Historic Saranac Lake has been awarded a Smart Growth grant from the State of New York Department of Environmental Conservation to support site plan design for their expanded museum campus in downtown Saranac Lake.

In 2019, Historic Saranac Lake acquired the Trudeau Building at 118 Main Street for expansion of their existing museum at the adjacent Saranac Laboratory building. The Smart Growth grant will support integrated site planning in order to create a museum campus that will promote Smart Growth principles and attract arts and culture tourism to the village of Saranac Lake.

The grant of $37,150 is one of numerous grants awarded to 27 communities and organizations throughout the Catskill and Adirondack Forest Preserves. The round of funding included a focus on projects to enhance age-friendly characteristics of Adirondack and Catskill communities by creating more livable communities for people of all ages.

New York State has awarded Historic Saranac Lake’s museum expansion project two other major grants. A $500,000 grant from the State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation is supporting the acquisition of the Trudeau building and rehabilitation of its exterior. The NY State Downtown Revitalization Initiative awarded the project a grant of $325,000 to support the rehabilitation of the building’s interior. Historic Saranac Lake has secured approximately $400,000 in additional grants and private support, organizers of the effort say. Fundraising continues in order to meet the goal of $3.5 million to support acquisition, rehabilitation, handicap accessibility, interactive museum exhibits, and the endowment fund.

This summer, Historic Saranac Lake contracted with Museum Planner Kate Cravens to create an overarching interpretive plan for both buildings. In a statement to the press, Board President Amy Jones said: “We have made major progress in planning for the museum expansion. The new space offers opportunities to not only tell the story of Trudeau and tuberculosis in Saranac Lake more in-depth, but also to present the broader rich history of the Saranac Lake region. For example, new exhibits will present stories from Paul Smiths, Bloomingdale, and Saranac Inn, for example, and will explore the rich history of such topics as logging, wilderness guides, winter sports, and more.”

This winter, the architectural team is creating the integrated site plan as well as the detailed schematic design to submit for approval by the State Office of Historic Preservation. Once plans are approved, building rehabilitation is expected to begin in the summer of 2020.

More information on Historic Saranac Lake is available on their website.

Photo of Trudeau Building provided.