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© 2007 PAULA DENNIS |
Railroad Service first reached Saranac Lake on the Chateaugay Railroad in late 1887, just months after Robert Louis Stevenson arrived here for his health. The marvelous coincidence of easy rail access and nation publicity—generated by the visit of the newly famous author of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde—enabled tuberculosis treatment here to flourish.
►Railroaders call any building which handles passengers or freight a “depot,” and in a “union” depot, the services of more than one railroad were united. In common usage, the terms “depot” and “station” are interchangeable. |
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►First railroad service: the narrow-gauge Chateaugay Railroad from Plattsburgh, December 1887. |
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►The Chateaugay depot was on this site, & Andrew J. Baker, a guide, bought the first ticket. |
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►Robert Louis Stevenson, the author, arrived here in October by buggy, left by train in April 1888. |
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►Saranac Lake grew quickly as a health resort for tuberculosis, spurred on by the publicity about Stevenson’s visit, easy access via the railroad, and the presence of a doctor. |
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►Dr. W. Seward Webb’s standard-gauge line connected from the west through Lake Clear Junction to a station on Broadway in 1892. |
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►The Chateaugay was taken over by the Delaware & Hudson. Dr. Webb sold his line to the New York Central. |
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►The Union Depot was built by the Delaware & Hudson in 1904, at the same time the whole branch line from Plattsburgh to Lake Placid was standard-gauged and the stations were upgraded. |
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►At its busiest, 20 scheduled passenger trains a day stopped here, plus specials and freights. |
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►The D&H pulled out and left the depot to the New York Central in 1946. |
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►Passenger service ended in 1965, and freight in 1972. The line became the property of NYS Department of Transportation in the Penn-Central bankruptcy. |
Saranac Lake’s Union Depot was built in 1904 by the Delaware and Hudson Railroad, consolidating the passenger operations of the Chateaugay Railroad from the east, and the New York Central Railroad from the west. This building is on the same site as the old Chateaugay depot, which was moved across the tracks and attached to the old freight house as an office. The NYC’s former passenger depot on Broadway continued in service as their freight house.
The largest on the line north of Utica, Union Depot handled eighteen to twenty scheduled passenger trains per day (half returning from Lake Placid) during its busiest years, 1912 to 1940. The Railway Express agency building east of the depot was built about 1924. New York Central closed Union Depot in 1965, when passenger service ended.
It was restored in 1997-98 with federal ISTEA funds, administered through New York State’s Department of Transportation, in anticipation of renewed tourist rail service.
Adirondack Scenic Railroad now operates service to and from Union Depot. Follow the link to their web site for the most current schedule of events and times.
The term “union depot” means that it combined passenger service for more than one railroad. It also made Saranac Lake sound larger and more important.
This depot is a standard station layout for maximum efficiency, with special modifications for Saranac Lake. Standard features are the waiting room, baggage and express rooms, lounges adjoining the restrooms for both men and women, and the bay window for the telegraph operator to look up and down the tracks.
Special features on Union Depot are the outside metal brackets and the high interior ceiling with clerestory windows and a cupola for excellent ventilation—making it safer for passengers to mix with traveling TB patients.
Architectural details mimic the Saranac Laboratory (1894), including the stone and brick work, exterior paint colors, the hipped roof—originally green slate—with ventilation gablets.
| ©2008 Historic Saranac Lake. All rights reserved. |
Historic photographs courtesy of the Adirondack Room, Saranac Lake Free Library, unless otherwise noted. Copy and reuse restrictions apply. |
Historic Saranac Lake