Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.
“The Gildersleeve House was a house located at 108 Broadway in Hudson, Illinois. Gildersleeve built the Greek Revival house for his family in 1836.”
Wikipedia article Gildersleeve House, CC BY-SA 4.0.
One of 35 National Register listings published here for McLean County · listed in 1977 · category: Building.
Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service
The chapter on Hudson Township in The Good Old Times in McLean County, Illinois : Containing Two Hundred and Sixty-one Sketches of Old Settlers, a Complete Historical Sketch of the Black Hawk War and Descriptions of All Matters of Interest Relating to McLean County, published 1874 names Hudson. This is what it says, exactly as the scans read.
He went in 1801 to where Newark, Ohio, now is, and built several log cabins for a company which settled there. He married and moved eight miles north of that place and cleared out a small farm and ran a shop in which he made furniture, chairs, etc. Jesse Havens enlisted in the war of 1812 and was at the desperate defence made by Major Croghan and his band of one hundred and sixty men, of Fort Stephenson on the Lower Sandusky. In the fall of 1829 Jesse Havens came to Illinois. He came first to Big Grove, near where Urbana now is, and from there went in search of a house and found one on the North Fork of the Sangamon, south of where Leroy now is. When he moved his family there, which was in December, 1829, the sleet troubled him very much, and he was obliged to walk many miles to obtain corn for food. He left the Sangamon and came to Buckles' Grove and from there he came to where Hudson now is, in January, 1830. There he bought some claims, made improvements and went to farming, as did all the settlers in that section.
Passage source: The Good Old Times in McLean County, Illinois : Containing Two Hundred and Sixty-one Sketches of Old Settlers, a Complete Historical Sketch of the Black Hawk War and Descriptions of All Matters of Interest Relating to McLean County, published 1874.
John Smith married, March 30, 1831, Anna Havens. In the spring of 1832 he settled at Havens' Grove, about three-quarters of a mile north of his present residence. In 1849 he settled about half a mile from Hudson, in the edge of Havens' Grove, and has lived there ever since.
Passage source: The Good Old Times in McLean County, Illinois : Containing Two Hundred and Sixty-one Sketches of Old Settlers, a Complete Historical Sketch of the Black Hawk War and Descriptions of All Matters of Interest Relating to McLean County, published 1874.
Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.
Read the whole chapter on Hudson Township - 26,056 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.
Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 10 fires within 5 miles of Gildersleeve House between 2013 and 2014, burning about 21 acres in total. None started naturally. 3 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Debris and open burning | 3 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 3 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 1 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 September 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 2013-1467 |
| 6 June 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 2014-092 |
| 28 June 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 2014-105 |
| 1 June 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 1.0 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 2014-88 |
| 31 May 2014 | Recreation and ceremony | 3.0 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 2014-87 |
| 12 May 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.5 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 2014-73 |
| 7 April 2014 | Debris and open burning | 6.0 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 2014-62 |
| 6 April 2014 | Debris and open burning | 6.0 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 2014-060 |
Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Gildersleeve House: 1 past producer. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Evergreen Lake Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Hudson, the town this property stands in, in 22 storm reports between 1996 and 2025: 13 thunderstorm wind, 7 hail, 1 tornado, 1 funnel cloud. The reports record 2 injuries. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Hudson | 1 hurt, $40,000 | Numerous tree limbs were blown down. One tree limb fell on a person causing a minor head injury. |
| March 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Hudson | 1 hurt | A semi-truck was overturned by thunderstorm wind gusts along I-39. The driver was transported to the hospital. |
| July 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Hudson | $350,000 | Numerous trees and tree branches were blown down in Hudson. Some of the falling trees damaged cars, houses, and power lines. |
| July 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Hudson | $40,000 | Numerous trees and tree limbs were blown down from Hudson to Lake Bloomington. Large corn fields were flattened as well. |
| May 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Hudson | - | Mesonet station FW2710 near Towanda measured a 60 mph wind gust. |
| April 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Hudson | - | Measured wind gust from mesonet station northwest of Towanda. |
| April 2019 | Hail | Hudson | - | Half dollar-sized hail was reported at the White Oak Campground in Comlara Park. |
| August 2011 | Funnel Cloud | Hudson | - | A funnel cloud was sighted by numerous people between Hudson and Lexington, including the Lake Bloomington recreational areas. There was no evidence of debris near the ground, and no reports of damage. |
| April 2006 | Tornado (F0) | Hudson | - | The tornado did minor roof damage to an outbuilding. It then crossed into Woodford County. |
| April 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Hudson | - | Home lost much of its roof in Hudson. |
| May 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Hudson | - | A farm near Hudson sustained significant damage to many outbuildings. In addition, numerous trees and power lines were blown down between Hudson and Gridley. |
| July 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Hudson | - | Thunderstorm winds blew down numerous trees, tree limbs and power lines. In Lexington, the roof of a maintenance building was blown off. Several of the fallen trees in Lexington and Bloomington caused minor damage to a couple of homes. No injuries were reported. |
| May 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Hudson | - | Several trees were blown down between Hudson and Colfax. |
| May 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Hudson | - | Thunderstorm winds blew down a tree which damaged a chimney on a house in Hudson. No injuries were reported and no dollar amount damage was available. |
| June 2024 | Hail | Hudson | - | no account filed |
| May 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Hudson | - | no account filed |
| April 2015 | Hail | Hudson | - | no account filed |
| January 2008 | Hail | Hudson | - | no account filed |
| August 2007 | Hail | Hudson | - | no account filed |
| August 2007 | Hail | Hudson | - | no account filed |
| April 2006 | Hail | Hudson | - | no account filed |
| July 1996 | Thunderstorm Wind | Hudson | - | no account filed |
No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.
Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.
| Photograph | Property | Distance | Listed |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Hubbard House | 0.2 miles | 1979 |
 | Duncan Manor | 4.8 miles | 1979 |
| Fairview Sanatorium | 5.8 miles | 2021 | |
| Children's Village-Illinois Soldiers' and Sailors' Children's School | 6.1 miles | 2018 | |
 | Sprague's Super Service | 6.2 miles | 2008 |
 | Normal Theater | 6.8 miles | 1997 |
| National Archives record | The nomination case file for reference 77001517 in Record Group 79. |
| Wikipedia article | Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA. |
| McLean County | All 35 listed properties in this county. |
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