Lincoln’s Visit & Hidden Railroads
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| A modest commemoration to Lincoln’s visit, tucked away behind the new police station |
Many Hudsonites do not know that Abraham Lincoln stopped through Hudson on his way to Washington, DC. On February 16, 1861, his convoy arrived at the old depot and engine house, located at the corner of S. College Street and Maple Drive. At the village green he delivered a speech to over 6000 onlookers eager to capture a glimpse of the president elect. The convoy then headed north to Cleveland and eventually continued on to DC.
I became aware of this fact not by the marker above but by a casual chat with the archivist at Hudson Library and Historical Society. She brought to my attention the interesting fact that Hudson’s railroad landscape changed greatly over time and that tracks used to run right through the middle of town. I was hooked when she mentioned that portions of the track remain buried today.
The pictures below show my findings of the track, all located in the area around the Lincoln marker, in the sliver of land north of Ravenna Road and south of 303.
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| Portion of the old railroad track, facing west. The intersection of 91 and 303 looms in the distance. |
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| Looking north. |
If those are the tracks I think they are, they were last used for Turner Lumber and Fuelgas (the big fire). The then Village of Hudson asked the railroad to remove the rails especially across Rt 91 and Rt 303. The railroad just never got around to answering. So the Village decided to just pave over them and cover the rest with dirt. Fun times.