The Many Names of Hudson

Hudson has 5 founding dates or birthdays!

Dunstable, Mass was founded in 1673.  Most of the land contained within the present boundaries of Hudson was included within Dunstable, the exception being about 4,600 acres in the northeast part of Hudson which was then a part of Londonderry.  In the early days of Dunstable, land had been granted on the east side of the river but no real settlements occurred here until about 1710.   We remained a part of Dunstable, Mass until 1733.

As the number of settlers on the east side of the river increased, we petitioned Mass to be set off as a separate town.  This petition was answered on January 4, 1733 when the charter for Nottingham, Mass was granted.  This town included all Dunstable lands on the east side of the river.

The ancient boundary between the provinces of NH and Mass was based upon the Merrimack River and the misconception that the river flowed from west to east; with no idea of the abrupt bend northward the river made near Chelmsford.  This resulted in some dual grants by the rival provinces of NH and Mass and a boundary dispute which was not settled until 1741.

We remained as Nottingham West until 1830.  At the annual town meeting of 1830 the voters of Nottingham West adopted an article to petition the General Court of NH to alter the name to Auburn or to designate some other name.  The name was changed to Hudson July 1, 1830.

This bronze tablet is located within the School Administration Building on Library Street, aka Kimball Webster School, and was donated to the Town by the students of Webster School as part of our 1933 bi-centennial celebration.

Photo taken for publication of Town in Transition and is part of the Historical Society collection.    Researched and written by Ruth Parker on behalf of the Hudson Historical Society.  Nashua Telegraph March 22, 2020.

For more information about this and many other subjects visit RememberHudsonNHWhen.com.