Church of St. Luke the Beloved Physician, Interior 
Church of St. Luke the Beloved Physician, 2008 
St. Luke's in 1879. According to Donaldson, "on the left are "Gray, Slater and Bullard (Conklin's) houses." Adirondack Daily Enterprise, November 1, 2008 
St. Luke's Church, 1907
The Episcopal Church of St. Luke the Beloved Physician, built in 1878, is Saranac Lake's first church. The church was established in 1877, with services held in the Berkeley House by Reverend John Lundy, who began a fund drive that was taken over by Dr. Trudeau after Lundy left. Trudeau carried the building project to completion, and served as treasurer and warden for thirty-eight years.
The plans were a gift from Richard Mitchell Upjohn (1828-1903), son of the architect of ![[WWW]](http://wikispot.org/wiki/eggheadbeta/img/sycamore-www.png){kind=small}
Trinity Church in New York City. The church was built — at today's 136 Main Street — by local contractor R. Eugene Woodruff; construction began in May 1878 and was completed in January 1879. The church was expanded in the 1890s with the addition of a rectory and a parish hall that served as the village library for fifteen years starting in 1892.
In the early years the interior was very plain, with no carpeting, no choir stalls, and minimal furnishings. Two huge wood stoves heated the place; they were stoked while hymns were sung.
Mr. Elmer P. Miller, brother of Seaver A. Miller and postmaster J.H. Miller, was made a deacon of the church in 1889. The present altar was built as a memorial to him after his death, by the Altar Guild.
In 1938-39, the sanctuary was enlarged, and new paneling, altar and reredos, and the windows in the chancel were rearranged creating a side chapel and a new sacristy.
The church is a one-story, wood-frame Gothic Revival-style church that was designed by architect R.M. Upjohn. It has board-and-batten and shingle siding, a small open bell tower, decorative verboard in the gable end that was rebuilt in the late 1980s, and a gabled entrance enclosure. The fenestration is regular and symmetrical, and includes paired, pointed-arch stained-glass windows in the chancel, and a rose window in the western wall. The interior woodwork includes the original wooden scissor trusses.
| Rectors: | |||
| 1879 | Rev. Charles F. Knapp | 1935-1938 | Rev. DeWolfe Hubbard |
| 1880-1882 | Rev. Arthur H. Locke | 1938-39 | Rev. William H. Moreland (acting Rector) |
| 1883 | Rev. D. N. Bates | 1939-1956 | Rev. Ernest B. Mounsey |
| 1885-1889 | Rev. M. C. or R. C. Dotten | 1956-1960 | Rev. J. Reginald Butt |
| 1889-1909 | Rev. Walter H. Larom | 1960-1974 | Rev. Peter W. O. Hill |
| 1909-1915 | Rev. William B. Lusk | 1974-1985 | Rev. Philip Snyder |
| 1915-1917 | Rev. Scott Kidder | 1985-2005 | Rev. Rick Dennis |
| 1917-1930 | Rev. Elmer P. Miller | 2005-2008 | Rev. William Small (acting Rector) |
| 1931 | Rev. Boys | 2008- | Rev. Ann S. Gaillard |
| c. 1931 | Rev. William H. Moreland, acting Rector, | ||
Windows dedicated to Francis Berger Trudeau and Helen G. Trudeau
See also:
Sources:
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"St. Luke's Church link to early time", Adirondack Daily Enterprise, July 10, 1979.
External link
