Henry Hudson Monument

Not much is known of Henry Hudson’s early years. Historians can deduce, however, that he was born in England around 1565 and that he was a skilled navigator and very knowledgeable of Arctic geography. In 1607, Hudson received funding from the Muscovy Company of London to embark on a journey to discover the famous Northwest Passage, a sea route through the Arctic connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The expedition, unfortunately, failed. The following year, however, the Muscovy Company financed a second attempt, which also failed. In 1609, the Dutch East India Company commissioned Hudson to make a third attempt at discovering the Northwest Passage. Sailing on the Halve Maen (Dutch for “Half Moon”), Hudson dropped anchor in what is now New York Harbor before entering the river that now bears his name. After sailing 150 miles upstream and noticing that the river was narrowing, he and his crew decided to turn back at what is now Albany. 

The following year, the British East India Company and the Muscovy Company teamed up to fund Hudson’s fourth attempt at discovering the Northwest Passage. In April 1610, Hudson and his crew set sail from London aboard the Discovery. After passing through a narrow strait believed to be a possible entry point to the Northwest Passage, Hudson observed the waters suddenly open up. Not long after, however, Hudson realized that he had not discovered the Northwest Passage, but rather a massive bay. In June 1611, while sailing in the bay on the return home, two disgruntled crew members led a mutiny aboard the ship. They placed Hudson, his son, and several sick crew members in a small open boat and cast them adrift. None of the men were ever heard from again.  

In 1906, New York civic leaders organized the Hudson-Fulton Celebration to commemorate the 300th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s voyage aboard the Halve Maen and the centennial of Robert Fulton’s successful steamboat journey up the Hudson River. A committee devised a plan to not only erect a monument in Hudson’s honor, but also build a bridge connecting the Inwood district of Manhattan to the Spuyten Duyvil neighborhood of the Bronx. It commissioned sculptor Karl Bitter to create a bronze statue of Hudson and the architectural firm of Babb, Cook and Welch to design a 100-foot-tall Doric column. The ambitious project, however, stalled by the mid-1910s when funds ran out and Bitter tragically died in a car accident. 

A few decades later, in 1935, New York City Parks Commissioner Robert Moses revived the project as part of his plan for the construction of the Henry Hudson Parkway. Sculptor Karl Gruppe, a student of Karl Bitter, redesigned the bronze statue of Hudson (Bitter had only completed a model of the statue by the time of his death) and created two seven-foot bronze reliefs (one depicting Hudson receiving his commission from the Dutch East India Company and the other portraying the first fur trading post in Manhattan) to be placed near the base of the column. Finally, on January 6, 1938, the monument was dedicated. 

Caswell, John Edwards. "Henry Hudson." Encyclopaedia Britannica. Web. 30 November 2020 <https://www.britannica.com/biography/Henry-Hudson>.

"Henry Hudson Monument." New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. The City of New York. Web. 30 November 2020 <https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/henry-hudson-park/highlights/11789>.

"Henry Hudson Park." New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. The City of New York. Web. 30 November 2020 <https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/henry-hudson-park/history>.

History.com Editors. "Henry Hudson." History. A&E Television Networks. 12 September 2018. Web. 30 November 2020 <https://www.history.com/topics/exploration/henry-hudson>.