Powelton Club
Encyclopedia
Powelton Club is located between US 9W
, Interstate 84
, Balmville Road and Chestnut Lane in the hamlet of Balmville
, New York
, United States
, just north of the city of Newburgh
, in the Town of Newburgh
. Originally established as an archery
club, it is one of the five oldest golf course
s in the state, and the ten oldest in the U.S.. It has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places
since 1999.
, began with the informal establishment of the Powelton Archery Club in 1878. The next year, tennis court
s that exist today were built, and the Powelton Lawn Tennis Club of Newburgh was incorporated
in 1882, one of the first tennis programs in the U.S. and one of the original 33 recognized by the United States Lawn Tennis Association
when it was established later that same year.
Ten years later the organization signed a five-year lease
on 1.7 acres (6,800 m²) of land surrounding a newly-built clubhouse. Baseball
, bowling
and croquet
facilities were added, and club lore has it that the first five golf
holes came almost immediately thereafter, only four years after the first American course was built in Yonkers
. It is not known who designed them.
In 1897, additional land purchases allowed for a full nine, designed by James Taylor, a member. A 1903 map of Balmville, a leafy suburban hamlet along the Hudson River
where wealthy Newburgh businessmen had built large homes in fashionable architectural style
s, showed the club taking up 57 acres (23 ha).
After World War I
, the club decided to increase the course to a full 18 holes, and contracted Devereux Emmet, one of the most prolific course designers in the New York metropolitan area
, to design a new course in 1921. Two years later, after the club had obtained additional land he said he needed, he began his work and the new course opened in 1926, introducing sand trap
s, trees (including the catalpa
s still along Balmville Road) to delineate and shelter the fairways, and fairway grasses meant for golf rather than grazing for the first time at Powelton. The course's topography was also reworked to make it more challenging than the original pasture
s had been. Its original glory was short-lived as the state announced the next year it would be taking
the western portion of the club property to build a new highway, US 9W
. Emmet hastily redesigned three holes to accommodate the new layout.
A swimming pool
was added to the property at the same time, north of the clubhouse, which burned down in 1929. The current whitewash
ed brick clubhouse was designed by Francis Abreu and opened by the next summer. Other than renovations to the tennis courts which resurfaced them in clay
and added another in the 1950s, the property remained unchanged until the 1960s, when the state Department of Transportation
once again took a portion off the south end to complete Interstate 84
to the nearby Newburgh-Beacon Bridge
. The club negotiated to keep more land this time, thus saving the course from another major alteration. This reduced the club property to its present size of 100 acres (40 ha).
Some renovations were made to the clubhouse, including a small addition in a similar style, around that time, and a wading pool. Thirty years later, a two-story addition was made to the north corner of the building, to create a meeting room and lounge. The groundskeeper's building and a nearby barn, both dating to 1865, are the only ones still standing of several original Powelton Farm buildings on the property (other than a foundation, the others were all razed during the construction of Route 9W). All these buildings, sites and structures except the wading pool are considered contributing properties
to the historic value of the club.
U.S. Route 9W
U.S. Route 9W is a north–south U.S. Highway in the states of New Jersey and New York. It begins on Fletcher Avenue in Fort Lee, New Jersey as it crosses the US 1 & 9, US 46, and the Interstate 95 approaches to the George Washington Bridge, where it heads north up the west...
, Interstate 84
Interstate 84 (east)
Interstate 84 is an Interstate Highway extending from Dunmore, Pennsylvania at an interchange with Interstate 81 to Sturbridge, Massachusetts, at an interchange with the Massachusetts Turnpike . I-84 has mile-log junction numbering in Pennsylvania; otherwise, exit numbers are roughly sequential...
, Balmville Road and Chestnut Lane in the hamlet of Balmville
Balmville, New York
Balmville is an affluent hamlet in Orange County, New York, United States. It is part of the Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area as well as the larger New York–Newark–Bridgeport, NY-NJ-CT-PA Combined Statistical Area. The population was 3,339...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, just north of the city of Newburgh
Newburgh (city), New York
Newburgh is a city located in Orange County, New York, United States, north of New York City, and south of Albany, on the Hudson River. Newburgh is a principal city of the Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middletown metropolitan area, which includes all of Dutchess and Orange counties. The Newburgh area was...
, in the Town of Newburgh
Newburgh (town), New York
Newburgh is a town in Orange County, New York, United States. The 2010 census determined the population is 29,801. This is the first time ever that the population of the Town of Newburgh officially exceeded that of the adjacent but totally separate municipality known as the city of Newburgh...
. Originally established as an archery
Archery
Archery is the art, practice, or skill of propelling arrows with the use of a bow, from Latin arcus. Archery has historically been used for hunting and combat; in modern times, however, its main use is that of a recreational activity...
club, it is one of the five oldest golf course
Golf course
A golf course comprises a series of holes, each consisting of a teeing ground, fairway, rough and other hazards, and a green with a flagstick and cup, all designed for the game of golf. A standard round of golf consists of playing 18 holes, thus most golf courses have this number of holes...
s in the state, and the ten oldest in the U.S.. It has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
since 1999.
History
The property had first been known as Powelton Farm, then Powelton House, after a resort hotel built on it that burned down in 1870. Organized recreational activity, a new development in the Gilded AgeGilded Age
In United States history, the Gilded Age refers to the era of rapid economic and population growth in the United States during the post–Civil War and post-Reconstruction eras of the late 19th century. The term "Gilded Age" was coined by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner in their book The Gilded...
, began with the informal establishment of the Powelton Archery Club in 1878. The next year, tennis court
Tennis court
A tennis court is where the game of tennis is played. It is a firm rectangular surface with a low net stretched across the center. The same surface can be used to play both doubles and singles.-Dimensions:...
s that exist today were built, and the Powelton Lawn Tennis Club of Newburgh was incorporated
Incorporation (business)
Incorporation is the forming of a new corporation . The corporation may be a business, a non-profit organisation, sports club, or a government of a new city or town...
in 1882, one of the first tennis programs in the U.S. and one of the original 33 recognized by the United States Lawn Tennis Association
United States Tennis Association
The United States Tennis Association is the national governing body for the sport of tennis in the United States. A not-for-profit organization with more than 700,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds to promote and develop the growth of tennis, from the grass-roots to the professional levels...
when it was established later that same year.
Ten years later the organization signed a five-year lease
Lease
A lease is a contractual arrangement calling for the lessee to pay the lessor for use of an asset. A rental agreement is a lease in which the asset is tangible property...
on 1.7 acres (6,800 m²) of land surrounding a newly-built clubhouse. Baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
, bowling
Bowling
Bowling Bowling Bowling (1375–1425; late Middle English bowle, variant of boule Bowling (1375–1425; late Middle English bowle, variant of boule...
and croquet
Croquet
Croquet is a lawn game, played both as a recreational pastime and as a competitive sport. It involves hitting plastic or wooden balls with a mallet through hoops embedded into the grass playing court.-History:...
facilities were added, and club lore has it that the first five golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
holes came almost immediately thereafter, only four years after the first American course was built in Yonkers
Yonkers, New York
Yonkers is the fourth most populous city in the state of New York , and the most populous city in Westchester County, with a population of 195,976...
. It is not known who designed them.
In 1897, additional land purchases allowed for a full nine, designed by James Taylor, a member. A 1903 map of Balmville, a leafy suburban hamlet along the Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
where wealthy Newburgh businessmen had built large homes in fashionable architectural style
Architectural style
Architectural styles classify architecture in terms of the use of form, techniques, materials, time period, region and other stylistic influences. It overlaps with, and emerges from the study of the evolution and history of architecture...
s, showed the club taking up 57 acres (23 ha).
After World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, the club decided to increase the course to a full 18 holes, and contracted Devereux Emmet, one of the most prolific course designers in the New York metropolitan area
New York metropolitan area
The New York metropolitan area, also known as Greater New York, or the Tri-State area, is the region that composes of New York City and the surrounding region...
, to design a new course in 1921. Two years later, after the club had obtained additional land he said he needed, he began his work and the new course opened in 1926, introducing sand trap
Bunker (golf)
A hazard is an area of a golf course in the sport of golf which provides a difficult obstacle. which may be of three types: water hazards such as lakes and rivers; man-made hazards such as bunkers; and natural hazards such as dense vegetation. Special rules apply to playing balls that fall in a...
s, trees (including the catalpa
Catalpa
Catalpa, commonly called catalpa or catawba, is a genus of flowering plants in the trumpet vine family, Bignoniaceae, native to warm temperate regions of North America, the Caribbean, and East Asia....
s still along Balmville Road) to delineate and shelter the fairways, and fairway grasses meant for golf rather than grazing for the first time at Powelton. The course's topography was also reworked to make it more challenging than the original pasture
Pasture
Pasture is land used for grazing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep or swine. The vegetation of tended pasture, forage, consists mainly of grasses, with an interspersion of legumes and other forbs...
s had been. Its original glory was short-lived as the state announced the next year it would be taking
Eminent domain
Eminent domain , compulsory purchase , resumption/compulsory acquisition , or expropriation is an action of the state to seize a citizen's private property, expropriate property, or seize a citizen's rights in property with due monetary compensation, but without the owner's consent...
the western portion of the club property to build a new highway, US 9W
U.S. Route 9W
U.S. Route 9W is a north–south U.S. Highway in the states of New Jersey and New York. It begins on Fletcher Avenue in Fort Lee, New Jersey as it crosses the US 1 & 9, US 46, and the Interstate 95 approaches to the George Washington Bridge, where it heads north up the west...
. Emmet hastily redesigned three holes to accommodate the new layout.
A swimming pool
Swimming pool
A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, or simply a pool, is a container filled with water intended for swimming or water-based recreation. There are many standard sizes; the largest is the Olympic-size swimming pool...
was added to the property at the same time, north of the clubhouse, which burned down in 1929. The current whitewash
Whitewash
Whitewash, or calcimine, kalsomine, calsomine, or lime paint is a very low-cost type of paint made from slaked lime and chalk . Various other additives are also used...
ed brick clubhouse was designed by Francis Abreu and opened by the next summer. Other than renovations to the tennis courts which resurfaced them in clay
Clay court
A clay court is one of the four different types of tennis court. Clay courts are made of crushed shale, stone or brick. The red clay is slower than the green, or Har-Tru "American" clay. The French Open uses clay courts, making it unique among the Grand Slam tournaments.Clay courts are more common...
and added another in the 1950s, the property remained unchanged until the 1960s, when the state Department of Transportation
New York State Department of Transportation
The New York State Department of Transportation is responsible for the development and operation of highways, railroads, mass transit systems, ports, waterways and aviation facilities in the U.S...
once again took a portion off the south end to complete Interstate 84
Interstate 84 (east)
Interstate 84 is an Interstate Highway extending from Dunmore, Pennsylvania at an interchange with Interstate 81 to Sturbridge, Massachusetts, at an interchange with the Massachusetts Turnpike . I-84 has mile-log junction numbering in Pennsylvania; otherwise, exit numbers are roughly sequential...
to the nearby Newburgh-Beacon Bridge
Newburgh-Beacon Bridge
The Newburgh–Beacon Bridge, is a cantilever toll bridge that spans the Hudson River in New York State carrying NY 52 and Interstate 84 between Newburgh and Beacon...
. The club negotiated to keep more land this time, thus saving the course from another major alteration. This reduced the club property to its present size of 100 acres (40 ha).
Some renovations were made to the clubhouse, including a small addition in a similar style, around that time, and a wading pool. Thirty years later, a two-story addition was made to the north corner of the building, to create a meeting room and lounge. The groundskeeper's building and a nearby barn, both dating to 1865, are the only ones still standing of several original Powelton Farm buildings on the property (other than a foundation, the others were all razed during the construction of Route 9W). All these buildings, sites and structures except the wading pool are considered contributing properties
Contributing property
In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing resource or contributing property is any building, structure, or object which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic district, listed locally or federally, significant...
to the historic value of the club.