By: Maria Allard | Roseville-Eastpointe Eastsider | Published April 30, 2025
EASTPOINTE — Ask local historian Bruce Allen Kopytek anything about the J.L. Hudson’s Department Store, and the Rochester Hills resident will probably know the answer.
The author of “Hudson’s Detroit’s World-Famous Department Store” discussed the store’s history during a presentation April 15 at the Eastpointe Memorial Library.
Many metro Detroiters shopped at the original Hudson’s Department Store in downtown Detroit. The red-brick building took up a city block along Woodward Avenue that stretched to Farmer Street, Gratiot Avenue and Grand River Avenue measuring 220 feet by 420 feet. Sometimes people got on a bus to go downtown just to shop at the flagship store.
Joseph Lowthian Hudson, born in 1846 in England, opened the first J.L. Hudson clothier on April 2, 1881, on the ground floor of the Detroit Opera House. In 1891, he built his “big store,” which became the famed Hudson’s Department Store.
There were different business deals and developments along the way. Hudson’s went from being a clothing store to a department store because of its one-time relationship with the Symington Co., which sold furniture, rugs, drapes and crockery.
“By the time his store was on its feet, Hudson paid back all his creditors, 40 cents on the dollar that he owed them,” Kopytek said. “Doing the right thing, he built his business up.”
A shopper’s delight
“Hudson’s was everything to everybody. Their heyday really was the late ’40s, ’50s, ’60s. The first floor was always busy with people. Salespeople helped people to make a decision,” Kopytek said. “The most exclusive floor was the Woodward shops on the seventh floor. That was like an enclave for designers. They had two other floors of women’s fashions, a children’s floor on the fourth floor, and a whole floor of men’s wear on the second floor.”
Hudson’s merchandise of fashions, watches, coins, toys and more came from a warehouse on Beaubien Street. The top of the Hudson’s Tower stood 410 feet above ground with a 110-foot flagpole on top. There were 25 floors, four basements, and three mezzanines, Kopytek said. The store had the world’s largest telephone exchange in the 1950s, and riding the elevators was just part of the overall experience.
“There was that one aisle, and it was lined with elevators. You had the elevator operators who would tell you what was on each floor. That was the main transportation mode in the store,” Kopytek said. “There were globe lights, two of them, above each elevator door that would flash when it was going up and going down.”
The store featured 2,600 windows, was equipped with 20 freight elevators, and customers enjoyed meals at various restaurants, including the Mezzanine Tea Room, basement fountain and lunch counter, and the Riverview Room. The Maurice Salad was its famous staple. The retailer was a popular destination at Christmastime because it sparkled with its holiday displays, animated windows, and tree of lights.
‘They made Hudson’s what it was’
Kopytek said Hudson took care of his employees. The businessman kept a stack of $20 bills in his desk, and whenever a staff member experienced financial challenges, he’d pull out some cash for them. Hudson also donated land for the Michigan State Fair and provided funding to build Detroit’s largest YMCA on Grand Circus Park.
By 1910, Hudson insisted the store have a hospital for employees and customers. That same year, he bought an estate on the Detroit River on the Canadian side as a vacation home for employees.
“They weren’t terribly well paid, but they could go for a two-week vacation where there was tennis, hiking, swimming, games,” Kopytek said. “It was a nice place to stay, good food. They had to pay for it, but it was cheap.”
The entrepreneur died while vacationing in England in 1912. Hudson was engaged late in life, but never married. With no heirs, his four nephews took over the business. Oldest nephew Richard Webber became the president, twin siblings James and Joseph were merchandisers, and the fourth brother, Oscar, was “the operations guy.”
“They were brilliant. They made Hudson’s what it was,” Kopytek said. “They treated customers well, so that’s why people literally loved the store.”
One way they accomplished that was by opening a budget store, an idea from Oscar.
“Their store was very exclusive and very expensive,” Kopytek said. “Why not let other people come in and buy Hudson’s quality? So, they had the basement budget store. It was a huge success.”
Hudson’s expanded into suburban Detroit malls, and the downtown store began to decline in the late 1960s. It closed in 1983, and in 1998 the building was demolished.
‘Hudson’s had a richness to it.’
Carolyn Eggleston, 70, and Darolyn Brown, 69, were friends at Cass Tech High School in Detroit when they began shopping at Hudson’s.
“We would just open the door and you could smell the fragrance,” Eggleston, of Warren, said.
“She’s right about the fragrance,” Brown, an Eastpointe resident, said. “Hudson’s had a richness to it. It felt high society to me. It had that reputation. I liked the mezzanine. I liked to look at books.”
Eggleston took her children to Hudson’s to see the Black Santa Claus for Christmas. It meant a lot to her that staff did that for families. The store also had a white Santa for kids. Both she and Brown felt “sad” when the store imploded. Brown, a local poet who has given readings at the library, “loved” Kopytek’s presentation.
“I liked how he talked about how (staff) made you want to come (to Hudson’s),” Brown said. “That was fascinating that they had a hospital on the top floor.”
Yula Dortman, 75, attends many library events. She grew up in the Appalachian Mountains in Pound, Virginia, and never had a chance to shop at Hudson’s. She had heard “so much” about it over the years, so she attended the presentation, which she found “interesting.”
“I wanted to see what was so great about it,” said the Eastpointe resident, who probably would have been a regular customer. “I could have spent my money there. It’s too bad it went into demise. It’s sad that it’s gone.”
For more information on Bruce Allen Kopytek, visit editionsbk.com.