1910-1921
Text excerpted from: Aber, Ted, and King, Stella, The History of Hamilton County. Lake Pleasant, NY: Great Wilderness Books, 1965 and Aber, Ted, Adirondack Folks. Prospect, NY: Prospect Books, 1980
LIGHTS & CARS
All improvements and developments paled to insignificance beside the two major signs of progress that came in 1912. Of most immediate importance was electric lighting. But the arrival of the automobile was to foretoken a new era in itself.
On August 24, 1912, the Town Board decided to place 24 streetlights throughout the Village of Indian Lake. The Indian Lake Power & Light Corporation was incorporated on April 26, 1929. A contract was made with the Indian Lake Light & Power Corporation on January 26, 1929 to light the improved highways in and through the hamlet of Indian Lake, a distance of one and a half miles, for $1,000 for one year. In addition, the entrance of the town hall was to be illuminated.
The new-fangled automobiles received first public recognition from the town on August 15, 1916 with a resolution of the Town Board: "Whereas the road leading from the Village of Indian Lake to Lake Pleasant, as now laid out and traveled, over what is known as Griffin’s hill, passes over a portion of said hill at an excessive grade . . . is dangerous, especially to automobile traffic . . . many automobiles are stalled upon said hill and are required to be pulled of by teams . . . recently several cars have backed down said hill and narrowly escaped injury . . . it is the desire of the Town Board to avoid accidents . . . by making a departure from the road as now laid out to the southward for a portion of the distance up said Griffin hill, across State land, a safe and easy grade may be obtained with little cost and with little damage to State property."
On August 24, 1921 the Town Board ruled that "automobiles are to be ordered by proper signs placed at the village limits to slow down to ten miles per hour."
No one could be sure when the road from Indian Lake to the country seat could have been called completed. While representing almost superhuman achievement on the part of the county, it remained a long, rough, hilly road with sharp turns and ridges behind which the highway often seemed to disappear completely. And when the early automobiles appeared, the occupants were frequently forced to abandon their sputtering conveyances and walk up to some of the unbelievably steep hills.
HOTELS
Mike Buckley was the proprietor of the Commercial Hotel when it burned once more in 1917-’18. It was not rebuilt.
A second Commercial Hotel appeared on the south side of Main Street west of the corners in the early 1920’s. William Carroll had operated a meat market in the building and had his undertaker's parlors upstairs. Living quarters were at the side. This was the building in which the first telephone exchange was operated as early as 1909.
SCHOOLS
Always proud of its high school, the townspeople had kept the building in first-class condition. Originally, it had been a two-room building, but as the need increased, the building was enlarged by two additions. During 1920, both the interior and exterior had been painted, a hot-water plant and other appreciable improvements installed. The school was well equipped for its size, with a valuable library and laboratory.
Then on Thursday night, January 25, 1921, the Indian Lake High School was burned to the ground. No cause could be given, other than a possible defective chimney. The loss, including the contents of the two-story frame structure, was estimated at about $10,000, a portion of which was covered by insurance.
Also burned was the Allie Hunt house standing close to the school.
FIRE-1921
The school was totally destroyed. It was immediately replaced by a stucco building constructed near the same site.
The tragedy of the school had scarcely been overcome when fourteen buildings in the heart of Indian Lake Village were destroyed by fire which started in the garage of Roscoe Tripp on Thursday, November 16. For a time, it seems that the entire village would be lost.
It burned Pelon's hall, where the Farrell hall is located, the Pelon Hotel, where the Farrell Hotel is now located, and the H. A. Palmatier store, present site of the Grand Union. It also destroyed once more the store of Nelson Ste. Marie. The fire was finally brought under control with the use of dynamite in the Ste. Marie place.
Matt Johnson and Jack Burgey placed the dynamite under the stairs, lit the fuse, and rushed from the building. Later, Mattie Ste. Marie’s scissors were found stuck in the roof of Bill McCane’s store next door.
Considerable damage was done to the house and store of W.B. McCane, to the windows of the OddFellow’s Hall, and to Guy Ste. Marie’s store.
Source: Aber, Ted, and King, Stella, The History of Hamilton County. Lake Pleasant, NY: Great Wilderness Books, 1965 and Aber, Ted, Adirondack Folks. Prospect, NY: Prospect Books, 1980
Photographs courtesy The Indian Lake Town Museum, Indian Lake, NY 12842
Web design by: Eric Rusch
2002 The Indian Lake Central School District, Indian Lake, NY