Lake Placid Club
The Lake Placid Club was a social and recreation club founded 1895 in a hotel on Mirror Lake in Lake Placid, New York, under Melvil Dewey's leadership and according to his ideals. It was instrumental in Lake Placid's development as an internationally known resort.
Dewey intended the club as a place where educators might find health, strength and inspiration at modest cost. Under his leadership, the club became nationally known for winter sports, building a winter clubhouse in 1907 that allowed year-round visits to Lake Placid. By 1923 the Club had grown to 9,600 acres (39 km2), with 356 buildings (including 110 residences), its own theatre (seating capacity 1,200), library, boathouses, 21 tennis courts, seven golf courses, farms, a staff of 1100, a fire department and even a school, today known as Northwood School.
Early in September, 1899, trustees of the Club found the time ripe to bring together those most interested in home science, or household economics. They sent out many invitations for the first Lake Placid Conference scheduled to take place Sept. 19-25, 1899. One of the attendees, Ellen Swallow Richards, a founder of the modern domestic science movement, was elected chairman of the conference. The conference took place each year from 1899 to 1907.
The Club had been an active center of skiing ever since the 1910s. Ski-joring as seen in the picture at right was one of the attractions; ski jumping, ice skating, carnivals and cross-country ski lessons were others. Melvil Dewey's son Godfrey was instrumental in bringing the Winter Olympics to Lake Placid in 1932. Without the club's facilities and its national profile, Lake Placid would not have qualified to host the Games.
In the 1930s, a group of students from the Yale School of Drama performed at the Club's Lakeside Theater during the summer months.
Membership declined steadily as vacationing trends among the wealthy changed. Air travel and time constraints meant that fewer families spent the entire season at the Club. In 1977 only 471 families renewed their membership, compared to 711 the previous year. The Club closed soon after serving as headquarters for the International Olympic Committee during the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid. During the 1990s the Club was a frequent target for arson and vandalism. Its last buildings were demolished in January 2002.
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