state|State]]
| subdivision_name1  = [[New York (state)|New York]]
| subdivision_type2  = [[Administrative divisions of New York#County|County]]
| subdivision_name2  = [[Washington County, New York|Washington]]
| government_footnotes = 
| government_type    = 
| leader_title       = [[Mayor]]
| leader_name        = John Barton
| leader_title1      = 
| leader_name1       = 
| established_title  = [[Municipal corporation|Incorporated]]
| established_date   = 1810 as Sandy Hill, 1910 as Hudson Falls

<!-- Area -->
| unit_pref          = Imperial
| area_footnotes     = <ref name="TigerWebMapServer">{{cite web|title=ArcGIS REST Services Directory|url=https://tigerweb.geo.census.gov/arcgis/rest/services/TIGERweb/Places_CouSub_ConCity_SubMCD/MapServer|publisher=United States Census Bureau|accessdate=September 20, 2022}}</ref>
| area_magnitude     = 
| area_total_km2     = 4.97
| area_land_km2      = 4.82
| area_water_km2     = 0.15
| area_total_sq_mi   = 1.92
| area_land_sq_mi    = 1.86
| area_water_sq_mi   = 0.06

<!-- Population -->
| population_as_of   = [[2020 United States census|2020]]
| population_footnotes = 
| population_total   = 7428
| population_density_km2 = 1540.49
| population_density_sq_mi = 3990.87

<!-- General information -->
| timezone           = [[North American Eastern Time Zone|Eastern (EST)]]
| utc_offset         = -5
| timezone_DST       = EDT
| utc_offset_DST     = -4
| elevation_footnotes = 
| elevation_m        = 90
| elevation_ft       = 295
| coordinates        = {{coord|43|18|8|N|73|34|50|W|region:US-NY|display=inline,title}}
| postal_code_type   = [[ZIP code]]
| postal_code        = 12839
| area_code          = [[Area code 518|518]]
| blank_name         = [[Federal Information Processing Standard|FIPS code]]
| blank_info         = 36-35980
| blank1_name        = [[Geographic Names Information System|GNIS]] feature ID
| blank1_info        = 0974163
| website            = {{URL|https://www.villageofhudsonfalls.com/|Village website}}
| footnotes          = 
| pop_est_as_of      = 
| pop_est_footnotes  = 
| population_est     = 
| official_name      = 
}}

'''Hudson Falls''' (formerly Sandy Hill) is a [[Administrative divisions of New York#Village|village]] located in [[Washington County, New York]], United States. The village is in the southwest of the [[Administrative divisions of New York#Town|town]] of [[Kingsbury, New York|Kingsbury]], on [[U.S. Route 4 in New York|U.S. Route 4]]. Hudson Falls is part of the [[Glens Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area]].<ref>{{cite web |title= Metropolitan Areas and Components, 1999, with FIPS Codes |url= https://www.census.gov/population/estimates/metro-city/99mfips.txt |access-date= July 7, 2009 |publisher= US Census Bureau}}</ref> As of the [[2020 United States census|2020 census]], the village had a population of 7,428.<ref>{{Cite United States census|title=Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Incorporated Places in New York: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2023|url=https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/popest/tables/2020-2023/cities/totals/SUB-IP-EST2023-POP-36.xlsx|year=2020|location=Hudson Falls village, New York|line=252|accessdate=2024-07-30}}</ref> It was the [[county seat]] of [[Washington County, New York|Washington County]] until 1994, when the county seat was moved to [[Fort Edward (town), New York|Fort Edward]].<ref name="TOK">[http://www.kingsburyny.gov/goverment.html Town of Kingsbury, New York], Retrieved January 14, 2015.</ref><ref name="WCNY">[http://www.co.washington.ny.us/ Washington County, New York], Retrieved January 14, 2015.</ref>

== History ==
{{More citations needed section|date=June 2023}}
[[File:Sandy Hill, N.Y LCCN2003654977.jpg|thumb|[[Lithograph]] of Sandy Hill from 1884 by [[L.R. Burleigh]] with list of landmarks]]
In 1764, Albert Baker built Kingsbury's first sawmill near what is known today as Baker's Falls.<ref name=Loding2/> As early as 1792, the area of Kingsbury near Baker's Falls was referred to as '''Sandy Hill'''. In 1810, the [[Administrative divisions of New York#Hamlet|hamlet]] [[Municipal corporation|incorporated]] as a village, keeping the name Sandy Hill. Its boundaries expanded to their current limits in the 1840s.

Around 1824, the [[Glens Falls Feeder Canal]] was constructed to bring water from the Hudson River to the [[Champlain Canal]]. With the opening of the Feeder Canal, Sandy Hill became a prosperous manufacturing center, producing lumber, paper, pianos, wagons, pulleys, and other products. The Glens Falls Feeder Canal is no longer used commercial traffic, but the route of Canal is a fourteen mile long park, with a walking and bike trail on the old tow path.<ref name=Loding1>[https://www.villageofhudsonfalls.com/our-history/ Loding, Paul R., "A short history of Hudson Falls"], VillageofHudsonFalls.com. Accessed June 20, 2023.</ref>

Stone quarried in Hudson Falls was used to construct the [[Bennington Battle Monument]] (1889) and the [[Brooklyn Bridge]]. The former site of the quarry has been redeveloped for use by the Washington-Saratoga-Warren-Hamilton-Essex [[Board of Cooperative Educational Services]].

In 1851, [[Francis Wolle]] invented the first bag-making machine and formed a company that would later become the Union Bag and Paper Company. In 1892, the company relocated from [[Bethlehem, Pennsylvania]], to Hudson Falls, where it had a paper mill. In 1906, the Union Paper and Bag Company built the Fenimore Bridge (Sandy Hill Bridge), spanning the Hudson River between Hudson Falls built in Washington County and the town of [[Moreau, New York|Moreau]] in Saratoga County, since the company had plants in both locations. For a brief period of time, the closed-spandrel arch bridge was the longest multiple span, reinforced-concrete arch bridge in the world.<ref>[https://bridgehunter.com/ny/saratoga/hudson-river/ Baughn, James. "Fenimore Bridge"], Bridgehunter.com. Accessed June 20, 2023.</ref><ref>[https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/ny1549/ "Sandy Hill Bridge"], LOC.gov. Accessed June 20, 2023.</ref> The bridge was closed to all traffic in 1989, although various plans have been proposed over the years to reopen the span; for example, in 2018, there was a proposal to convert it into a pedestrian walkway and bike path.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://poststar.com/lifestyles/hometown/bridge-connected-counties-over-hudson/article_5b3e37a2-164a-5359-9ec5-8c079df45dac.html|title=Officials seek to open old Fenimore Bridge to pedestrians, cyclists |last=Moore |first=Kathleen|publisher=[[The Post-Star]] |access-date=August 14, 2024|quote=The bridge was closed in 1989. But it has been used by pedestrians and snowmobilers on occasion since then, despite all access being forbidden.}}</ref>

==Churches==
* The First Presbyterian Church of Hudson Falls was organized in 1803. Services were held in the town courthouse until a new church building was dedicated in 1827 at the site of the Old Burying Ground. This building was demolished around 1893 to make way for a larger structure, which was dedicated in 1895.<ref>[https://www.fpchudsonfalls.org/home/who-we-are/our-history "History", The First Presbyterian Church of Hudson Falls]</ref>
* Zion Episcopal was founded in 1817 as the Episcopal-Methodist Church. Services were held in a parishioner's home until a new building was completed in 1849 and consecrated as Zion Episcopal Church. In 1968, lightning caused a fire that gutted the interior, which was then rebuilt.<ref>[https://albanyepiscopaldiocese.org/zion-church-hudson-falls-ny/ "Zion Church Hudson Falls, Episcopal Diocese of Albany]</ref>
* The first Roman Catholic church between Albany and Canada, St. Mary's, was constructed in the 1830s in Sandy Hill (later Hudson Falls) on Wall Street. It later burned down, and a new one was erected on Park Place.<ref name=Loding2>[https://books.google.com/books?id=9AU-gllqVIEC&q=Kingsbury%2C+New+York Loding, Paul R., ''Kingsbury and Hudson Falls'', Arcadia Publishing, 2001, no pagination] {{isbn|9780738505343}}</ref> St. Paul's Church was founded in the 1870s to serve French Canadians in Sandy Hill. They purchased the small wooden old First Baptist Church at the top of River Street, after that congregation built a second, larger church next to the courthouse. St. Paul's erected a new, larger, brick building in the 1890s. That church was struck by lightning in 1974 and burned down.<ref>"Hudson Falls lost St. Paul's Church to lightning in 1974", ''Post Dispatch'', October 18, 2013.</ref> The parish subsequently merged with St. Mary's as the Church of St. Mary's/St. Paul's.<ref>
[https://stmarystpaulhf.com/ St. Mary's/ St. Paul's Catholic Church website], stmarystpaulhf.com. Accessed June 20, 2023.</ref>

In 1910, the village's name was changed from '''Sandy Hill''' to '''Hudson Falls'''.<ref name=Loding1/> The [[Glens Falls Feeder Canal]], [[Hudson Falls Historic District]], and [[United States Post Office (Hudson Falls, New York)|United States Post Office]] are listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|2009a}}</ref>

=== Notable people from Hudson Falls ===
*[[William Bronk]] managed a lumber business here and wrote poetry and other works, winning the [[National Book Award]] in 1982.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.columbia.edu/cu/record/archives/vol19/vol19_iss8/record198.18 |title=LIBRARY HONORS WILLIAM BRONK AND HIS POETRY |publisher=COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY RECORD |date=October 22, 1993 |access-date=May 12, 2009}}</ref>
*[[Townsend Harris]], the United States' first consul-general to [[Japan]], was born in Hudson Falls.<ref name="Americana">{{Cite Americana|wstitle=Harris, Townsend |year=1920}}</ref>
* [[Henry C. Martindale]], attorney and member of the United States House of Representatives
* [[Tony DeSare]], jazz singer, pianist, and songwriter
* Governor [[Nathaniel Pitcher]] lived at Sandy Hill.<ref>[https://bioguide.congress.gov/search/bio/P000367 "Pitcher, Nathaniel", ''Biographical Directory of the United States Congress'']</ref>
* [[Roger Skinner]], member of the [[New York State Senate]] and judge of the [[United States District Court for the Northern District of New York]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Marsh |first=Dwight Whitney |date=1895 |title=Marsh Genealogy: Giving Several Thousand Descendants of John Marsh of Hartford, Ct. 1636-1895 |url=https://archive.org/stream/marshgenealogygi00mars#page/70/ |location=Amherst, MA |publisher=Carpenter & Morehouse |page=71 |ref={{sfnRef|''Marsh Genealogy''}}}}</ref>

== Geography ==
According to the [[United States Census Bureau]], the village has a total area of {{convert|1.9|sqmi|km2}}, of which {{convert|1.8|sqmi|km2}} are land and {{convert|0.04|sqmi|km2}} are water. The total area is 2.13% water.

The village is on the east bank of the [[Hudson River]] at the western border of [[Washington County, New York|Washington County]]. A [[village green]] lies in the center of the commercial district.

[[New York State Route 196|NY Route 196]] (Maple Street) and [[New York State Route 254|NY Route 254]] (River Street) intersect US Route 4 in Hudson Falls.

==Demographics==
{{US Census population
|1870= 2347
|1880= 2487
|1890= 2895
|1900= 4473
|1910= 5189
|1920= 5761
|1930= 6449
|1940= 6654
|1950= 7236
|1960= 7752
|1970= 7917
|1980= 7419
|1990= 7651
|2000= 6927
|2010= 7281
|2020= 7427
|footnote=U.S. Decennial Census<ref name="DecennialCensus">{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census.html|title=Census of Population and Housing|publisher=Census.gov|access-date=June 4, 2015}}</ref>
}}
As of the [[census]] of 2000, there were 6,927 people, 2,876 households, and 1,760 families residing in the village. The population density was {{convert|3,763.5|PD/sqmi|PD/km2|sp=us|adj=off}}. There were 3,120 housing units at an average density of {{convert|1,695.1|/mi2|/km2|disp=preunit|units&nbsp;|units|}}. The racial makeup of the village was 97.91% [[White (U.S. Census)|White]], 0.45% [[African American (U.S. Census)|African American]], 0.22% [[Native American (U.S. Census)|Native American]], 0.25% [[Asian (U.S. Census)|Asian]], 0.00% [[Pacific Islander (U.S. Census)|Pacific Islander]], 0.16% from [[Race (U.S. Census)|other races]], and 1.02% from two or more races. 0.68% of the population is [[Hispanic (U.S. Census)|Hispanic]] or [[Latino (U.S. Census)|Latino]] of any race.<ref name="GR2">{{cite web |title=U.S. Census website |url=https://www.census.gov |access-date=January 31, 2008 |publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]}}</ref>

There were 2,876 households, out of which 31.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.7% were [[Marriage|married couples]] living together, 15.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.8% were non-families. 32.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.37 and the average family size was 2.95.<ref name="GR2" />

In the village, the population was spread out, with 25.2% under the age of 18, 8.9% from 18 to 24, 30.6% from 25 to 44, 20.6% from 45 to 64, and 14.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 88.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.8 males.<ref name="GR2" />

The median income for a household in the village was $31,516, and the median income for a family was $37,628. Males had a median income of $31,107 versus $21,215 for females. The [[per capita income]] for the village was $17,575. 17.2% of the population and 12.8% of families were below the [[poverty line]]. 30.3% of those under the age of 18 and 6.3% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.<ref name="GR2" />

== Rail transportation ==
{{Unreferenced section|date=June 2023}}
[[Amtrak]], the national passenger rail system, provides service to Hudson Falls at the station in nearby Fort Edward, operating its [[Adirondack (Amtrak)|Adirondack]] daily in both directions between [[Montreal]] and [[New York City]], and its [[Ethan Allen Express]] in both directions daily between New York City and [[Rutland (city), Vermont|Rutland]]. Amtrak has designated the stop as [[Fort Edward-Glens Falls (Amtrak station)|Fort Edward-Glens Falls]].

Freight rail service is provided along a spur line extending from Fort Edward to Glens Falls that runs through the village.

==Gallery==
<gallery class="center" widths="200px" heights="167px">
File:Juckett Dec.jpg|Juckett Park in December
File:HF Monument.jpg|Monument in Hudson Falls, NY
File:Court outside.jpg|Courthouse Hudson Falls, NY
File:VillageSign.png|Welcome to Hudson Falls, NY
</gallery>

== Literary references ==

The fictional town of Millers Kill, NY, in [[Julia Spencer-Fleming]]'s mystery novels is loosely based on Hudson Falls.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.juliaspencerfleming.com/me-interview.html#me |title= Julia Spencer-Fleming &#124; Maine Author Spotlight Interview|website=www.juliaspencerfleming.com |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090104102952/http://www.juliaspencerfleming.com/me-interview.html#me |archive-date=January 4, 2009}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.villageofhudsonfalls.com/ Village of Hudson Falls - Official Site]

{{Washington County, New York}}
{{New York}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:Villages in New York (state)]]
[[Category:Glens Falls metropolitan area]]
[[Category:1810 establishments in New York (state)]]
[[Category:Villages in Washington County, New York]]
[[Category:New York (state) populated places on the Hudson River]]