Joseph Lowthian Hudson (October 17, 1846 – July 5, 1912), a.k.a. J. L. Hudson, was the merchant who founded the

Hudson's The J. L. Hudson Company (commonly known simply as Hudson's) was an upscale retail department store chain based in Detroit, Michigan. Hudson's flagship store, on Woodward Avenue in Downtown Detroit (demolished October 24, 1998), was the talles ...

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store under one roof, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store mad ...

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

. Hudson also supplied the seed capital for the establishment, in 1909, of Roy D. Chapin's automotive venture, which Chapin named the

Hudson Motor Car Company The Hudson Motor Car Company made Hudson and other branded automobiles in Detroit, Michigan, U.S., from 1909 until 1954. In 1954, Hudson merged with Nash-Kelvinator to form American Motors Corporation (AMC). The Hudson name was continued through ...

in honor of J. L. Hudson.

Biography

Hudson was born in

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , Received Pronunciation, RP: ), is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located o ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, and immigrated with his family to

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...

Canada West The Province of Canada (or the United Province of Canada or the United Canadas) was a British colony in British North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, in the Report ...

, when he was nine; by the age of fourteen he and members of his family were residing in

. His brother William moved to

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...

, in 1896, to operate a branch of the Hudson's store until his death in 1928. While Hudson began his career in merchandising with family members and other outside partners, he founded what would provide the basis for Hudson's Department Stores in 1881 inside a shop at the

Detroit Opera House The Detroit Opera House is an ornate opera house located at 1526 Broadway Street in Downtown Detroit, Michigan, within the Grand Circus Park Historic District. The 2,700-seat venue is the home of productions of the Detroit Opera and a variety o ...

. Hudson at first focused on men's and boy's wear. The retail operation succeeded by setting low prices and a return policy that favored the customer. As business volume grew, Hudson added sales professionals and additional lines of goods, including women's clothing and housewares. Hudson incorporated his venture in 1891 as the J.L. Hudson Company. In addition to providing the seed capital for

, J.L. Hudson was also involved the American Vapor Stove Company, Dime Savings Bank of Detroit, American Exchange National Bank, the Detroit City Gas Company, and the Third National Bank of Detroit. When the Third National Bank collapsed in the

financial panic of 1893 The Panic of 1893 was an economic depression in the United States. It began in February 1893 and officially ended eight months later. The Panic of 1896 followed. It was the most serious economic depression in history until the Great Depression of ...

, Hudson felt personally liable for the failure and paid from his personal accounts an amount equal to the balances of record held by each account holder. The move cost Hudson $265,000, however, the good will that it showed also paid Hudson dividends in the form of increasing market share for his businesses. Hudson was also active in civic causes in the greater Detroit area. Hudson never married, but toward the end of his life, he was engaged to Eida Caroline Schmidt, though he died from a lung problem while on a business trip on July 5, 1912, before they could marry. Some sources list his place of death as

Worthing Worthing ( ) is a seaside town and borough in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 113,094 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Br ...

, England, while some newspaper accounts list the place of death as

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. His remains were returned to New York City aboard the . From New York, Hudson's

casket Casket or caskets may refer to: * Coffin, a box used for the display and interment of corpses * Casket (decorative box), a decorated container, usually larger than about in width and length, but smaller than a chest ** Chasse (casket), a decora ...

was carried to Detroit by train accompanied by members of his family. Services were held July 19, 1912, at Central Methodist Church before interment at

Woodlawn Cemetery Woodlawn Cemetery is the name of several cemeteries, including: Canada * Woodlawn Cemetery (Saskatoon) * Woodlawn Cemetery (Nova Scotia) United States ''(by state then city or town)'' * Woodlawn Cemetery (Ocala, Florida), where Isaac Rice and fa ...

. According to biographer Edward L. Lack Jr., Hudson left no personal papers, and the details outside of his public life are few and mostly unknown. Hudson's niece Eleanor Lowthian Clay (1896–1976) was the wife of

Edsel Ford Edsel Bryant Ford (November 6, 1893 – May 26, 1943) was an American business executive and philanthropist, who was the only child of pioneering industrialist Henry Ford and his wife, Clara Jane Bryant Ford. He was the president of Ford Motor C ...

References

External links

How J.L. Hudson changed the way we shop

Hudson's hundredth 1881-1981 (booklet)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hudson, Joseph Lowthian 1846 births 1912 deaths American businesspeople in retailing British emigrants Immigrants to the United States Businesspeople from Detroit Businesspeople from Newcastle upon Tyne People in the automobile industry Hudson Motor Car Company American company founders Burials at Woodlawn Cemetery (Detroit) 19th-century American businesspeople

Biography

References

Further reading

External links