The Hudson Downtown Historic District is a historic district

Historic district (United States)

In the United States, a historic district is a group of buildings, properties, or sites that have been designated by one of several entities on different levels as historically or architecturally significant. Buildings, structures, objects and sites within a historic district are normally divided...

 comprising the downtown

Downtown

Downtown is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's core or central business district ....

 area of the city of Hudson

Hudson, Michigan

Hudson is a city in Lenawee County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 2,307 at the 2010 census. The city is located within Hudson Township, but is politically independent.-Geography:...

 in westernmost Lenawee County

Lenawee County, Michigan

-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 98,890 people, 35,930 households, and 26,049 families residing in the county. The population density was 132 people per square mile . There were 39,769 housing units at an average density of 53 per square mile...

, Michigan

Michigan

Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

. It was designated as a Michigan Historic Site

Michigan State Historic Preservation Office

The Michigan State Historic Preservation Office is in charge of the listing of historic resources of local, state, and national interest in the U.S. state of Michigan, including buildings, lighthouses, bridges, historic districts, and many other properties deemed important to the history of Michigan...

 on January 21, 1974. It was later added to the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

 on December 24, 1974.

The district traces its origins to the founding of Hudson with the arrival of the railways in 1837. Located along the Tiffin River

Tiffin River

The Tiffin River is a tributary of the Maumee River in northwestern Ohio in the United States. Headwater tributaries of the river rise in southeastern Michigan. The river drains a primarily rural farming region in the watershed of Lake Erie. Early French traders called the river Crique Féve,...

, Hudson served as an important trading center from 1854–1891. Most of the original wooden buildings were destroyed in a fire in 1858, and two and three story brick buildings replaced them. The Hudson Downtown Historic District encompasses West Main Street (M-34

M-34 (Michigan highway)

M-34 is an east–west state trunkline highway in the southeastern region of the US state of Michigan. It has a western terminus near Osseo on M-99 and runs through forest and farm lands to its eastern terminus at Business US Highway 223 and M-52 in Adrian...

) between Howard Street on the west and Market Street on the east. It extends to the north to Railroad Street and south to Seward Street. The Dr. Leonard Hall House

Dr. Leonard Hall House

The Dr. Leonard Hall House was a private resident located at 334 West Main Street in Hudson in westernmost Lenawee County, Michigan. It was designated as a Michigan Historic Site on April 4, 1978 and later added to the National Register of Historic Places on October 2, 1978.The house was a 1½...

was located at 334 West Main Street within the district, although that property has since been demolished.