October, 2013
The Lake Placid-North Elba Historical Society has enjoyed one of the highest rates of museum attendance in many years. Many locals and visitors alike came to enjoy and engage with our new photographic exhibit “Developing our History, Finding Our Family; The Stedman and Moses Collection of Historic Photographs. People, places and events were identified. Friends and family came and visited us together, some for the first time in many years, and told each other stories of days gone by.
In just two short weeks, Columbus Day to be exact, the History Museum will close for the 2013 season. We thank you for sharing your memories with us and on behalf of the summer staff which includes myself, Chuck Finley, and Sally Warner, we hope to see you again next year.
Now, just because the History Museum will be closing its doors for a while, this doesn’t mean the historical society quiets down. On the contrary! I’m excited to share that we have partnered with the Lake Placid Center for the Arts which will share office and exhibit space in the Annex building with us for the next five years. With help from both the Uihlein Foundation and the Lake Placid Education Foundation, the new space, which will soon be under construction, will offer us a combined office, collections, and research space plus an exhibit space in which the historical society will design and install a small exhibit.
Please know that we are not abandoning the museum building! It will operate as it always has from Memorial Day to Labor Day. What this partnership does is provide year round, heated space for the Director and volunteers to work and researchers and the public to find us. This five-year window also allows the historical society time to plan for and address our long term storage and space needs. There will be more on this as time goes on but rest assured, this is welcome news for us and we’re excited to share space with the LPCA on their vibrant campus.
All that being said, we’re not closed down yet and there is collections work to be done. Along that vein, I wanted to share some of our newly donated items from this season.
One packet was full of photographs from the 1932 Olympics. General Electric, who lit the Olympic Oval, took some amazing images, both day time and evening, of their flood lights at work. Taken on January 28th and 29th, 1932, they show hockey players on the ice as well as the businesses that existed just across the street. Other photographs in this donation included one of the Town of North Elba Board and of the Lake Placid Military Band in 1919 taken on the steps of the Town Hall.
Another donation has been coming in pieces which happens sometimes when items are being cleared from attics or basements. The items are all the same type: a promotional photograph and detailed description, including pricing and distance from station, of various local lodging establishments. These promotional pieces are encased in glass with the edges encased in black tape. They are all double sided and 4.25” x 7.5”. Some of the businesses include the Forest View House, Whiteface Inn, Stevens House, Grandview Hotel, Northwoods Inn, Lakeside Inn, The Pines, The Homestead, American Hotel, Cascade Lake House, The Belmont, and Camp Undercliff.
Finally, a deal two years in the making finally came full circle when in September Joe Pete Wilson loaded an ancient ski tow on a flatbed truck and drove it from his former property in Keene to the historical society property. The engine is a 1927 Studebaker. Joe Pete isn’t sure where it came from and, according to a still intact odometer, had 26530 miles on it when it died. “I think it’s interesting to think that it went 26000 miles on what kind of roads before it got this job! There wasn’t no 26000 miles of roads on the Adirondacks,” said Joe Pete.
Joe Peter and historical society trustee Chuck Finley got to chatting about what it was like to actually use one of these ski tows. Joe Pete said “When you were a kid you got behind somebody who would hold the rope high enough for you so that all you had to do was squeeze and they would hold the rope for you” to which Chuck replied “Or else squat down and let it rest on your thighs. That rope got heavy.”
Also from Joe Pete “If you were to try to explain a ski tow to somebody it would be impossible. This one carried 500 feet and was at the Adirondack Loj. They had a pretty rugged hill there. I never skied it but I’m quite sure that’s where this came from.”
For now, this historical object will remain outside the Freight House with the intention to create some interpretive drawing and labels for the 2014 season. If anyone has experience with or interest in helping restore this gem of an object, please contact the historical society.
Thank you to Joe Pete and all our donors for this year’s contributions to the collection. Our stories are your stories. Have a wonderful fall season.