Hudson After Whaling
The whaleship Martha owned by Alexander Jenkins, a descendant of one of the original Proprietors, was the last whaling voyage out of Hudson and was sold in 1845 to Sag Harbor, after returning from the Indian Ocean. The sight and smells of the whaling vessels arriving at the Hudson waterfront and the related industries were soon a thing of the past, ending a colorful chapter in the city’s history.
The Hudson economy fluctuated with the industrial progress of the 19th century. With innovations such as steamboats, railroads, electricity and petroleum, the need for sperm and whale oil declined and it was the beginning of the end of the global whaling industry. A number of new industries entered the Hudson economy after 1850, some lasting for decades and others just a few years. A sampling of these industries included:
Clapp & Jones steam fire engine, looking over remains of South Bay, Rowles Studio. The company was located near present day Basilical.
Alice Hallenbeck collection, Hudson Area Library
- Clapp and Jones, Inc. - fire engine and hose carriers
- Columbia County Iron Works and Hudson Iron Company
- Hunt and Miller’s Stove Works - parlor stoves and kitchen ranges
- C.H. Evans Co., Waterbury & Peabody, and Granger & Gregg - breweries
- The Hudson and The Gifford Brothers Foundry and Machine Shops
- Union Knitting Mills and two small knitting mills on Underhill Pond
Many of these businesses continued into the 20th century, however like other industrial northeastern towns, Hudson’s economy continued to rise and fall. After continued growth through the 1950s, a steep economic decline occurred in the 1960s and 1970s following the loss of jobs in the manufacturing sector. Today the city of Hudson has a population of 6,000 residents, about the same number that it had in 1845. Hudson now has an economy mostly based on tourism and its related services, including an active arts scene, restaurants, and retail.
View of Hudson Looking West from Mt. Ray, late 1800s, Rowles Studio
Alice Hallenbeck collection, Hudson Area Library
Hudson looks very different than it did two hundred years ago, but there are a few remaining houses reflecting the Nantucket style brought to Hudson by the Proprietors located on Warren and Union Streets. There is a train station near where there once was a shipyard, and the Wick Hotel where there was once a candle and soap factory. There is a boat launch parking lot where whaling ships once docked on large wharves. The Hudson Basilica, The Caboose and the Antiques Warehouse stand in what was once South Bay and would be under water today but the advent of railroads and the Hudson Iron Works resulted in the filling in of 90 acres of that bay.
Although whaling never ended up being the primary economic driving force behind Hudson’s prosperous development, it nevertheless is significant in how the city views its history. Everywhere you go in Hudson today, there is whale imagery - from street signs to logos, from hotel names to Instagram accounts, the romance of the whale still exists.
Whalebone on Warren between 5th and 6th streets, late 19th c. Rowles Studio Photo
This whalebone is now located at the Robert Jenkins House, 113 Warren Street, Hudson, N.Y., the home of the Hendrick Hudson Chapter of the National Daughters of the American Revolution.
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Additional Resources:
Occupations of Hudson Residents (PDF), from Hudson Directory, 1851-2 (compiled by Carol Pledger, 2025)
"Waterfront Development in 1851," The Gossips of Rivertown (website), by Carole Osterink, March 19, 2017
Whalemen’s Shipping List, and Merchants’ Transcript (PDF) Volume XII, Number 18, July 4, 1854, first published in New Bedford in 1843 with the “…latest advices of every vessel engaged in the whaling business, together with the prices current of our staple commodities, and interesting items of commercial intelligence.” The List was the main source of information on American whaling vessels throughout the second half of the 19th and early part of the 20th centuries. Whaling in Hudson had ended a decade earlier, however the Golden Age of Whaling in America was at its peak during the 1850s.
Whaling and Maritime Commerce Collection, Hudson Area Library History Room, Hudson, NY