Free Congregational Church

Hudson’s Free Congregational Church was established in this building by Owen Brown and several families that left the Congregational Church in a controversy over abolition. John Brown was one of the speakers to the new congregation. Locally, it was called the “Oberlin Church,” reflecting Oberlin College’s leadership role in the abolitionist movement. An area map from 1878 shows a restaurant in the building; it later became Hudson Ornamental Iron Works, run by Angelo Lavelli, father of Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee Dante Lavelli. It is now a commercial building with many alterations.

The original structure was one story. That story was subsequently raised and a lower floor was built underneath. The façade is symmetrical, with corner boards, a boxed cornice frieze and returns.