Saratoga Springs Public Library
Dr. Grace Maguire Swanner was an Albany native, born in 1901. She was a graduate of New York State College where she received her B.S. in 1923 and an M.A. from Columbia University in 1927. She attended the University of Chicago before graduating from Albany Medical College in 1933 with an M.D. Following the completion of her residency in New Jersey, she began the practice of General Medicine in Saratoga Springs in 1936 and for many years was the only woman doctor in the City. Drawn to the use of the waters as treatment, she served as the Assistant Medical Director of the Saratoga State Spa for many years, and served intermittently as the Medical Director. She passed in 2000.
Patients were either referred to the Spa by their physicians or they were seen by a physician on the premises. Each patient was prescribed a certain type of bath depending on their presenting affliction.
Dr. Swanner’s book, “Saratoga, Queen of Spas” is her love letter to the waters of Saratoga.