Founding year: the first Hudson Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Hudson Township’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Hudson Township is more historic than 78% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Hudson Township’s overall grade.
Few Illinois towns list much on the Register (a typical Illinois town has 0.5 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Hudson Township’s 4.0 sits above most of its state (73% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B+ to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±9.0 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Hudson Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Hudson was laid out by Horatio Petit on August 13, 1836. It was one of eight towns founded in McLean County during the great real estate boom that swept through central Illinois between 1835 and 1837. It also shares the distinction of being one of two "colonial" settlements in the county; the other was the Rhode Island colony in the southwestern part of the county. Traditional sources say that the town was named for the town of Hudson in Columbia County, New York, which, so it was said, was the home of its early settlers. However, in her book on the Hudson Colony, Ruth Biting Hamm has pointed out that, while some settlers were from Queens County, New York, none came from near the town of Hudson. She suggests that it is more likely town was simply named for the Hudson River.
Passages that mention Hudson Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of McLean County, Illinois1924 · page 663Read the page →
Read the text
William Humphries was reared on his father's farm and attended the Hudson Township district schools. He has always followed farming and has lived on his present farm in Hudson Township since 1877. The land was owned by his father, who was about to build a home on it at the time of his death. Mr. Humphries and his mother then built it. The Humphries farm has been owned by only three parties since the land was entered from the government. Mr. Humphries has good buildings and good equipment on his farm and he is known as a breeder of pure-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Hudson Township. — The township and village of Hudson took their names from Hudson, New York, which had formerly been the home of some of the men who organized a colony and entered most of the land
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
By decade
No old photos in the archives yet
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Hudson Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1926Normal sheet · 1:62,500
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Hudson Township.
On the National Register
1 historic place in Hudson Township
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
People over time
Hudson Township, census by census
Between 273 and 1,838 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Hudson Township’s Wikipedia page.
Places that used to be
Places now gone and burying grounds
Gone or out of use
Herring SchoolschoolHolder SchoolschoolKaufman SchoolschoolOneida SchoolschoolPleasant Grove SchoolschoolSkinner SchoolschoolUnion Schoolschool
5cemeteries and burying grounds inside Hudson Township
HavensHinthornHudsonKaufmanMesser
Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Hudson Township post office opened in 1836, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Hudson Township rank for history?
Hudson Township is more historic than 78% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
How old are the homes in Hudson Township?
16% of Hudson Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±9.0 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1977.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
