Hudson is an off-island suburb of

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, with a population of 5,411
2021 Census
. It is located on the south-west bank of the lower

Ottawa River The Ottawa River (, ) is a river in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. It is named after the Algonquin word "to trade", as it was the major trade route of Eastern Canada at the time. For most of its length, it defines the border betw ...

, in

Vaudreuil-Soulanges Regional County Municipality Vaudreuil-Soulanges () is a regional county municipality in Quebec, Canada. It is located on a triangular peninsula in the western Montérégie region of Quebec, formed by the confluence of the Ottawa River to the north, and the St. Lawrence Rive ...

. Situated about west of downtown

, many residents commute to work on the

Island of Montreal The Island of Montreal (, ) is an island in southwestern Quebec, Canada, which is the site of a number of municipalities, including most of the city of Montreal, and is the most populous island in Canada. It is the main island of the Hochelag ...

. Hudson is a municipality within

Greater Montreal Greater Montreal (, ) is the most populous metropolitan area in Quebec and the second most populous in Canada after Greater Toronto. In 2015, Statistics Canada identified Montreal's Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) as with a population of 4,02 ...

. An informal rural agglomeration since the early part of the 19th century, the Town of Hudson was formally created in June 1969 by merging the villages of Hudson, Hudson Heights and Como. A relatively wealthy town, Hudson is known for its large, turn-of-the century houses, many of which border the

Lake of Two Mountains Lake of Two Mountains (French: ''Lac des Deux Montagnes'') is part of the river delta widening of the Ottawa River in Quebec, Canada, at its confluence with the St. Lawrence River. Lake of Two Mountains has four outflows: Rivière des Mille Îl ...

. A

ferry A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus ...

from Hudson takes cars across the lake (a widening of the

) to the village of Oka. Hudson has been compared to culturally and demographically similar Quebec towns such as the

Eastern Townships The Eastern Townships (, ) is a historical administrative region in southeastern Quebec, Canada. It lies between the Great Lakes–St. Lawrence Lowlands, St. Lawrence Lowlands and the American border, and extends from Granby, Quebec, Granby in ...

villages of North Hatley and Brome Lake as well as nearby Senneville. All four municipalities border a body of water (used extensively for recreation year-round) and include a blend of French and English residents.

Geography

Hudson is near the edge of suburban Montreal to the east, but also surrounded by substantial farming and forest areas to the west. Large lot sizes, enforced by town bylaws, contribute to the relatively large number of trees in the residential areas. Zoning, infrastructure and building development are occasionally controversial subjects, such as when town residents voted against permitting

Gheorghe Zamfir Gheorghe Zamfir (; born April 6, 1941) is a Romanian nai (pan flute) musician. Zamfir is known for playing an expanded version of normally 20-pipe nai, with 22, 25, 28 or even 30 pipes, to increase its range, and obtaining as many as eight ov ...

to build a concert hall near the edge of town in the 1980s. In 2001, the town won a victory in Canada's Supreme Court, upholding its by-law 207, which bans pesticide use on public and private property for cosmetic (purely aesthetic) purposes. The municipal territory of Hudson is delimited as follows: * with the limit of Saint-Placide; * with the limit of Oka; * with the limit of

Vaudreuil-Dorion Vaudreuil-Dorion () is a suburb of Greater Montreal, in the Montérégie region of southwestern Quebec, Canada. The result of the merger of two towns, Vaudreuil and Dorion, it is located in the Vaudreuil-Soulanges Regional County Municipality. ...

; * with the limit of Rigaud. Thus, the northern limit of Hudson stretches over in the middle of Lac-des-Deux-Montagnes, i.e. between Pointe Graham (west side) facing Saint-Placide and Pointe Cavagnal (side East) facing Oka. This shoreline strip of land is of a width varying between (to the east) up to a maximum of to the west.

Physical environment

The bedrock under Hudson is

Cambrian The Cambrian ( ) is the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 51.95 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran period 538.8 Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the Ordov ...

Period

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

. This is overlain by marine clay or stony sandy

loam Loam (in geology and soil science) is soil composed mostly of sand (particle size > ), silt (particle size > ), and a smaller amount of clay (particle size < ). By weight, its mineral composition is about 40–40–20% concentration of sand–si ...

glacial A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...

till image:Geschiebemergel.JPG, Closeup of glacial till. Note that the larger grains (pebbles and gravel) in the till are completely surrounded by the matrix of finer material (silt and sand), and this characteristic, known as ''matrix support'', is d ...

. On the surface are sands which were deposited by air or water. Most of Hudson is built on the Ste-Sophie loamy fine sand, which is well drained and drought-prone despite its clay base; undisturbed areas have classic

podzol Podzols, also known as podosols, spodosols, or espodossolos, are the typical soils of coniferous or boreal forests and also the typical soils of eucalypt forests and heathlands in southern Australia. In Western Europe, podzols develop on heathlan ...

development. Several blocks away from the river the sands become deeper, coarser and even more xeric; they are mapped as Upland sand which is also a podzol.

History

The local post office opened in 1841, originally named Pointe-à-Cavagnol in honour of Pierre de Rigaud de Vaudreuil de Cavagnial. In 1845, a glass factory was established there by George Matthews, whose wife was called Elisa Hudson. Her name was adopted by the post office in 1865. In 1877, the Village Municipality of Como was formed when it separated from Vaudreuil. This village was named after

Lake Como Lake Como ( , ) also known as Lario, is a lake of glacial origin in Lombardy, Italy. It has an area of , making it the third-largest lake in Italy, after Lake Garda and Lake Maggiore. At over deep, it is one of the deepest lakes in Europe. ...

in Italy due to its scenic location on Lake of Two Mountains. It was renamed to Hudson in 1921. 4 years later, in 1925, the new Village Municipality of McNaughton was split off from Hudson. The following year, Hudson was renamed to Hudson Heights, and McNaughton took the name Hudson. In June 1969, the Town of Hudson was formed by amalgamating the village municipalities of Hudson, Hudson Heights, and Como (which was originally formed as Como-Est in 1918). In April 2023, 2898 Hudson residents lost power when an historic ice storm swept through southern Quebec.

Pesticide Ban

The town gained notoriety in 1991 by becoming the first in Quebec, Canada to ban several forms of lawn and garden pesticides used to kill insects and weeds. The town was sued by two pesticide companies and on June 28, 2001, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in the town's favour. The Hudson example spurred many other municipalities and provinces in Canada to enact similar bans of pesticides. The Hudson case is the subject of a 2009 American documentary movie titled ''A Chemical Reaction'' by filmmaker Brett Plymale.

Demographics

In the

2021 Census of Population The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sli ...

conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; ), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and culture. It is headquartered in ...

, Hudson had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021. Unlike the surrounding mainly French-speaking municipalities, Hudson has a predominantly English-speaking population (65% according to the 2011 Census), although many residents speak both languages.

Events and tourist attractions

Tourist attractions of Hudson include: * Artistes Hudson Artists, Quebec's oldest continuing English language art club * Hudson & Region Studio Tour * The Hudson Players Club, Quebec's oldest continually operating theatre company, English or French, professional or amateur * The Village Theatre (located in the historic train station) * The Hudson Film Society * Greenwood Centre for Living History * St. James', St. Mary's, Wyman Memorial United and St. Thomas Aquinas churches * Chateau du Lac (bar in a historic building) * The Hudson Music Fest Notable annual events in Hudson include the Hudson Street Fair, the Hudson Yacht Club

Labour Day Labour Day is an annual day of celebration of the labour movement and its labor rights, achievements. It has its origins in the trade union, labour union movement, specifically the Eight-hour day movement, eight-hour day movement, which advoca ...

Regatta Boat racing is a sport in which boats, or other types of watercraft, race on water. Boat racing powered by oars is recorded as having occurred in ancient Egypt, and it is likely that people have engaged in races involving boats and other wa ...

, the FruitBowl Regatta (North America's most well-attended youth sailing event),

Canada Day Canada Day, formerly known as Dominion Day, is the national day of Canada. A Public holidays in Canada, federal statutory holiday, it celebrates the anniversary of Canadian Confederation which occurred on July 1, 1867, with the passing of the B ...

festivities, Shiver Fest (a winter carnival), the Turn on the Lights Festival, the Hudson & Region Studio Tour, the Home & Gardens Tour, the Hudson Festival of Canadian Film, the Santa Claus Parade and (as of 2010) the

St. Patrick's Day Saint Patrick's Day, or the Feast of Saint Patrick (), is a religious and cultural holiday held on 17 March, the traditional death date of Saint Patrick (), the foremost patron saint of Ireland. Saint Patrick's Day was made an official Chri ...

Parade.

Hudson Yacht Club

The Hudson Yacht Club (HYC) is a boating and social club founded in 1909 on the shores of Lake of Two Mountains (Lac des Deux Montagnes). The club annually hosts the "FruitBowl" regatta for young sailors and the Labour Day Regatta for its general membership and visitors. The HYC has published two retrospectives: ''Hudson Yacht Club: Seventy-Fifth Anniversary Year'' in 1984 and ''Our Spirit Lives On: A Celebration of Hudson Yacht Club's First 100 Years, 1909-2009'' in 2009.

Government

Municipal council

The Quebec ''Cities and Towns Act'' requires all towns the size of Hudson to have a municipal council of six councillors and one mayor, elected by the local population every four years. The mayor is elected by all Hudson residents, while the town is divided into six wards to elect the councillors. Given the small size of the town, council seats are often won by

acclamation An acclamation is a form of election that does not use a ballot. It derives from the ancient Roman word ''acclamatio'', a kind of ritual greeting and expression of approval towards imperial officials in certain social contexts. Voting Voice vot ...

. Council meets once per month in the Stephen Shaar Community Centre, named after the mayor who served until 2004 (and presided over its construction). Municipal administrators work in the Town Hall. Town council is responsible for things such as

water Water is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance. It is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known liv ...

supply, local

road A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved. Th ...

maintenance,

zoning In urban planning, zoning is a method in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into land-use "zones", each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for ...

, construction permits, and administration of parks. Some responsibilities, such as regional planning, is shared with the county. Council receives its revenues through property taxes, which it establishes. The town maintains its own volunteer fire department and a local patrol to enforce municipal by-laws.

Former mayors

List of former mayors: * George N. Armstrong (1969–1973) * Job Taylor Bradbury (1973–1989) * Gilbert Michael Elliott (1989–1993, 2009–2013) * Stephen F. Shaar (1993–2004) * Elizabeth Corker (2004–2009) * Diane Paciente (interim mayor 2013) * Ed Prévost (2013–2017) * Jamie Nicholls (2017–2021) * Chloe Hutchison (2021–present)

Infrastructure

Transportation

A single street, Main Road, traverses Hudson east to west, while the southern border of the town mainly runs along Quebec Route 342 (also known as Boulevard Harwood). Although many residents commute by automobile, a commuter train to Montreal ( Vaudreuil-Hudson Line) stops in Hudson once per weekday in either direction. The town is also served by the 21 bus from the Exo La Presqu'Île, terminating at the Vaudreuil train station.

Ferry to Oka

Since 1909, a ferry across the

has run from Hudson to Oka during the spring, summer and fall. Ferries are self-propelled and take ten to fifteen minutes to carry multiple automobiles, bike passengers, and foot passengers for a fee. Prior to the change to self-propelled ferries, a system of barges were towed across the lake by ropes attached to diesel powered

tugboat A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, suc ...

s. During the winter months, a tolled

ice bridge An ice bridge is a frozen natural structure formed over seas, bays, rivers or lake surfaces. They facilitate migration of animals or people over a water body that was previously uncrossable by terrestrial animals, including humans. The most signi ...

allows vehicular traffic between the two towns.

Water and sewage

Hudson has a municipal water and sewage system. The sewage system was built in the first decade of the 21st century and serves the central area of town. It is relatively common for houses outside the central area to use well water and/or a septic tank.

Municipal facilities

The town operates the Stephen Shaar Community Centre, teen centre (in the lower level of the community centre) and a municipal outdoor swimming pool. The town also has a number of parks, including St. Thomas Park (soccer fields behind the swimming pool), Thompson park (lakeside soccer fields), Benson Park (with a softball field, children's playground with outdoor hockey and skating rinks), Jack Layton Park (trails to Sandy Beach, picnic area and public boat launch) and Sandy Beach.

Education

The town has three schools, of which two are English (Mount Pleasant Elementary School & Westwood Senior, formerly Hudson High School) and one French (St-Thomas Elementary School), as well as six churches: one Baptist (Hudson Community Baptist Church ), one

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

(St-Thomas Aquinas), two

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

(St-James & St-Mary's), one United (Wyman), and one

Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America The Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America (RPCNA) is a Presbyterian church with congregations and missions throughout the United States, Japan, and Chile. Its beliefs—held in common with other members of the Reformed Presbyterian Globa ...

(Hudson-Saint-Lazare) Commission Scolaire des Trois-Lacs operates Francophone schools. * École Saint-Thomas

Lester B. Pearson School Board The Lester B. Pearson School Board (LBPSB, , CSLBP) is one of the largest school boards on the island of Montreal and one of the nine English school boards in the province of Quebec. It is headquartered in Dorval, Quebec. Established in 1998, ...

operates Anglophone schools.School Board Map
."

. Retrieved on September 28, 2017. * Mount Pleasant Elementary School * Westwood Senior Campus

Notable people

Jack Layton John Gilbert Layton (July 18, 1950 – August 22, 2011) was a Canadian politician and academic who served as the leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP) from 2003 to 2011 and leader of the Official Opposition in 2011. He previously sat on T ...

, former leader of the New Democratic Party * Patrick Watson, musician, best known for 2007 single "The great escape" * Paul Frappier was a Montreal-based Canadian entertainer, musician, and hip hop MC of Haitian origin, better known by his stage name Bad News Brown. * Jean-Paul L'Allier, former mayor of Quebec City * Vanessa Lengies, actress, best known for "Are you afraid of the dark", "Popular Mechanics For Kids",

American Dreams ''American Dreams'' is an American drama television series that ran on NBC for three seasons and 61 episodes, from September 29, 2002, to March 30, 2005. The show tells the story of the Pryor family of Philadelphia during the mid-1960s, with m ...

and

Glee Glee may refer to: * Glee (music), a type of English choral music * ''Glee'' (TV series), an American musical comedy-drama TV series, and related media created by Ryan Murphy * ''Glee'' (Bran Van 3000 album) * ''Glee'' (Logan Lynn album) * Gle ...

, *

Matthew Lombardi Matthew Lombardi (born March 18, 1982) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey center who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Calgary Flames, Phoenix Coyotes, Nashville Predators, Toronto Maple Leafs and Anaheim Ducks. Lomba ...

, NHL hockey player for the Toronto Maple Leafs (formerly Calgary Flames, Phoenix Coyotes, Nashville Predators) * A.M. Pattison, artist, commercial artist and architect * Daniel Shelton, comic artist, for syndicated comic strip

Ben Ben is frequently used as a shortened version of the given names Benjamin, Benedict, Bennett, Benson or Ebenezer, and is also a given name in its own right. Ben meaning "son of" is also found in Arabic as ''Ben'' (dialectal Arabic) or ''bin ...

. * Larry Smith, former Canadian Football League Commissioner and current Conservative Senator * Amanda Walsh, best known for being a MuchMusic VJ (2000–2004), as well as her role in film 'Ghosts of Girlfriends Past' (2009), and recurring roles in 'Sons & Daughters' and 'The Big Bang Theory' * Sam Goldberg Jr., musician, best known as member of Broken Social Scene *

Lorne Elliott Christopher Lorne Elliott, known by his stage name Lorne Elliott is a Canadian comedian, musician, author, and playwright. He is best known for his 11 years as host of the CBC Radio program '' Madly Off in All Directions''. Career Elliott first be ...

, comedian, musician and former presenter for

CBC Radio CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which (regardless of language) are outlined below ...

* P.J. Stock, former NHL hockey player for the New York Rangers, Montreal Canadiens, Philadelphia Flyers and Boston Bruins and current commentator on French-Canadian sports channel RDS * Kuno Wittmer, racing driver * David Greenblatt, race car driver and Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame inductee (1998) *

Lauren Chen Lauren Chen (born 1994 as Lauren Yu Sum Tam) is a Hong Kong-Canadian conservative political commentator and former YouTube personality. She has been involved with Glenn Beck's BlazeTV and Turning Point USA and has contributed opinion pieces to ...

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

political commentator and former

YouTuber A YouTuber is a content creator and social media influencer who uploads or creates videos on the online video-sharing website YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006 ...

References

External links

Town of Hudson official site

The Hudson Historical Society

Hudson Yacht Club

Annual Hudson Street Fair
* {{Authority control Cities and towns in Quebec Incorporated places in Vaudreuil-Soulanges Regional County Municipality Populated places on the Ottawa River Bilingual cities and towns in Quebec