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Courthouse celebrates 100 years

HUDSON — One hundred years ago this month a new courthouse in Hudson was (almost) finished.

According to the dedication in the foyer of the courthouse, located at 401 Union Street, the building was completed Sept. 15, 1908.

The structure may have been completed, but apparently the inside wasn’t entirely finished.

“Much disappointment was expressed that the formal opening ... was not postponed until everything was completed,” stated an article in the Columbia Republican Newspaper from Oct. 20 of the same year.

The dedication had taken place that Saturday, the 17th of October. A large throng of residents had turned out to see the building, constructed in a year’s time after the previous courthouse burned down.

“It was but a short time since our hearts were saddened by the destruction on this spot of a recently built courthouse [which] we vainly hoped would endure for several generations,” remarked former New York Supreme Court Justice Samuel Edwards during an address that day.

The previous courthouse was built in 1900 at a cost of $150,000.

A January 1907 fire that destroyed it began in the Sheriff’s Office — then housed in the same building as the court — and spread throughout the building, according to a contemporary report in the New York Times. A woman and child were rescued from the flames.

A previous courthouse had stood in the same spot, built in the 1830s, which also apparently burned.

That structure was domed, as is the current building, and was “two stories in height, being 60 feet from the ground to the peak,” according to Capt. Frank Ellis writing in 1878.

The small park that faces the courthouse was once known as Washington Square but was later renamed Courthouse Square.

The new courthouse was built by the renowned architectural firm of Warren and Wetmore out of New York City.

Whitney Warren and Charles Wetmore, who worked together for more than 30 years, were known for building large hotels such as the Biltmore and the Commodore, as well as the Grand Central Terminal and Chelsea Piers in New York City.

“[The courthouse] will long endure a monument of the wisdom of the Board of Supervisors and the taste of the architects,” said Edwards in his speech.

The Supreme Court held the first court session in the new building on Oct. 19. The very first case heard was Patrick Canavan V. Claudius Rockefeller. Canavan was suing Rockefeller “for certification of searches made on the property of the Hudson Portland Cement Company.”

Canavan won the suit.

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