The Hudson Armory is a former

Massachusetts Army National Guard The Massachusetts National Guard is the National Guard component for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded as the Massachusetts Bay Colonial Militia on December 13, 1636, it contains the oldest units in the United States Army. What is toda ...

armory Armory or armoury may mean: * An arsenal, a military or civilian location for the storage of arms and ammunition Places *National Guard Armory, in the United States and Canada, a training place for National Guard or other part-time or regular mili ...

and training center located at 35 Washington Street in

Hudson Hudson may refer to: People * Hudson (given name) * Hudson (surname) * Henry Hudson, English explorer * Hudson (footballer, born 1986), Hudson Fernando Tobias de Carvalho, Brazilian football right-back * Hudson (footballer, born 1988), Hudso ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. It is a

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

-like, two-story

brick A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured cons ...

masonry Masonry is the building of structures from individual units, which are often laid in and bound together by mortar; the term ''masonry'' can also refer to the units themselves. The common materials of masonry construction are bricks, building ...

building built in 1910 at the intersection of Park Street and Washington Street in Hudson along the

Assabet River The Assabet River is a small, long river located about west of Boston, Massachusetts, United States.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed October 3, 2011 The Assabet rises ...

. It was originally constructed for the

Massachusetts Volunteer Militia The Massachusetts State Defense Force (MSDF) is the currently inactive state defense force of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It was inactivated in 2016 by Governor Charlie Baker. The purpose of the Massachusetts State Defense Force, when acti ...

. It was designed by architects

James E. McLaughlin James Ernest McLaughlin (18 October 1873 – 17 February 1966) was a Canadian-American architect active primarily in Boston, Massachusetts, and the surrounding area from about 1905 through the 1950s. He designed Fenway Park—home stadium of the ...

and

James Mulcahy James Mulcahy (11 January 1858 – 17 July 1915) was a Canadian-American architect active primarily in Boston, Massachusetts, and the surrounding area from at least 1888 until his death in 1915. He served as Boston Building Commissioner from 1903 t ...

. As of June 2021, there are plans to convert the currently vacant armory into a

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, tow ...

arts center.

History

In 1887 Hudson resident

Colonel Adelbert Mossman The Colonel Adelbert Mossman House is a historic house built between 1895 and 1903 located at 76 Park Street in Hudson, Massachusetts, Hudson, Massachusetts, United States. It is a -story wood-frame structure with asymmetrical massing typical of ...

, an

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

veteran, formed the town's first unit of the

(MVM): Company L, 5th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade of the Massachusetts Volunteer Militia—also known as the Hudson Light Brigade. Verdone and Halprin 2005: p. 7 Mossman served as the 41-person unit's first commanding officer. In 1888 Hudson's Company L drilled in an old skating rink. Verdone and Halprin 2005: p. 100 In 1899 they conducted drills in the second floor

auditorium An auditorium is a room built to enable an audience to hear and watch performances. For movie theatres, the number of auditoria (or auditoriums) is expressed as the number of screens. Auditoria can be found in entertainment venues, community ...

of Hudson Town Hall. In 1907 the entire MVM was reorganized into the

. Soon after this reorganization it became clear to Brigadier General William H. Brigham—an MVM

adjutant general An adjutant general is a military chief administrative officer. France In Revolutionary France, the was a senior staff officer, effectively an assistant to a general officer. It was a special position for lieutenant-colonels and colonels in staf ...

and Hudson resident—that the unit needed its own space, and he advocated for the armory's construction. Verdone and Halprin 2005: p. 99 Halprin 2001: p. 29 The Hudson Armory was built in 1910 for $50,000 on the site of the former Marshall Wood House or Marshall Wood Estate, a two-story wood-framed house. Halprin 2001: p. 99 It was dedicated on 31 December 1910. Halprin 2001: p. 17 Architects

and

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

designed the armory for the Massachusetts Volunteer Militia. Around the same time, McLaughlin and Mulcahy also designed armories in the nearby towns of Hingham,

Natick Natick ( ) is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is near the center of the MetroWest region of Massachusetts, with a population of 37,006 at the 2020 census. west of Boston, Natick is part of the Greater Boston area. ...

, and

Newton Newton most commonly refers to: * Isaac Newton (1642–1726/1727), English scientist * Newton (unit), SI unit of force named after Isaac Newton Newton may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Newton'' (film), a 2017 Indian film * Newton ( ...

. McLaughlin later designed

Fenway Park Fenway Park is a baseball stadium located in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, near Kenmore Square. Since 1912, it has been the home of the Boston Red Sox, the city's American League baseball team, and since 1953, its only Major League Base ...

,''American Contractor'' 9 July 1910: 42. Chicago. the

Commonwealth Armory The Commonwealth Armory was a Massachusetts Army National Guard armory. It was built at the intersection of Harry Agganis Way and Commonwealth Avenue in Boston, Massachusetts in 1914-1915 for Troops A, B, C, and D of the First Squadron Cavalry, ...

, and the

Benedict Fenwick School The Benedict Fenwick School (or Sister Clara Muhammad School) is a 1912 historic school building at 150 Magnolia Street in Boston, Massachusetts. The Classical Revival brick school building was designed by Boston architect James E. McLaughlin, wh ...

in Boston, among many other projects. When originally constructed the Hudson Armory included a two-lane

bowling alley A bowling alley (also known as a bowling center, bowling lounge, bowling arena, or historically bowling club) is a facility where the sport of bowling is played. It can be a dedicated facility or part of another, such as a Meetinghouse, clubhous ...

in the basement, showers, an indoor rifle

shooting range A shooting range, firing range, gun range or shooting ground is a specialized facility, sports venue, venue or playing field, field designed specifically for firearm usage qualifications, training, practice or shooting sport, competitions. So ...

, a

mess The mess (also called a mess deck aboard ships) is a designated area where military personnel socialize, eat and (in some cases) live. The term is also used to indicate the groups of military personnel who belong to separate messes, such as the o ...

hall capable of seating 300 people, and a bar for

non-commissioned officer A non-commissioned officer (NCO) is a military officer who has not pursued a commission. Non-commissioned officers usually earn their position of authority by promotion through the enlisted ranks. (Non-officers, which includes most or all enli ...

s (NCOs). Verdone and Halprin 2005: p. 8 The initial design called for recreational areas on the Assabet River behind the armory, including a

boat launch A slipway, also known as boat ramp or launch or boat deployer, is a ramp on the shore by which ships or boats can be moved to and from the water. They are used for building and repairing ships and boats, and for launching and retrieving small ...

, although these were not built. At some time prior to 2019, the armory was inactivated as a military facility, acquired by the

Commonwealth of Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

, and used for police and firefighter training. In March 2019 the armory's future was unclear, except that the Commonwealth planned to pull out of the facility on 30 June 2019, and the Town of Hudson was considering purchasing the property. A nonprofit

501(c)(3) organization A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, Trust (business), trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of t ...

called Hudson Cultural Alliance, Inc., was founded in 2019 to spearhead the armory's redevelopment into a

arts center. In 2020 Hudson's Board of Selectmen and

Town Meeting Town meeting is a form of local government in which most or all of the members of a community are eligible to legislate policy and budgets for local government. It is a town- or city-level meeting in which decisions are made, in contrast with ...

each voted to approve the project, but did not appropriate funds to finance renovation. In June 2021 the

Massachusetts Senate The Massachusetts Senate is the upper house of the Massachusetts General Court, the bicameral state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The Senate comprises 40 elected members from 40 single-member senatorial districts in the ...

passed an amendment to their fiscal year 2022 budget adding $230,000 to help the Town of Hudson and Hudson Cultural Alliance purchase the building. In August 2022 the Hudson Cultural Alliance, a 100% volunteer run organization, completed the transaction with the town of Hudson to acquire the property and immediately lease it to the Hudson Cultural Alliance (HCA). The HCA then began raising the necessary funds (approx $2M) to complete basic safety renovations with several phases of fundraising and improvements planned to turn the facility into the largest independent, volunteer-run, Cultural and Performing Arts Center in MetroWest.

Units based at the Hudson Armory

National Guard units stationed at the Hudson Armory have fought and served during the 1916

Pancho Villa Expedition The Pancho Villa Expedition—now known officially in the United States as the Mexican Expedition, but originally referred to as the "Punitive Expedition, U.S. Army"—was a military operation conducted by the United States Army against the p ...

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, and the

Iraq War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...

. They were also part of the National Guard contingents sent to break the

1912 Lawrence textile strike The Lawrence Textile Strike, also known as the Bread and Roses Strike, was a strike of immigrant workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts, in 1912 led by the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). Prompted by a two-hour pay cut corresponding to a ne ...

and prevent looting in the aftermath of the 1953 Worcester tornado. Verdone and Halprin 2005: pp. 18-22 Prior to the construction of the armory, the Massachusetts Volunteer Militia unit stationed in Hudson guarded property damaged in the

Great Boston Fire of 1872 The Great Boston Fire of 1872 was Boston's largest fire, and still ranks as one of the most costly fire-related property losses in American history. The conflagration began at 7:20 p.m. on Saturday, November 9, 1872, in the basement of a com ...

and served in the 1898

Spanish–American War , partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence , image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg , image_size = 300px , caption = (clock ...

. Verdone and Halprin 2005: p. 78 Halprin 2001: p. 67 *Company L of the 5th Infantry Regiment: 1910–1921 *Company B of the 181st Infantry Regiment: 1921–1959 *Company F of the 181st infantry Regiment: 1947–1959 *Company B of the 1st Battalion 110th Armor: 1959–1988 *Troop A of the 1st Squadron 110th Cavalry: 1988–1995 *Battery A of the 1st Battalion 102nd Field Artillery: 1995–2006 *Company C of the 26th Brigade Special Troops Battalion: 2006–2008 *Company D of the 1st Battalion 181st Infantry: 2006–? *Company C of the 126th Brigade Support Battalion: 2008–?

Architecture

The

-like, two-story

building features a

crenellated A battlement in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (i.e., a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at interva ...

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). Whe ...

, narrow rectangular windows which imitate

loopholes A loophole is an ambiguity or inadequacy in a system, such as a law or security, which can be used to circumvent or otherwise avoid the purpose, implied or explicitly stated, of the system. Originally, the word meant an arrowslit, a narrow verti ...

, and two

octagon In geometry, an octagon (from the Greek ὀκτάγωνον ''oktágōnon'', "eight angles") is an eight-sided polygon or 8-gon. A '' regular octagon'' has Schläfli symbol and can also be constructed as a quasiregular truncated square, t, whi ...

tower A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...

s on the building's front façade along Washington Street. The

window sill A windowsill (also written window sill or window-sill, and less frequently in British English, cill) is the horizontal structure or surface at the bottom of a window. Window sills serve to structurally support and hold the window in place. The ...

s and caps on top of the crenellations are made of

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

. The brickwork is highly detailed, with many

corbel In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal jutting from a wall to carry a superincumbent weight, a type of bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in the wall, whereas a console is a piece applied to the s ...

s and

arch An arch is a vertical curved structure that spans an elevated space and may or may not support the weight above it, or in case of a horizontal arch like an arch dam, the hydrostatic pressure against it. Arches may be synonymous with vaul ...

es.

Notes

References

* *

External links