On June 26, 1799, David Hudson - descendant of explorer Henry Hudson - arrived at the land he had purchased in the Western Reserve. The town he founded there would bear his name.

David Hudson, previously an agnostic, had converted to Christianity in the 1790s. He recruited investors to buy land in the northeast Ohio wilderness so they could build a town on four guiding principles: religion, morality, observance of law and education.

In the town, Hudson built a church and founded Western Reserve College, now Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. He served as justice of the peace, postmaster and innkeeper.

Hudson, Ohio, would come to be known as a center of abolitionist activity and a major stop on the Underground Railroad. David Hudson's frame house - which still stands - was one of the stations.

Rebecca Goodman

E-mail rgoodman@enquirer.com or call (513) 768-8361