Historic Saranac Lake frequently receives queries regarding local history. Do you have any answers to the questions below? Please feel free to add what you know in the comment box, or email [email protected] with your knowledge or your own question.

An unknown camper; "Henry

  • 12/30/2013 [sic: 2012] The photograph at right was sent to us by Michael Specht, son of Malcolm A. Specht, who camped on the north shore of Pope Bay in Lower Saranac Lake from 1939 to about 1960. Please contact us if you can identify this gentleman.
  • 4/4/2011 My grandfather, Huber Gale Heath was a patient in the late 1920's. In August of 1927, Gale traveled to Saranac Lake, New York to be treated for Tuberculosis. His case was termed incipient or just beginning. He entered treatment 8/13/27 at the age of 40. He was treated by a Dr. Packard. He was housed at the Garwood Terrace at 20 Front Street at the top of Helen Hill. This was run by Alice E. Garwood and was considered for Ambulant Patients who paid $18-$25 per day for their rooms. Family history says that Gale's employer made the arrangements for his care and paid all of his expenses. Because Tuberculosis was such a deadly disease there was no guarantee he would return from Saranac Lake. Prior to leaving he converted stock into life insurance policies and more solid investments than the stock he had previously held. This saved him from the stock market crash of 1929. I am unsure when he was discharged but I believe it was about 1930. Because his case was caught early he was completely cured. He died at the age of 94 after marrying for the fourth time and moving with his wife to Merida, Mexico. I would be interested in knowing the history of anyone who may have known him during his stay in Saranac Lake. The home where he stayed on Garwood Terrace is no longer there. I would be interested in seeing any pictures that may be available. Helen Miller [email protected] —HelenMiller
  • 3/14/2011 A GENERAL INQUIRY ABOUT PULMONARY TB in the 1920's. My great grandfather Joseph Kodim Sr. became a patient in 1926, his 1st wife predeceased him with TB only after 2 years in NYC, his 2nd wife with TB Elsie Steiner Kodim survived TB at Lake Saranac and lived to be 88 years old, after 7 years in Saranac with TB Joseph Kodim took his own life. So my question is since he already was living with TB for 7 years, does it mean he could of been on his way to be cured? As his wife Elsie? and took his own life because of the isolation and living with the stigma of TB, or did some TB patients suffer for years with the disease in a downhill spiral only to succumb to it? [email protected]
  • 2/15/2011: Mary H. is looking for information on the Coolon (Colon) Family? Her Mother's Grandmother's name was Elvira Coolon or (Colon) and she was born in Harrietstown, NY in 1870. Elvira's Father was a man by the name of John Coolon or (Colon), who apparently served in the Civil War and died in 1881 and was buried in the Harrietstown Cemetery. John Coolon was married to a woman by the name of "Mary Jane Manning" whom he married before the Civil War, probably in Harrietstown. After John Coolon died Mary Jane took her children (9 kids) with her and relocated to Iowa.
  • 1/13/2011: PHOTO of ELSIE STEINER KODIM Looking for a photo fo Elsie Steiner Kodim, who was cured and a long time resident of Lake Saranac. [email protected]
  • 1/8/2011: Michael S. is looking for any information concerning the gardens at Saranac Inn (hotel) site. Would like to know about types of plants, especially flowers and other ornamentals, and bed design. Also, the original hotel at the Saranac Inn site was Prospect House, built and operated by the Hough family. Does anyone have any information concerning that family while running the hotel and after its sale to the New Saranac Inn consortium? Any responses to those queries can be addressed to: [email protected]
  • 1/8/2011: PHOTO JOSEPH KODIM SR. Elsie Steiner Kodim's husband. Looking for a photo of our grandfather/great grandfather Joseph Kodim Sr. a TB patient 1926-1933 not one living relative knows what he looked like, he married Elsie Steiner Kodim who he met in the Cure Cottages. His story which is listed in the TB Patient section had a tragic ending. Any photos of Joseph or Elsie or further info: [email protected]
  • 8/24/2010: John Gorman is looking for any pictures that may exist for the Swenson Camp Arokortu, later changed to a summer camp called Witchindin.
  • 7/8/10 Jason Colby is looking for additional information on 117 Olive Street, formerly 33 Olive Street, the Orin Savage Cottage, especially old pictures of the house that he could scan, or any of its history.
  • 5/17/10 Dan Bodah is seeking information about a Swiss executive for the Renault car company, named something like Rumpf, who spent time as a TB patient in SL in the early 1930s.
  • 4/10/10 A query published in the Enterprise letters: Looking for Irene Dieskow, born in SL in 1908. She had a sister named Florence, born 1906. Her parents were Gustave Dieskow and Lucy Williams Dieskow. Lucy had a sister named Lillian who married Matty Gauthier. Gustave and Lucy divorced in the mid-1920s, and both remarried. Irene never spoke of her family, and her son, now in his 70s, would like to get at least some idea of what caused this rift in the family.
  • 5/15/2010 A reader is searching for information about a young girl named Josephine Gronland DeCroix, who came to the sanitarium in 1901 or 1902 with TB and was "miraculously healed". The place she stayed was called the "Siberian huts"; (this may have been a nickname for some facility.) The autobiography brings out that the Doctor called her the miracle girl. She was approximately 15 years old. Are there any records? From [email protected]
    • This is apparently not referring to Trudeau's An Autobiography, as neither the term miracle nor the girl's name appear in the book. — MWanner
    • Josephine's autobiography?
  • 4/13/2010 We're looking for more information on the Palmer-Simpson Company that made airplane pontooons, etc., during World War I, apparently on Lake St., at Martin's boatshop and somewhere on Olive Street — but where? Most of the available information on this topic is about the plane, with Saranac Lake's part in it amounting to a footnote! Please feel free to add any detail that you can. (See notes at the bottom of the Palmer-Simpson page.)
  • 4/7/10 Philip Williams is looking for information on Ruth Marie Rosser, a nurse in Saranac Lake in the late 1940s, now living in Fayetteville, NC, and on her husband Jim Rosser, a Navy lieutenant and Rochester native.
  • 3/4/98 Letter to the Editor of the Adirondack Daily Enterprise: Researcher appeals for information on 1942 plane crash. I am doing research on an air crash where four RCAF training planes went down on Ragged Lake and 'W' Mountains south of Malone in June, 1942. Three Canadian flyers were killed, one was terribly injured, and the rest managed to walk out. Rescue personnel included DEC, NYSP, civilian volunteers, public health nurses, and, of course, the media was there. Is it possible that you have any record of this crash? I have requested material from the Air Ministry in Canada but they can not help me because of privacy seals on military records. I have advertised in Legion Magazine in Canada, I've checked with NYSP, DEC, Malone newspaper, airport managers from Malone and Massena, but if the persons remember anything about it, they have no records. Most are either too young to recall or were away in service. Still I have managed to reach two of the survivors and got their story and they sent me clippings from Montreal papers; specifically now I'd like to find where the other two survivors originated from so that I can advertise in their home papers. I am in pretty good shape on most of the background of the crash now but must find Flight Officer E. A. Wilson, J7943, and leading Air Craftsman J. E. Desloges, R117157. I should appreciate word from you or your readers . . . and many thanks. My address is: 432 Leslie Road, Box 7, Massena, NY 13662. Yours Truly, Ellie Thomas
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