In Memorium: The History of Black Worship in Hudson
and The Future of Affordable Housing

Mary and I were saddened to see that the Trulia agency just posted a real estate listing for the

Reverend Ed Cross’s church — The Endless Love Temple — on Columbia Street, just below

3rd. We worked with The Rev to try to save it, but due to what we would call, at best, “benign

neglect” on the part of the Hudson government, the Reverend and his congregation were

dumped out on the streets without so much as a thank you for the eight years of service they

provided to the Hudson Minority Community.

Benign Neglect

Why do we say benign neglect? The Endless Love Temple had been worshiping at the building

for eight years, and everyone knew that The Rev wanted to buy it. In fact, the prior owners, the

Masons, wanted to sell it to him for back taxes, but their thinning ranks prevented them from

taking decisive action to keep the “back-taxes clock” from running out and forcing a back-taxes

auction by the City. The Rev believes that City officials could have stopped the clock to allow

the sale to The Endless Love Temple, but that didn’t happen. We agree.

So, the City of Hudson put it up for auction to collect back taxes to the tune of roughly

$35,000, which had been owned by the Masons. We created a GoFundMe campaign with the

Rev that raised $3,000 to allow us to at least participate in the bidding. We did participate

initially, but were outbid. The GoFundMe campaign has since donated the funds to The Endless

Love Temple to help it re-establish itself.

Flipping a House of God

And now we see that the property is listed by the Trulia agency for $350,000. (A $300,000

flip. Not bad for just a few months work. We use the term “work” facetiously since no real work

was involved. What was involved was the overwhelming pressure of a booming real estate

market).

Our last attempt to save the building as a place of worship before the auction was to try to

designate it as a historic site. After all, the Shiloh Temple congregation actually constructed the

building in the early years of the 20th Century. Alan Skerrett told us that his grandfather was

one of the men who laid the foundation stones for the building when it was the Shiloh Baptist

Church. Shiloh stayed there until the congregation moved to its current location, when the

property was bought by the Masons, and for the past eight years was the home of The Endless

Love Temple.

Tears of Joy and Tears of Sadness

Think of how many weddings, funerals, baptisms, Sunday School and just plain worship

sessions took place in that little building. Tears of joy and tears of sadness. Our attempt at a

historic designation was thwarted last year by ex-mayor Tiffany Hamilton who said she would

veto any attempt to make it an historic site because that would limit the economic viability of the

property. Yes, of course, but if this doesn’t qualify as a historic site, we don’t know what does.

Another example of dollars trumping principle. (Pun intended.)

Here is the egregious listing statement just posted by Trulia: “Turn this former Masonic Temple

into one of the coolest residences in Hudson. Make it single family residence or multi-family

(with approval). The possibilities are seemingly endless for what you could do with this property.

This section of Columbia Street is prime for redevelopment. Habitat for Humanity has already

constructed four new cutting edge passive energy homes on the block. Your redevelopment

could be next.”

The Ultimate Flip

Interestingly, the property’s true historic nature isn’t even mentioned in the listing. “Former

Masonic Temple?” Really, that was just a short period in the building’s life. We strongly suspect

the wording was crafted to hide from view any uncomfortable feelings of guilt the new owners

might experience by commercially benefitting from the flipping of a a “House of God.”

Finally, just look at the easy money that is going to be made by flipping over buildings North of

Warren Street. It gives lie to any presumption about the future of affordable housing in Hudson,

New York.

The Reverend Ed Cross

Here’s a quick note to anyone who doesn’t know The Reverend. He is a long-time resident of

Hudson. He just retired after serving as a Hudson Supervisor on the Columbia County Board of

Supervisors for 20 years, as one of its two minority members. He played football with Rick

Scalera when the High School occupied what is now the M.C. Smith Intermediate School. He

graduated from the Union Theological Seminary as ordained at the AME Zion Church in

Hudson, and a few years ago, joined Dan and Mary Udell as a reading mentor at the much

heralded HUDSON READS program at the the M.C. Smith Intermediate School, where he has

expanded the lives of Hudson children.

Dan and Mary Udell

January 14, 2018