Terrace Street

1916 Sanborn mapThe two houses presently on Terrace Street, formerly Alpine Terrace, are now reached from a spur off of McComb Street; previously, Alpine Terrace started on Broadway opposite Bloomingdale Avenue.  It does not appear on the 1899 Sanborn map; it's first appearance is on the 1903 map, though it is not shown in full, and no map shows it connecting to McComb street except the tax map, below.

Malone Farmer, 22 May 1912

Saranac Lake is up against the problem of again appealing the Ricketson case or paying up the judgment, the appellate division having lately affirmed the judgment won by Ricketson upon the trial of the case in Malone last fall before Justice Kellogg. The village put a street through H. C. Ricketson's land along the route of what it claimed to be a public right of way, but Ricketson insisted that it had not been used as a public road and the public had gained no easement in the property—at all events, he insisted that, if used at all by the public, it had not been used long enough to deprive him of his property; and he proved his case to the satisfaction of the court. Ricketson's attorneys were Badger & Son, of this village. Terrace street is therefore not a street, but a piece of Ricketson’s yard. The village, if it does not appeal, can condemn the land but it would probably be cheaper now to settle with Ricketson. Something will have, to be done if the village does not want Ricketson to close the street.

Plattsburgh Daily Press, 26 October 26, 1912

H.C. Ricketson has started to excavate on Terrace Street, Saranac Lake and expects to build a three story business block.

2023 Franklin County Tax map
Although the street has not been used in decades, its original route is still village land.

Malone Farmer, October 30, 1912

Terrace street at Saranac Lake is no more or at least a part of it and where once was the street appropriated by the village on the theory that a user had been gained of 30 years, is the cellar of a new block which Mr. Ricketson is building.[sic] The case was long in the courts and was tried in Malone. It was finally held that no public right of way or easement had been gained by user over Mr. Ricketson's property. The village never seemed willing to pay Mr. Ricketson what he asked for the land for the street and now some people residing on it have no means of ingress or egress.

Malone Farmer, November 27, 1912

Saranac Lake village voted Friday on appropriating not exceeding $5,000 to buy land for a street to Broadway for the penned-up residents of Terrace St. This is the property over which the village lost a law suit a few months ago.

Malone Farmer, April 1, 1914

One of the acts passed by both houses of the legislature last week was to legalize the acts of the trustees of Saranac Lake in the opening of Terrace Street in that village. The board bought the land after being beaten in the courts in an action involving the title to the street and gave village notes in payment- for it. On account of the amount of the expenditure the law did not permit it without a favorable vote of the taxpayers. So the act was passed to correct the matter and remove personal liability from the members of the board for the amount involved.

Lake Placid News, June 6, 1924

NEW EMPLOYMENT AGENCY, 7 Terrace Street, Saranac Lake, N. Y., furnishes both male and female help. Miss D. R. E. Dudley.
Phone 952-J. 7-t4ch

Malone Farmer, October 17, 1934

Three Lose Lives In Triple Shooting at Saranac Lake

Dr. Nelson W. Johnson, 35, dentist and sportsman, and Mrs. Anna Blood Moody, 65, were shot to death in their homes in Saranac Lake early last evening allegedly by a 70-year-old man whose body was found in an automobile at the rear of the Moody home a few minutes after the shooting occurred.

William Straight, 70, of Terrace street, said by police to have fired the shots, was found in the rear seat of the car, a bullet wound in his head.

Dr. Johnson, a stepson of Straight was shot through the head while sitting in the living room of his home shortly after 6 o'clock. He died instantly.

The bullet that claimed his life was fired through a window of his home. Members of his family were sitting in the room at the time.

A few minutes later, another bullet ripped through a window of the Moody home in River street, six blocks away, striking Mrs. Moody in the neck. She died before the arrival of a physician.

While neighbors in St. Bernard street were investigating the shots at the Johnson home, residents in Terrace street were startled by the report of a gun at the Moody home.

The shot that ended Straight's life rang out less than two minutes before Mrs. Moody was killed. State troopers and local police learned that Straight and Dr. Johnson had quarrelled recently over money. Straight, they said, financed Dr. Johnson's education at a dental school.

They were unable to find a motive for the killing of Mrs. Moody.

The death of Dr. Johnson occurred in the Franklin county end of the village, and Mrs. Moody was killed in the Essex county end.

Harold W. Main, district attorney of Franklin county; Thomas McDonald, district attorney of Essex county; Coroner William Wardner of Franklin county and Coroner John P. Crowley of Essex County were called in to investigate the triple shooting.

Straight's wife is a practical nurse.