The History of Hudson High School Hudson (population 1,838) is located in northern McLean County in the central part of the state, situated seven miles north of Bloomington-Normal along Interstate 39. The Six Mile Creek flows just to the south and west of the village near the Mackinaw River. The community was first settled in 1829 by Jesse Havens, whose name is remembered by the grove along Six Mile Creek. Hudson was a colony of New Yorkers from Hudson, NY that settled in the area in 1836. Both the Bloomington-Ottawa Trail as well as the Illinois Central Railroad helped shape the village, with the latter coming in 1854. The town of Hudson has enjoyed great success in terms of population. In 1880 the town’s population was 270. In 1980 the population had grown to 929. Today there are over 1,800 residents in Hudson. Education was started in 1838 with a one-room school, which was replaced by a two-story building in 1875, then another building came along in 1906…only to be destroyed by fire in 1914. The village built a new school quickly and occupied it in a short time. The members of the Hudson History Room at the Hudson Area Public Library, provided the following information regarding the origins of the Hudson High School. “According to “The Hudson Colony” by Ruth B. Hamm, while the building itself that only educated high schoolers did open in 1907, the earlier Hudson Grade School educated upper grades (high schoolers) as well. This school opened in 1875 and we have a photograph of the Hudson High School class of 1898 as well as a group of high schoolers from 1895.
A new Hudson High School building was constructed in 1907. High school education was offered in Hudson for ninth and tenth graders with the addition of two teachers to the faculty for the sole purpose of instructing those post-grade students. A third year was planned to be added after 1934, but the plan was shelved and the high school was discontinued in 1936. High schoolers went to finish their secondary education at area schools such as El Paso, Normal, or Towanda before Normal Community High School decided to add Hudson students to their district. The grade school board decided to join Normal Unit 5 in 1948 to set the stage as to how education is handled today in Hudson. The current grade school building (see picture below) was begun in 1953 and continued in stages thru the 1970’s. Today, students in kindergarten thru fifth that are in the current building, while sixth, seventh and eighth graders attend Normal Parkside Junior High School, and high schoolers are at Normal Community West High School.
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