My in laws are spending a few days at Saranac Lake in upstate New York and they mentioned that there used to be a sanitorium for tuberculosis patients there. I was definitely intrigued.

Edward Livingston Trudeau

The story begins with Edward Livingston Trudeau (1848-1915), a doctor whom we might call a public health pioneer. After the experience of nursing his brother for three months until his death of tuberculosis, Trudeau became a doctor. Himself diagnosed with tuberculosis in 1873, he moved to the Adirondacks where he spent as much time as possible outside and regained his health. In 1876 he moved his family to Saranac Lake and set up his medical practice there.

Adirondack Cottage Sanitarium

In 1885 Trudeau founded the Adirondack Cottage Sanitarium, following the example of Dr. Hermann Brehmer who treated tuberculosis in cold mountain air.

Since the treatment involved spending as much time in fresh air as possible while also maintaining bed rest, “cure cottages” were adapted from existing houses or built new. They all had large porches with sliding glass windows where patients would recline for at least eight house a day.

The village grew from a population of 533 in 1880 to a peak of 6,000 in 1920. One of the early patients was Robert Louis Stevenson (side note: it is now thought that he did not have tuberculosis), which increased the town’s fame. The arrival of the railroads also helped, as did the fact that other places began to turn away people with tuberculosis when it was discovered that it is contagious.

Interestingly, “In time, cottages came to specialize in distinct populations: there were cottages for Greeks, for Cubans, for blacks, and kosher boarding cottages for Jews. Some were organized by occupation: there were cottages that catered to circus people, for telephone workers, for the employees of the DuPont company, and for Endicott Johnson Shoes.”

The sanitorium closed in 1954. Many of the cure cottages are still intact and some can be toured by the public.

Trudeau Institute

In 1894 Trudeau founded the Saranac Laboratory for the Study of Tuberculosis, the first labratory for studying tuberculosis in the United States. It is now the Trudeau Institute, a biomedical research centre, where teams of PhD-level scientists study immunity.