October 7, 2022

As we celebrate the golden fall weather, the beauty of Hudson greets us warmly. Please stop and take time to appreciate the work of the many organizations, volunteers, city boards and representatives who have worked so diligently to protect and enhance the beauty of our town.

National Register Historic District Boundary Increase

It’s official! In case you missed the news, Hudson’s National Register Historic District boundary was officially expanded in June. It now includes Elm Street and Roslyn Avenue, and extends the period of significance from 1940 to 1963. The new designation includes homes, garages, and barns. According to the nomination form prepared by Naylor Wellman, LLC of Chagrin Falls, “The one and two-story dwellings on Elm Street and Roslyn Avenue are late nineteenth century to mid-twentieth century house types and include Bungalows, Cape Cod, and Minimal Traditional, with predominantly Colonial Revival elements." The complete report is available by clicking here. Congratulations Hudson on this great achievement!

City of Hudson Comprehensive Plan

As mentioned previously, the City of Hudson will begin work on the Comprehensive Plan this fall. According to the City's website, the document, developed by residents and local stakeholders, guides the community as it prepares for the future. The Plan details a long-term vision and policy agenda for important issues in land use, housing, parks, infrastructure, transportation, and more. The Hudson City Charter requires a review and update of the Comprehensive Plan at least once every 10 years. The current Comprehensive Plan took three years to complete and was adopted by Council in 2016. 

On September 20, a Steering Committee was selected by City Council to provide guidance and an overall direction to the Plan. The nineteen members serving on the committee include seven residents selected through open application, seven residents appointed by Council, and five members appointed by Council from City boards and commissions. A complete list of members of the Steering Committee may be accessed by clicking here.

Visit https://letstalk.hudson.oh.us/comprehensive-plan to learn more about the process and how your voice can be heard.

1927 Building Memorial

Members of Hudson Heritage Association and Paul Westlake, principal of DLR Group, met with Hudson City School District officials to present potential designs for the 1927 Building Memorial in September. Per an agreement signed in June 2022, the two parties will endeavor to agree on a concept and location for the Memorial by December of this year. Hudson Heritage Association is grateful for DLR Group’s creative and thoughtful design work and for the spirit of collaboration with the district as we work towards consensus.

Hudson Landmark Designation

In 1998, a list of historic properties outside the Hudson National Register boundaries was compiled by Hudson Heritage Association in a collaborative project with the City of Hudson. The purpose was to record and document buildings and structures eligible for landmark designation and then reach out to owners to determine their interest in having their property designated as a Hudson Historic Landmark. At the time, approximately 150 buildings and structures with pre-1940 construction dates were identified and reviewed by the AHBR. Letters were subsequently sent to eligible owners in 2002, but only 26 elected to have their properties landmarked, leaving the remaining historic buildings and structures at risk to inappropriate alterations or demolition in the future.

As noted in Hudson's Architectural Design Standards, "Hudson’s Historic District and Historic Landmarks contain a wealth of structures with well-preserved and maintained historic building materials and distinguishing architectural details." The preservation of the historic fabric and the defining characteristics of the buildings is an important component in protecting Hudson’s historic aesthetic. Twenty years have passed since the last outreach. In the next few weeks, members of HHA will be conducting a preliminary survey to identify and document existing structures to help facilitate the expansion of the Landmark program.

What does Landmark designation mean?

• Once landmarked, the property is required to comply with the same Architectural and Historic Board of Review (AHBR) standards as those homes and buildings within the National Register Historic District.  
• Buildings with historical or architectural significance are reviewed according to the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Historic Rehabilitation.
• The AHBR also issues certificates of appropriateness to construct, alter, remove, or demolish structures, buildings or landmarks within any historic district.

HHA Monthly Program

This month we are excited to welcome noted Cleveland historian John Grabowski whose topic is “Who Names the Neighborhoods,” a discussion about the creation and naming of Cleveland’s neighborhoods back to the City’s founding in 1796. Please join us on Thursday, October 13 at Barlow Community Center at 7:30 p.m. The program is free and open to the public. More details can be found below.

Brewster Store

What is going on at the 1839 Brewster Store?  Scaffolding has been erected and encases the exterior of the building on the corner of SR 91 and Aurora Street as the brick is repaired and tuck pointed, and the chimneys and parapet are structurally reinforced.  The original brick is being reused to the extent possible and mortar is being matched to the original composition.  A major rehabilitation is underway that addresses HVAC, electrical, plumbing and the structural integrity of the building.  Projected completion for the project is August 2023.

Baldwin-Buss Merino House

Meanwhile, work continues at the 1825 Baldwin-Buss Merino House on the West Village Green. Unsympathetic additions, some dating back to the 1920s, have been removed, returning the house to its historical footprint. Original hand-hewn beams and bark-covered rafters were revealed on the east porch of the ell and are currently in storage. Additionally, what appears to be original stenciling was uncovered during selective demolition. Further analysis will be conducted on this surprise “gift.”

Before and after selective demolition.

Lastly, the author in last month's Hudson's Historic Homes and Buildings article on the Brewster Mansion, 1853, was incorrectly identified as Mark Filippelli. The article was actually written by Michael Filippelli (WRA Class of 2022). We apologize for this mistake.

Be well and stay healthy.

Kathy Russell & Diccon Ong

Co-Presidents

Hudson Heritage Association

October Program (Thursday, October 13, 2022)

"Who Names the Neighborhoods" by CWRU's Professor John Grabowski

Noted Cleveland historian John J. Grabowski will discuss the topic of “Who Names the Neighborhood?” when he speaks to Hudson Heritage Association at its monthly meeting on October 13 at Barlow Community Center. Free and open to the public, the meeting will begin at 7:30 p.m., with refreshments to follow the meeting.

Dr. Grabowski holds a joint position as the Krieger-Mueller Associate Professor of Applied History at Case Western Reserve University and the Krieger-Mueller Chief Historian/Senior VP for Research and Publications at the Western Reserve Historical Society. He also serves as the editor of the online edition of The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History and The Dictionary of Cleveland Biography. 

His presentation on October 13 will trace the creation of Cleveland’s neighborhoods back to nearly the city’s founding in 1796, and will focus on the old and the new, as well as on areas both east and west of the Cuyahoga River. Highlights will include a discussion of the multiple names for what is now Tremont, the creation of University Circle and the long history of Slavic Village, which owes part of its origins to a prehistoric native American mound. The presentation is a story not only of who names an area, but also the boundaries that define the sub-sections of Cleveland, Ohio.

Dr. Grabowski is well-known for his scholarship focusing on the City of Cleveland and for his publications, which include: The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History; The Dictionary of Cleveland Biography; and Cleveland: A Tradition of Reform, co-edited with the late Dr. David D. Van Tassel. He is the author of Sports in Cleveland: An Illustrated History; Cleveland A to Z: Historical Essentials for Newcomers and Residents in Northeastern Ohio; and is co-author of Polish Americans and Their Communities in Cleveland. He and his wife Diane are the authors of Cleveland: A History in Motion, and Cleveland: Then and Now. They, along with Professor David Hammack, are the editors of Identity, Conflict & Cooperation: Central Europeans in Cleveland, 1850-1930. His most recent works include: a history of Bilkent University; Cleveland Jews and the Making of a Midwestern Community, co-edited with Sean Martin; and Cleveland’s Cultural Gardens: A Landscape of Diversity, which he authored in partnership with photographer Lauren Pacini. 

HHA - Celebrating 60 Years of Preservation 

The Hudson Historical Inventory Survey – An Initiative that Changed the Course of Hudson's History

Editor's Note: Many residents do not realize that the extensive information that exists today about Hudson’s buildings, its early residents and how the city grew was gathered relatively recently and was the work of a small group of volunteers. The depth of knowledge we now have about Hudson’s past and its architecture is the result of this initiative and is no doubt largely responsible for some of the important preservation work we now all enjoy.  This article, taken from Lois Newkirk’s presentation given to Hudson Heritage many years ago, describes that early research and its significance to our community. 

In 1989, a historical inventory survey was conducted of buildings and structures constructed before 1940 in Hudson.

According to Lois Newkirk “teams of volunteers from Hudson Heritage Association combed the area, photographed houses from all angles and recorded architectural and structural details. The finished survey listed 670 buildings and structures, all documented on Ohio Historic Inventory (OHI) forms on file with the Ohio State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO), with copies maintained in the Hudson Heritage Association archives. From this listing, an evaluation committee chose 350 whose protection were felt to be vital to the historical integrity of our community.”

Pictures of the selected buildings and structures accompanied by historical details were published in the book Hudson: A Survey of Historic Buildings in an Ohio Town in 1989 and represented a “compilation of the cultural assets of Hudson.” 

Lois Newkirk, editor of the book, stated that the survey methodology was simple.  “The township, both incorporated and unincorporated areas, was divided into geographical sections and volunteers divided into teams of two, one to photograph and the other to record architectural data. Each team was assigned a section and given the responsibility for identifying each building within its area built before 1940, photographing all elevations and recording on an Ohio Historic Inventory form such data such as age, style, mass, bays, architectural details, and history. That information was filed, coordinated, classified, and reclassified until finally, out of this massive detail, a picture of Hudson’s architectural history emerged.”

In her presentation, Newkirk observed that “while comparing the progression of architectural styles and types to the political, social, and economic developments of like periods, it became clear that their histories intertwined. Events in our historical development as a community had dictated settlement patterns and types and styles of buildings.”

Newkirk also noted that Hudson: A Survey of Historic Buildings in an Ohio Town is a condensed version of the broad survey. “Everyone who helped with it is listed in the forward; the photographs are, for the most part, those taken by our survey teams; the inventory forms were my source in writing the text.” The book won the Ohio State Preservation award for Public Education in 1989.

Reflecting on the book’s significance, Newkirk stressed that the impact of the survey and its usefulness in historic preservation would continue. “The knowledge it gave us enabled us to correct the errors of the Ohio Department of Transportation when the widening of State Route 91 was proposed; it was used as a source material in the study of the Middleton Road project by the state. Along with the related National Register status, it will provide added protection from any future project which would threaten historic Hudson. We are deeply indebted to these volunteers."

She further commented that the survey would serve the community in many ways noting that “after it was completed, the State Historic Preservation Office launched a new program designed to certify local governments, provided certain qualifications were met, to act as preservation officers in their own community, under the supervision of SHPO. One of the most daunting aspects of gaining that certification for most communities was the requirement that all historic buildings in their area be identified by means of a state-approved survey. That requirement has been met in Hudson; consequently, we became one of the first Certified Local Governments (CLG) in Ohio.”

The SHPO also began using a new method for qualifying districts and buildings for National Register listing called Multiple Property Documentation. Newkirk went on to explain that “this nomination process is based on the relationship of buildings or districts to historical events in their community. In Hudson, we had already reached that conclusion from a study of the information gathered in the survey. We proposed five periods of historic development covering Hudson’s history from 1799 to 1940 and related types and styles of buildings to those historical developments. When the proposed relationship between history and architecture was accepted on both a state and federal level, it was then possible to expand the existing National Register Historic District by relating its existing buildings to the types identified and listed in the Multiple Property Documentation. Three individual properties were also accepted on the same basis, their relationship to our history. The significance of historic buildings, in other words, always comes from their place in the historical development of the community in which they were constructed.”

Lois Gardner Newkirk (d. 2014) lived in Hudson for over 48 years. She was a leading figure in working to help preserve and recognize Hudson's historic homes and architectural legacy during that period. She also served as chairperson of Hudson's Architectural and Historical Board of Review, and was a leader in, and National Registry Consultant for, the Hudson Heritage Association. Beginning in 1985, she photographed, researched, and edited an extensive survey of Hudson's historic houses, a five-year labor of love. The resulting book, Hudson: A Survey of Historic Buildings in an Ohio Town, was published by Kent State University Press in 1989 and remains the definitive resource on historic homes and architecture in Hudson.  (Cleveland Plain Dealer, March 21, 2014)

2023 HHA Preservation Awards

Nominations accepted until January 31, 2023

The Hudson Heritage Association Preservation Awards recognize and honor historic structures in Hudson that have been well-preserved or restored within the last five years in a manner that maintains the historic integrity of the property. No minimum or maximum number of awards are given in any year.

We encourage our HHA members to nominate preservation/restoration projects for the 2023 HHA Preservation Awards. To be eligible, properties must be at least 75 years old, and may include private residences, commercial buildings, publicly owned buildings, nonprofit organizations and historic landscapes. You can find the information about applying for the Preservation Awards Program by clicking here. 

Criteria for nominations include: 

• All nominated properties must be located within the City of Hudson.
• To be considered, restoration and preservation projects must have been completed on or after September 15, 2018.
• Properties may be nominated by their owners or by another individual or group. If another individual or group nominates a property, the owner must be notified.
• Consideration for awards will include appropriateness of the materials used on both the exterior and interior parts of the structure, including landscaping materials, and the historic accuracy of any preservation or restorations made.

Nominate a property before January 31, 2023, and help HHA celebrate preservation in Hudson.

2022-23 Program Dates

Plan to join us for our popular monthly programs. Unless otherwise noted, these meetings are open to the general public and are held in the Assembly Room of Barlow Community Center at 7:30 p.m. Light refreshments are provided. A schedule for the upcoming programming year follows:

November 10

Frederick Douglass & his Time in the Western Reserve by WRA's Dr. Erik Chaput

December

No meeting

January 12

History of Cuyahoga Valley National Park & the Canal System by Dr. Ken Bindas

February 9

(To be determined)

March 9

Ohio Historic Markers & His Adventures in Searching for Them by Dennis Reiser

April 13

Students from WRA (Topic to be determined)

May 11

HHA Annual Meeting - TBD

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