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Lake Placid is a village in the Adirondack Mountains in Essex County, New York, United States. As of the 2000 census, the village had a total population of 2,638. Lake Placid is named after nearby Lake Placid.
The Village of Lake Placid is near the center of the Town of North Elba and is southwest of Plattsburgh. Lake Placid, along with nearby Saranac Lake and Tupper Lake, comprise what is known as the Tri-Lakes region.
Lake Placid was founded in the early 1800s to develop a mining operation based on iron ore discovered nearby. By 1840, the population of "North Elba" (four miles south-east of the present village near where the road to Adirondack Lodge crosses the Ausable River) consisted of 6 families. In 1845, Gerrit Smith arrived in North Elba. He not only bought up a great deal of land around the village, he also granted large tracts to his slaves, reforming the land law and reflecting his support of Abolitionism.
The abolitionist John Brown heard about Gerrit Smith's reforms, and left his anti-slavery activities in Kansas to buy 244 acres (1.0 km²) of land, which later became known as the "Freed Slave Utopian Experiment," Timbucto. Upon his execution in 1859, John Brown asked to be buried on his farm, which is preserved as the John Brown Farm State Historic Site.
As leisure time increased in the late 19th century, Lake Placid was discovered by the rich and famous, who were drawn to the fashionable Lake Placid Club. Melvil Dewey, inventor of the Dewey Decimal System, designed what was then called "Placid Park Club" in 1895 and inspired the village to change its name to Lake Placid. Dewey kept the club open through the winter in 1905, which aided the development of winter sports in the area (although nearby Saranac Lake had hosted an international winter sporting event as early as 1889). By 1921, the area could boast a ski jump, speed skating venue and ski association, and in 1929, Dr. Godfrey Dewey, Melvil's son, was able to convince the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that Lake Placid had the best winter sports facilities in the nation. [1] The Lake Placid Club was the headquarters for the IOC for the 1932 and the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid. Lake Placid became an incorporated village in 1900.
Olympic History
Lake Placid is best known as the two-time site of the Winter Olympics. In the United States, the village is especially remembered as the site of the 1980 USA-USSR hockey game, the "Miracle on Ice," when a group of American college students and amateurs upset the heavily-favored Soviet national ice hockey team 4-3 and two days later won the gold medal. The victory is sometimes ranked as one of the greatest in American sports history. It is also the site of the Olympic Oval where Eric Heiden won his five Olympic Gold Medals.
Lake Placid also hosted the 1932 Winter Olympics. Along with St. Moritz, Switzerland and Innsbruck, Austria, it is one of the three places to have twice hosted the Winter Olympic Games. Lake Placid was the first location in North America to host two Olympic games. Los Angeles became the other when it hosted the Summer Olympic Games for the second time in 1984.
Jack Shea, a resident of the village, became the first person to win two gold medals when he doubled in speed skating at the 1932 Winter Olympics. His grandson won gold in the Skeleton at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah. Jack Shea carried the Olympic torch through Lake Placid in 2002 shortly before his death as a victim of an alleged [1] drunk driver. His grandson competed in the Olympics that year in his honor.
On November 20th, 1995, two-time Olympic Gold medalist Russian figure skater Sergei Grinkov collapsed and died from a massive heart attack while he and his wife were practicing in Lake Placid for their upcoming performance in the 1995-1996 Stars on Ice tour. His last dinner was at The Boathouse Restaurant.
Recreational Opportunities
Lake Placid is well-known among winter sports enthusiasts for its skiing, both Alpine and Crosscountry. 4,867-foot Whiteface Mountain, in nearby Wilmington about 13 miles (21 km) from Lake Placid, offers skiing, hiking, gondola rides, and mountain biking, and is the only one of the High Peaks that can be reached by an auto road. The area has one of only three bobsled rides in the western hemisphere, and is one of the few places in the contiguous United States which offers dogsled and sleigh rides.
Many people use Lake Placid as a base from which to climb the forty-six High Peaks in the Adirondack Mountains; those who complete these climbs may join the Adirondack Forty-Sixers.
Lake Placid built its first golf course in 1898, one of the first in the United States, and has more golf courses than any other region in the Adirondacks; many of its courses were designed by famous golf course architects such as John Van Kleek, Seymour Dunn, Alexander H. Findlay, and Alister MacKenzie. The geographic features of the Adirondacks were considered reminiscent of the Scotland mountains where the game was invented, and thus a fitting canvas for original play, or "mountain golf."
Lake Placid is near the West Branch of the Au Sable, a well-known stretch of river for fly fishing. Over six miles (10 km) of the West Branch is year-round catch-and-release, artificial lures-only water.
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