Meenahga Lodge, the Schoolhouse Staff of the Adirondack-Florida School, Ida Bombard, Edith Paye Swinyer, Ola Swinyer Gallagher, Gladys Bryant, Emily Allison, Agnes Lynch, Cleo Swinyer. The little girl in front is Edith Swinyer Ransom. Photo provided by George Besaw. The Ransom "Brick House," 2009 Adirondack Florida School Lay of the Land, October 1936. Courtesy of John Black. A map of Rainbow Lake and Clear Pond showing the Meenahga Lodge, site of the school. The Ransom "Brick House" (undated) Adirondack-Florida School

The school is still in operation in Florida, now called the Ransom Everglades School. [See Ransom Everglades School]

Malone Farmer, November 22, 1905

Branch & Callanan, of Saranac Lake, have the contract for the erection of a three-story building and basement for Prof. Paul C. Ransom's school for boys at Rainbow Lake, at a cost of $15,000. The construction will begin immediately, as the building is to be completed by June 1st. The Rainbow camp of Prof. Ransom is also to include about a dozen rustic cabins. The main part of the three-story building will be 28 by 50 feet, and there will be a wing 30 by 50, at the end of which will be a study room 16 by 20 feet on the ground floor. The structure will include a living room and guests' rooms and will be of shingle exterior. The school will be conducted at Rainbow in the summer and in Florida during the winter.

From Frederick J. Seaver's Historical Sketches of Franklin County, Chapter XVI (1909)

Paul C. Ransom, a graduate of Williams College, having been compelled by failing health to relinquish the practice of law in Buffalo, turned in 1897 to the work of fitting boys for college, and in 1903 established the Adirondack-Florida School, which holds its spring and autumn terms on Rainbow lake, near Onchiota, and a winter term at Cocoanut Grove, Florida. A school building or lodge was erected at the former place in 1906 at a cost of $15,000, and a number of cabins and other structures have been added since. Mr. Ransom died in 1907, when Mrs. Ransom assumed charge, and has since conducted the school, with L. H. Somers, a Yale man, as headmaster. Of Mr. Ransom it is said that his quiet influence over boys was wonderful, and that he was "a rare master, and a rarer friend." Originally the school was planned to accommodate twenty pupils, but now has a capacity for thirty; and inasmuch as it is believed that the best results are attainable only with a small enrollment no effort is likely to be made for further enlargement. The Rainbow Lake branch is called Meenahga Lodge. The school is intended to give boys the best advantages attainable in the way of individual attention and wholesome surroundings, the opportunity to pursue a course of study in preparation for college, and at the same time the benefit of outdoor life under the most favorable climatic conditions. Invalid boys or those suffering from any organic disease are not received. A chief aim of the school is the cultivation of character, and particular attention is given also to outdoor sports and physical training. The charge for tuition and care is $1,600 per pupil per year, which does not include traveling expenses, text books or stationery, and no deductions are allowed for absence, withdrawal or dismissal. The naked statement of terms is evidence that only the sons or wards of wealthy people are included among the pupils, who come from all parts of the United States. The school's standing is very high, and it has the unqualified indorsement of eminent educators and of many distinguished men whose sons have been among its pupils.

Adirondack Daily Enterprise, December 20, 2001

Onchiota blaze still a mystery Fire that consumed Adirondack camp is under investigation

By PETER CROWLEY

Enterprise Staff Writer

ONCHIOTA - Fire Offices say they still don't know what caused the blaze that burned a classic Adirondack camp to the ground Wednesday morning near the hamlet of Onchiota.

"We still don't know how it started," Bloomingdale Fire Chief Kevin Woodruff said this morning "It's under investigation by the insurance company "

The lodge complex on the shores of Rainbow Lakes was a second home for Wayne Thomas, of the Albany area. Some at the scene said they thought it had been built before 1900.

The camp's main lodge and secondary cabin were completely consumed by the fire, with the exception of their brick chimneys. Just a few feet away, a recently built boathouse was not touched by the flames.

The blaze was reported at 6:15 Thursday morning by Ray White, who was with a construction company working on a neighboring camp.

"It was burning good when he discovered it," Woodruff said.

Access to the property was via about five miles of narrow winding, snow-covered roads starting in the hamlet of Onchiota. At least one fire truck became stuck en route to the fire.

The Bloomingdale, Paul Smiths-Gabriels and Saranac Lake volunteer Fire department responded to the scene, and town of Franklin highway, workers helped shovel dirt on the roads so the fire trucks could get up steep hills. The Lake Placid Volunteer Fire Department stood by at the Saranac Lake firehouse, and the Tupper Lake Volunteer Eire Department did the same, in Paul Smiths.

Porter Sargeant, A Handbook Of Private Schools For American Boys And Girls An Annual Survey, p.301

THE ADIRONDACK-FLORIDA SCHOOL Boys Ages 12-18.

Kenneth O. Wilson, A.B., Princeton, Head Master. Est 1903. Enrollment: Bdg 25. Faculty: 6. Tuition: $2400. Courses 6 years: Grades VII-VIII High Sch 1-4 Col Prep. Undenominational. C E B Exams candidates '30, 15; >26-'30, 80. Entering Col '30, 3; *26-30, 13. Alumni ca 250.

The plan of spending the winter months in Florida was conceived and first carried out by Paul C Ransom, the founder of this school. For six preceding winters he had taken a group of boys to Pine Knot Camp, the present winter home of the school five miles south of Miami. After his death in 1907, Mrs. Ransom and Levings Hooker Somers developed the school on the lines laid down by Mr. Ransom. The group never exceeds twenty-five carefully selected boys. The income is wholly invested in improvement of the equipment An atmosphere of sincerity, loyalty, serious work and devotion to ideals has been created which leaves an indelible impress. Some evidence of this was shown in the immediate and cordial response of alumni in subscriptions to reconstruct the Coconut Grove plant after its practical destruction in the 1926 hurricane. In 1928 a board of trustees was appointed and the school was incorporated the following year. In 1931, Mr. Somers, who had married the previous year, resigned and Mr. Wilson, an alumnus, instructor in the school from 1926 to 1930, who had recreated the summer camp, Meenagha Lodge, in 1927, was called from Lawrenceville to succeed him.

From "Adirondack Stories, Historical Sketches" by Marty Podskoch, 2004, reprinted in the Adirondack Daily Enterprise, March 12, 2019.

Paul C. Ransom

In 1903 Paul C. Ransom, lawyer and educator, founded the Adirondack-Florida School, the first migratory, private boarding school in the U.S. . . . During the spring and fall, students lived and studied at Meenagha . . . Lodge campus on Clear Pond . . . Old logging buildings became classrooms and dormitories. Classes ended at Thanksgiving and resumed at "Pine Knot Camp" in Coconut Grove, Florida for the winter session. The Adirondack campus closed in 1949 but the school remained in Coconut Grove, renamed Ransom.

In 1952 Buster Crabbe bought Meenagha and ran a summer camp until 1974.

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