TB sanitarium sites preserved in N.Y.

SARANAC LAKE, N.Y. — Tuberculosis put Saranac Lake on the map.

Through the middle of the 20th century, ailing people seeking a “rest cure” reclined on cottage porches in the community to take in the crisp Adirondack Mountain air. Saranac Lake grew into a mini-metropolis of medical care, with a dozen trains chugging in and out daily, a famous mountainside tuberculosis sanitarium, hotels — and three undertakers.

“It was a bustling place,” said 89-year-old Howard Riley, who worked more than seven decades ago as a “tray boy,” delivering food to patients. “Very, very upbeat. And that might sound funny to somebody else, because the whole place was built on a disease.”

The local boom ended with the rise of effective antibiotic treatment, but residents still honor the village’s novel legacy. This year, the local history group purchased the old home and medical office of TB treatment pioneer Dr. Edward Livingston Trudeau for conversion into additional museum space.

Separately, developers purchased the sprawling site of Trudeau’s sanitarium with plans to refurbish and reuse buildings integral to the area’s past as a magnet for sick people.

“It’s just still really a big part of our identity,” said Amy Catania, executive director of Historic Saranac Lake.

Spread by coughs and sneezes, tuberculosis typically attacks the lungs and was among the deadliest diseases a century ago. Fever, fatigue and an awful cough are common symptoms.

Trudeau was among the sufferers who went to the Adirondack Mountains in the 19th century in the belief that rest and mountain air could help control the disease. The young doctor’s health improved and he moved to Saranac Lake. He opened the Adirondack Cottage Sanitorium in 1884, beginning a literal cottage industry that lasted 70 years.

At its height, an estimated 2,000 or more patients at a time would stay locally at privately run cottages and larger institutions like the Trudeau Sanitorium, named for its founder after his death in 1915 after battling the disease for decades.

Hundreds of old “cure cottages” still stand along the hilly streets. Many are residential homes, their distinctive open porches now enclosed.

Trudeau discharged its last patient in 1954 and was purchased several years later by a corporate training group to host seminars.

The area’s past as a TB haven is highlighted at the Saranac Laboratory Museum, a brick building that was once Trudeau’s lab. Historic Saranac Lake operates the museum and this past spring bought Trudeau’s former home and medical practice next door. It is raising $1.7 million for a rehabilitation of new space.