Hudson's

Hudson's (or The J.L. Hudson Company) was a chain of Department store|department stores based in Detroit, Michigan. Their flagship store at 1206 Woodward Avenue in Detroit, Michigan, was the tallest department store in the world in 1961, and was, at one time, claimed to be the second-largest department store in the US by square footage. The flagship was demolished on October 24, 1998.

Beginnings
The company was founded in 1881, by Joseph Lowthian Hudson, who operated the store until his death in 1912, when his nephews James, Joseph, Richard, and Oscar Webber took control. In 1923, it unveiled the "world's largest flag", which covered 3,700 sq ft of the facade of the Woodward Avenue flagship store, and in 1924, J.L Hudson sponsored a Thanksgiving parade in downtown. The world's largest flag, previously displayed annually, was replaced with an even larger flag in 1949. In 1959, the company began sponsoring a fireworks display as part of the International Freedom Festival. Detroit Joseph L. Hudson Jr. became president of the company in 1961.