The earliest typographical union in Hudson, N.Y., was the Hudson Typographical Union No. 531, chartered in 1902. That union is likely to have folded during the eight hour strike of 1906. During the 1920's, printers in Hudson had become acquainted with vacationing printers who were members of Albany Typographical Union No. 4. With support from the members of No. 4, the Hudson printers were chartered as the Hudson Typographical Union No. 896 in 1925. Unfortunately, the Great Depression arrived four years later, and the printers of No. 896 wanted to gain recognition as a bargaining agent. The International Typographical Union (ITU) refused to allow the Hudson printers to go forward with this action during a time of such financial havoc, and the members of No. 896 voted to surrender the charter, according to the Empire State Typographical Conference, Program, 1961.

In 1936, William A. Weinlein, an international representative of the ITU and former president of Albany Typographical Union No. 4, began re-organization of the Hudson local. By the end of that year, the local was re-chartered as Columbia County Typographical Union No. 896. The union at first had trouble winning contracts in Hudson. In 1937, No. 896 struck one publication after having little luck winning a contract, and was locked out of another after refusing to set copy for the struck publication. The strike and lockout were over after 11 days. The local slowly increased its numbers, adding shops in Chatham and Catskill in the 1950's, according to Ibid.

By the early 1960's, the local had begun to experience difficulties in administering a small union that had to fulfill the requirements of numerous labor laws and the regulations of the ITU itself. Recognizing the difficulties encountered by smaller unions, the ITU had been recommending that such unions seek to consolidate their forces with other locals. Younger members of No. 896 were, unfortunately, not anxious to take on the duties of officers, so in 1963 the local voted unanimously to begin negotiations to merge with Albany Typographical Union No. 4., according to Letter, Edward T. Thompson (secretary of Columbia County Typographical Union No. 896) to Albany Typographical Union No. 4. After three years of negotiations and planning, the Columbia County Typographical Union No. 896 surrendered its charter and merged into Albany Typographical Union No. 4 in October 1966, according to Letter, Edward T. Thompson (former secretary of Columbia County Typographical Union No. 896) to the Upper Hudson Area Central Labor Union Council, AFL-CIO, Nov. 28, 1966.