The following article was originally published in the Adirondack Daily Enterprise newspaper on May 2, 1979. It is reproduced here in its original form with their permission.
Historic Saranac Lake and the Adirondack Daily Enterprise today present an account of No. 7 Church St., formerly the Saranac Laboratory, now Trudeau House, a dormitory for Paul Smith's College. Much of the information for this article has its source in a detailed history of the laboratory prepared by Mrs. Lillian Blinn.
This building, the third to be described of a group which may qualify for the National Register of Historic Places, illustrates one of the important concepts of the "new preservation." Before 1960, historic preservation efforts concentrated on restoring structures to their original condition and use. The "new preservation" strives not only to save things from the past but to rehabilitate buildings so they have practical value for the present and future. At times this involves simply more efficient utilization of interior space or minor modifications of original use. In other instances - and No. 7 Church St. is a case in point- entirely new uses which may not even have existed when the structure was erected must be created. By this means both history and economics are well served.
SARANAC LAKE - A sturdy cut-stone building at No. 7 Church St. owes its presence to an unpredictable series of events - events determined in part by the lure of the Adirondack wilderness, in part by the severity of its climate.
In 1873 a young American doctor, Edward Livingston Trudeau, stricken with tuberculosis, came to spend what he and others guessed might be his last months in the wilderness environment he loved at Paul Smith's. Unpredictably he survived to spend many years devoted to caring for other victims of the disease.
Not quite 10 years later a young German scientist, Robert Koch, discovered the tubercle bacillus, an unpredictable breakthrough which signalled the beginning of a new era in medicine and ultimately a dramatic reversal in the outcome of an old disease.
It was unpredictable too that Koch's achievement would fire the enthusiasm of a man who, in his own words, had "no health, no scientific training, no apparatus, no access to books, and was situated 42 miles from a railroad in a primitive forest." And who, he might have added, was unable to read German!
However, by 1885 these stumbling blocks had been overcome, a primitive home laboratory had been set up, and Trudeau had succeeded in growing the tubercle bacilli in a homemade thermostat heated by a kerosene lamp. Perhaps it was not so unpredictable that on a cold winter night in 1893 while Dr. Trudeau was ill in New York, the little kerosene lamp would start a fire which totally destroyed house and laboratory.
The response to this setback was dramatic. Within hours, a patient and friend, George C. Cooper, had offered to build "a good stone and steel laboratory; one that will never burn up." Other offers of help poured in, and soon the Trudeaus were planning a new home and a laboratory, both of which his cousin, Lawrence Aspinwall, designed.
Dr. Trudeau described the new laboratory in these words:
"The building is a most substantial and dignified structure. As nothing but cut stone, glazed brick, slate, steel and cement entered into its composition, it is absolutely fire-proof. The inside is all finished in white, glazed brick, and it looks absolutely indestructible - as if it were built not for time but for eternity!"For the next 60 years under a series of able directors, the laboratory was an active center for experimental research, for education, and for diagnostic services to area patients, doctors, hospitals, and sanatoria. Dr. Edward R Baldwin, the first director, organized investigations into the nature of the tubercle bacillus, immunity, and specific remedies for the cure of tuberculosis. In these early years the laboratorybecame the headquarters for a postgraduate course known a the Trudeau School of Tubeculosis, 30 days of intensive training in the study of pulonary disease. It inspired, too, the formation of a medical society in Saranac Lake which continues to meet regularly to this day.
Dr. Baldwin was succeeded by Dr. Leroy Gardner whose directorship marked a turning point in the history of the laboratory and of industrial medicine. A new program of experimental research into the effects of industrial dusts was mapped out. From the granite quarries of Vermont to the iron ore district around Lake Superior, Saranac Lake Laboratory researchers investigated the problems of silicosis, undertook surveys in the steel, cement, and gypsum industries, and explored the effects of inhalation of beryllium dust and bauxite fumes. Some of the earliest labor safety laws were an outgrowth of this research.
In 1928 a one-story addition adjoining the main building on the south side, the gift of Mrs. Frank Black in memory of her son, John Baxter Black, was completed. Housing a library and lecture room with a seating capacity of 100, this wing a few years later was capped by a second story which provided the additional rooms needed for the dust inhalation experiments.
More years of active research ensued under the directorships of Dr. Arthur Vorwald and Dr. G.W.H. Schepers with a continued emphasis on the investigation of industrial dust hazards. However, the 1950's saw many changes in the treatment of pulmonary disease, changes reflected in the closing of local sanatoria. Correspondingly there was a drastic reduction in the Saranac Laboratory staff in July of 1958 and most of the research activities were discontinued.
On June 6, 1966 the laboratory building was given to Paul Smith's College and a new chapter in its history began. Alterations made in the spring and summer of 1974 transformed it into Trudeau House, dormitory for the college students.
It was surely unpredictable 100 years ago but is as surely fitting that two good friends, Edward Livingston Trudeau and Paul Smith, continue to be linked today in No. 7 Church St.
Since this article was written in 1979, additional unpredictable changes have continued. In 1988, Paul Smith's College built a new dormitory next door to the Saranac Laboratory and closed the doors on the old building. The National Park Service listed the Church Street Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992; the Saranac Laboratory is a contributing building -- and the centerpiece -- of that district. The doors remained closed for over 10 years until the building came under ownership and management of Historic Saranac Lake in December of 1998. Since then, Historic Saranac Lake has worked to restore the historic building and bring it back to productive use as a museum and headquarters for the organization. As part of the E911 update of almost every address in the village, the street number was changed by government officials from 7 Church Street to 89 Church Street. Today, the building houses the offices of Kisco Information Systems as well as those of HSL. Work on the building continues as of this writing, April 1, 2007.