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Local churches yield to winds of change
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By John Mason
HUDSON — Though churches often seem solid as rocks, they are subject to the winds of change. Hudson is filled with churches and former churches.
The church buildings of Hudson and the surrounding area, their origins, structures and eventual destinations, were the topic of a slide presentation by the Rev. David MacMillan at his church, First Presbyterian of Hudson.
The slides were prepared by former church organist David Clapper, many from the postcard collection of his wife, Amy Clapper.
Trinity United Methodist Church, on Joslen Boulevard in Greenport, is not called “united” for nothing: It’s the result of a merger of three churches. One was the Methodist Church whose building still stands at the northwestern corner of Fifth and Warren. Dating back to 1869, it was originally the First Universalist Church. Beginning in the 1990s it was sold into private hands and used for antiques and then the arts.
Folded into Trinity along with the Hudson church were two from Stockport, a wooden Methodist church, now vacant, and another Methodist church in Stottville, now a private home.
Across Warren Street from the old Methodist Church was the First Reformed Church of Hudson. Built in 1836, it was a squarish building with two white pillars in front and a white tower. It burned down in the 1950s.
Also dating to 1869 was St. John’s Lutheran on Sixth Street in Hudson, with very tall spire. It recently closed and is now a private recording studio.
Two vacant churches call to mind the intense controversy of the early 1990s, when the Albany Diocese closed Sacred Heart, at Second and Columbia streets, and Mt. Carmel Catholic Church at Second and Union streets. When they closed, some members went along with the diocese and changed their membership to St. Mary’s at Fourth and Allen streets.
Others left to form their own parish, at what is now the Sacred Heart/Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Shrine on Fairview Avenue in Greenport. Clapper said the building had been an Italian restaurant and, before that, a McDonalds Restaurant, before becoming a church.
MacMillan showed post cards displaying the exterior and interior of the old St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church in 1909. That building, with an apparently red brick exterior and a steeply pitched roof, was located at Third and Allen streets next to St. Mary’s Academy. The altar area was full of statues and ornate decoration.
“It was a glorious interior,” he said. After it fell victim to fire, it was replaced by the present St. Mary’s cathedral in 1928.
In the same neighborhood, at Third and Union streets, was the original Quaker meeting house. It then became the Methodist Episcopal Church. The building, MacMillan said, is close to 200 years old.
An old colored post card from Clapper’s collection showed it as a brick building with roofs sloping up on either side to a rectangular white tower topped by spires at all four corners. It’s surrounded by trees and a short picket fence. No vehicles line the curbs.
In 1933, the building became the Hudson Boys Club. Later, it became the Boys and Girls Club, and is now the Youth Center.
Not far away, as the jailbird flies, is the chapel of the New York State School for Girl, on the grounds of what is now the Hudson Correctional Facility. MacMillan described it as “generic 19th-century American Protestant.” Clapper said it was “quite large, like a college chapel.” It’s now abandoned, MacMillan said.
After the Quakers had an internal schism, with some going to the revisionist Hicksite group, the traditionalists moved out of the Third Street building and built the much more modest existing meeting house on Union Street between Third and Fourth streets in 1833.
The closing of churches is not just a matter of history. St. Matthew’s Lutheran on State Street is for sale, MacMillan said, and the congregation is merging with St. Mark’s Lutheran on Storm Avenue.
Shiloh Baptist Church, at 14 Warren St., MacMillan said, was originally the home of the Anshe Emeth Synagogue, which is now located on Joslen Boulevard in Greenport. A close look at the window above the entrance of Shiloh reveals the star of David.
The talk culminated with a look at First Presbyterian Church itself. First erected in 1837, the current building was at that time “surmounted by one of the strangest towers I’ve seen,” MacMillan said. An old postcard shows the tower to be topped by a spidery confluence of wavy lines.
It remained that way until 1874, he said, when the church leaders tore the tower down and added a steeple, finishing construction in 1884. The steeple houses the city clock, which he said is thankfully maintained by the city.
Grants have been applied for to do the needed work on the building, but so far none have been successful.
To reach reporter John Mason, call 518-828-1616, ext. 2272, or e-mail jmason@registerstar.com.
The church buildings of Hudson and the surrounding area, their origins, structures and eventual destinations, were the topic of a slide presentation by the Rev. David MacMillan at his church, First Presbyterian of Hudson.
The slides were prepared by former church organist David Clapper, many from the postcard collection of his wife, Amy Clapper.
Trinity United Methodist Church, on Joslen Boulevard in Greenport, is not called “united” for nothing: It’s the result of a merger of three churches. One was the Methodist Church whose building still stands at the northwestern corner of Fifth and Warren. Dating back to 1869, it was originally the First Universalist Church. Beginning in the 1990s it was sold into private hands and used for antiques and then the arts.
Folded into Trinity along with the Hudson church were two from Stockport, a wooden Methodist church, now vacant, and another Methodist church in Stottville, now a private home.
Across Warren Street from the old Methodist Church was the First Reformed Church of Hudson. Built in 1836, it was a squarish building with two white pillars in front and a white tower. It burned down in the 1950s.
Also dating to 1869 was St. John’s Lutheran on Sixth Street in Hudson, with very tall spire. It recently closed and is now a private recording studio.
Two vacant churches call to mind the intense controversy of the early 1990s, when the Albany Diocese closed Sacred Heart, at Second and Columbia streets, and Mt. Carmel Catholic Church at Second and Union streets. When they closed, some members went along with the diocese and changed their membership to St. Mary’s at Fourth and Allen streets.
Others left to form their own parish, at what is now the Sacred Heart/Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Shrine on Fairview Avenue in Greenport. Clapper said the building had been an Italian restaurant and, before that, a McDonalds Restaurant, before becoming a church.
MacMillan showed post cards displaying the exterior and interior of the old St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church in 1909. That building, with an apparently red brick exterior and a steeply pitched roof, was located at Third and Allen streets next to St. Mary’s Academy. The altar area was full of statues and ornate decoration.
“It was a glorious interior,” he said. After it fell victim to fire, it was replaced by the present St. Mary’s cathedral in 1928.
In the same neighborhood, at Third and Union streets, was the original Quaker meeting house. It then became the Methodist Episcopal Church. The building, MacMillan said, is close to 200 years old.
An old colored post card from Clapper’s collection showed it as a brick building with roofs sloping up on either side to a rectangular white tower topped by spires at all four corners. It’s surrounded by trees and a short picket fence. No vehicles line the curbs.
In 1933, the building became the Hudson Boys Club. Later, it became the Boys and Girls Club, and is now the Youth Center.
Not far away, as the jailbird flies, is the chapel of the New York State School for Girl, on the grounds of what is now the Hudson Correctional Facility. MacMillan described it as “generic 19th-century American Protestant.” Clapper said it was “quite large, like a college chapel.” It’s now abandoned, MacMillan said.
After the Quakers had an internal schism, with some going to the revisionist Hicksite group, the traditionalists moved out of the Third Street building and built the much more modest existing meeting house on Union Street between Third and Fourth streets in 1833.
The closing of churches is not just a matter of history. St. Matthew’s Lutheran on State Street is for sale, MacMillan said, and the congregation is merging with St. Mark’s Lutheran on Storm Avenue.
Shiloh Baptist Church, at 14 Warren St., MacMillan said, was originally the home of the Anshe Emeth Synagogue, which is now located on Joslen Boulevard in Greenport. A close look at the window above the entrance of Shiloh reveals the star of David.
The talk culminated with a look at First Presbyterian Church itself. First erected in 1837, the current building was at that time “surmounted by one of the strangest towers I’ve seen,” MacMillan said. An old postcard shows the tower to be topped by a spidery confluence of wavy lines.
It remained that way until 1874, he said, when the church leaders tore the tower down and added a steeple, finishing construction in 1884. The steeple houses the city clock, which he said is thankfully maintained by the city.
Grants have been applied for to do the needed work on the building, but so far none have been successful.
To reach reporter John Mason, call 518-828-1616, ext. 2272, or e-mail jmason@registerstar.com.
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