In A History of the Adirondacks, published in 1921, Alfred L. Donaldson felt compelled to counter a scurrilous attack on Saranac Lake by the Reverend John P. Lundy in the privately published, The Saranac Exiles. He produced what he termed a "bird's-eye view of the place in 1920":
"It now has a population of over six thousand. It has 753 private residences; 145 buildings in which housekeeping suites are rented; 1 large modern apartment house; 85 boarding houses; 13 hotels; 30 or 40 liveries renting cars, and several large garages; 75 stores; a telephone exchange; a union station; 3 school houses; a public library; 2 hospitals; 2 national banks; a boy's club house; a golf club; 4 churches; and 2 theaters. The main streets of the village are paved; it is completely electric lighted; it has a pure water supply from a mountain lake three miles; away it has an automatic fire alarm, an auto fire truck; and a chemical engine. [...] It had two papers, The Enterprise Republican, published twice a week, and The News Democratic, published once a week, but issuing a small daily sheet with Associated Press news called The Item. It has several lawyers among whom the Hon. H.P. Coats has twice been elected to the Senate..." 1
Footnotes
1. Donaldson, Alfred L. A History of the Adirondacks, New York: The Century Co., 1921, p. 235. (reprinted by Purple Mountain Press, Fleischmanns, NY, 1992)
