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New York County
Franklin County, New York
Saranac Lake's tuberculosis cure history and Adirondack winter culture - from Saranac Lake's extraordinary medical heritage (the Adirondack Cottage Sanitarium - founded by Dr. Edward Trudeau in 1884 after his own TB cure through fresh air and rest in the Adirondacks - established the open-air treatment model for tuberculosis that was adopted worldwide, making Saranac Lake the tuberculosis treatment capital of America for decades) to the Adirondack Winter Carnival (the oldest winter carnival in the eastern United States, held annually since 1897) and the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe's Akwesasne territory straddling the US-Canada border.
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Roads: NY-30 and NY-11 serve Malone, the county seat, in the far north of the state near the Canadian border
Transit: Limited; primarily auto-dependent – confirm current regional options directly with the county.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Village of Malone Code Enforcement – 343 West Main Street, Malone, NY 12953
Notes: Individual towns (Franklin, others) issue their own separate in-town building permits.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
County VSO: Franklin County Veterans Service Agency – Malone, NY
Libraries
LIBRARIES
System: Wead Library – 64 Elm Street, Malone, NY 12953 | (518) 483-5251
Services: Public library holding roughly 42,000 volumes and circulating over 62,000 items annually; part of the Clinton-Essex-Franklin Library System (CEFLS), which includes specialized outreach for correctional facilities given the county’s state prisons.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: Franklin County is home to the village of Saranac Lake, which genuinely became a world-renowned center for tuberculosis treatment between 1873 and 1945; after being diagnosed with the disease himself and finding his health restored by the Adirondacks’ clear mountain air, Dr. Edward Livingston Trudeau moved to Saranac Lake in 1876 and founded the Adirondack Cottage Sanitarium in 1885, treating patients through a “rest cure” of extended time outdoors – the first patients were two former New York City factory workers, housed in a one-room cottage called “Little Red,” built for just $350 on donated land; the approach gave rise to a distinctive local building type, the “cure cottage,” featuring glassed-in porches where patients rested for hours a day, and the town’s growing fame drew notable patients including Robert Louis Stevenson in 1887; Trudeau went on to found the Saranac Laboratory, the first laboratory in the country dedicated to tuberculosis research, which helped develop the tuberculin skin test still used to diagnose the disease today; the sanatorium operated until 1954, when antibiotics made the fresh-air cure obsolete, and the restored Saranac Laboratory reopened in 2009 as the Saranac Laboratory Museum; the historic cure cottage district is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
Notes: Franklin County’s Saranac Lake genuinely served as one of the most significant centers of tuberculosis treatment and research in American medical history, a legacy still visible in its preserved “cure cottage” architecture.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
GIS Portal: Franklin County GIS – accessible via franklincountyny.gov
Parcel Search: Franklin County Real Property Tax Service – Malone, NY
Addressing/911: Coordinated through Franklin County Emergency Services
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
Facility: Franklin County Humane Society (SPCA) – PO Box 226, Malone, NY 12953 | (518) 483-8189
Services: Serves Franklin County with animal sheltering, adoption, and low-cost spay/neuter vouchers for low-income families.
Related: North Country Animal Shelter also serves Franklin County-area animals surrendered, abandoned, or abused.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Environmental Complaints: NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) – dec.ny.gov
Notes: Contact your specific municipality directly for current refuse collection and recycling program details.
NOTES
Franklin County’s Saranac Lake genuinely served as one of America’s foremost tuberculosis treatment and research centers from 1873 to 1945, and the county is also home to two state correctional facilities in Malone (InmateAid-relevant). All contact information above was sourced from official county, town, library, and shelter pages as of this writing; phone numbers and hours should be reconfirmed directly with the relevant office before a visit.
About Franklin County
Franklin County is northern New York’s Adirondack and border county – a community whose tuberculosis medical heritage, Native American territory, and Canadian border position give it a distinctive identity.
Saranac Lake (population ~5,000) was the tuberculosis treatment capital of America from the 1880s through the 1940s. Dr. Edward Trudeau’s cure-cottage model attracted thousands of patients seeking the Adirondacks’ clean air, and the village’s “cure cottage” architecture – distinctive porches designed for outdoor rest treatment – remains a National Historic District.
The St. Regis Mohawk Tribe’s Akwesasne territory straddles the US-Canada border in Franklin County – a unique political geography where the Mohawk Nation’s homeland spans two countries and three states/provinces.
Malone (the county seat, population ~14,000) is the county’s commercial hub and home to a significant correctional facility.
All Services
Browse every category and topic available for this county.
Franklin County Real Property Tax Service at 355 W. Main Street, Suite 251, Malone, NY 12953, phone 518-481-1504. Appeal to Board of Assessment Review.
Courts & Legal
Franklin County Surrogate’s Court at 355 W. Main Street, Malone, NY 12953, phone 518-481-1736, handles probate.
Marriage & Vital Records
Marriage licenses, divorce records, and birth & death certificates are handled by the following office(s):
COUNTY CLERK
355 W Main St, Malone, NY 12953
(518) 481-1681
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Franklin County Surrogate’s Court, Malone (probate case files – see Probate section above).
The Anselm Lincoln House (1830), NRHP-listed, believed to be the oldest stone house in Franklin County, is a notable local landmark, donated to North Country Community College.
Local societies
No dedicated Franklin County genealogical society was confirmed in available directories.
Probate & Estate
Losing someone and having to deal with courts and paperwork at the same time is hard. This section won’t make that easier, but it should tell you what to expect, what it costs, and where to go – so at least you’re not walking in blind.
Where to go
Franklin County Surrogate’s Court 355 West Main Street, Malone, NY 12953 (518) 353-7350
Franklin County was founded in 1808, named for Benjamin Franklin, in New York’s North Country, much of it within Adirondack Park. Seated in Malone, nicknamed “The Star of the North.”
Step 1: figure out which path applies
New York probate and estate administration is governed by the Surrogate’s Court Procedure Act (SCPA) and handled by the Surrogate’s Court in the county where the decedent was domiciled. New York has 62 counties, each with its own Surrogate’s Court.
Voluntary Administration / Small Estate Affidavit (SCPA Article 13) – available when the decedent’s PERSONAL property (not real property) has a gross value of $50,000 or less, excluding certain property automatically set aside for a surviving spouse or children under 21 (EPTL 5-3.1). Owning real property does NOT disqualify an estate from this process – only the personal property counts toward the $50,000 cap. The filing fee is just $1.00.
Probate – required when there’s a valid will and the estate exceeds the small-estate threshold or involves real property.
Administration – required when the decedent died intestate (no will); the Surrogate’s Court appoints an administrator following the statutory priority order under SCPA 1001.
Step 2: filing for probate or administration
File the will (if any) with the Surrogate’s Court in the county where the decedent was domiciled, along with a probate or administration petition.
The court issues Letters Testamentary (with a will) or Letters of Administration (without a will) to the appointed fiduciary.
The fiduciary notifies creditors and beneficiaries and inventories the estate’s assets.
Debts, expenses, and any required New York State Estate Tax are paid.
The fiduciary distributes the remaining assets according to the will or New York’s intestacy law and files a final accounting to close the estate.
What it costs
Voluntary Administration filing fee: $1.00.
Full probate/administration filing fees vary and generally scale with estate value.
UNIQUE TO NEW YORK: New York imposes its own separate state ESTATE TAX. For 2026, the New York basic exclusion amount is $7,350,000 – estates at or below that owe no state estate tax. New York has an unusual “cliff”: if the estate’s value exceeds the exclusion by more than 5% (over $7,717,500 in 2026), the ENTIRE estate becomes taxable from the first dollar. No portability between spouses. Rates range from about 3.06% to 16%.
New York has no separate state inheritance tax.
Probate filings, estate administration, and guardianship matters are handled by the following office(s):
Public Safety & Arrests
Arrest records, inmate search, and law enforcement services are handled by the following office(s):
SHERIFF
355 W Main St, Malone, NY 12953
(518) 481-1700
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
BOARD OF ELECTIONS
355 W Main St, Malone, NY 12953
(518) 481-1650
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
Public Health
355 W Main St, Malone, NY 12953
(518) 481-1710
Social Services
355 W Main St, Malone, NY 12953
(518) 481-1800
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: Franklin County Public Health Department – Malone, NY
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Last verified June 2026
County Facts
County Seat: Malone
Population: 49,000
Established: 1808
Tier: 3
Public Records
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