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Decorative drawing: a small American settlement seen from a low hill. Not a photograph of this place.

Hudson, Massachusetts

43 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1887 and the latest in 1997. It stands in Hudson town. It lies in ZIP code area 01749. It stands on Danforth Brook. The Survey maps it on the Hudson quadrangle. 15,749 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 217 feet above sea level.

Hudson within Middlesex County

Population over time

2 figures

Hudson grew from 14,907 to 15,749 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
201014,907
202015,749+842 (+6%)

Then and now

1887 to 1997

The same ground, surveyed 110 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Hudson, surveyed 1997
Topographic sheet of Hudson, surveyed 1887

Compare 1887 against another survey:

Topographic sheets covering this place

43 sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

In the county-history sources

144,944 words on this township

History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1890 names this settlement in its chapter on Hudson Town. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

Educational. - In the matter of education the town has always been active, and occupies a fair position in this respect among the other towns of the State. The first school-house was built in 1812. Its history is a fair sample of the energy of her sons. At the beginning of the present century there was only one school-house on their territory. This was two miles from the " mills," and there was no direct road between the two places. The people believed they should have better accommodations for their children, and began the struggle in a town-meeting. In 1812 they succeeded in getting a new district formed and a new school-house voted. There was much opposition manifested after the meeting, and it seemed very probable that the vote would be rescinded at the adjourned meeting, but before the day of adjournment came the people had cut down trees, sawed them into timber, and had the house completed and ready for occupancy. This was situated on what is now Washington Street, where Mrs. Ada T. Woods' house stands. This sufficed until 1855, when there were demands for a larger and better building. This time the citizens of Feltonville couldn't agree among themselves on which side of the river it should be placed. Finally a site was selected by measuring from each man's door-yard to get a geographical centre. This centre was located on the south side of the river, and a building was erected which is now known as the School Street Building. This wa,s the only school building in the village at the time of the incorporation, though there were two in the outlying districts.

Passage source: History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1890.

The new town immediately set at work upon a new building in the centre and one in the westerly part, which were completed in 1867 at an expense of over $13,000. In 1878 another building was erected on Green Street, and in 1882 a handsome and commodious brick building was erected on Felton Street for the use of the High and Grammar schools at an expense of some $15,000. Twenty teachers are now employed, some of whom have been in the service of the town for many years. Appropriations have increased from *3,000 in 1866, to over $10,000 in 1890.

Passage source: History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1890.

The school equipment has grown from a dictionary and atlas to a well-selected library in a reference room, opening from the school rooms; from a single pneumatic trough for chemical experiments to a well-stocked laboratory. The most improved anatomical and astronomical charts are used ; and the foundation of a geological cabinet has been laid. Philosophical apparatus is also being gradually collected.

Passage source: History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1890.

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 Town - it names this place 61 more 61 times.

Fires near this place

142 since 2003

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 142 fires within 5 miles of Hudson between 2003 and 2020, burning about 114 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 13 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 burning63
Missing data/not specified/undetermined32
Recreation and ceremony19
Arson/incendiarism13
Smoking6
Power generation/transmission/distribution4
Misuse of fire by a minor2
Natural1
Fireworks1
Equipment and vehicle use1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
7 September 2016Arson/incendiarismunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlMARLBORO
7 September 2015Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
5 September 2016Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
28 September 2019Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
23 September 2019Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
20 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
20 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
16 September 2020Arson/incendiarismunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Middlesex County

Specimens collected near this place

12 of 502 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 502 specimens collected within 10 miles of Hudson between 1898 and 1975: 347 Animalia, 144 Plantae, 11 Fungi. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. C. Gibson, A. F. Newton, Ahles, H.E. and others. Each is a physical object with a catalogue number, and each entry opens the museum's record. This is what was collected and kept, not a survey of what lives here - nothing can be concluded from a species being absent.

Image SpeciesYear Collected by Where, as recorded
A photograph of the species Bromus ciliatus, not of this specimenBromus ciliatus L.1898Ernest Charles SmithFramingham.
A photograph of the species Bromus secalinus, not of this specimenBromus secalinus L.1898Arthur FrenchFramingham.
A photograph of the species Carex brevior, not of this specimenCarex brevior (Dewey) Mack. ex Lunell1898Ernest Charles SmithFramingham.
A photograph of the species Carex laxiflora, not of this specimenCarex laxiflora Lam.1898Ernest Charles SmithFramingham.
A photograph of the species Carex pallescens, not of this specimenCarex pallescens L.1898Ernest Charles SmithFramingham.
A photograph of the species Carex straminea, not of this specimenCarex straminea Willd. ex Schkuhr1898Ernest Charles SmithFramingham.
A photograph of the species Carex vulgaris, not of this specimenCarex vulgaris var. hydrophila Holm1898Arthur FrenchFramingham.
A photograph of the species Dichanthelium sabulorum, not of this specimenDichanthelium sabulorum var. patulum (Scribn. & Merr.) Gould & C.A.Clark1898Ernest Charles SmithFramingham.
A photograph of the species Glyceria melicaria, not of this specimenGlyceria melicaria (Michx.) F.T.Hubb.1898Ernest Charles SmithFramingham.
A photograph of the species Crataegus coccinea, not of this specimenCrataegus coccinea L.1900not recorded
A photograph of the species Cistothorus stellaris, not of this specimenCistothorus stellaris (J.F.Naumann, 1823)1930Collector(s): James Lee PetersHarvard
A photograph of the species Colaptes auratus, not of this specimenColaptes auratus luteus Bangs, 18981930Collector(s): James Lee PetersHarvard

All 502 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 17 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 17 workings within 5 miles of Hudson: 12 past producers, 3 producers, 2 unknowns. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Dimension, Stone, Crushed/Broken. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Berlin Stone Co QuarryStone, DimensionProducer
Gneiss QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Bates Sand and Gravel Co.Sand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Berin PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Berlin PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Berlin Town PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
C and M EnterprisesSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Casaceli TruckingSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Casaceli Trucking PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
E L Dauphanis IncSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary

Every working recorded in Middlesex County

Storms near this place

15 since 2003

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Hudson in 15 storm reports between 2003 and 2025: 7 thunderstorm wind, 6 hail, 1 heavy rain, 1 tornado. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
July 2010Thunderstorm WindHudson$25,000Thunderstorm winds downed large branches in Hudson, and downed a tree onto wires on Hudson Road in Sudbury.
June 2013Thunderstorm WindHudson$20,000Several trees and wires were downed by thunderstorm winds throughout Hudson.
July 2008Thunderstorm WindHudson$20,000In Hudson, power lines in the Chestnut Hill Street area were downed by thunderstorm winds. In Stow, trees and wires on Red Acre, Boone, Randall, Birch Hill, and Gleason Dale Roads were downed by thunderstorm winds.
September 2025Tornado (EF0)Hudson$10,000An EF1 tornado touched down in Stow, MA near Maple street and continued ENE over Bose Avenue causing significant tree damage. The tornado lifted somewhere near Harvest Drive and touched down again about 1.25 miles ENE just west of Packard road and continued across Carriage lane before lifting again. This tornado caused significant tree damage with several hard and softwood trees uprooted or snapped at the trunk.
September 2025Thunderstorm WindHudson$5,000In Hudson, there were trees and wires down across town.
May 2020Thunderstorm WindHudson$500In Hudson, a tree was down on Stratton Road.
October 2020Thunderstorm WindHudson-In Hudson at 537 PM EDT, an amateur radio operator reported a wind gust to 60 mph.
June 2017HailHudson-At 355 PM EST, an amateur radio operator reported 1-inch diameter hail at Hudson.
June 2017HailHudson-At 255 PM EST, an amateur radio operator reported 1-inch diameter hail at Hudson.
July 2008HailHudson-Penny to quarter size hail fell in Hudson.
August 2008HailHudson-Penny to quarter sized hail fell in Hudson.
August 2007Thunderstorm WindHudson-Large limbs down on Water Street.
August 2015HailHudson-no account filed
June 2008HailHudson-no account filed
May 2003Heavy RainHudson-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Middlesex County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Browns Corner1.6 miles43
Gleasondale Station2.3 miles43
Gleasondale2.3 miles43
Robin Hill2.7 miles42
Marlborough3.2 miles42
Marlborough Junction4.4 miles42
Stow4.5 miles43
Lower Village5.2 miles43

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on HudsonAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q13360736The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 611243. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Specimens. Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), https://www.gbif.org/. Only records licensed CC0 or CC BY are used. Records licensed CC BY-NC are excluded because this site carries advertising. Images are checked individually and any whose licence is non-commercial, no-derivatives or unreadable is refused.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.