Pictured above is the Trudeau truck my father used to transport meals to patients confined to cottages, laundry pickup and delivery from Trudeau’s huge laundry, and moving furniture in and out of those cottages when the occupants moved. His right-hand man was Paul Hogan. The tray boys (I was one of them) rode the running boards to help deliver the food. His shift was 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., seven days a week. As a former farmer, he said it was the easiest job he ever had, and he meant it. The people in this photo are not indentified. (Provided photo — (Courtesy of the Adirondack Room of the Saranac Lake Free Library)

The past two columns have covered the reasons for the closing — tuberculosis somewhat under control, fewer patients — jobs lost and the history of that world famous tuberculosis hospital, the first in the United States.

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A look to the future

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“Dr. Francis Trudeau Sr. and Dr. Gordon Meade discussed the future of Trudeau Sanatorium and the Trudeau/Saranac Institute over WNBZ last night.

“What is to be done with the $1,800,000 property when it closes. Dr. Trudeau stated that many suggestions have been made-an institute for the study of cancer, or heart trouble or arthritis, or a place where handicapped children might be cared for or a college.”

(Our ad hoc six-man committee which brought the charter here to establish a college in Saranac Lake also studied that site for the college. We met in New York City with American Management Association officials, then owners of the former Trudeau property, studying that idea to locate the yet to be created North Country Community College, on a section of that huge property.)

“Steps will be taken to work out this problem,” Dr. Trudeau said. “It certainly will be considered at the next meeting of the Board of Trustees.”

“The speakers stated that Trudeau Sanatorium would have been operating at a deficit of $20,000 a month if it continued to stay open for the care of patients.

“The Trudeau endowment fund amounting to about $3,000,000 including both patient care and research, brings up another problem, Dr. Meade stated. While the endowment is available for use there is a legal question about how and for what some of the fund can be used. The institute’s charter permits the treatment and research of other diseases besides tuberculosis, but some of the money was given for the precise purpose of patient treatment in tuberculosis cases.

“Dr. Trudeau pointed out that funds must be made available for severance pay and pensions for the employees and, of course, money conserved for research.

“In the radio discussion, Dr. Trudeau stated that ‘Trudeau has outlived its usefulness and we should now look forward to the future — look ahead to some new endeavor for the sanatorium.

“Let us not sit back and think about the past, he concluded, ‘Rather let us give an active thought to the future, and as Jim Loeb put it, let us get out and do something about it.'”

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Enterprise editorial

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Dr. Trudeau mentioned Enterprise Publisher Jim Loeb in his closing remarks. Following are the lead paragraphs from a Jim Loeb Enterprise editorial with the title “An End and a Beginning …”

“The announcement of the closing of Trudeau Sanatorium on December 1 brings to a close an epoch in the history of the Village of Saranac Lake.

“The announcement comes in the one-hundredth year of the village’s history and the Trudeau Sanatorium, the name of Trudeau, the care and treatment of tuberculosis have been in and of Saranac Lake for seventy of those hundred years!

“It would be almost sacreligious to underestimate the magnificent victory over disease which the closing of Trudeau represents.

“It would be unjust and unrealistic to underestimate the shock which the closing of Trudeau means, in the immediate sense, to the economy of Saranac Lake and to the individual lives of many of the older employees.

“But it would be equally unrealistic to underestimate the possibilities for the future, for the next era, which the end of this past era implies for most of us who make our homes here.

“With regard to the great meaning of Trudeau for some 12,500 patients, who were admitted to its care, we wish we had the poetry within us to translate adequately the beautiful transcription on Dr. Trudeau’s statue overlooking the valley of the Saranac River.

“Guerir quelquefois, Soulager souvent, Consoler toujours” (Translation: “To Cure Sometimes, To Relieve Often, To Comfort Always.”)

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Unemployment figures — 1954

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Excerpts from a sidebar published in the Enterprise with the story of Trudeau closing:

“The 125 employees to be laid off immediately will presumably include all personnel in the clinical, dietary and housekeeping departments, part of the X-ray department, the nursing staff, most of the grounds department and some of the business office.

“It is understood that the Trudeau employees have social security, but they are not included under the New York State Unemployment Insurance Law.

“The most recent figure for total number of employed persons in Saranac Lake is 2,239. This figure, based on the 1950 census, is contained in the 1954 supplement to the publication of New York State Business facts, issued by the State Department of Commerce.

“If the figure of 125 is correct for the present Trudeau employees who will be unemployed on Dec. 1, that represents a total of just under 5% (4.9 percent to be exact) of the Saranac lake work force.

“The present national ratio of unemployment is something over 5 percent of the approximately 65,000,000 in the national work force. (The national work force in October 2024 — 168.40 million).

“The present number of registered unemployed in the immediate area of Saranac Lake is just under 100, but to this figure must be added to those who do not register for unemployment.”