William D. Hudson


Company Names, addresses, dates:1,2
  W. D. Hudson, 301 King Street, Alexandria VA (1875)
  W. D. Hudson, 172 King Street, Alexandria VA (1875)
  W. D. Hudson, 267 King Street, Alexandria VA (1881)
  W. D. Hudson, 265 King Street, Alexandria VA (1882-1888)
  William D. Hudson, 1113 King Street, Alexandria VA (1894-1897)
  William D. Hudson, 1201 Prince Street, Alexandria VA (1899-1900)
  William D. Hudson, 400 N Columbus Street, Alexandria VA (1901)
  Willie D. Hudson, 1300 King Street, Alexandria VA (1905-1913)
  Hudson's Pharmacy, 1300 King Street, Alexandria VA (1914-1917)

Notes:
 William Dennis Hudson (1851-1925)3 was a druggist in Alexandria VA between 1875 and 1917.1,2

A newspaper ad in the Alexandria Gazette on 27-Sep-1875 listed his drug store at 301 King Street, but an ad from a month later (30-Oct-1975) listed him at 172 King Street, which at the time was on the corner of King and Washington Streets (the street address numbers on King Street were re-numbered sometime between 1888-1894).

The 1881 Alexandria City directory listed his drug store at 267 King Street.
A paragraph in the Washington Post from Apr 28, 1882 said "Dr. W.D. Hudson has commenced the erection of a handsome new brick drug store on King street next to his present establishment."
That seems to have been 265 King Street1.
He stayed at that location until at least 1897, although the street number changed from 265 to 1113 at some point between 1888 and 1894. I looked on a Sanborn map from 1885, and the building at address 265 King appears to be at the location of modern-day 1113 King Street.

The 1899-1901 Alexandria city directories had him at a couple different addresses, and it appears that he left Alexandria for a few years, but by 1905 he had returned and had a drugstore at 1300 King Street, where he stayed until it closed down circa 19171.


Bottles:

hudson_01 book # 258 (in medicines section)
This is a clear 6.75" bottle embossed:
vertical:W. D. HUDSON / DRUGGIST / ALEXANDRIA, VA.
hudson_04 book # 259 (in medicines section)
This is a clear 2.6" bottle embossed:
vertical:HUDSON'S / WEST END PHARMACY / ALEXANDRIA, VA.
I could not find any newspaper ads or articles that referred to Hudson's pharmacy as "West End", however the address of 1300 King Street (1905-1917) is indeed on the West end of downtown Alexandria.



Other Items:
hudson_03 This building is at 1113 King Street (photo taken October 2013).
I don't know if this was the same building that housed Hudson's drug store from 1882-1897, but it's in the same location.


1 Alexandria VA city directories, 1881,88,97,1900,01,05-08,10-17,19
2 Additional dates/addresses are from ads in the Alexandria Gazette, 9/27/1875 p.3, 10/30/1875 p.2, 11/24/1881 p.3, 4/11/1882 p.5, 1/1/1884 p.2, 7/23/1886 p.2, 3/23/1894 p.5, 8/14/1899 p.4, 7/11/1901, 05/27/1903
3 Find-a-grave for William Dennis Hudson


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This page last updated on April 4, 2023.