I was proud to be part of the Centennial Committee; but the entire story was written by that great local historian, John J. Duquette.

Having space for only a small portion of the book, we will have to do with the following interesting paragraphs.

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The air age and the general hospital

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“The air age arrived on the local scene on Oct. 3rd, 1912 when George Gray flew a Burgess-Wright plane from Malone to Norman Ridge.

“On the next day he flew to the race track on the Bloomingdale Road and raced an automobile into Saranac Lake. The first automobile had rolled into the village ten years earlier when Mr. & Mrs. Herbert Sackett came from Buffalo on their honeymoon. Among local residents, James A. Latour has been reported as the first owner of an automobile.”

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“The General Hospital was given to the area residents by the Proctor family in 1913, and in the next few years, Walter H. Cluet built and donated a Boy’s Club and a Curling Club to the village. In 1904 Prescott House was erected on Franklin Avenue to house patients awaiting admission to Trudeau San or private cure cottages. This charitable institution was the gift of Mary R. Prescott, a former patient, who also donated the land for Prescott Park. Col. Walter Scott and William Morris were staunch supporters of both the day nursery and the Stevenson Memorial Cottage. Morris, who owned Camp Intermission on Lake Colby was head of the William Morris Theatrical Agency and he brought many stars such as Al Jolson, Eddie Cantor, and Sir Henry Lauder to perform in charity benefits held in the Pontiac Theater.”

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Dr. Trudeau and R.L. Stevenson

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“Trudeau and Stevenson became close friends with only slight differences of opinion. The doctor objected to the author’s smoking habits while Stevenson considered Trudeau’s experiments with the tuberbacilli cultures to be sickening indeed. Ironically it was the smell of the little oil fired incubator, which nauseated R.L.S. also, that turned out to be the same contraption that burned down Trudeau’s house in 1893. On April 16th, 1888, Stevenson left for San Francisco from where he set sail for the South Seas to keep his rendezvous with death in Samoa in 1894.

“As Trudeau’s fame grew so did his sanatorium on the side of Mt. Pisgah until its size and population reached that point whereby it was entitled to its own post office. The ‘Adirondack Cottage Sanatorium,’ however, proved to be too cumbersome to fit neatly in the circle of a post mark so the official name was changed to the one word ‘Trudeau’ and as such became permanently known.

“With a continual improvement to his health Trudeau began to take a more active interest in local affairs. In 1879 he founded St. Luke’s Church and one year later, after organizing a reading club, he instigated the formation of the Franklin County Library in a small building on Main Street where the Post Office Pharmacy is presently located.

“He was able to spend more time on civic affairs because over the years a dedicated group of medical men had been attracted to the sanatorium to serve in the battle against T.B. and assume many of the doctor-patient duties.”

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The philosopher’s camp

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“Martin’s (the big hotel on the Lower lake) became a favorite jumping-off place for the sportsmen and their guides who were heading for a wilderness outing. A little known incident in local history took place at Martin’s in the summer of 1858. A very prestigious group of intellectuals arrived from Boston by rail and stagecoach to commence a camping vacation. The party included William J. Stillman, Ralph Waldo Emerson, James Russell Lowell, John Holmes, Louis Agassiz, Estes Howe, Horatio Woodman, Ebenezer Rockwell Hoar, Jefferies Wyman and Amos Binney.

“Agassiz, the great Swiss naturalist, had just made headlines by turning down an offer to be named head of the famous Jardin des Plantes in Paris. He chose instead to be named the professor of zoology at Harvard. At Martin’s dock the guides and boats were assembled to await the arrival of the party while also a contingent of villagers had gathered to greet the incoming stage. They were armed with a tintype of Agassiz for recognition purposes and as the illustrious men disembarked the local deputation pressed forward to identify their hero. When the match was made they eagerly shook the hand of Agassiz while completely ignoring the balance of the celebrated group. The famous party set out from Martin’s in a flotilla of guideboats to reach Follensby Pond, where their vacation site became well known as the ‘Philosophers Camp.'”

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The fourth pioneer

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“The fourth pioneer to arrive was Col. Milote Baker, who came from Keeseville in 1852 to build his hotel beside the river where the present stone residence is next to the Pine street bridge. In 1854, the first post office was established in his store across the road from the hotel and of course the Colonel was appointed to be the postmaster. On the evening of Sept. 12th, 1855, Lady Amelia Murray, maid of honor to Queen Victoria came to Baker’s with Governor Seymour to spend a night prior to the start of their much publicized tour of the Adirondacks. Mart Moody was chosen to guide the party.

“Baker was a staunch Democrat and quite vociferous in his opinion of Republicans so that when Buchanan was defeated by Lincoln in 1861, Baker lost his post office to William F. Martin.”