Fault lines : the legacy of urban renewal in Hudson, NY

Abstract

Hudson, New York, has been carved by a series of historical forces that continue to shape present-day physical and narrative representations of the city. Today, the local landscape reflects two distinct communities contained within a compact street grid, with the city's core commercial artery of Warren Street serving as the dividing line between them. Dominant contemporary narratives about Hudson often obscure this pattern, using the recent revitalization of Warren Street as a synecdoche for the identity of the city as a whole. This thesis explores the potential to recover historical and contemporary perspectives that illustrate the confined disparity marking Hudson today -- both for what they reveal about the present state of the city and for the potential avenues they suggest for re-visioning its future. Through close readings of the city landscape, archival documents, and oral history interviews, this thesis accordingly assembles an account of a formative, if undertold, chapter in Hudson's history, the city's first urban renewal project, and traces the project's long-term unfolding and resonance in resident attitudes and patterns of investment in Hudson today. This examination of the enduring impact of urban renewal's alternate site clearance and historic rehabilitation activities ultimately underscores the power of narrative in shaping the city landscape and suggests opportunities for expanding the application of historic preservation locally.