Elizur Wright Jr. House

Elizur Wright, Jr. came to Hudson from Connecticut and served as professor of mathematics at Western Reserve College from 1829 until 1833. He resigned from the college in 1833 during the Abolition/Colonization controversy and soon became nationally known for his abolitionist activities. From Hudson, he moved to New York, where he edited an anti-slavery magazine, Human Rights. He was secretary of the Anti-Slavery Society of America in Boston in 1838 and edited the Massachusetts Abolitionist. Among his other literary efforts were an introduction to the poems of John Greenleaf Whittier and a published translation of LaFontaine. He was called the “Father of American Life Insurance,” for his work on actuarial tables and served as insurance commissioner for Massachusetts.

Master builder Leander Starr built this house in an architectural style reminiscent of very early Connecticut houses. It is the only gambrel-roofed house in Hudson’s Historic District, and perhaps the Western Reserve. The Federal style entryway is excellently done, with delicately proportioned pilasters, sidelights and a wide elliptical transom, enclosed in an elliptical door casing. The 12/12 windows are reproductions.