Tuberculosis was a killing disease well into the 20th century and society found itself with few remedies. One school of thought held that the disease could be cured by removing its sufferers from the polluted cities and placing them in clean, remote country sites. Dr. Edward Livingston Trudeau had become a doctor and specialized in the treatment of tuberculosis after his brother died from the disease. Trudeau also contracted it and in 1876, fearing he was near death, he decided to die in one of his favorite places, Saranac Lake in the Adirondack Mountains of New York. However, instead of dying, his health improved and he decided the place would be perfect for a sanatorium- a hospital, usually in the country, for long-term treatment and rest. Using new ideas from Europe, he created a regimen that included exercise and time outside in the fresh air. In 1887-88, the writer Robert Louis Stevenson wintered there. Once he recovered he wrote a favorable review in the popular The Saturday Evening Post. Trudeau directed the sanatorium until his death in 1915, and it continues to this day as the Trudeau Institute.
Stoddard, Seneca Ray. Saranac Lake in Winter. Nims and Knight, 1889. Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, American Centuries. https://americancenturies.org/collection/l02-169/. Accessed on October 17, 2024.
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