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.

Main Street near the Riverside Inn showing the old Harrietstown Town Hall, 1920s. Photograph by William F. Kollecker. Main Street with Berkeley Hotel right, Roberts Block center, Saranac Lake High School left. Photograph by William Henry Jackson, 1906

Main Street and Broadway, 1930s

Main Street 1916. Photo courtesy of Nora Bouvier.

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)

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

More photographs here.

Old Address	Post-911 Address		Building Name/Notes	Cure Evidence
Starts at Lake Street (West), Riverside Drive (East)
2 Main Street	3 Main Street		#1 & #3, Paul Smith's Electric Light and Power and Railroad Company
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	See 16 Main Street	Toole Cottage, F. M. Bull's Drugs	DIS 1933
20 Main Street	Site vacant since 1958		Also 22 Main. Gruber Cottage	DIS 1913
24 Main Street	Site vacant since 1958		Also 26 Main. Seaver A. Miller Cottage (destroyed), 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 (destroyed), Image	SLD1906, SLD1908, DIS 1911
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		was 34-36, Walton & Tousley Hardware/Rice Furniture
35/37 Main Street	42 Main Street		Kendall's Grocery, Albany Market, third business building on east side of Main, torn down in 1945?	SLD1906, DIS 1912
36 Main Street	43 Main Street	See 34 Main Street	was 34-36. Magill residence in 1910, Slater Cottage (DIS 1911), Cure Cottages, p. 67
38 Main Street	49 Main Street		was 38-40, Tousley Building
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		was 42-44, Milo Miller Store, 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	51 Main Street	See 42 Main Street	A. Goldsmith Cottage	DIS 1911
45 Main Street	52 Main Street		was 45-49, 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	52 Main Street	See 45 Main Street	Charlie Green's Market	SLD1906
50 Main Street	59 Main Street	See 48 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, Gibney's Market, Post Office Pharmacy	SLD1906, SLD1908
53 Main Street	62 Main Street		was 65-67, Linwood Cottage/Sears parking lot, Image, Cure Cottages, p. 9 & 105	DIS 1911
53 1/2 Main Street	Site vacant, 2009		53 1/2 Main Street (behind Linwood)	DIS
54 Main Street	63-65 Main Street		was 54-56-58, Donaldson Block
55 1/2 Main Street	Site vacant, 2009		Perez Cottage (behind Newberry's)	DIS 1930
56 Main Street	63 Main Street	See 54 Main Street	Donaldson Block Cure Cottages, p. 63	SLD1908, NYC1915
58 Main Street		See 54 Main Street	Distin's Studio	SLD1906
60 Main Street	67 Main Street	See 54 Main Street	Reuben Reynolds Cottage (destroyed), Adirondack National Bank (destroyed)
61-65 Main Street	66 Main Street		Mrs. Lucius Evans Cottage, Image
62 Main Street	67 Main Street		was 62-64, 60-64 Haase Block	SLD1908
63 Main Street	Main Street		Alfred A. Moody Insurance
64 Main Street	67 Main Street	See 62 Main Street	64 Main Street (Haase Block)	DIS
65/67 Main Street	66 Main Street		Newberry's, now Sears
68 Main Street	69 Main Street		was 68-70, Telephone Exchange/Reuben Reynolds/Trudeau
69 Main Street	74 Main Street		Post Office Building, later Meyers Drugs; Cure Cottages, p. 66	DIS
68 1/2 Main Street	75 Main Street		68 1/2 Adirondack National Bank	SLD1910-11
70 Main Street	75 Main Street		Humidor
71 Main Street	76 Main Street		was 71-79, Coulter Block
74 Main Street	77 Main Street		was 74-76, Fowler Block	DIS 1912
77 Main Street	79 Main Street	See 71 Main Street	Endicott-Johnson Shoes
78 Main Street	79 Main Street		was 78-80, Roberts Block/Finnigan	DIS 1911
82 Main Street	81 Main Street		Kendall Building
84 Main Street	85 Main Street		Mulflur Building
83 Main Street	86 Main Street		was 83-85, 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 (burned)	DIS 1928-1952
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
96/98 Main Street	Vest Pocket Park		98 Main Street, originally the home of W.F. Roberts Image
100 Main Street	109 Main Street		Guild House, (demolished- now site of the expanded Library) Image, 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, Image	DIS 1911
105 Main Street	118 Main Street		Edward Livingston Trudeau house and office, Image (burned), Image
108 Main Street	121 Main Street		Conklin Cottage
110 Main Street	now roadway		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, Image, Image	JOL1931, SLA1935, PHR1930, NYC1915
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.

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.

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) 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 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. Main Street near the Berkeley, looking south, undated, but post-1900 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 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.

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.