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SARANAC LAKE TIMELINE
1819: Jacob Smith Moody settled in Saranac Lake.
1822: Captain Pliny Miller and family arrived.
(Built dam for water power and a sawmill on Saranac River)
1840: First hotel was built across the street from the sawmill
1856: 15 families were living in Saranac Lake
1865: Milo Bushnell Miller (Pliny's son) returned from the Civil War and built a trading post.
1867: That trading post burnt down and where the Owl's Nest and Snuffy's is (44 Main Street), he built another trading post.
1876: Dr. Edward Livingston Trudeau comes to town ailing of Tuberculosis (First staying at the Paul Smiths Hotel, in Paul Smiths).
1876: Milo Miller built the Berkeley House, a hotel, and the 'Y' in the center of town was thereafter know as Berkeley Sq. The building burned down in 1981.
1876: Milo Miller built the structure now known as Post Office Pharmacy, in 1881 it was a library. (restored in 2000).
1879: Dr. E.L. Trudeau's home and office is completed at 5 Church Street (now the home of Medical Associates).
1884: Dr. Edward Livingston Trudeau began the Adirondack Cottage Sanitarium.
1887: Rail service came to Loon Lake, from Plattsburgh (Chateaugay Railroad).
1887-1888 (winter): Robert Louis Stevenson wintered in the Baker Cottage (now known as the Robert Louis Stevenson Cottage). RLS wrote "The Master of Ballantrae," an essay for Scribner Magazine. After his departure, he also wrote a letter to the Evening Post with a favorable review of Saranac Lake.
1888: Francis Trudeau, Sr. (as an infant) rode on the first train to Saranac Lake.
1892: Village of Saranac Lake was incorporated, Dr. Trudeau president (mayor)
1894: Dr. E.L. Trudeau's Saranac Laboratory completed at 7 Church Street.
1897: First Winter Carnival.
1898: First Ice Palace.
1904: Union Depot was built to serve two passenger railroads: New York Central and the Delaware and Hudson (who took over the Chateaugay) Railroads). The cost was $50,000.
1908: Douglas Lorne McGibbon is curing in Saranac Lake and comes upon the idea to build a sanitarium in Ste. Agathe.
1915: Dr. E.L. Trudeau dies and the sanitarium becomes "Trudeau Sanatorium."
1917: World War I.
1927: WNBZ 1240 Radio takes to the air.
1927: Hotel Saranac is completed at 100 Main St.
1927: Town Hall burns down and a new one is started. The building is completed in 1928.
1941: World War II.
1954: Trudeau Sanitarium closes.
1957: Afterwards, American Management Association purchases the Trudeau Sanitarium property.
1964: Trudeau Institute opens on the shore of Lower Saranac.
1972: The Union Depot closed after the last passenger train in 1965. Freight service ended in 1972.
1990: Saranac Lake and Entrains, France become Sister Cities.
1998: Saranac Lake was named an All-America City. This was due to three community projects: the Union Depot, the Riverwalk and the Mt. Pisgah Lodge.
1999: Union Depot restoration finished and reopened.
2000: (September) Train Service between Saranac Lake and Lake Placid resumes.
2000: Ste. Agathe, Quebec, becomes Saranac Lake's second sister city.
2001: Saranac Lake Area Chamber of Commerce and Historic Saranac Lake organize tours from the Union Depot into the Village.
Information provided by Historic Saranac Lake, 89 Church St (Trudeau's last laboratory) Saranac Lake, NY 12983 / 891-4606
HISTORY OF SARANAC LAKE
 First settled in 1819, in what was then untouched
wilderness, Saranac Lake grew slowly throughout the early 1800's, its economy
based primarily on logging and the hosting and guiding of the "sports" who
came to hunt and fish. By 1876, the village was home to 700 people. That
year, the man who would transform the village, Dr. Edward Livingston Trudeau,
came to Saranac Lake to live out what he believed to be his last months.
An outdoor enthusiast who had come to love these forests and waterways, Dr.
Trudeau was suffering from tuberculosis. To his astonishment, his stay in
the village restored his health, thus forming the basis for a curing regimen
that eventually established Saranac Lake as a pioneering health resort. The
village grew into a thriving community, home to the world renowned Trudeau
Sanitorium, a dozen bustling hotels and a host of what became known as "cure
cottages", large boarding houses sporting several wide porches, many of which
are still prominent landmarks around town. More information on curing can
be found at the Saranac Lake Free Library.
 The
early 1900's saw Saranac Lake's emergence as a fashionable destination resort.
In its heyday, the village was served by two railroads, and boasted more
than thirty taxi companies; luminaries such as Mark Twain, Robert Louis Stevenson, Christy Mathewson,
Albert Einstein, Jack Dempsey, Al Jolson, Somerset Maugham, Bela Bartok,
and Presidents Harrison, McKinley, Roosevelt and Coolidge came to Saranac
Lake for rejuvenation of body and spirit. 2000 saw the return of train service
when The Adirondack Scenic Railroad began summer service.
The development of a pharmaceutical cure for
tuberculosis in the 1950's brought the curing era to a close and set in
motion the village's development as a family resort destination. The cultural
amenities once demanded by curing patients live on in emphasis of education
and the arts.
Historic Saranac Lake has
worked diligently to reconstruct and maintain many of the historical structures
in the area, including the most recent Union Depot. Located at Trudeau's last laboratory on 89 Church St, Saranac Lake. 891-4606.
 Another
legacy of the curing days, perhaps the most popular, is Saranac Lake's Winter
Carnival, the oldest in the eastern United States. Begun in 1898 as a one-day
affair to shake off the mid-winter blues, the Winter Carnival is now a week-long festival that includes sporting events, performing arts, parades, fireworks and the world famous Ice Palace! 1997 marked the 100th anniversary of the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival.
Come and help us celebrate this historic event, and have more fun than you
thought possible in the middle of an Adirondack winter. Winter Carnival begins
the first full weekend in February and runs through the following weekend.
For more information call: 800/347-1992.
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