Hudson's Department Store

Hudson's Department Store was a major independent retail department store chain based in Detroit during the first three-quarters of the Twentieth Century. At one time Hudson's was the second largest department store (next to Macy's of New York) in the US.

Founded by Joseph Hudson, the store thrived during the growth of Detroit and the auto industry during the first half of the 1900s. The family also founded the Hudson automobile company which eventually became part of American Motors.

Hudson expanded into suburban Detroit, starting with a store in Northland Mall in nearby Southfield, Michigan, the first large shopping mall in the US. The Flagship Hudson's store closed in 1983, at the peak of Downtown Detroit's decline, and was imploded 15 years later in 1998.

The department store chain was merged into the Dayton-Hudson retail firm in 1969, which itself took the name of its largest and most successful brand, Target, in 2000. One year later, the Target Corporation changed the names of all its remaining department stores, including Hudson's, to Marshall Fields, a banner already owned by Target.

J.L. Hudson Timeline (Detroit Free Press)