I have started this blog with the thought of compiling a history of Hudson and Eden South Dakota. Hopefully, with my readers assistance, we will be able to gather a collection of memories and photos of this historical little village.
I own the old Milwaukee Road railroad depot in Hudson and I hope to be able to display many of these memories and photos when the depot is restored. I am particularly interested in old photos, negatives or slides of the area and its inhabitants. You can send the digital photos directly to me at rwkruid@aol.com or I can schedule a visit with you and scan the photos. The old photo negatives work particularly well with my scanner and I would really appreciate the chance to preserve or copy them. Many ancestors of our area residents arrived by train at the Hudson depot and I would like to compose a list of them and the dates that they arrived. I am also interested in finding some of the Eden Echo and Hudsonite newspapers. In the late 1960’s I found many Eden papers in an old house just down the street from Florence Berg. I gave them to my former school teacher, a Mrs. Scott when I was in the 7th grade and I would love to be able to track these newspapers down again.
I would also like to speak with someone who can point out the Eden town site. Is there anything left of the town? Any foundations, etc? Whitey (Robert) Fitch writes: "The old townsite of Eden is located one south and about three fourths of a mile west. It is now a corn field but when I was a kid in the fifties and early sixties it was John Gilman's pasture. There were foundations and holes where homes and businesses had been located and you could figure out how the town had been laid out. There was a deep hole in the Pattee Creek at the time I was growing up that we used as a swimming in hole so I walked and drove through that pasture dozens of times. My great grandpa came here in 1873. We have old letters that are addressed to Eden, Dakota Territory. My grandmother used to talk about the stage coach running from Sioux City to Sioux Falls. It stopped at Eden and then ran on the road past our farm and would stop if you flagged it down and you wanted to board. In the blizzard of 1881 my great grandfather and grandfather were coming back to the farm from Eden and got lost in the storm. They eventually hit a haystack on the Fowles farm (across the road from our place). They realized where they were and stayed put there until the storm let up and they could make it home". End of Fitch comments.
When my sons were little, I would take them to Pattee Creek and tell them that this was the best creek in the world. How it never ran dry and that I could always catch creek chubs or suckers out of it and I could seine the creek for minnows and crayfish. As a teenager, in the fall, I made more money than my dad did while trapping the Pattee Creek. My sons are now in their 20's and they still occassionally ask me "Dad what is the best creek in the world"? I cant wait to take my granddaughter to the "best creek in the world".
I had also heard of an old mill that once stood about ¼ mile north of the Iowa/SD bridge and I would like to find more info on it.
My grandfather, Henry Kruid as well as my father John Kruid, once owned the blacksmith shop in town and I am interested in photos and any tangible items that were an original part of the shop.
My father said that there were once several lumberyards and machinery dealerships in town. Does anyone have personal memories of them?
Who were our town fathers, are any of them your ancestors?
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Whitey Fitch wrote: The old townsite of Eden is located one south and about three fourths of a mile west. It is now a corn field but when I was a kid in the fifties and early sixties it was John Gilman's pasture. There were foundations and holes where homes and businesses had been located and you could figure out how the town had been laid out. There was a deep hole in the Pattee Creek at the time I was growing up that we used as a swimming in hole so I walked and drove through that pasture dozens of times.
My great grandpa came here in 1873. We have old letters that are addressed to Eden, Dakota Territory. My grandmother used to talk about the stage coach running from Sioux City to Sioux Falls. It stopped at Eden and then ran on the road past our farm and would stop if you flagged it down and you wanted to board.
In the blizzard of 1881 my great grandfather and grandfather were coming back to the farm from Eden and got lost in the storm. They eventually hit a haystack on the Fowles farm (across the road from our place). They realized where they were and stayed put there until the storm let up and they could make it home.
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