Hastings Upon Hudson
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a village of New York, in Westchester co. It is a residential suburb of New York, but has important industries, including the manufacture of copper-wire cable, copper, brass, paving. bricks, dyestuffs, chemicals, etc. Pop. (1910) 4,552; (1920) 5,526. HASTINGS, WARREN, first Goverernor-general of India; born in Daylesford, Worcestershire, in 1732. He was educated at Westminster School, and in 1750 he set out for Bengal in the capacity of a writer in the service of the East India Company. When stationed at Cossimbazar he was taken prisoner by Surajah Dowlah on the capture of the place (1756). Having made his escape, he served as a volunteer under Clive in 1757. He was representative of the company at Moorshedabad from 1758 to 1761. In the latter year he removed to Calcutta, having obtained a seat in the Bengal Council, but returned to England in 1764. As he lost the bulk of his means by unfortunate Indian investments, he again entered the company's service, and sailed for India in 1769. In consequence of the misgovernment of the Nabob of Bengal the company had deprived him of all real power, and now wished to have the country more directly under their control. Warren Hastings was its chief instrument in this undertaking, and in 1772 became president of the Supreme Council of Calcutta. His administration during the succeeding twelve years aroused much criticism in England, and a motion for his recall was passed by the House of Commons. Fox's India Bill was thrown out in 1783, but next year Pitt's bill, establishing the board of control, passed, and Hastings resigned. He left India in 1785, and was impeached by Burke in 1786, being charged with acts of injustice and oppression, with maladministration, receiving of bribes, etc. This celebrated trial, in which Burke, Fox, and Sheridan thundered against him, began in 1788, and terminated in 1795 with his ac acquittal, but cost him his fortune. The company in 1796 settled on him an annuity of $20,000 a year, and lent him $250,000 for 18 years free of interest. He died in 1818.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
When Collier's wrote this in 1921 the village's "important industries" were real: copper wire and cable, dyestuffs and chemicals, and the paving brick works on the Hudson shore. All of that industry is gone. The wire and cable plant, latterly run by Anaconda, shut down in the 1970s, and the abandoned waterfront it left behind became one of the Hudson Valley's best-known contaminated sites, subject to decades of PCB cleanup and repeated redevelopment plans. The 5,526 residents of 1920 have grown to roughly 8,000-9,000, and the village is now what Collier's listed first and industry made only half true: a Metro-North commuter suburb of New York City.
Written for this edition, 2026.