H. J. and Cora Hudson House
Lorena, McLennan County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Herbert James Hudson (1849-1935), son of Philip S. and Ellen (Robertson) Hudson, was born in Cambridge, England, on April 24, 1849. After receiving a classical education in Latin and Greek at a British boarding school, and a customary tour of the continent, Hudson immigrated to the United States in 1870. He briefly lived as a sheep farmer in Nebraska before moving to Philadelphia. While living in Lynchburg, Virginia, Hudson met his future wife, Cora field (1858-1951), daughter of Methodist minister and veteran Staunton Field. When Cora and her widowed mother moved to Lorena in 1877, H.J. Hudson followed. They married on May 20, 1880. In 1881, H.J. and Cora purchased four city lots and began to construct their home. They lived in the single-walled two-story section on the south side of the house, which was constructed first and to which the main house was joined. In 1882, Hudson employed a German carpenter to build the main house. Exterior features include gingerbread trim, cypress siding, and 1880s doors and Sargent & Co. Locks on the west porch. One of the outstanding features of the home is the original leather wall and wainscot trim covering in the hall by the parlor. H.J. Hudson worked in the mercantile business as well as opening and serving as president of the private bank of Lorena (1894) and Lorena State Bank (1909). He was also a founding member of the masonic lodge in Lorena and assisted in building the Lorena United Methodist Church. The home remained in the Hudson family for more than 80 years. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark – 2017
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Herbert James Hudson, born in Cambridge, England, in 1849 and classically schooled in Latin and Greek, immigrated to the United States in 1870 and made his way to Lorena, Texas, following the family of the woman he would marry, Cora Field. In 1881 the couple bought four town lots and began building their home, hiring a German carpenter for the main house a year later. Adorned with gingerbread trim, cypress siding, and rare leather-covered hall walls, the house reflected Hudson's rise as a merchant, banker, and civic founder who helped build the town's Methodist church.
Why it matters
The Hudson house embodies the striving immigrant merchants who anchored the small railroad towns of Gilded Age Texas with banks, churches, and fine homes.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Herbert James Hudson
- · Cora Field Hudson
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Congregation Rodef Sholom
Waco, TX
Waco's Jewish community organized a benevolent association in 1869 and a B'nai B'rith lodge in 1873, holding Reform services in homes and rented rooms before formally founding Congregation Rodef Sholom—"pursuing peace"—in 1879. Led by figures such as Louis Migel and Sam Sanger, the forty founding families built their first synagogue on Washington Avenue in 1881 and a second on the same site in 1910. The congregation, with its Temple Sisterhood and later synagogue on North New Road, has continued a long tradition of service and philanthropy.
Congregation Agudath Jacob
Waco, TX
In 1870 only about fifty of Waco's residents were Jewish, but the Hebrew Benevolent Association, incorporated in 1873, gave the small community its first foothold. As political unrest drove heavy Eastern European Jewish migration in the 1880s, Waco's Jewish population grew rapidly, and in 1888 fifteen Orthodox families chartered Agudath Jacob, the city's first Orthodox congregation. From a rented room over a grocery store it grew through a series of synagogues, a religious school, and — by 1966 — a shift toward the Conservative movement, led for 62 years by the Rev. Samuel Levy.
Edward Ferdinant Forsgard
Waco, TX
Born in Waco in 1870 to Swedish immigrants, Edward "Fuzzy" Forsgard was touring the country as a marksman by age eleven and went on to hold the world trapshooting title in 1908. Beyond the shooting range he was a restless inventor, patenting an automatic restaurant dishwasher and other devices, and he served as a military shooting instructor at Waco's Rich Field during World War I. When he died in 1941 he was remembered as a champion, a patriot, and a family man.
Canuteson, Ole
Waco, TX
Born on Norway's Karmøy Island in 1832, Ole Knudson emigrated with his family to Illinois in 1850, Anglicizing the name to Canuteson. Drawn on by immigration promoter Cleng Peerson, they joined other Norwegian families in founding the Norse community of Bosque County, where Ole worked as a blacksmith, postmaster, and leader. In 1868 he moved to Waco and built a thriving machine shop and metal foundry.