Washington Club History

Many of the photographs appearing in this section were taken by Joseph West, a local photographer who worked here from the 1880’s into the 1930’s.

Not only did Mr. West provide us with a wonderful feel for life in our town a century ago, but in many cases he also provided the only existing historical record. Be sure to click on the shots to view the enlarged images - the shots are wonderful.

Joseph West’s entire 932-plate catalog is available for viewing on the workstations at the Gunn Library. Stop by and have a look - and write a check for the library before you leave.

Baseball, Tennis & Golf - 1890-1903

Sports were already big in town long before the Washington Club was organized in 1903. The unusually dressed group in the shot above, for example, played its tennis on the Washington Green. Check out the chalk lines on the lower left. The court boundaries had to be temporary, because the Green was used as a baseball field, too. In fact, the photograph appearing on the endpapers of Ken Burns’ book, Baseball, (right) shows a sandlot game being played on our green in 1870. The large dusty area on the right is the area in front of the Green store.

In his book, Burns inaccurately captions the photograph “Washington School Nine vs. New Milford, Danbury, Connecticut.”

Golf Comes to Town

By the end of the 19th century, the country was beginning to fall for golf. Locally, while tennis and baseball were being played on the green, a backyard golf links was being laid out on a nearby hillside. The old course began behind a house on what is now Barnes Road, but was then the the private drive leading to the home of Richard S. and Hattie Barnes.

The house, known as “Glen Knoll,” was designed by Club Hall architect, Ehrick Rossiter and built for Frank Heath in 1882. The links, built on land belonging to Heath and Barnes, began right behind the house. This shot was taken when the home was still new. If you click and view the enlargement, you get a clearer view of the roof of the club house that stood at the first tee.

All of the land between Heath’s home and the top of Barnes Road was owned by Richard Storrs Barnes, who lived in another Rossiter-designed home, “Westlawn,” with his wife Hattie and family. The shot on the right was taken on the approach road to the main entrance, the one on the left from the downhill or links side of the property.

The hand-tinted postcard above was probably made from the same glass plate negative that produced the black and white print above. Click on the images above for another great view of the Barnes home - also to read the postcard written to Lena Lines of Milford, Connecticut, August 3, 1911.

The Washington Field Club - 1889-1897

The history of our town’s first golf course and golfers is found in the worn leather-bound volume to the right, the minutes of the Washington Field Club. The club held its first regular meeting at the Gunnery on July 4th, 1890, but John Brinsmade, Frank Heath and Richard Barnes had already appointed themselves the club’s executive committee ten months earlier - in October of 1889. This makes the the Field Club/Washington Golf Club links one of the first American courses built. St. Andrews in Westchester, the oldest continuously functioning U.S. course, was founded as a 6-hole layout in 1888.

Barnes, Heath and Brinsmade may have been the first Americans to own their own golf course, but from the start, they were determined not to play on it (or maintain it) alone.

Article one of the Washington Field Club constitution (above) states the new club’s object as being “the promotion of such athletic and other sports as may be found desirable and practicable,” while article four discusses guest use of club buildings, grounds and the “Club gymnasium.” These references aside, the only building was Frank Heath’s house and the sole sport found “desireable or practicable” was golf. A list of charter members (left) reads like a Who’s Who of late 19th century Washington. Notice, incidentally, the number of charter members listing home addresses in Brooklyn.

The club meeting at which the constitution was drafted appears to have been the last, because immediately following its minutes and membership ranks, the book becomes the journal of the Washington Golf Club.

The Washington Golf Club - 1897-1914

The Washington Golf Club Constitution (left,) differs from the constitution of the Washington Field Club only in that it has been printed. Click on the shot to the left to read. The list of charter members of the Golf Club not only contains the same names, but was written in the same hand as the Field Club list of 7 years earlier.

Virtually the same cast of characters reappears on the charter list of the Washington Club when it was organized in 1903.

The original course ran downhill towards the Depot through several parcels of rolling pasture. Judging from the shots seen here, early Washington golf was not a game for those afraid of either exercise or sheep.

The first Washington layout, like the one we play today, had only nine holes - but with a novel twist: There was space on the Barnes Road/School Street property for only a few of the nine. Upon reaching the Shepaug, golfers crossed a pontoon bridge to play the remaining holes. The holes on the far side of the river may have been picturesque, but they also presented a couple of interesting challenges - Barnes and Heath did not own the land and the holes were unreachable any time the river was running.

The old links served from 1890 until about 1905, when Barnes leased 40 acres from Powell Seeley and began constructing the present Club course. The final recorded round (left) on the old course was played by Barnes himself on September 8th, 1905. The notation “1R” probably means Barnes played one round - nine holes. John Brinsmade, one of his cofounders, played 27 earlier in the day. We can only guess what is meant by the “450 R” notation that follows Barnes name. Was he calculating he had played 450 total rounds on the course?

Weather and land ownership may have played their parts in Barnes’ decision to seek a new location for Washington golf, but it is more likely that the usefulness of the old course ended suddenly - with the 1903 introduction of the Haskell golf ball. The Haskell was manufactured with a rubber core, which allowed it to fly dramatically farther than the old gutta percha ball (right.)

The Washington Club on the Green

The little house on the right, which for most of its life stood just to the south of Club Hall, was for most early members, the heart and soul of the Washington Club. Although Club Hall was completed in 1907, the real center of club life from 1903 until its sale to the Gunnery in 1947, was the “Washington Club House on the Green.”

Originally the Hurlburt house and farm, the Club House and its land, including the upper and lower tennis courts, was owned by Edward Van Ingen, a charter member of the club, as well as of its two precursors - the Washington Field Club and the Washington Golf Club. During the school year, Van Ingen leased the house and grounds to the Gunnery, but it stood empty from commencement to mid-September each summer.

 Seeing the summer vacancy as an opportunity, several prominent citizens (Barnes, Brinsmade and Heath among them,) met at the Gunnery on July 25th, 1903, to pursue a very specific agenda: to organize a club, “confer with Mr. E. Van Ingen regarding lease on the Hurlburt home and to draw up a constitution.” The minutes of that meeting in their entirety appear on the left. The Washington Club was organized officially on August 31, 1903.

The rear of the Hurlburt House, which served as our club house for 44 years. When you click to enlarge this one, you’ll clearly see a Club Hall window through the trees just beyond the house.

This aerial (probably from the 1920’s) shows the original Washington Club on the Green. We’ve drawn in the tennis court in use in the shot on the left. Notice the cupola on the Club Hall Roof.

How close to the Club Hall and to Route 47 was the Club House? Click on this one.

When fire destroyed the Gunnery’s Bartlett dorm in the winter of 1947, the school offered the Club $9,000 for our Club House.

To many post-war members, the Gunnery’s misfortune represented a chance to leave the Green and the old buildings behind and centralize Club activities at the golf course property. The Board of Governors was so keen on the idea that even in the inflationary post-war real estate market, they accepted the Gunnery’s offer of $9,000 - the same price the Club had paid for the house in 1922. They had even gone so far as to accept a second Gunnery offer of $13,250 for the Club Hall Building. In a vote taken largely by proxy and in the dead of winter the membership voted to approve the sale of the Club House. The measure to sell Club Hall, however, failed - mostly because by the time that vote was taken, the membership had returned for the season.

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The old club house found new life on a new site on Ferry Bridge Road, where it eventually became home to David Owen and family.

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Washington Golf Club - The Early Years

When you first see people play,

You have a stuck-up way

Of thinking you can do it in a second;

But when, Alas! you stand

For the first time, club in hand,

You find it's not as easy as you reckoned.

From “Society Plays Golf” - 1895

By 1932, the club handbook on the right indicates that seasonal family golf dues had shot up to $20. Does anyone know why guests fees for men were $1.50, while for women they were $2? That must have been an interesting meeting. (Click to Enlarge)

Dues held steady, at least through the war. The handbook for 1945 (right) shows the dues structure, but if women guests were still paying more than men, no one was talking about it for publication.

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This view from a 1938 postcard looks north across the ninth green to the sixth tee. When you click to enlarge this one, you’ll see a little bench next to the tee. Note the fairway bunker on nine. The pro shop is directly behind the photographer.

Until fairly recently, the club needed all the members it could get. In fact, the membership committee was for years arguably the club’s most important group. Their primarily charge was to approach everyone in town, resident and visitor alike, and ask them to join the club. This glossy publication from the early 1950’s (“What Can We Do in the Summer?”) comes pretty close to actually advertising for members, pointing out that membership is not only great fun, but a good value to boot.

A view of our clubhouse - probably from the 50’s

View of the first green from the extreme right rough - almost in the swamp. The little pine on the left of the frame has grown into one of the two “ball-catchers” we all hit with any shot to the right off the first tee. This shot was taken in the early 1960’s.

Another one of about the same vintage. Teeing off on 6.

Notice those 2 pines in the background? They have become the immense “trees of death” most of us hit into off the first tee.

This “cookout” must be an early 60’s precursor to our present Sunday Morning Group. Click to enlarge this one and you’ll see that these two guys are cooking absolutely nothing. Bill Fairbairn (who knows everyone,) says that’s Red Welles on the right and John Hubbard on the left.

Rick Jusko and his son, Andy, took this wonderful aerial shot of our course in late fall of 1999. Click this one for an enlarged view of our Golf Club at its most beautiful.

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