Historical sketches of Franklin county and its several towns, Part 41

Author: Seaver, Frederick Josel, 1850- [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1918
Publisher: Albany, J. B. Lyon company, printers
Number of Pages: 848

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Lighting Systems .- Electric current is furnished by the Paul Smiths Electric Light and Power and Railroad Company for street and private lighting. For the former the tax is about $6,000 a year. though a quar- ter of the amount is recovered from the company as a franchise tax. There is also a gas company controlled by nonresident interests, whose business consists principally in supplying gas as a fuel.

Other Public Utilities and Public. Works .- A telephone system, affil- iated with the Bell, giving general local and long-distance service; brick-paved streets, which cost $99.000, with bonds to the amount of $96,300 unpaid in 1917, and macadamized highways on which the usual annual expenditure is about $5,000; a sewer system for which $128,000 in bonds was issued between 1893 and 1912, and of which $104,000 is outstanding ; storm sewers built at a cost of $9,000 ; concrete sidewalks, constructed by a bond issue of $22,500; a fire-alarm signal system and a fire station, paid for by bonds aggregating $18,500 ; an incinerator for burning garbage, swill and refuse, which cost $9,000, and for the col-

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lection of material and the operation of the incinerator an annual tax of about $5,000 is levied. The total annual tax levy averages between $45,000 and $50,000 on an assessed valuation of upwards of two mil- lion dollars, whereas when incorporation was effected in 1892 it was estimated that $500 would meet all administrative charges during the first year, but which was found insufficient by about $1,250. The total outstanding village indebtedness on the first of March, 1915, was $419,000, for the payment of the interest on which and such install- ments of principal as fall due a sum of nearly twenty thousand dollars is required annually. Besides all this, the school district, which includes not only the village, but also outlying neighborhoods in Harrietstown and in North Elba, St. Armand and Santa Clara, has a debt of $68,000, and levies an annual tax of about $45,000. The town of Harrietstown has only a very small indebtedness. The tax rate, including State, county, town, corporation and school district charges, is about $70 on each $1,000 of assessed valuation. Items of village expense other than those above listed include : About $4,000 for pay of three uniformed policemen and for incidental police items; $5,000 for board of health; and $500 each for street sprinkling and free library.

Library .- A free public library, which cost $10,000 for site and building, contains 6,000 volumes, and has on file all of the leading periodicals and many newspapers. The funds for the enterprise were provided by individual donations and entertainments ; and . two-thirds of the cost for maintenance is similarly provided - the village contributing $500 per year.

Sanitary .- Sentiment prevails strongly that the village must live up to the expectations of those who come to it for health benefit, and the taxpayers respond willingly, almost eagerly, to every appeal for money for any project which is thought to promise betterment of con- ditions and surer safeguarding of the reputation of the place as a sanatorium. The district has probably the most stringent and best enforced health code of any small community in the State. The anti-spitting ordinance is far from a dead letter; the soda fountains are permitted to use only individual cups, which are destroyed after having been once used; when vacated every house or apartment occupied by a tuberculous person must be thoroughly disinfected, including all con- tents, before any one else may move into it; and every possible precau- tion is established against practices which might spread infection. By this care those who are authority on the question insist that there is less danger of contracting tuberculosis in this center, thronged with invalids, than exists almost anywhere else.

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Schools .- The first school was taught in 1838 by Mary A. Miller, a granddaughter of Captain Pliny, and the second by Mrs. Mary E. McClelland. Another early teacher was Mrs. Azel Lathrop, mother of Mrs. Estelle Martin. Even as late as 1884 the entire assessed valuation of resident realty in the district was but $20,000, or only one per cent. of the present total ; and a little later, when it was proposed to erect a two-room school house, opposition developed upon the ground that the district would never grow to fill it. Nevertheless it was not long before six rooms were needed, and to these additions have been made from time to time until the central building contains twenty-odd rooms, and employs as many teachers. It has a good working library of 5,000 vol- umes, with an outfit of physical and chemical apparatus, is chartered as a high school, and does college preparatory work. There are forty teachers employed in the district, and the school buildings have an estimated value of over eighty thousand dollars, not including sites, furnishings and apparatus.

Organizations .- Business, social, fraternal and beneficial clubs and lodges are numerous. Among them are a board of trade with a mem- bership comprising nearly every business man of consequence in the village; a village improvement society organized by women for civic betterment; a lend-a-hand society for charitable service; various boat- ing and fish and game clubs ; a country club with clubhouse, golf links and tennis courts on the shore of Saranae lake; a coasting club with clubhouse on Moody pond for skating and other winter pleasures; Boy Scouts ; Whiteface Mountain Lodge, F. and A. M .; Wanneta Chapter, R. A. M .; Whiteface Mountain Chapter, O. E. S .; Saranac Lake Lodge, I. O. O. F .; Kiwassa Rebekah Lodge; Saranac Lake Council Knights of Columbus; Grand Army post; Woman's Christian Temperance Union ; a free information bureau where visitors are advised concerning lodgings, board, etc .; and the Boys' Club and Henderson Memorial Gymnasium, which had its beginning in 1913 in St. Luke's parish house, but which now possesses a home of its own that cost $15,000, supplied by two generous contributors (W. H. Cluett and Mrs. C. R. Henderson of New York), and whose maintenance costs from $3,500 to $4,000 a year. Membership is open to all boys and young men between the ages of twelve and twenty-one years. The clubhouse has pool and billiard tables, bowling alleys, a library and reading room, shower baths, and a roomy gymnasium with complete apparatus. The gymnasium hall is used not only by club members for games and exercise, but also by a number of other organizations for social gatherings and benefits. A director is

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employed by the club to supervise the athletic activities of the members and for gymnasium drill. Educational features also find a place in the programme, and a series of practical talks are given by representative citizens. The club has about seventy-five members.

Amusements .- Besides the daily opportunities for boating, golf and tennis in summer and for skating, curling, etc., in winter, a grand carnival is held every alternate year, arranged and managed by the Pon- tiac Club. Though the affair extends only through four or five days, sev- eral weeks immediately preceding are crowded with interested prepara- tory work and its incidents continue indefinitely afterward as subjects for comment and discussion, so that the event fills a large place in the winter life of the village. During the gayeties of carnival time itself the streets are decorated elaborately with evergreens set along the curbs, with evergreen ropes arching the avenues, and with public and commer- cial buildings and residences bright with flags and bunting. An especially fine feature is a grand parade of scores of sleighs and cars beautifully trimmed and many floats of ingenious and attractive design. Skating races, exhibitions of figure skating, house parties, dances and other entertainments crowd the hours with fun and frolic, a gladsome spirit running through it all. The celebration closes with the storming of the ice palace at night, the bombardment with roman candles, the flash of rockets, the explosion of bombs and the iridescent glare on snow and ice affording a spectacle of great beauty that is long remem- bered. Thousands from neighboring localities and even from distant cities crowd the village during carnival week.

Hospitals .- Besides the Trudeau Sanatorium there are a General Hospital, a Reception Hospital, St. Mary's of the Lake and a number of private hospitals conducted as individual enterprises by experienced nurses.

The General Hospital, situate in a wooded park a hundred feet above Lake Flower, was built in 1913, and is the gift of a son and daughter of the late United States Senator Proctor of Vermont. An isolation cottage was added in 1914 by a New York city gentleman. The two can accommodate sixteen patients. No tuberculosis cases are received. The rates for room, board, ordinary nursing and medical supplies range from ten dollars to thirty dollars per week, and are insufficient to cover expenses. The institution has no endowment, and the deficits, amount- ing to about $5,000 a year, have to be met through contributions by the benevolent.

The Reception Hospital owes its existence and support in consider-

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able part to Miss Mary R. Preston of New Bedford, Mass., who came to Saranac Lake an invalid, and with health recovered was restless and discontented because there seemed to be no work at hand to enlist her interest and employ her time and energies. Upon the suggestion of Doctor Trudeau, being possessed of considerable means, she founded this institution in 1901, leasing a cottage for the purpose. Another cottage was added in 1903-4, and in 1905 the present building, over- looking the river, was erected at a cost of approximately $33,000. It is intended only for the care of poor persons in whom the disease is well advanced, can accommodate eighteen patients in winter and twenty in summer, and is conducted at an annual expense of about $13,000. Its charges are eight dollars per week, which are about half of cost. Donations are made from various sources covering a part of the deficit, and the remainder Miss Prescott makes up herself. Three nurses are employed, and a number of physicians of Saranac Lake give their attendance without charge. The annual report of the institution summarizes results : "A small proportion of patients set on their feet, a large proportion temporarily improved through rest and nursing, and a small proportion helped over the last hard bit of the journey by expert care."

St. Mary's of the Lake is an offshoot of Sanatorium Gabriels, was established in 1910 at a cost of $7,000, and was enlarged in 1916 by the addition of another story. It is non-sectarian, and when opened could accommodate twenty patients. Its present capacity is over thirty. It receives only advanced tuberculous cases, at rates ranging from twelve to fifteen dollars per week. One trained nurse and a number of Sisters of Mercy constitute the inside working force, and eight or ten physicians of the village give their services gratuitously.

The Adirondack National Bank was organized in 1897, the principal movers in the enterprise having been William Minshull and Alfred L. Donaldson, both health seekers at the time. The former has been its president from the beginning, while failing strength compelled Mr. Donaldson to retire from active participation in the management a number of years ago. During this period of enforced quiet he has written a charming history of the Adirondack region. The bank has a capital of $50,000, an earned surplus of double that amount, and deposits of nearly three-quarters of a million. Its banking house, built expressly for it, is an attractive structure, fire-proof, contains safe deposit vaults for the use of customers, and is carried at a valuation of $45,000. The Saranac Lake National Bank, also capitalized at $50,000,

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was chartered in 1907. It has an earned surplus of approximately $21,000 and deposits of over a quarter of a million. Both institutions enjoy and deserve local publie confidence.

Saranac Lake's first newspapers were the Pioneer and then the Herald, both by W. F. Mannix. The Enterprise was established in 1895 by Charles W. Lansing of Plattsburgh and Carl D. Smith of Malone, and soon acquired the Herald and Pioneer. In 1898 Smith sold his interest to Allen Vosburgh, who sold in 1906 to Harris & Dillenbeck. Then George H. Foy of Malone published it for a time, and was fol- lowed by Kenneth W. Goldthwaite, under whose control it was enlarged and greatly improved, ranking as one of the very best news- papers in northern New York. It is Republican in polities, and is now a.semi-weekly. It was sold by Mr. Goldthwaite in 1918. The Northern New Yorker, not now in existence, was published for a few years, begin- ning in 1906, by John J. Connors, and the Saranac Lake News, founded in 1909, Democratic and ably edited, is published by E. C. Krauss.

At the Andrew Baker cottage in the outskirts of Saranac Lake vil- lage, where Robert Louis Stevenson spent the winter of 1887-1888 for the same reason that has taken so many others to the locality, a memorial bronze tablet by Gutson Borglum was unveiled in October, 1915, bearing this inscription: " Here dwelt Robert Louis Stevenson during the winter of 1887-1888. * Here he wrote 'The Master of Ballantrae,' 'A Christmas Sermon,' 'The Lantern Bearers,' 'Pulvis et Dumbra,' 'Beggars,' ' Gentlemen,' 'A Chapter on Dreams.' 1850- 1894." Stevenson anathematized the climate while recognizing that it benefited him, calling it " bleak, blackguard, beggarly." He had a dis- taste amounting to positive aversion for formal social affairs, but in his room he captivated callers by the brilliance and charm of his conver- sation, and his stepson, who was with him, has recently written that " he had a wonderful reading voice," so that "in listening to him one was stirred by an indescribable sense of romance, of emotion - of the heartstrings being played upon."

Among the earliest of associations or clubs to seek recreation in the Adirondacks was one so distinguished in its personnel that failure to mention it would be inexcusable. It included James Russell Lowell, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Louis Agassiz, Dr. Jeffries Wyman (not as well known, but ranking with Agassiz in science and nature study), Judge E. Rockwood Hoar, Dr. Estes Howe, John Holmes (brother of Oliver Wendell) and W. J. Stillman, and these arrived at Martin's in 1857, proceeding thence to Follansbee pond, where they lived with their guides

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in camp. Such mode of life and everything about the wilderness was wholly strange to every man of the company except Mr. Stillman, and it is a question whether they or the guides seemed the more simple and ignorant to the other. Nevertheless the visitors found so much of enjoy- ment in the outing that they repeated it a number of times. An organi- zation which was to be permanent was formed, and bought a tract of 22,500 acres of almost wholly virgin forest on Ampersand pond for $600 (less than three cents per acre), and established a private camp there, which came to be known as the Philosophers' Camp. It is interesting to recall that the idea was not at all popular locally, the same sentiment being entertained regarding it which Lamora manifested forty years later toward Rockefeller, and that there was newspaper suggestion to the effect that a locked camp meant its probable destruction by fire and also fire danger to the surrounding forest. However, nothing of the sort occurred. Upon the breaking out of the civil war the club went to pieces, and the camp was abandoned. The tract has been repeatedly lumbered, but is said nevertheless to be now valued at $50,000.

While religious services were held at Saranac Lake occasionally from as early as 1837, the Methodists, so far as known, having been the pio- neers, and a Mr. Adams "from over the lake," who served also at Duane at a later time, having been the first preacher, the first actually organized church movement was non-sectarian, of date about 1876. This society was called " The People's Church," and its trustees were Van Buren Miller, William F. Martin, Orlando Blood, Robert Smith and A. Fitch O'Brien. Though a lot was purchased for a church build- ing, no pastor appears ever to have been employed, and the movement was abandoned in 1880, after the Methodists and Episcopalians had organized. The church lot was reconveyed to the grantor, and it is diffi- cult now to find any one in the village who remembers that such an undertaking ever had existence.

The first Episcopalian church services at Saranac Lake were held in December, 1877, in the parlor of the Berkley Hotel by Rev. John P. Lundy, D.D., of New York, who was a member of the tuberculosis colony wintering there. Soon afterward Doctor Lundy and others of the guests started a subscription for the erection of a church edifice, and residents of the village joined with offers of money and material. The funds so pledged, however, could not be carried at the time to more than about half of the sum required, and the project was temporarily abandoned, but only to be revived a few months later. Every detail of securing money, obtaining plans and supervising the work of con-

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struction was given over to Doctor Trudeau, who proved himself as efficient a church worker as he afterward became for the sanatorium, and early in 1879 the building was finished. The site was given by Miss Arvilla Blood; the chancel windows, representing Faith, Hope and Charity, by Mrs. R. M. Townsend as a memorial to her husband; and the bishop's chair, the bell and the communion service by others, each as a memorial. The church was consecrated in July, 1879, as the Church of St. Luke the Beloved Physician. It was an organized mission until 1903, when its membership had reached such numbers and its condition had become so assured that it incorporated, and has since prospered continually. It is said to be probably the one church in the United States which has an organ recital every Sunday night throughout the year.

" The First Methodist Episcopal Church at Saranac Lake " was incorporated in 1878, the place having been theretofore merely a mission in combination with a number of other hamlets scattered over a wide extent of country, and with services provided not oftener than every other Sunday at the best, and at times still less frequently. Such serv- ices were held in the school house or in homes for almost half a century before the erection of a church edifice was even seriously considered, and it was not until 1882 that such undertaking was begun. The building proceeded but slowly, and four years elapsed before it had advanced sufficiently to permit use of the structure for purposes of wor- ship. Dedication occurred December 8, 1886, and in 1896-97 the build- ing was enlarged by the addition of a transept.

Roman Catholic Church growth at Saranac Lake has been marvelous. So far as known, the first services in the vicinity according to the rites of this faith were held in 1886 by Rev. Father Michael Charbonneau in the Swain camp, then occupied by Peter Solomon, who continued his ministrations irregularly for about two years, and afterward, still irregu- larly, until 1890 by Rev. Father James McCarthy of Rochester, tem- porarily stopping here. In 1888 Saint Bernard's Church was incor- porated, the first lay trustees having been John Meagher and Michael Carey ; but the society had no rector until August 31, 1890, when Rev. John J. Waters was ordained at Malone, and the same day assigned to Saranac Lake, where he has served continuously ever since. At that date the parish extended from Onchiota to Cascade lakes, and included also Saranac Inn, Bloomingdale and the Bartlett Carry. The number of members in this entire territory was then only sixty. Father Waters entered upon his work with energy and determination, holding services

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in Spaulding Block or the town hall; but in the course of two years secured the erection of a church building, which burned in 1909. The town hall was again used following the fire until a new church had been built, which is a massive stone structure of imposing appearance. It has an altar of Carara marble that was executed in Italy, given by the women of the parish. The new edifice was more than three years in construction, though the first service in it was held on Thanksgiving, 1912. It was consecrated just one year later. Notwithstanding the original parish has been divided a number of times, and now includes only Saranac Lake and the immediate vicinity, its membership has increased until it numbers between fifteen and sixteen hundred.

The " First Presbysterian Church of Saranac Lake " was incorporated March 10, 1891, but the local records show that organization was actually effected in 1890, and that Rev. Richard G. McCarthy had secured a lot for a church site as early as August, 1889. The building was finished and dedicated in April, 1890, the funds for the work having been obtained by Mr. McCarthy, mostly from guests at Paul Smiths and other Adiron- dack summer hotels. At the date set for dedication the building fund lacked eleven hundred dollars of enough to meet the cost of construction, which deficiency was supplied by Colonel Elliott F. Shepard of New York. Mrs. Shepard gave the parsonage. The sum of the subscrip- tions by Colonel and Mrs. Shepard was $11,271. Until 1903 no one was installed as pastor, the five clergymen in charge during the inter- vening period having served in the capacity of "stated supply." The charter members numbered seventeen. The present membership is above two hundred and fifty, and the society is one of the strongest in the Champlain Presbytery.

Mr. McCarthy had marvelous energy, and was remarkably persistent and successful in persuading people to open their check books in aid of his many undertakings. It may be questioned, however, if his zeal did not outrun his sagacity, for in the ten years from 1895 he organized no less than seventeen missious and built as many churches or chapels at widely separated Adirondack points, every one of which at the time had but a sparse population, and upon sober consideration could not be thought likely to attain a size and wealth that could be counted upon to support a church properly. Of these, several places, Lake Clear (organized August 12, 1896), Axton (organized in 1895), Island Chapel in Upper Saranac Lake and Harrietstown (church erected in 1907) are in the town of Harrietstown. At Lake Clear there were but twelve families initially, and at Axton only ten. Island Chapel is main-

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tained by summer campers, and is open only in such seasons as visitors are in the vicinity in considerable numbers. Axton has lost a good deal of its former activity, and there are only a dozen families there - some of whom are Catholics. Students officiate with more or less irregularity during the summer at Axton, Harrietstown and Lake Clear, and Mr. Anderson, from Keese's Mill, preaches once a month at Lake Clear and Harrietstown.

A Baptist society was formed at Saranac Lake about 1895, when a lot for a church edifice was deeded to it by Orlando Blood. The organi- zation did not thrive, for in 1897 Erwin Bassford and Herbert Warren Pond as trustees deeded the site to the Baptist Missionary Convention of the State of New York in consideration of $182 and of the payment of outstanding claims against the lot, with proviso that it be held for the erection of a house of worship thereon.

The Church of St. John in the Wilderness (of which the Catholic church at Paul Smiths is a mission) was organized in 1906, though not incorporated until May 8, 1910, with Edward Patnode and Henry F. Ryon lay trustees. At the date of the incorporation Father Emile Berard was, and still remains, the rector, but had been preceded by Father J. A. Hervieux. There are about twenty families in the parish. Father Berard is disinclined to give information concerning the church, and, therefore, my statements about it rest mainly upon the current understanding, and are not to be taken as authorized, though I believe them to be substantially correct. The first church edifice was erected in 1906. While occupying the camp of Thomas Blagden on Upper Sara- nac Lake in 1916 Clarence Mackay of New York city attended service one Sunday at Lake Clear. In the course of his sermon on that day Father Berard expressed the hope that the parish might have a better church at some time, but added that it could not then be afforded. At the close of the service Mr. Mackay invited Father Berard to dine with him, and at the dinner pledged himself to give five thousand dollars for a new house of worship, which is now (April, 1917) nearing completion. It is understood also that Mrs. George Fayles Baker, a summer sojourner at Paul Smiths, has been a generous contributor toward procuring furnishings for the new edifice.

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Historical sketches of Franklin county and its several towns, Part 41

Author: Seaver, Frederick Josel, 1850- [from old catalog] Publication date: 1918 Publisher: Albany, J. B. Lyon company, printers Number of Pages: 848

Author: Seaver, Frederick Josel, 1850- [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1918
Publisher: Albany, J. B. Lyon company, printers
Number of Pages: 848