Churches

The First United Methodist Church traces its history to 1839, when circuit-preacher Samuel Smith held meetings on various Sundays [in private homes] in Saranac Lake, North Elba, Bloomingdale, Franklin Falls, Union Falls, Merrillsville, Vermontville and West Harrietstown. People came from all over to these meetings — some in boats, some with ox-team and some just plain walking. In 1840 there were about 75 members in the church.

According to the "Harrietstown" chapter of Frederick Joel Seaver's 1918 History of Franklin County, page 391, the first organized effort to build a church occurred about 1876 and was non-sectarian. "This society was called 'The People's Church,' and its trustees were Van Buren Miller, William F. Martin, Orlando Blood, Robert Smith and A. Fitch O'Brien. Though a lot was purchased for a church building, no pastor appears ever to have been employed, and the movement was abandoned in 1880, after the Methodists and Episcopalians had organized. The church lot was reconveyed to the grantor, and it is difficult now [c. 1918] to find anyone in the village who remembers that such an undertaking ever had existence."

Church of St. Luke, the Beloved Physician - Episcopal, Saranac Lake	St. John's in the Wilderness Episcopal Church (seasonal) - Paul Smiths
First United Methodist Church, Saranac Lake	First Presbyterian Church of Saranac Lake
The second St. Bernard's Church - Catholic, Saranac Lake	Seventh Day Adventist Church - Saranac Lake
Saranac Lake Baptist Church, relocated to Broadway	St. Regis Presbyterian Church (closed) - Keese Mills
Jewish Community Center (closed) - Saranac Lake	Chapel Island (seasonal) - Upper Saranac Lake
St. John's in The Wilderness of Lake Clear—Catholic	Lake Clear Presbyterian Church
Saint Gabriel the Archangel Catholic Church (closed), Gabriels	Church of the Assumption - Gabriels - Catholic

Other churches, past and present, not pictured here include:

• Adirondack Alliance Church, active, 72 Canaras Avenue
  

• Bloomingdale Episcopal Church (closed); later "Sign of the Fish," an antique shop
  

• Christian Science Church (closed); met in the house at Church and River Streets, but disbanded in recent years
  

• High Peaks Church, active, in the former library of the Will Rogers Memorial Hospital at 97 Will Rogers Drive; has expanded to include two of the former nurses dormitories of the Will Rogers Memorial Hospital; formerly called the North Country Christian Center; before moving to 97 Will Rogers Drive, located for several years at the then-defunct Jewish Community Center
  

• Lutheran Church of the Holy Trinity, active, sharing space at the First United Methodist Church
  

• Old Catholic Church, new, active, sharing space at the Church of St. Luke (Episcopal)
  

• Saranac Lake Baptist Church, active, 490 Broadway
  

• Saranac Lake Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, active, 5043 Route 3
  

• Society of Friends, or Quakers, active, met for several years at the Ames Cottage at Church and River Streets; as of November 2012, Quaker Meeting is held at the Adirondack Physicians and Surgeons Building on Old Lake Colby Road behind the hospital.
  

• Unitarian Universalists, active, meeting in the John Black Room of the Saranac Laboratory, Church Street
  

Former Sanatorium Chapels:

• Baker Chapel at Trudeau Sanatorium, closed
  

• Chapel at Sanatorium Gabriels, closed
  

• Stony Wold Hall at Stony Wold Sanatorium, closed

Summer Chapels:

• Chapel Island, Upper Saranac Lake, active
  

• Church of the Ascension, Saranac Inn, active
  

• Episcopal Church of the Redeemer, Bloomingdale, closed
  

• Indian Carry Chapel, Coreys, closed
  

• St. John's in the Wilderness, Paul Smith's, active
  

• St. Regis Presbyterian Church, Keeses Mills Road, closed

Catholic Churches:

• Church of the Assumption — Gabriels
  

• St. Bernard's Church — Saranac Lake
  

• St. John's in the Wilderness of Lake Clear — Lake Clear
  

• St. Paul's Church — Bloomingdale
  

• Saint Gabriel the Archangel Catholic Church — Gabriels, closed

See also: Adirondack Mission

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