William G. Distin

After graduation from Saranac Lake High School in 1900, he was hired by William Coulter as a draftsman; his apprenticeship lasted six or seven years.

After a short period in Chicago, working for S. S. Beekman designing houses, he traveled for a time in Europe.

In 1917, Distin worked for the Army building hospitals in Washington, D.C. After the war, he returned to Saranac Lake to reopen Westhoff's firm, the latter having moved to Springfield, Massachusetts.

In 1937 he built "Eagle Nest" at Blue Mountain Lake for Walter Hochschild, in 1940 Debar Pond Lodge, and in 1948, Camp Minnowbrook, in the same area, for R.M.

He also designed the replacement of the original Adirondak Loj, which burned in a catastrophic fire that swept Essex County in 1903.