Charles Williams Has a Buyer

Since the City of Hudson acquired it back in 2003, in exchange for the lot on Columbia Street where county health department building now stands, the Charles Williams School has stood vacant but not for want of plans to reuse it. First it was going to house the police department and city court. Then it was going to be an intergenerational center. Then a plan was floated to make it the location of HCSD's Alternative Learning Program combined with a C-GCC satellite site and a business incubator. Most recently it was going to be the county's emergency shelter for women and children. The good news is that it's not going to be any of those things.

The City intended to sell the building at a public auction on October 17. No one showed up for the auction, but bidding for the building happened anyway. Last night at the Common Council Finance Committee meeting, Treasurer Eileen Halloran announced the winning bidders: Steve Johnson and Walter Sudol, who offered $275,000. Other bidders were Colin Stair, the Islamic Community Center, and a fourth party.

Johnson and Sudol, who have a house in Ancram, plan to use the prewar school building for artists' studio space and to exhibit their own art collection. They have expressed their intention of restoring its original interior configuration.

Guide to Living in a Historic House

I just learned that the Landmark Society of Western New York in Rochester has posted their comprehensive guide to living in a historic house on their website. Since virtually everyone in Hudson lives in an old house, it might be a useful document to be aware of. For anyone reading this blog who is on the Hudson Historic Preservation Commission, it may be something you would want to bring to the attention of those who come before you and the community in general.

Today Is Dutch-American Heritage Day

November 16 is Dutch-American Heritage Day. It was proclaimed so by Congress and the first President Bush in 1991 because on November 16 in 1776 Dutch forces on the Caribbean island of St. Eustatius returned the salute of the American brig-of-war Andrew Doria, making the Netherlands the first country to salute the flag of the new United States. In 1782, the Netherlands was also the first country to recognize formal diplomatic relations with the United States.

Of course, Dutch-American Heritage Day is of particular interest to me since I'm of Dutch origin--descended not from the Dutch who settled here in the Hudson River Valley in the seventeenth century but from the Dutch who immigrated to America in the nineteenth century and settled in southwestern Michigan. For anyone who's interested, I'm including a link to an opinion piece that appeared yesterday in the Holland Sentinel, the newspaper of the city where I grew up. If curiosity compels you to read it, you will understand why I accompanied this post with a picture of wooden shoes I danced in when I was in high school.