Lake Flower Dam – Saranac Lake NY

City:
Saranac Lake, NY

Site Type:
Dams, Infrastructure and Utilities

New Deal Agency:
Works Progress Administration (WPA)

Started:
1937

Completed:
1938

Quality of Information:
Good

Marked:
Unknown

Site Survival:
Extant

Description

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed the Main Street Dam at the head of Lake Flower in Saranac Lake NY between 1937 and 1938.

The WPA allocated funds for a number of proposed improvements in and around Ogdensburg, including “the construction of a new dam…and the development of a picturesque bathing float, beach, park site and [the] addition of buildings to Saranac Lake Craft and Study Guild” (Parks & Recreation).

According to a contemporary news report, the dam was “placed…on the site upon which Capt. Pliny Miller once built a sawmill. Later it was taken over by Alonzo Blood…who organized Saranac Lake’s first electric light company. Still later it passed partly into the hands of the Paul Smiths Light and Power company. $1,000 contributed by the village and a $22,000 labor cost will be carried by the WPA. The dam extends across the Saranac river at Main street, causing flooding of the land to create Lake Flower.”

 

Source notes

“Park Development at Ogdensburg,” Parks & Recreation. April 1937.

“Work on Saranac River Dam is Speeded Up,” Lake Placid News. April 1, 1938. https://localwiki.org/hsl/Main_Street_Bridge.

Site originally submitted by Gray Brechin on April 24, 2022.

Location Info


1 Main St.
Saranac Lake, NY 12983

Coordinates: 44.32427, -74.131729

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