Best Web Design in Hudson, MI (2026)

Web Design for Hudson, Michigan

Hudson is a small city in westernmost Lenawee County that grew up on the Tiffin River in the old "Bean Creek Valley," and it carries the motto "Small Town Big Heart." It is the hometown of Gilded Age poet Will Carleton and the home of a high school football team whose 72-game winning streak stood as a national record for more than two decades.

AppWT serves Hudson and the surrounding Michigan area from Livonia, Michigan.

About Hudson

Also known as. "Small Town Big Heart" (city motto). Bean Creek Valley / Bean Creek Country (historic name for the area). Lanesville (original settlement name).

History. The first settlement on the site was made by Hiram Kidder on October 29, 1833. A post office was established in 1836 under the name Lanesville, then renamed Hudson (for original landowner Dr. Daniel Hudson) to match the township after the railroad arrived around 1837. Merchants opened stores on the Tiffin River in the early 1840s, forming the commercial core. The Lenawee County Fair, Michigan's longest-running fair (since 1839), moved to Hudson in 1854 before later relocating to Adrian. Hudson incorporated as a city in 1893. The downtown was named a Michigan Historic Site on January 21, 1974 and added to the National Register of Historic Places on December 24, 1974.

Local economy. Supported today by small business, tourism and several manufacturing facilities. Hi-Lex Controls runs a Hudson production center making mechanical control cables (for items such as parking brakes and liftgate releases) for the automotive industry, and is a major area employer; the parent company was founded in 1946 and employs more than 12,000 associates globally. Other local manufacturing includes carbon and stainless steel machining, metal stamping, and screw-machine products. Historically a 19th-century mercantile and dry-goods trading center whose brick storefronts still line downtown.

Culture and community. Hudson High School Tigers football is central to community identity; the team won the MHSAA Division 7 state championship in 2010. October 21 is Will Carleton Day in Michigan, and a 1919 state law (Public Act 51 of 1919) once required teachers to teach at least one Carleton poem to students. The Hudson Museum, operated by the Bean Creek Valley Historical Society, sits at 219 W. Main Street. The Hudson Carnegie District Library holds a collection of Will Carleton's poetry.

What makes Hudson distinct. The Tigers' 72-game winning streak (from Week 2 of the 1968 season through the 1975 Class C Final) set a national high school football record that stood for 22 years; during the run Hudson outscored opponents by roughly 33 to 5 and posted 35 shutouts before losing the 1975 state final to Ishpeming. Native son Will Carleton's 1872 poem "Over the Hill to the Poor House" became a national sensation and inspired films in 1908, 1912, 1920 and 1931. The city was originally named Lanesville before taking the Hudson name from an early landowner. The area was long known as "Bean Creek Valley," after the creek (also mapped as the Tiffin River) that runs through it.

Small rural city in westernmost Lenawee County set on Bean Creek (the Tiffin River), with a well-preserved 19th-century brick commercial downtown; the city uses the motto "Small town, big heart"

Notable. Hudson High School's football team won 72 straight games from 1968 to 1975, at the time a national high school record and still the longest winning streak in Michigan High School Athletic Association history.

Hudson Landmarks and Local Life

• Hudson Downtown Historic District - Downtown commercial district of about 50 mostly two- and three-story brick buildings from the late 1800s, on the Tiffin River; listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 24, 1974
• Hudson Museum - Three-story downtown museum in the former Thompson Savings Bank building at 219 W. Main Street, run by the nonprofit Hudson Area Historical Society, housing natural history and Civil War artifacts
• Hudson Town Clock - An 1859 timepiece brought to Hudson in 1874; its mechanism remains in the Seewald building downtown and was restored in 1982, maintained by the Hudson Public Library
• Will Carleton Park - City park at the north edge of Hudson off Cadmus Road, with three picnic shelters, a playground, two ball fields, a tennis court and a concession stand
• Bean Creek Trail - Paved, ADA-compliant multi-use pathway opened in 2002 that follows Bean Creek (the Tiffin River), part of the city's six-trail pathway network connecting downtown and the parks

Hudson at a Glance

U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2023.

• Median household income: $57,500
• Adults with a bachelor degree or higher: 13.9%
• Housing: 72.6% of occupied housing units are owner-occupied
• Housing: 85.6% of housing units are single-family detached homes

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