Indigenous oral histories, archaeological evidence,[3] and European settler documents attest to historic settlements of the Nipmuc people in present-day Marlborough and the surrounding area.

[4] Nipmuc settlements along the Assabet River intersected with the territories of three other related Algonquian-speaking peoples: the Massachusett, Pennacook, and Wampanoag.

During King Philip's War, English settlers forcibly evicted the Indias from their plantation, imprisoning and killing many of them; most survivors did not return after the conflict.

[2][5] The first recorded European settlement of the Hudson area occurred in 1698 or 1699 when settler John Barnes was granted 1 acre (0.40 ha) of Indian lands straddling both banks of the Assabet River.

[4] At least nine men[4] from the area fought with the Minutemen on April 19, 1775, as they harassed British troops along the trade route to Boston.

Business partners Phineas Sawyer and Jedediah Wood built a sawmill on Tannery Brook, a tributary stream of the Assabet River today crossed by Main Street, in the mid-1700s.

[2][8] By his own account, in response to this honor, Charles Hudson offered to donate $500 (~$10,405 in 2023) towards establishing a free public library.

[10] Electric trolley lines were built connecting Hudson with the towns of Leominster, Concord, and Marlborough, though these only remained in existence until the late 1920s.

[2][8] The factories in town continued to grow, attracting immigrants from England, Germany, Portugal, Lithuania, Poland, Greece, Albania, and Italy.

[2] In 2003 the Hudson Portuguese Club replaced its original Port Street clubhouse with a function hall and restaurant built on the same site.

[2][11] In 1888 three more Portuguese immigrants reached Hudson: eighteen-year-old José "Joseph" Braga, and António Chaves and his sister Maria.

[2] Another early Lithuanian immigrant was Michael Rimkus, who owned and operated a grocery store on the corner of Loring and Broad streets from 1908 to 1950.

[2] The community was large and active enough to support the social and recreational Lithuanian Citizens' Club, located on School Street from 1926 to 1960.

[22] In 2022 Ground Effect changed hands with the opening of Clover Road Brewing Company, in the same location with the same head brewer, but new ownership.

[2] Some light manufacturing and agricultural uses remain in the eastern end of town, a vestige of Hudson's dual agrarian and industrial history.

[24] Another canoe and kayak launch exists farther upstream behind Hudson High School, accessible via an unpaved parking lot on Chapin Street.

[24] There is also boat access downstream of the dam at Main Street Landing, accessible from the paved Assabet River Rail Trail parking lot on Main Street, and providing a few miles of paddling northeast until the mill dam in the Stow section of Gleasondale.

[24] On the border with Stow are Lake Boon, a popular vacation spot prior to the widespread adoption of the automobile but now a primarily residential neighborhood, and White Pond, which historically provided drinking water to Maynard and is still owned by that town.

[39][40] There are five positions on the Hudson Select Board, currently filled by Scott R. Duplisea, Judy Congdon, Diane G. Bemis, James D. Quinn, and Steven C.

Assabet Valley Regional Technical High School is open to students from Berlin, Hudson, Maynard, Northborough, Southborough, Westborough, and Marlborough.

The original structure was a two-story Beaux-Arts design typical of Carnegie libraries and other American public buildings of the early twentieth century.

Despite numerous additions over time the Carnegie building is mostly intact, including its original front entrance and handsome main stair.

As part of its collection HPL owns three oil paintings, each a portrait portraying one of the library's major benefactors: Charles Hudson, Lewis Dewart Apsley, and Andrew Carnegie.

[48] The majority of Hudson residents who practice a religion are likely Roman Catholics or Protestants, based on the churches existing in town.

[50] Such festivals are a common religious and sociocultural event in the Azores and in Portuguese communities of Azorean descent throughout the United States, Canada, and Brazil.

[51][52] In 1981 the parent Mar Thoma Syrian Church officially recognized this gathering as a congregation and part of its Diocese of North America and Europe.

[55] The Baptist portion of the federated congregation traces its origins to 1844, when Feltonville residents invited a revivalist preacher to hold services for them.

[55] The Congregational side of the church traces its origins to at least 1889, when Congregationalists from Hudson held meetings in downtown's Chase Block building.

[54][57] The congregation traces its origins back to early settler Phineas Sawyer, who converted to Methodism in 1789 and opened his home to Methodist meetings in 1800.

[citation needed] Christ the King was not closed by the Archdiocese and proceeds of its subsequent sale to the Tighe-Hamilton Funeral Home reverted directly to Saint Michael Parish.