By DAVID LEE
HUDSON–Working in Collaboration with the City of Hudson, the Spark of Hudson held a fall festival in the Charles Williams Park at 246 Mill Street on Saturday, October 19. The event featured many activities for children and much information about the proposed revitalization of the park which sits at the dead end of Mill Street tucked between the steep to the end of 3rd Street and the capped landfill known as the North Bay Recreation Area.
The park’s location puts it at the center of an area bordered by the Empire State Trail, the Hudson dog park, the river and soon to be developed Furgary waterfront area, the North Bay, and it is three blocks to the center of the city.
Poster boards showing proposed upgrades to the park were displayed by the firm of Starr Whitehouse Landscape Architects who have an office on Warren Street. The company is responsible for the redesign of the Promenade Hill Park entrance at the bottom of Warren Street and have been contracted to redesign the 7th Street Park at the top of Warren Street, a project scheduled to commence some time next year.
New features will include pickle ball courts, a new basketball court, new play equipment including a nature play area, trees and walking paths and bathrooms and possibly some form of a splash pad. Funding for the project has been accomplished through private grant money raised by Spark of Hudson.
The Charles Williams Park was established in 2007. Signage indicates that it was a New York State Environmental Protection Fund project. Eliot Spitzer was the governor, Carol Ash was the commissioner of New York State Department of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, and Richard Tracy was the mayor of Hudson.
According to research by Gossips of Rivertown’s Carole Osterink, Charles Williams was the superintendent of Hudson Public Schools in the early 20th century. The building at 3rd and Robinson that is now the Second Ward Foundation was originally the Charles S. Williams Memorial School. It was built in 1924 and dedicated in Mr. Williams’ name two years after his death in 1922. The park area was a playground for the school.
The Spark of Hudson is an organization dedicated to building community both with talents of its staff and the office and meeting spaces in its building at 502 Union Street in Hudson, an “educational hub. We are more than just a building; we are a community of change makers, where ideas come to life, connections are forged and dreams are realized,” according to their website at www.sparkofhudson.org/overview
