Iroquoi This area was occupied by
Iroquoian-speaking peoples for hundreds of years, and by other Indigenous peoples before them. The historic
Mohawk people extended their hunting grounds to this area. The area was first settled by European Americans in 1819, more than three decades after the
American Revolutionary War. As the Iroquois, mostly allies of the British, had been forced to cede their land to the United States following the war, millions of acres of New York were opened up to non-Native development in the postwar period. The Jacob Smith Moody family from
Keene, New Hampshire, was the first to settle here. In 1827, settlers Pliny Miller and Alric Bushnell established a logging facility with a dam and sawmill, around which the village developed. The first school was built in 1838. In 1849, William F. Martin built one of the first hotels in the
Adirondack Mountains. His Saranac Lake House, known simply as "Martin's", was located on the southeast shore of
Lower Saranac Lake. Martin's soon became a favorite place for hunters, woodsmen, and socialites to meet and interact. below and
Lake Colby above, from Scarface Mountain to the Southeast.
Edward Livingston Trudeau In 1876, Dr.
Edward Livingston Trudeau arrived from
New York City to treat his
tuberculosis (TB) by a stay in the mountains. There was no medical treatment other than rest and nutrition at the time, and the disease was often fatal. Dry, cold air was considered to be good for patients, and sanitariums were also founded in European mountain resorts. Trudeau discovered that the fresh air and dry, alpine climate improved his health. In 1884, he founded his
Adirondack Cottage Sanitarium, starting with a small cottage, called "Little Red". Two sisters from New York City who suffered from TB became the first patients. Little Red, the first "
cure cottage", was built on a small patch of land on the north side of
Mount Pisgah. The plot had been purchased for Trudeau by several of his hunting guides. As more patients visited the region, including author
Robert Louis Stevenson in 1887, Trudeau's fame grew. Soon, the sanitarium had grown to such size that it was entitled to its own
post office, which delivered mail to the many patients. The
Trudeau Institute, an independent medical research center, developed from Trudeau's work for the sanitarium. In 1964, the Trudeau Institute began researching the functions of the immune system and how it guards against many infectious diseases, including tuberculosis.
Railroad, Telephone Telephone service was introduced in 1884, and the Chateaugay branch of the
Delaware and Hudson Railroad reached Saranac Lake from
Plattsburgh in 1887. Five years later, the Mohawk and Malone Railway main line reached nearby Lake Clear Junction. The New York Central and Hudson River Railroad purchased it in 1894, and it was merged into the New York Central Railroad in 1913. The NYC became the leading railroad from New York City, via Utica, into the northern Adirondacks, and its Lake Clear Junction-Saranac Lake-Lake Placid Branch was a key traffic source until NYC passenger service ended on April 24, 1965. Railroads both carried passenger traffic to the growing resort areas of the Adirondacks and shipped out the millions of feet of lumber that were harvested from this area into the early 20th century. The village was incorporated on June 16, 1892, and Dr. Trudeau was elected the first village president soon thereafter. Electricity was introduced on September 20, 1894, by installing
water wheels on the former site of Pliny Miller's mill.
Paul Smith purchased the Saranac Lake Electricity Co. in 1907, and formed the Paul Smith's Electric Light and Power and Railroad Company. It eventually became part of
Niagara-Mohawk. At the same time, the village began to develop municipal facilities, such as
public schools, and
fire and
police departments. In 1892,
John Rudolphus Booth, the Canadian lumber king, rented a
cottage at Saranac Lake for his daughter, who used it for several years in seeking a TB cure. Booth brought skis with him, and introduced the sport of
skiing to the area. on Lower Saranac Lake, home of
George Marshall Starting in the 1890s and for the next 60 years, Saranac Lake was known as "the Western Hemisphere's foremost center for the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis". An effective antibiotic was first used on human TB patients in 1921, but only after World War II did it begin to be widely used in the US. In the postwar period, sanatorium treatment became less important and was phased out completely by 1954. Among the last of the prominent patients who sought treatment for tuberculosis was
Manuel Luis Quezon y Molina, the first Filipino president of the
Commonwealth of the Philippines, who died in Saranac Lake of the disease on August 1, 1944. But the village had become a center of tuberculosis care, attracting many doctors and patients from around the world. They added to and supported the culture of the area, as did the wealthy who built
Great Camps on the nearby Saranac and Saint Regis Lakes, the effect was to change the sleepy village of 300 of the 1880s into the vibrant "little city" of 8,000.
William S. Fowler William S. Fowler was a real estate speculator and developer who owned several properties around Saranac Lake. One was a large property just outside the town on top of a hill. He named it "Spion Kop" in honor of a battle that was fought in the
Boer War in
South Africa. In commemoration, he placed miniature cannons on various parts of the property. Several buildings were erected as cottages where people could "cure" from TB. In 1919, Fowler sold the property to the Northwestern Fire Insurance Company. They turned it into a private sanatorium for their employees.
National Vaudeville Artists In 1925, the sanatorium was sold to the
National Vaudeville Artists. Around this time there were numerous
vaudeville performers in Saranac Lake seeking cures at different locations.
E. F. Albee, the owner and President of the National Vaudeville Artists, held benefit programs in New York City to raise funds to construct the large sanitarium. The older cure cottages were torn down and some were moved. By the end of the 1920s the Tudor Building was completed. It still stands today. In the 1930s the National Vaudeville Artists no longer existed. After World War II antibiotics were used to treat TB, and the mountain sanitariums were converted to other uses.
Will Rogers Memorial Hospital The Tudor Building was purchased by the
Will Rogers Memorial Commission. In 1936, one year after Rogers' death, they renamed this building as the
Will Rogers Memorial Hospital. A laboratory was built in later years and named the O'Donnell Memorial Laboratory in honor of
R.J. O'Donnell, a well-known theater chain manager. In the 1970s, New York State forced the closure of the hospital, as it did not meet contemporary codes and updating was cost-prohibitive. The Will Rogers building was adapted for other uses. It was operated as a night club, then as a timeshare vacation spot, and finally as apartments. Unable to attract enough renters, the owners abandoned the property, which deteriorated. In 1980, it was renovated for use as the press headquarters for the Winter Olympics. In 1995, the Kaplan Development Group purchased the property for adaptation as a retirement home for senior residents. It planned to restore the building's historic details. "Cure Cottage" Author
Mark Twain vacationed on Lake Flower in 1901 at the height of his fame. While there, he wrote a
Conan Doyle spoof, "A Double-Barreled Detective Story". After multiple fires destroyed a large part of downtown, Saranac Lake rebuilt in the 1920s. The Hotel Saranac was built in the Art Deco style and still stands. Other permanent buildings were added to the townscape. During the
Prohibition era,
rum-running was common in the village, as smugglers brought liquor from over the border from Canada. Gangster
Legs Diamond visited his brother Eddy, who had TB and stayed at a local cottage sanatorium. The Hotel Saranac is a memorable early 20th century
Art Deco structure. The former
sanatorium is now used as the corporate
call center for the
American Management Association. Numerous properties are listed on the
National Register of Historic Places: the
Dr. A. H. Allen Cottage,
Berkeley Square Historic District,
Bogie Cottage,
Peyton Clark Cottage,
Coulter Cottage,
Cure Cottage at 43 Forest Hill Avenue,
Denny Cottage,
Fallon Cottage Annex,
Freer Cottage,
Hathaway Cottage,
Helen Hill Historic District,
Highland Park Historic District,
Hill Cottage,
The Homestead,
Kennedy Cottage,
Lane Cottage,
Larom Cottage,
Dr. Henry Leetch House,
Lent Cottage,
Little Red,
Marquay Cottage,
Marvin Cottage,
Musselman Cottage,
New York Central Railroad Adirondack Division Historic District,
Partridge Cottage,
Pittenger Cottage,
Pomeroy Cottage,
Will Rogers Memorial Hospital,
Orin Savage Cottage,
Paul Smith's Electric Light and Power and Railroad Company Complex,
Prospect Point Camp,
Stevenson Cottage,
Stuckman Cottage,
Trudeau Sanatorium,
Chester Valentine House,
Wilson Cottage, and
Witherspoon Cottage. 186 buildings in the village are listed on the
National Register of Historic Places. ==Culture==