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Henry Hudson was probably the first European explorer to visit the site of what is now the City of Hudson, in his ship the "Half Moon" in 1609. Mohican Indians inhabited the area then, and continued to habit the area until much later.

The Dutch arrived in the 17th Century. One of them, Franz VanHoesen purchased a large tract of land from the Indians. His farm included the area of Hudson, plus part of what is now Greenport. The area was called Claverack Landing and served as a port for the surrounding areas. The landing contained only a few stores, wharves, and a canoe ferry.

In 1783, a group of seafaring men from Massachusetts and Rhode Island were seeking a safe harbor for their vessels because of attacks by the British Navy. Led by Thomas Jenkins and his brother, Seth, they set out with the sum of $100,000 to find a safer place to live and do business. They investigated sites on Long Island Sound as well as the East River. They also considered a location in Poughkeepsie. When they saw Claverack Landing with its high bluffs, deep waters, and two bays, they appointed a committee which proceeded to buy large tracts of land, much more extensive than what is now Hudson. They purchased the land in the spring of 1783. By the Fall, two families had arrived. In the spring of 1784, more families arrived, some with houses which had been prefabricated in Nantucket.

This group, numbering no more than thirty, called themselves the Proprietors. A sizeable number of these individuals were Quakers. They made a pact that bound each individual to settle here personally or sell his holdings to the others "at first cost, without interest". They established rules and regulations and laid out the City on a grid pattern, with lots 50 x 120 feet. Gangways, twenty feet wide were laid out between long streets. In 1785, the City of Hudson became the first chartered city in the United States, the first chartered after the Declaration of Independence. It was the third City in the State.

A European traveler, here in 1788, wrote in his journal that in four years the area had emerged from a Dutch farm into the position of a commercial City with considerable population, warehouses, wharves,and docks, ropewalks, shipping and industry. The local economic mainstays of whaling, sealing, and international trade declined around 1810 because of English and American embargoes, but revived again in 1829. The discovery of petroleum in the middle 1800's decreased the demand for sperm whale oil. The coming of the railroads in the late 1840's closed off the north and south bays as port facilities and Hudson again declined.

Even as the railroads and steamboats sealed the fate of one era, they fostered the beginning of a new era. Hudson began a transition from a seaport to a small industrial city. While there had been gristmills, tanneries, foundries and breweries in early Hudson, the railroad enabled new industries to take shape in the 19th Century. Knitting and cotton mills were opened and brick yards flourished. The Allen Paper Car Wheel Works brought a measure of fame and fortune to the city and a myriad of other small manufacturers developed during this business boom.

The economy of the City of Hudson began to decline during the last quarter of the 19th Century. The decline in the local economy and the resultant lessening of demand for land, however, enabled the City to retain its architectural heritage, and the richest dictionaries of architectural history in the state. Ironically, it is the decline, and the lessening demand for land that preserved Hudson's history. Hudson's architectural heritage remains intact with many of its buildings on the National Register of Historic Places. Today, with the Hudson Valley as one of the primary "second home" destinations for New York City's wealthy elite, Hudson is experiencing a revitalization. In addition to being a living museum of early American architecture, during the past two decades Hudson has distinguished itself as a regional center for contemporary art.

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