Department store magnate. More commonly known as J.L. Hudson, as in J.L. Hudson’s Deptartment Store, he came to Detroit, Michigan in 1877, opening a men’s & boy’s clothing store in 1881 at age 35. In 1891, he built an 8-story store in downtown Detroit, which, together with a 1907 addition, was demolished in the 1920s. In 1911, he opened a store on Detroit’s main street, Woodward Ave., adding to it between 1925-28 with 16-stories, part of which extended into a 25-story tower. A 12-story addition was built in 1946, by which time the store had 2.2 million sq. ft. or 49 acres of floor space. In 1912, he took a trip to England & died of pneumonia; his sister’s sons took over the store. Posthumously, the department stores became the nation’s 3rd-largest in 1927 behind R.H. Macy in New York and Marshall Field’s in Chicago. (bio by: Earl Richard Sutton)