Hudson Falls (formerly Sandy Hill) is a village located in Washington County, New York, United States. The village is in the southwest of the town of Kingsbury, on U.S. Route 4. Hudson Falls is part of the Glens Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2020 census, the village had a population of 7,428. It was the county seat of Washington County until 1994, when the county seat was moved to Fort Edward.

History

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.

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 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. 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.

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.
  • 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.
  • 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. 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. The parish subsequently merged with St. Mary's as the Church of St. Mary's/St. Paul's.

In 1910, the village's name was changed from Sandy Hill to Hudson Falls.

Notable people from Hudson Falls

  • William Bronk (1918–1999), American poet
  • Tony DeSare, jazz singer, pianist, and songwriter
  • Townsend Harris, American merchant and politician
  • Zina Hitchcock (1755–1832), New York politician
  • Henry C. Martindale, New York politician
  • Nathaniel Pitcher (1777–1836), New York politician
  • Roger Skinner (1773–1825), New York politician and jurist

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of , of which are land and 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. A village green lies in the center of the commercial district.

NY Route 196 (Maple Street) and NY Route 254 (River Street) intersect US Route 4 in Hudson Falls.

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, Hudson Falls had a population of 7,427. The median age was 39.0 years. 22.6% of residents were under the age of 18 and 15.8% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 89.5 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 87.6 males age 18 and over.

100.0% of residents lived in urban areas, while 0.0% lived in rural areas.

There were 3,170 households in Hudson Falls, of which 28.7% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 32.7% were married-couple households, 21.3% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 33.9% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 34.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

There were 2,876 households, out of which 31.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.7% were 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.

References

  • Village of Hudson Falls - Official Site