The North Hudson post office opened in 1850, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Schroon River (1842), Blue Ridge (1891) and Underwood (1892), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 561 in 18502020 census: 250176 years
Founding year: the first North Hudson post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
What stands out about North Hudson’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The region was first settled circa 1800. Early pioneers chose the southeastern part of the town.
The town was formed in 1848 from the town of Moriah. Early industry was based on tanning, owing to the presence of hemlock bark from the forests. Later, the trees were harvested for wood pulp.
By the end of the 19th century, the tourist trade began to predominate, especially at Underwood and Elk Lake. The theme park Frontier Town, a Wild West themed family tourist attraction, operated here from 1952 to 1998. The closure of Frontier Town had a severe negative impact on the town's economy. In 2018, Frontier Town reopened as Adirondack campground and day-use area.
It may be added here that Congressman Pond died of "camp fever" contracted while serving his country in a military capacity at Plattsburgh and that he was buried in Pine Ridge cemetery, in what is now the town of North Hudson. His tombstone bears this epitaph nor which were truer words ever chiseled on enduring marble. "Thus entombed the remains of him
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.
Timeline
North Hudson, 1842 to 1963
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), 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.
2025
