Main Street

Main Street runs north from its junction with Lake Street and Kiwassa Road at the Lake Flower dam. It bends to the east at its intersection with Broadway, and continues a block past Church Street, where it becomes Dugway Road shortly before ending at Pine Street. It is one of the earliest streets in the village.

Looking north on Main Street near the Riverside Inn showing the old Harrietstown Town Hall, 1920s. Photograph by William F. Kollecker.

Looking south on Main Street with the Berkeley Hotel right, Roberts Block center, Saranac Lake High School left. Photograph by William Henry Jackson, 1906

Looking north on Main Street from its intersection with Broadway, 1930s.

Looking north on Main Street 1916. Photo courtesy of Nora Bouvier.

Looking north on Main Street at the corner of River Street, undated. Courtesy of James Rudi Snyder.

Main Street at the corner of River Street, from left, the porch of the Empire Hotel, the old Town Hall, Walton and Tousley, the Tousley Building apparently under construction, Little Joe's, the Donaldson Block, and the Haase Block are all visible. The sign for the Blue Bird Tea Room can be seen at right. (c. 1924) (Adirondack Daily Enterprise, undated clipping)

More photographs here.

Old Address|scope="col" style=width:25%|Post-911 Address|scope="col" style=width:20%|Building Name|scope="col"|Cure Evidence/Notes
Starts at Lake Street (West), Riverside Drive (East)
	Now Riverside Park	Riverside Inn
2 Main Street	3 Main Street	Paul Smith's Electric Light and Power and Railroad Company	#1 & #3,
10 Main Street	17 Main Street	10 Main Street	TBSBC
12 Main Street	21-23 Main Street	Currier Block	Cure Cottages, p. 106
Crosses the Saranac River on the Main Street Bridge
16 Main Street	Site vacant since 1958	16 Main Street	Torn down for the LaPan Highway. Behind it was the Adirondack Bottling Works
18 Main Street	Site vacant since 1958	Toole Cottage	DIS 1933, See 16 Main Street F. M. Bull's Drugs
20 Main Street	Site vacant since 1958	Gruber Cottage	DIS 1913, Torn down for the LaPan Highway. Also 22 Main Cady Sporting Goods
24 Main Street Also 26 Main	Site vacant since 1958	Seaver A. Miller Cottage	Torn down for the LaPan Highway. Historic Image
Crosses the George LaPan Highway (West, after 1957), River Street (East)
25 - 29 Main Street	38 Main Street	Spaulding Block	The first brick building in Saranac Lake.
27 Main Street		Utting's Groceries	SLD1906
28 Main Street	39 Main Street	Empire Hotel	SLD1906, SLD1908, DIS 1911 (destroyed), [[1]]
30 Main Street	39 Main Street	Harrietstown Town Hall
31 Main Street		Mrs. Carter Cottage 2	DIS 1912
33 Main Street		Saranac Lake Hardware Apartments	DIS 1933
34 Main Street	43 Main Street	Walton & Tousley Hardware	was 34-36, Rice Furniture
35/37 Main Street	42 Main Street	Kendall's Grocery, Albany Market	SLD1906, DIS 1912 third business building on east side of Main, torn down in 1945?
36 Main Street See 34 Main Street	43 Main Street	Magill residence (1910)	Slater Cottage (DIS 1911), was 34-36, Cure Cottages, p. 67
38 Main Street	49 Main Street	Tousley Building	was 38-40
39 Main Street		Ryan's Livery, Harris Cottage	SLD1906, DIS 1913
41 Main Street		Edelberg's Furs, Munn Brothers	SLD1906
41 1/2 Main Street		Crakow Cottage	DIS 1929
42 Main Street	51 Main Street	Milo Miller Store	was 42-44, , A. Goldsmith & Son, E.L. Finnegan's Shoes
43 Main Street	48 Main Street	43 Main Street	Waterhole, Cure Cottages, p. 105, 106
44 Main Street See 42 Main Street	51 Main Street	A. Goldsmith Cottage	DIS 1911
45 Main Street Was 45-49	52 Main Street	Green's Market	Artists Guild, Edelberg's Furs, Hogan Block,Nutter's Shoe Store
46 Main Street	55 Main Street	46 Main Street	The Book Store
48 Main Street	57 Main Street	Little Joe's	Cure Cottages, p. 61
49 Main Street See 45 Main Street	52 Main Street	Charlie Green's Market	SLD1906
50 Main Street See 48 Main Street	59 Main Street	50 Main Street	Altman's (1924-32), Emily Durell's Gifts, Roby's Gifts, Little Joe's
51 Main Street	Now part of the Sears parking lot	51 Main Street	Pot Shop
52 Main Street	61 Main Street	Central Market	SLD1906, SLD1908 Gibney's Market,Post Office Pharmacy
53 Main Street was 65-67	62 Main Street	Linwood Cottage	DIS 1911 Sears parking lot, Historic Image, Cure Cottages, p. 9 & 105
53 1/2 Main Street	Site vacant, 2009	53 1/2 Main Street (behind Linwood)	DIS
54 Main Street	63-65 Main Street	Donaldson Block	was 54-56-58
55 1/2 Main Street	Site vacant, 2009	Perez Cottage (behind Newberry's)	DIS 1930
56 Main Street See 54 Main Street	63 Main Street	Donaldson Block	SLD1908, NYC1915 Cure Cottages, p. 63
58 Main Street See 54 Main Street		Distin's Studio	SLD1906
60 Main Street See 54 Main Street	67 Main Street	File:60 Main St. Reuben Reynolds Cottage	Adirondack National Bank (destroyed)
61-65 Main Street	66 Main Street	Mrs. Lucius Evans Cottage
62 Main Street	67 Main Street	Haase Block	SLD1908 was 62-64, 60-64
63 Main Street	Main Street	Alfred A. Moody Insurance
64 Main Street See 62 Main Street	67 Main Street	64 Main Street (Haase Block)	DIS
65/67 Main Street	66 Main Street	Newberry's	Later Sears, now Wholesale Furniture, 67 Main was (apparently) the site of the Bijou Theatre.
68 Main Street was 68-70	69 Main Street	Telephone Exchange	Reuben Reynolds Trudeau
69 Main Street	74 Main Street	Post Office Building	DIS Later Meyers Drugs; Downhill Grill Cure Cottages, p. 66
68 1/2 Main Street	75 Main Street	Adirondack National Bank	SLD1910-11
70 Main Street	75 Main Street	Humidor
71 Main Street was 71-79	76 Main Street	Coulter Block
74 Main Street was 74-76	77 Main Street	Fowler Block	DIS 1912
77 Main Street	79 Main Street	Endicott-Johnson Shoes
78 Main Street was 78-80	79 Main Street	Roberts Block	DIS 1911 Finnigan's
82 Main Street	81 Main Street	Kendall Building
84 Main Street	85 Main Street	Mulflur Building
83 Main Street was 83-85	86 Main Street	Leonard's Department Store
Intersection with Broadway (West)
89 Main Street	90 Main Street	Harding Block	E. J. Kennedy's
Passes Academy Street (Southeast)
90 Main Street	Berkeley Square	Berkeley House	DIS 1928-1952 (burned)
94 Main Street	97 Main Street	94 Main Street	Blue Gentian/Corvo's, Cure Cottages, p. 107, E. L. Finnegan's Shoe and Clothing Store,Community Store
96/98 Main Street	Vest Pocket Park	98 Main Street	Originally the home of W.F. Roberts Historic Image
100 Main Street	109 Main Street	Guild House	(demolished- now site of the expanded Library) Historic Image, Historic Image
102 Main Street	109 Main Street	Saranac Lake Free Library
95 - 101 Main Street	100 Main Street	Hotel Saranac	DIS 1952-54
99 - 103 Main Street		Odd Fellows Hall
104 Main Street	115 Main Street	Lawrason Brown Office and Residence	DIS 1911,Historic Image
105 Main Street	118 Main Street	Edward Livingston Trudeau house and office	Historic Image, Historic Image
108 Main Street	121 Main Street	Conklin Cottage
110 Main Street	now roadway	Werle Town House	Address of the Werle Town House before it was moved to Church Street
Crosses Church Street
112 Main Street, changed to 110 when Church St. was extended	129 Main Street	Werle Cottage	JOL1931, SLA1935, PHR1930, NYC1915, Historic Image, Historic Image
112 Main Street	.	112 Main Street	no longer exists. DIS;
116 Main Street	133 Main Street	Woods Price House	DIS 1911
117 Main Street	Main Street	117 Main Street	St. Luke's Parish House
118 Main Street	139 Main Street	118 Main Street	DIS
121 Main Street	142 Main Street	121 Main Street
123 Main Street	148 Main Street	123 Main Street	NYC1915
132 Main Street		124 Main Street
141 Main Street	.	141 Main Street	DIS
144 Main Street	191 Main Street	144 Main Street	TBSBC, NYC1915
150 Main Street	197 Main Street	Tanzini Cottage	TBSBC 1930
152 Main Street	199 Main Street	Tanzini Cottage 2	DIS 1930
163 Main Street	.	Rodwell Cottage 2	DIS 1911
Ends at Pine Street

View from Main Street at the foot of Lake Street, 1930s

Main Street looking northeast in front of the Hotel Saranac, 1930s

Main Street from Church Street, 1930s

Main Street from the top of Berkeley Hill, 1879. Evans Cottage is on the left. Photograph by George W. Baldwin from Alfred L. Donaldson's A History of the Adirondacks

Main Street near the start of Broadway (from the Berkeley House)

The text below is from a caption published for the picture above at right by the Watertown Times in 1948. For information on the caption, see Old Saranac Lake photographs

SARANAC LAKE ABOUT 1900—Looking up Main street from the Berkely Hotel, a photographer, thought to be George Baldwin or William Adams, captured an early morning scene from the top balcony of the Berkeley Hotel on Berkeley Square.

The building on the extreme right served the village as its post office for many years. Today it houses the Horton Flower shop. The horse and buggy in front of the building is the Trudeau Sanatorium bus which carried people and supplies to and from the famous sanatorium. The house and buggy bus has been succeeded by a new station wagon in 1948.

The long white building on the left, the Lute Evans cottage, was one of the first tourist homes in Saranac Lake and for many years the late John D. Rockefeller, Sr., stayed in the Evans House during summer vacations. Next to the postoffice is the original Kendall pharmacy. Built by Dr. Frank E. Kendall in 1893 after he left the employ of F. M. Bull who operated the first pharmacy at 18 Main street. Still the Kendall pharmacy the building has been remodeled and modernized.

The cottage beside the Kendall building today houses the T. F. Finnigan Clothing company. The two houses that follow and face on Main street were known as the Rube and Rant Reynolds houses. They were used for many years as tourist houses and today serve as the site for many buildings including the Adirondack Enterprise the Adirondack National Bank and Trust company, the Federal Savings and Loan and others.

In the rear left center of the building can be seen the original Harrietstown town hall which was replaced by the modern town hall after fire razed it in 1926. The original site of the Adirondack Daily Enterprise, the fire allegedly started somewhere in the shop of the newspaper late in the evening. The publisher of the paper, John S Ridenour, printed the paper in Malone while his equipment was being salvaged.

Along with completely destroying town records and the newspaper office, the fire also destroyed much property belonging to the Odd Fellows lodge who also held their meetings in the building.

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Watertown Daily Times, 1939

Watertown Daily Times, 1939 ¹

Highlight of the Saranac Lake celebration of July 4, 1892, was the firemen's parade pictured above [left]. The photograph was taken from a point on Main street now the site of Riverside park. The fire team is racing in a direction away from Berkeley Square and is passing the old town hall. Berkeley Square cannot be seen as Main street turns to the right just before the Square.

The wooden town hall of this picture was completely destroyed in 1927 by fire. It was later replaced by the imposing brick structure of today. In 1892 there was no town clock in the town hall tower. Today there is one.

At the left foreground is the residence of Judge Seaver A. Miller. The entire length of Main street has been changed by construction of modern buildings and the extension of the business section to the neighborhood of the town hall. Then, as now, Berkeley Square was the center of the shopping district.

In the background may be seen one of the many surrounding mountains overlooking the village.

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The wooden buildings of Saranac Lake's earliest commercial district had open porches that were later enclosed. The one-story building with snow on the roof is now the Post Office Pharmacy. Beyond it, the facades are still familiar today, though the poles and wires are not. On the right side of the street was Mrs. Lucius Evans Cottage, later replaced by the store that is now Sears. The sunny open space was the lawn of the Linwood Cottage, and far right are the open porches of what is now the Adirondack Artists' Guild.

West side of lower Main Street, undated. Courtesy of Mary Hotaling

Main Street, c. 1909; the Post Office Building and the sign for the Bijou Theatre, at right, c. 1902 (From Saranac Lake in the Adirondacks: The North Woods City of Health and Opportunity, Mid Winter Carnival, 1909. Courtesy of the Adirondack Research Room, Saranac Lake Free Library)

West side of lower Main Street, c. 1909 (From Saranac Lake in the Adirondacks: The North Woods City of Health and Opportunity, Mid Winter Carnival, 1909. Courtesy of the Adirondack Research Room, Saranac Lake Free Library)

Looking east along Main Street, Saranac Lake, from the middle of Berkeley Square, this unusual view captures the relationship of the Berkeley Hotel on the left and the first Saranac Lake High School on the right. The church tower next door to the school belongs to the original First United Methodist Church, which occupied a lot that is now the parking lot of the Hotel Saranac. Based on the size of the high school, which would be expanded twice later on, this William L. Distin photo can be dated between 1890 and 1902.

Main Street looking northeast from outside the Hotel Saranac; TB Nurse Alberta Kenny Bodah with Edward Livingston Trudeau house and office and St. Luke's Church visible at right in background, late 1930s/early 1940s. Photo property of Dan Bodah.

Main Street looking northeast from outside the  Hotel Saranac; unknown woman with Odd Fellows Hall at right, St. Luke's Church visible in background, late 1930s/early 1940s. Photo property of Dan Bodah.

Adirondack Daily Enterprise, August 25, 1954

Our Town

By Eddie Vogt

There Have Been Some Changes Made ...

The last time I sent a telegram I realized that when I first came up here—back in the late thirties —that the Western Union Office was in Berkeley Square, where the C.C. Commo Shop is now. There also was a Postal Telegraph and, if I recall, it was in the store now occupied by Charlotte's Little Shop. Next to that (where Meyer's Drug Store is now) was the Grand Union and farther down Main street (along about where Mike and Sandy are now) was the Albany Market. Across the street (G. Carver Rice) was Walton and Tousley, and where the Ayres Real Estate Agency is now was E. L. Finnegan's Shoe and Clothing Store. (Right?) I don't know what brought this on. I guess towns change like people's faces and there probably are a lot more that I would think of if I could concentrate. Right now I'm trying to remember what stood on the present site of the Thompson Building. Maybe someone can help me out.

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Similar to the view at left, only taken from up in the Berkeley.
Photograph #06.218 courtesy of the Adirondack Research Room, Saranac Lake Free Library

Looking south down Main Street (left) from Berkeley Square; the start of Broadway is at right, late 1940s
Irma and Paul Milstein Division of United States History,
Local History and Genealogy, The New York Public Library.
The New York Public Library Digital Collections

Steel beams being delivered for the construction of the new Harrietstown Town Hall, c. 1927. Bricks are stacked behind, and barrels, possibly of rivets, line the sidewalk. From left, the Paul Smiths Building, Currier Block, 16 Main Street and Seaver A. Miller Cottage can be seen.

Looking north on Main Street, 1920s. 52 Main at right. Hand-tinted postcard

See also: 1997 Streetscapes

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Footnotes

1. For more information on this photograph and caption, see Old Saranac Lake photographs