Ex-sanitarium started by Garry Trudeau ancestor up for sale

SARANAC LAKE, N.Y. – A former sanitarium from the 19th century that made the Adirondack village of Saranac Lake famous for curing tuberculosis is up for sale.

The Adirondack Daily Enterprise reports that the 64-acre former Trudeau Sanatorium is listed for $6.5 million and will be auctioned on Sept. 25.

The 29-building property is currently owned by the American Management Association, a New York City-based executive training firm that purchased the site after it closed in the 1950s.

Edward Livingston Trudeau, a New York physician who survived tuberculosis, founded the site as the Adirondack Cottage Sanitarium in 1885. He’s the great-grandfather of Garry Trudeau, creator of the “Doonesbury” comic strip.

Saranac Lake became known as a centre for treating TB sufferers, with many staying in what were known as “cure cottages.”