Trudeau Sanatorium

On the east slope of Mount Pisgah, just outside Saranac Lake, a hillside campus preserves the remains of the Trudeau Sanatorium. Dr. Edward L. Trudeau founded it in 1884 as the Adirondack Cottage Sanitarium, the first sustained and successful American sanatorium for treating tuberculosis scientifically. He chose the site for its shelter from south and west winds and for its view over the Saranac River valley. Patients lived in small one-story cottages with porches, an arrangement that gave the place the feel of a village. The campus grew over decades with architect-designed buildings, including the 1896 Main Building, a chapel, libraries, laboratories, staff housing, service buildings and stone gateways. After Trudeau's death in 1915 it was renamed in his memory, and building continued until about 1939. The sanatorium closed in 1954. Thirty-four historic resources remain on about sixty-six acres, though many patient cottages are gone and the surviving ones have enclosed porches. The long views remain largely intact.