Lake Placid Centennial

Black text on a white outer edge with a green and blue illustration of a lake and mountains

Lake Placid, formerly North Elba, is a village located in the Adirondack Mountains in Upstate New York. The population, as of 2010, was 2,521 people. Like many places in the Adirondacks, the History of the Lake Placid area developed in the early 19th century. In the 1840's, Gerrit Smith began buying tracts of land to grant to former slaves, reformed land laws, and all around demonstrated his support for Abolitionism. John Brown, an Abolitionist in Kansas, heard of these efforts and left Kansas to buy land and help former slaves in the Adirondacks with Gerrit Smith. Around the end of the 1800’s, Lake Placid was discovered as a place of leisure for the wealthy and eventually the Lake Placid Club was founded. This is also around the time the village formally changed its name to Lake Placid. The area was officially incorporated as a village in 1900, making 2000 its centennial year.

 Lake Placid hosted the Winter Olympics in 1932 and in 1980. It has hosted other events such as the Empire State Games, ESPN’s Great Outdoor Games, which have since been discontinued, an annual ice dance competition, pond hockey, and many more. Lake Placid has many outdoor recreational opportunities and facilities, including alpine and Nordic skiing, a golf course, mountain biking, hiking the high peaks, and is home to one of only 16 bobsled runs in the Western Hemisphere.