The Wild Center Saves A Town

This is a story about a town in the Adirondacks that shows the power of long time residents and summer residents and their desire to not let a town die.

There are stories in and around the Adirondack Park that way back in the 70's when the Adirondack Park Agency was first established that in the 80's or 90's Tupper Lake would just fade away due it's vanishing timber industry. Years ago the town had a vibrant economy and paper product's was a large part of it and few Adirondack towns could rival the industry there. But, as time went on the timber industry moved and as the older loggers moved on to burials or new jobs somewhere else the town lost it's mojo and all that was left was a state run hospital for the developmentally disabled which employed a large percentage of the town's residents. There was talk of this hospital closing and the town might just fade away.

Well the hospital was reduced in size and soldiered on through the last 30 years and now it still employs are large percentage of the town and adds greatly to the town economy. Over the years Tupper Lakes position of being near a large lake, a ski area and being less expensive than some other Adirondack towns has offered the town to see a resurgence in it's popularity with retirees and vacation home seeking urbanites from Canada and Montreal and southern New York buying vacations homes they are doing better and have become another succesful Adirondack town.

Well, one person and another who either already had a camp in the town or moved here for a job saw the beauty of the town and the Adirondack Park decided that having a museum dedicated to our area would be a good thing. Good thing? How about great! So be prepared to spend 60 minutes watching a story that has one guy donating a million dollars of his own money, someone handing over an otter she loves and a town, county and state doing what they know was the right thing to do. It's a just a good story and nowadays a rare item. Even though it happened some years ago it still shows that when we as a people are presented with what we know is the right thing to do, we do.

Enjoy the story