Hudson,
Wisconsin, sits on the western edge of the
cheesehead state and the eastern edge of the
Twin Cities metro area, roughly 30 minutes away from downtown
St. Paul.
Interstate 94 crosses the
St. Croix River here, leading out of the
Twin Cities towards
Madison. Hudson, on the
St. Croix River waterfront, is the
county seat of
St. Croix County, one of the fastest growing counties in
WI. It is also the largest city in the county, with
New Richmond the second largest. Hudson's
ZIP code is 54016.
According to the Census Bureau, in 1990 the City of Hudson's population was 6378, though it has jumped significantly since then. Officially the location of town is 44.96695 N, 92.74209 W.
Tales of Hudson, WI:
Hudson, unlike nearby outer-ring suburbs like Woodbury, Minnesota, has a strong industrial and commercial base which serves the rural agricultural population of the county. A sizeable factory called Niro Atomizer has manufactured agricultural components and provided employment for many years. Also, Phillips Plastics has a R&D lab in town. Hudson also has the only Target store, Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Menards, Fleet Farm and specialized retail goods in the area. To provincialist city folk, Hudson seems small and lame, but compared with what lies beyond in West-Central Wisconsin, it is almost cosmopolitan. Well, that's a bit of an exaggeration.
To the south lies River Falls, county seat of Pierce County, WI.
Of recent interest, there was a huge conflict over whether a failing dog track could be converted into a casino. Around May 13, 2001, Wisconsin Governor Scott McCallum finally rejected the casino application, claiming that it was not in the best interests of the surrounding community. Hopefully this draws to a close the divisive, long-running conflict spanning nearly a decade.
Census data: http://www.census.gov/cgi-bin/gazetteer?city=Hudson&state=WI&zip=