Articles by
George Henninger

In September 2026, the World Golf Hall of Fame nominating committees announced their finalists for admission in July 2027.

Among the three finalists in the Historic Players and Amateurs category is Alexa Stirling, an accomplished amateur who won the Women's United States Amateur in 1916, 1919, and 1920 and was the runner-up in 1921, 1923, and 1925.

Miss Stirling also visited Huntingdon Valley three times to play in the annual Berthellyn Cup, the prestigious women's amateur founded and hosted by original Huntingdon Valley member Mrs. Caleb F. Fox. Stirling had an incredible record at the event, winning in 1916 at age twenty and then returning in 1920 to set a new ladies' course record of 81 en route to her second tournament win at Huntingdon Valley.

As part of the Dixie Kids, a foursome of young, elite amateur golfers who toured the country to raise funds for World War I, Miss Stirling and sixteen-year-old Bobby Jones faced off against two Huntingdon Valley legends in 1918. Miss Mildred Caverly, the reigning Philadelphia Amateur champion, US Amateur runner-up, and an eight-time Berthellyn Cup participant, teamed up with Huntingdon Valley clubmate Cameron Buxton at the Philadelphia Cricket Club, where they raised significant funds for the war effort.

Below is the Alexa Stirling bio published by the World Golf Hall of Fame. If selected, she would join six other Berthellyn Cup players in the Hall of Fame, highlighting the depth of talent and the accomplishment the Berthellyn Cup attracted. The Hall of Famers include Betty Jameson, Glenna Collett Vare, Dorothy Campbell Hurd Howe, Marion Hollins, Helen Hicks, and Opal Hill, all of whom featured in Berthellyn Cup competitions over the years.

George Henninger

Alexa Stirling Bio (World Golf Hall of Fame)

Alexa Stirling was a pioneer of women's amateur golf in the early 20th century. Raised in Atlanta, Ga., she learned the game at East Lake Golf Club and quickly established herself as one of the South's top golfers. Stirling won the Southern Women's Amateur three times, capturing titles in 1915, 1916, and 1919. On the national stage, she won three consecutive U.S. Women's Amateur Championships and finished runner-up on three occasions.

During World War I, Stirling joined fellow Southerners Bob Jones, Perry Adair and Elaine Rosenthal as part of the famed "Dixie Whiz Kids," a group that toured North America conducting golf exhibitions to support the war effort. Their exhibitions raised more than $150,000 for the American Red Cross, equivalent to roughly $5 million today.

Stirling also won the Canadian Women's Amateur in 1920 and 1934, with two runner-up finishes between those victories, demonstrating her longevity and sustained excellence in the game.

Beyond golf, Stirling led a distinguished and trailblazing life. During World War I, she served as a lieutenant in the Army Medical Corps. She was also among the first women to work as a bond trader on Wall Street and was an accomplished violinist who performed with the Atlanta Symphony.

Stirling's accomplishments were recognized posthumously through numerous honors. She was inducted into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in 1978, the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame in 1986 and the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame in 1989.

August gave us a great chance to watch the men's U.S. Amateur at Merion Golf Club, and it was especially fun to see Patrick Isztwan qualify and represent Huntingdon Valley so well. New HVCC history in the making.

That Merion connection goes even deeper when it comes to amateur women's championship golf. The women's Amateur Championship has been held at Merion only four times, and each time Huntingdon Valley women were part of the story, including a national championship win in 1926.

The 1904 Women's Amateur Championship at Merion Cricket Club drew eighty-six players, including seven from Huntingdon Valley. Mrs. Caleb F. Fox, founder and host of the annual Berthellyn Cup at Huntingdon Valley, was the club's lone qualifier for match play and reached the round of 16. It was already her seventh National Championship.

In 1909, the Women's Amateur Championship returned to Merion Cricket Club. From a field of seventy entrants, Mrs. Milton Work and Mrs. Caleb F. Fox qualified from Huntingdon Valley. Mrs. Fox shared medalist honors with an 86 and made it all the way to the semifinals before losing to eventual champion Miss Dorothy Campbell of Scotland. Campbell later won two more national titles and four Berthellyn Cups at Huntingdon Valley, in 1911, 1922, 1923, and 1933.

The 1926 Women's Amateur Championship was the first played at the current Merion Golf Club. Mrs. G. Henry Stetson, daughter-in-law of original HVCC member and hat maven John D. Stetson, was the only Huntingdon Valley player to qualify — and she certainly made it count. She won the final, 3 and 1, to become United States Women's Amateur Champion. Mrs. Fox, then 65, did not qualify that year, wrapping up a remarkable U.S. Amateur career that included 24 championship appearances, medalist honors in 1903 and 1909, and a finals appearance in 1899. After Mrs. Fox's death in 1928, Mrs. Stetson fittingly became host of the Berthellyn Cup at Huntingdon Valley Country Club.

The last Women's Amateur Championship at Merion Golf Club was played in 1949, with the entire championship played as match play among 128 qualifiers. Huntingdon Valley was represented by Mrs. William G. Hamilton, the former Jane McCullough of Philadelphia's famed "golfing family." Though she lost in the first round, Mrs. Hamilton had already built quite a record as winner of the 1941 Berthellyn Cup and, over the years, a twenty-one-time Huntingdon Valley ladies club champion. Mrs. Helen B. Stetson, the 1926 U.S. Amateur Champion, also represented Huntingdon Valley at age 62 and won her opening match in extra holes. Other players with Huntingdon Valley ties included Mrs. Edith Quier Flippen, formerly of HVCC and then at Merion, who reached the round of 16 and had won the 1925 Berthellyn Cup. Mrs. Glenna Collett Vare, a six-time national champion and one of the greatest women golfers of all time, played in her final championship; she had been a regular at Huntingdon Valley and won the Berthellyn Cup an unmatched six times.

It is a fun reminder that Huntingdon Valley has had a real place in the early story of women's amateur golf. For more on that history and the club's celebrated Berthellyn Cup, see The Berthellyn Cup 1911 to 1941, available in the HVCC pro shop, or check out henningerbooks.com.

George Henninger

September, 2026

So much exciting professional and elite amateur golf is happening all around us. As you would expect, the tournaments and their courses have many ties to the original Huntingdon Valley Country Club membership.

Let's start with the 2026 PGA Championship at Aronimink. Although our early membership had little to do with the current Aronimink golf course, which opened in 1928, John Reid, Huntingdon Valley's first head professional, and his colleague, the Scotsman Willie Campbell, did considerable design work at the Belmont Cricket Club, 52nd and Chester Avenues, the "first" Aronimink golf course. Reid and Campbell are also credited with the design and construction of our first golf course, the Noble course of Huntingdon Valley.

The recent PGA Championship at Aronimink is more significant to Huntingdon Valley, as original HVCC member Rodman Wanamaker was the catalyst for the creation of the Professional Golfers Association (PGA) and the donor of the infamous Wanamaker Trophy. The Wanamaker family — John the patriarch and sons Thomas and Rodman — were all original HVCC members and prominent retailers with stores in Philadelphia, New York City, and Paris, and lived on massive estates near the Noble golf course. Sporting goods were a large part of their retail empire, and the Wanamaker stores had massive indoor golf practice and teaching facilities staffed by the best professionals of the time. The New York City store had 24 head professionals who gave lessons and sold golf equipment!

In June, the men's United States Open Championship was played at the Shinnecock Hills Golf Club. The course architect was William Flynn, who completed the course in 1931, only two years after he finished our current Huntingdon Valley golf course. Although some label his work at Shinnecock as a redesign of the original 1895 golf course, it is a bit of a stretch, as only two holes from that course remain. Shinnecock also became a "first stop" for many emigrating Scottish professionals — the first head pro at the club was an Englishman of Scottish descent, Willie Dunn Jr. Two future Huntingdon Valley head professionals, James Govan and Buff Wilson, both Scotsmen, would work for Dunn at Shinnecock before moving on to other golfing positions.

In June, the women's United States Open Championship was played at the Riviera Country Club. The course opened in 1926 and was designed by George Thomas Jr., the son of original Huntingdon Valley member George Thomas. Thomas Sr. was one of the founding partners of JPMorgan Chase, along with Edward Stotesbury and Arthur Newbold, two other original club members. All three amassed considerable fortunes, and Thomas Sr. accumulated large land holdings in Lafayette Hill. There, he built an estate, Bloomfield Farm, and years later, his son George Thomas Jr. designed and built Whitemarsh Valley Country Club on the property. The Thomas mansion was the first clubhouse. In addition to golf course design, George Thomas Jr. cultivated 1,200 varieties of roses, many bearing the Bloomfield name, and authored the bible of golf course design, Golf Architecture in America.

In June, the women's biennial amateur team competition, the Curtis Cup, was played at Bel-Air Country Club in Los Angeles, another course designed by George Thomas Jr. The competition comprises the top eight United States women amateurs versus eight from Great Britain and Ireland and was created by two American sisters, Harriot and Margaret Curtis, in 1932. The Curtis sisters were accomplished golfers and competed in 1921 at The Berthellyn Cup, a prestigious national amateur event hosted annually at Huntingdon Valley between 1911 and 1941. The host of the event was the esteemed amateur golfer, Mrs. Caleb F. Fox, an original HVCC member who named the event after the family estate, Berthellyn, on Old York Road near Township Line. Each year, the event was a "who's who" of women amateurs who loved the competition, the courses at Huntingdon Valley, and Mrs. Fox's charm and camaraderie.

In August, the men's United States Amateur Championship will be played at the Merion Golf Club. William Flynn also played a key role at Merion before his work at Huntingdon Valley and Shinnecock, amongst others. Flynn was the construction supervisor and later the course superintendent to the credited course architect, Hugh Wilson. Wilson and Flynn had a very tight professional relationship and had considered forming a design firm, but Wilson's failing health prevented it. Instead, Flynn partnered with Howard Toomey after World War I, which is why we have the Toomey-Flynn course rather than the Wilson-Flynn course. William Flynn is also credited with introducing and holding the patent on the iconic red wicker basket flagsticks at Merion. Winthrop Sargent, an original 1897 Huntingdon Valley member, would leave the club and join Merion, where he became their first Greens Committee chairman.

For this year's Amateur, the stroke-play competition to advance to match play will be held at both Merion and the Spring Mill course of the Philadelphia Country Club (PCC), another William Flynn design. Many original HVCC members were also at the Philadelphia Country Club, with Huntingdon Valley's Edward T. Stotesbury serving as PCC club president when Spring Mill opened in 1927. Stotesbury also, somewhat reluctantly, hit the first ball at the formal opening. In 1919, on a darker note, HVCC's original member and club Governor George W. Elkins played eleven holes of golf at PCC and was stricken with paralysis. "He stayed unconscious, and his condition was so grave that his doctors insisted he not be moved from the Philadelphia Country Club, where he would die two days later."

I continue to be astounded by the influence of the original 1897 Huntingdon Valley membership on golf in this country. I look forward to introducing two new books this summer — Twelve Scots, an Englishman, and an Aussie, as well as The Berthellyn Cup, 1911 to 1941 — which continue to document our amazing history. More details to follow.

The James Bond franchise celebrated its 60th Anniversary in October. For those of you who subscribe to Amazon Prime, there was a bonanza of Bond movies and specials to remind you!

The James Bond character and Huntingdon Valley have a considerable and fascinating connection.

A Francis E. Bond was an original member of Huntingdon Valley in 1897. Bond would become one of the three founding members of a successful Philadelphia brokerage firm named Edward B. Smith and Company. The namesake of the firm, Edward B. Smith, was also an original member of the club. Years later, the firm would merge with the brokerage firm of Charles D. Barney, yet still another original Huntingdon Valley member, and the new firm would be called SmithBarney — the "we earn money the old-fashioned way" company.

Back to the Bond story. Francis E. Bond was also a noted ornithologist — the study of birds. The Bonds would have three children. A son, James Bond, would follow in his father's footsteps, starting in finance but then pursuing ornithology. He would author several books on birds, including one titled Birds of the West Indies.

A copy of the book would eventually appear on the coffee table of British author Ian Fleming, who was writing a spy novel but did not yet have a name for the lead fictional character, a British agent. He then noticed the author's name, James Bond, on the book on his coffee table.

In a note to Bond's wife, Ian Fleming later wrote: "It struck me that this brief, unromantic, Anglo-Saxon, and yet very masculine name was just what I needed, and so in a second, James Bond was born. In return, I can only offer you or James Bond unlimited use of the name Ian Fleming for any purposes you see fit. Perhaps one day your husband will discover a particularly horrible species of bird which he would like to christen in an insulting fashion by calling it Ian Fleming."

The book Casino Royale would become one of thirteen Fleming novels featuring the British agent James Bond, 007, and all would have motion picture versions that were hugely successful.

James Bond, the son of Huntingdon Valley member Francis E. Bond, would die in 1989. An obituary in the Washington Post reads: "The actual James Bond, unlike his fictional namesake, never toted a gun and never drank a martini that was shaken, not stirred. He spied on birds, not beautiful female enemy agents, for a living."

Nevertheless, it might be time to recognize the James Bond-HVCC connection. How about an HVCC James Bond martini??

The Women's Golf Association of Philadelphia was founded in 1897, the same year as Huntingdon Valley. As you would expect, there are significant connections and contributions from our original HVCC membership to the Association, the oldest women's golf organization of its kind in the United States.

Clayton G. Dixon was an original member of Huntingdon Valley and an accomplished golfer. Dixon was the Huntingdon Valley club champion in both 1900 and 1901 and the winner of the inaugural Lynnewood Hall Cup in 1901. The captain of the first University of Pennsylvania golf team, Dixon had an interesting life revolving around golf, society, and marriage — there were four of them.

His father, Henry P. Dixon, was a Pennsylvania Railroad executive and the owner of the Henry P. Dixon Company, a manufacturer of grates, fireplaces, and furnaces based in Delaware County. Clayton Dixon's mother, Ida Gilbert, was the first cousin of his father, Henry P. Dixon, and the aunt of original Huntingdon Valley member John Gilbert.

The Dixons would become enamored with golf after being introduced to the game while on holiday in Bermuda.

Socially active in Delaware County, Ida Gilbert Dixon would go on to design the golf course at the Springhaven Country Club in Wallingford, PA, a Philadelphia suburb. Although William Flynn and others would make significant alterations to her original course design of 1904, Ida Gilbert Dixon is recognized as the first female golf architect in the United States, and according to Philadelphia golf historian and author James Finnegan, Ida Gilbert Dixon claims the title as the first female golf architect in the world.

Ida Dixon also served as the president of the Women's Golf Association of Philadelphia from 1911 to 1916, the year of her death.

In recognition of her contributions to the game of golf, the Ida E. Dixon Cup, a major event of the Women's Golf Association of Philadelphia, was established in 1917 and is played at the Springhaven Country Club each spring.

Caleb F. Fox was another original member of Huntingdon Valley. His father, George Sydney Fox, penniless as a child, would found the brokerage firm of Bowen and Fox, which would become very successful in developing public transport companies in Philadelphia and other cities.

Caleb F. Fox, a University of Pennsylvania graduate, would eventually run the company, then named George S. Fox and Sons. Fox would marry Margaret Knowles Crozier, and women's amateur golf, locally and nationally, would never be the same.

Mrs. Caleb F. Fox would win the Philadelphia Women's Golf Championship five times — 1902, 1908, 1910, 1911, and 1917. She would compete in her first United States Women's Amateur golf championship in 1898 at the Bala Golf Club and would play in the event twenty-four times when she was well into her sixties. Although she would never win the National Championship, she was the finalist in 1899, and Mrs. Fox would defeat the reigning champion and women's golfing legend Glenna Collett in 1923.

In addition to her Philadelphia Championship wins, Mrs. Fox was extremely active in Philadelphia golf administration, serving as the president of the Women's Golf Association of Philadelphia in 1899 and then again from 1905 to 1910. The Philadelphia Public Ledger wrote: "Mrs. Fox has possibly done more to further the game in this city among women than any other member of the fair sex. Not only has she been prominent in convincing women that it is the sanest and most healthful recreation in the world, but, as a participant, she has done wonderful work."

At the time of her death in 1928, Time Magazine wrote: "In 1895, she played in her first Women's National and scored 132. In the years after that, she was seen walking briskly from tee to green on almost every golf course in the land. Dresses changed, and women golfers got better. Golf became the national game, and hoydens of sixteen got so they could hit 200-yard drives. Mrs. Fox was not discouraged. As she got older, she took to wearing shorter dresses, walking a bit faster, and hitting the ball a bit harder. Girl champions appeared, played for a few years, got married, and forgot their mashies. Not so Mrs. Fox. She continued to play in every important event. When she won, no one was surprised."

January 28 marks the 264th birthday of Scottish poet Robert Burns. Across the world, many Burns admirers gather to read his poetry, toast their good fortunes and feast on Scottish delicacies such as haggis and cock-a-leekie soup while having a dram or two of Scottish whisky. For one evening a year, everyone is a Scot.

So what does any of this have to do with Huntingdon Valley?

John Gribbel was one of the original 1897 members of Huntingdon Valley. Born in New Jersey and educated in New York City, Gribbel would move to Philadelphia as an agent, and later a junior partner, for a company that manufactured gas meters. Gribbel would become the sole owner of the firm upon the founder's death, and, given the growth and expansion of the United States at that time, his product, gas meters, was in great demand. John Gribbel became a very wealthy man.

Gribbel would serve on numerous boards across the country, serve three terms as president of the Philadelphia Union League and was a benefactor and president of the board of trustees at Hahnemann Hospital, an institution founded by the father of another original Huntingdon Valley member, Walter Hering.

Apart from business, Gribbel's greatest interest was in the study and collection of American Colonial historical documents, 17th-century English books, and English and French engravings. His collection was substantial, and Gribbel would lecture on many of these topics over the years.

Additionally, Gribbel was interested in Robert Burns, the Scottish poet who, among many other works, is credited with the poem "Auld Lang Syne." Gribbel already owned some important papers of Burns, but in 1913, he was approached by a broker who had come into possession of the Glenriddell Manuscripts. These two volumes comprised the largest collection of Burns manuscripts in existence and contained letters and some poems which Burns had presented in handwritten prose to his friend and patron, Robert Riddell of Glenriddell, Scotland, in 1791. The manuscripts had followed a precarious route after the death of Burns, sitting in a box at a Liverpool gentlemen's club for twenty years, then appearing at a Sotheby's auction, landing with a London bookseller, and eventually with an unknown American client and the broker who approached Gribbel. In any case, the manuscripts were not in Scotland.

Gribbel purchased the Glenriddell Manuscripts and almost immediately, at the 1913 St. Andrew's Society of Philadelphia banquet, announced that he was returning them to the people of Scotland. He established a perpetual trusteeship where the manuscripts would be held by the Edinburgh and Glasgow national libraries alternately every five years, and that practice remains in place today.

The Glenriddell Manuscripts have been characterized as the most important piece of "Burnsiana" in existence, according to the newspaper The Scotsman, and this generous gift forever endeared Gribbel to every Scot. Gribbel would become an honorary member of the St. Andrew's Society of Philadelphia in addition to eighteen other Scottish societies around the world.

So come January 28th, enjoy a wee dram or two, celebrate the birthday of Robbie Burns, and remember original HVCC member John Gribbel, who generously returned an important part of Burns history to the people of Scotland.

From June 15 to June 18, the United States Golf Association will hold their 123rd United States Open Championship. For the first time in seventy-five years, the Championship will be played in Los Angeles at the Los Angeles Country Club, a golf course that has a strong connection to the original membership of Huntingdon Valley.

George C. Thomas was an original 1897 member of Huntingdon Valley. With his diploma from Episcopal Academy in hand, Thomas would eventually become one of the eleven founding members of JPMorgan & Co., now JP Morgan Chase, the world's largest bank. Fellow original Huntingdon Valley members Edward T. Stotesbury and Arthur E. Newbold would also be part of that founding group. All three men became enormously wealthy.

Thomas was always a churchman and philanthropic, but with his success, he became a fine arts collector and a significant landowner in Lafayette Hill. There, he would build a house, which he gifted to his son George Thomas Jr. at age twenty-one, who named it Bloomfield Farm. Thomas Jr., a Penn dropout and avid gardener, would cultivate roses at the property, creating 1,200 varieties and becoming a recognized national authority. Some of his rose varieties bore the Bloomfield name.

Thomas Jr., a proficient golfer, would become a Huntingdon Valley member in 1905 and later a two-time club champion at Sunnybrook. He also developed an interest in golf course design and, through a relationship with a family friend, designed and built a 9-hole course in Marion, Massachusetts. Pleased with his work, he decided to design and build an 18-hole course on the Bloomfield Farm property. In 1908, he would open Whitemarsh Valley Country Club, with the Thomas residence becoming the clubhouse. Original Huntingdon Valley member William Disston, his firm being the leading producer of saws in the world, became the club's first president.

Spring Lake Country Club in New Jersey would be George Thomas Jr.'s next project.

Thomas Jr. would serve in World War I as an Army pilot, reaching the rank of Captain, and after being discharged, returned for a short period to Philadelphia. There, he reportedly worked with William Flynn on some design modifications at Pine Valley, where Thomas was an original member at the club that was created by original Huntingdon Valley member George Crump.

In 1919, Thomas Jr. would move to California for warmer weather, to cultivate roses, fish, sail, and build golf courses. And build he did.

Over a period of ten years, he would design and build twenty-five courses including gems such as Riviera, Bel-Air, and Ojai Valley. His arrival in LA coincided with club plans to re-do the two existing courses at the Los Angeles Country Club (LACC). There, he and Herbert Fowler of Walton Heath, Cruden Bay and the 18th hole at Pebble Beach fame are credited by LACC with the redesign of the courses, although George Thomas Jr. appears to receive most of the accolades for the North course, the site of the US Open.

As you watch the tournament, note as players walk off the tee of the famous, shortish 10th hole. They will pass a grouping of yellow rose bushes, the last roses hybridized by George Thomas Jr., and since named Captain Thomas — the son of original Huntingdon Valley member George C. Thomas.

The annual Abington Memorial Hospital June Fete celebration and fundraiser takes place next weekend. Our original Huntingdon Valley members started this fundraising concept, and one of them, George W. Elkins, entirely funded the construction of Abington Hospital!

The story goes that Elkins, whose family wealth was built on oil, utilities, and streetcars, also owned a car, a rarity at the time. As the "Elkins" Park area grew, so did the number of farm and trolley car accidents. On several occasions, medical and police officials had asked that the Elkins automobiles be used as ambulances to transport individuals involved in accidents to the nearest hospital, the Jewish Hospital, now Einstein, some eight miles away from rural Abington.

Elkins and other friends realized that the lack of a nearby hospital and reliance on his "personal ambulance" were unsustainable, and planning for a local hospital began.

Shortly after, George W. Elkins announced that he would donate land and personally fund the construction and equip a new hospital in memory of his wife, Stella McIntire Elkins. The hospital committee agreed to change the hospital's suggested name from Abington General Hospital to Abington Memorial Hospital to recognize his generosity, which would eventually exceed $17 million in current dollars, in addition to another $7 million upon his death. The hospital would open in 1914 with 48 beds and be staffed by 6 graduate nurses and 9 student nurses. Four original Huntingdon Valley members would become original Trustees of the nine-member hospital board. The original hospital building remains as part of the greatly expanded facility on Old York Road.

Early in the hospital's planning process, the need to raise annual funding and engage the communities served by the hospital was addressed by the creation of the Women's Board of Abington Memorial Hospital.

This volunteer organization in support of the hospital included two original Huntingdon Valley women as key founding members, both of whom were closely tied to George W. Elkins:

Natalie Fox Elkins, wife of original Huntingdon Valley member George W. Elkins Jr., and daughter of original Huntingdon Valley member Caleb F. Fox, served on the Board throughout her life. Her father-in-law was the founder of Abington Memorial Hospital, George W. Elkins.

Louise Elkins Sinkler, the daughter of Abington Memorial Hospital founder and original Huntingdon Valley member George W. Elkins, dedicated more than 60 years of her life to the Women's Board. Mrs. Sinkler was married to the son of the original Huntingdon Valley member, Dr. Wharton Sinkler.

In 1913, the Women's Board introduced an annual fundraising event, the June Fete, a name now a registered trademark of the Abington Health Foundation Women's Board. The list of names on that original June Fete planning committee mirrors the original Huntingdon Valley member roster.

Huntingdon Valley members also stepped up to physically host the June Fete, at that time a very stylish event, at their estates, with the annual event having been held at: Lindenhurst, the former estate of original Huntingdon Valley member John Wanamaker; Crosswicks, the estate of original Huntingdon Valley member Clement Newbold; Justa Farm, the 600-acre farm-and-stables estate of original Huntingdon Valley member George W. Elkins Jr. (the June Fete fundraiser would be held at the property for 10 years); Elstowe Manor, the estate of original Huntingdon Valley member William L. Elkins; and the original Huntingdon Valley Country Club site in Noble, which hosted the June Fete for many years including 1919 and 1921 to 1928, before the event moved to the present site in 1930 and 1937.

The current, permanent June Fete location on Terwood and Huntingdon Roads was a gift of the Pitcairn family in 1955.

If you get a chance to go to the June Fete this year, enjoy yourself and remember our original Huntingdon Valley members made the hospital and the event happen some 110 years ago!!

Walter Ross was an original Huntingdon Valley member. Although successful professionally, he and his brother, as young boys, were involved in a kidnapping incident that was unprecedented at the time.

As we approach the family travel and vacation season, the Ross story, now nearly 150 years old, reminds us of the need for awareness and vigilance while traveling.

Walter Ross was a graduate of Germantown Academy and pursued a career in the brokerage business with Philadelphia-based Drexel and Company. When Drexel assumed a financial position in the expansion of the Central Railroad of Pennsylvania, Ross, at age 24, was appointed president of the railroad. His career with Drexel would continue to go well, and in 1899, Ross decided to start his own brokerage firm. Cleverly named Walter L. Ross and Company, the firm would be hugely successful, and Ross would own a seat on the New York Stock Exchange, buying it at then a record price and selling it at a new record price just prior to the 1929 crash.

He would marry Julia Peabody Chandler, and the couple would raise five children in Chestnut Hill and own a summer home in Lake Saranac, New York.

On July 1, 1874, now nearly 150 years ago, five-year-old Walter Ross and his four-year-old brother Charley were playing in the yard of their stately home at 529 East Washington Lane in Germantown, now the site of the Cliveden Presbyterian Church. A horse-drawn carriage with two men approached and offered the boys candies and money to buy fireworks. The Ross boys accepted, and the strangers rode them to a store, gave Walter 25 cents, and told him to go in and buy fireworks. When he returned, his brother was gone. Charley Ross was never seen again.

The Ross family started receiving ransom demands from the kidnappers. Unable to pay the $20,000 ransom, approximately $500,000 in current dollars, the family went to the police. The national media grabbed onto the story, and it received significant attention as it was the first kidnapping for ransom incident in the United States. The police effort was futile, and Charley remained missing. In December, in an unrelated burglary in Brooklyn, two criminals were shot, and as they lay dying, they confessed to being the kidnappers. A third person, found not complicit in the kidnapping, stated that Charley was alive at the time of the burglary, but he was not aware of where the boy was being held.

Charley Ross was never found. The Ross parents continued to search for their son until their deaths, spending considerable money to travel the country and track down clues. They followed leads and interviewed six hundred boys, teenagers, and eventually grown men who claimed to have been Charley Ross.

The now common admonition "don't take candy from strangers" is said to have come from the Charley Ross kidnapping.

In 2001, a website named after the Charley Ross kidnapping, www.charleyproject.org, was launched and profiles over 15,000 "cold case" missing people primarily from the US. The site is quite sobering.

Walter L. Ross, the original Huntingdon Valley member, would die in 1943. An article in the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin on the day of his death noted: "On July 24, 1943, the last witness to America's first kidnapping for ransom was buried in St. Thomas' Episcopal Church, outside Philadelphia. In the end, Walter Ross had done his best. He succeeded in the difficult world of finance. He raised a family. Above all, he had not allowed his father's obsession to become his own: in order to live, he let Charley Ross die."

John B. Stetson, the Philadelphia hat manufacturer and inventor of the iconic Boss of the Plains cowboy hat, was one of our original members in 1897 at Huntingdon Valley. Hollywood stars and Western legends such as Will Rogers, Annie Oakley, Buffalo Bill, and the Lone Ranger popularized the hat, and by the early 20th century, the Stetson Company was the world's largest hat producer, employing over 5,000 Philadelphians.

Stetson also has the dubious honor of being one of Florida's first "snowbirds." Stetson had purchased 250 acres of land in DeLand, Florida, about 35 miles north of Orlando, from his friend and baking soda magnate Henry Addison DeLand. There he would build a magnificent estate, characterized as "an eclectic and unusual architectural design" with intricate parquet floors, 10,000 panes of leaded glass windows as well as electricity installed by Thomas Edison! Stetson would become an esteemed citizen of the area endowing the University of DeLand, which later became Stetson University, and creating the first law school in Florida while entertaining his friends at the estate which included the Vanderbilts, Carnegies, US Presidents, and global royalty.

The property is now a private home, restored over the years by the owners, volunteers, and vendors, but open to the public at Christmas as well as for private events. Rated as a Top 10 attraction in the USA by TripAdvisor, it was most recently identified as one of the Top 10 most underrated attractions in the world! That distinction generated news coverage, as well as the interesting article below, which highlights the success and adventures of another of our original Huntingdon Valley members.

John B. Stetson, as well as his daughter-in-law, Mrs. Helen B. Stetson, the 1926 US Amateur and two-time Philadelphia Amateur golf champion and an early HVCC member, are highlighted in my book, More than Golf, which remains on sale in the pro shop.

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THE HOUSE THAT HATS BUILT

Recently named the most underrated tourist attraction in the U.S.A., the Stetson Mansion in DeLand, Florida stands as one of the most innovative homes of its era.

By Andrew Bradbury

"None but that of sterling quality." That was John B. Stetson's guiding principle when he began his hat-making business in 1865 and, one could say, when he tasked architect George T. Pearson with building his winter estate in DeLand, Florida in 1886. The resulting mansion would be one of the most innovative homes in America at the time and now, after years of restoration, was recently ranked as the most underrated tourist attraction in the country (and among the top 10 in the world) by TripAdvisor, adding to a list of similar accolades from other travel websites.

Pearson, who had designed Stetson's groundbreaking Philadelphia factory, used a blend of cottage, Gothic, Tudor, Moorish, and (in an inspired turn for a secondary structure, Polynesian) details to create a High Victorian wonder; just under 10,000 square feet and a first-rate example of Gilded Age grandeur. Sixteen individual patterns of parquet flooring were featured in rooms on the first and second stories, some with patterns inspired by 17th- and 18th-century quilts and two 3D examples that produced an Escher-like optical effect. Ten-thousand individual panes of glass — many with stained glass designs — augmented the windows that adorned each facet of the mansion.

It was a technical marvel, too. Industrialist and Stetson friend Henry Flagler built the private railroad that allowed building materials to be shipped directly to the property during construction. Thomas Edison himself (another Stetson friend) supervised the installation of the electricity. It was the first private home in Florida, and among the first in the world, to be designed and explicitly built to be fully electric. Steam heat, with hot and cold water running up three stories, and an electric call bell system that rang throughout put the mansion at the forefront of modern comfort and convenience — as did the three indoor bathrooms (truly, an unheard of luxury at the time).

The surrounding estate, which sat on Stetson's 300-acre citrus grove, contained gardens, gazebos and fountains. There was also wildlife, in addition to the prodigious local bird population. Peacocks and monkeys roamed the grounds, and Stetson had at least two wild Florida alligators ("Ponce" and "DeLeon") that he delighted in showing guests — an exotic sight for most non-Floridians. Particularly noteworthy was the 800-square-foot schoolhouse used for educating the Stetson offspring during their winters in DeLand. The Polynesian-style structure featured a striking 15-foot-high plank arched ceiling, lending a transportive South Pacific charm to the grounds.

Though commonplace today, Stetson was among the first breed of well-off Americans to spend winters in the Sunshine State. Over the years, he drew to Florida a notable list of Astors, Vanderbilts, Mellons and Carnegies, plus the Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VII) and U.S. President Grover Cleveland, whom he entertained in the opulent style of the times. And while the period in Stetson's life, seen in the mansion itself, is marked by extravagance, it was also his most philanthropic. He fervently supported local businesses, grew the area's infrastructure and often entertained groups of DeLand residents at his home — just as he did the vacationing elite. His contributions to the area, including the funding of DeLand College (which would become Stetson University) are still felt in the present.

John B. Stetson died in his winter home in 1906 after ill health. The original contents of the mansion were sold off in 1920. Beginning in 2006, the mansion underwent a meticulous restoration and renovation by private owners who have kept all of the architectural details intact, with thoughtful modern upgrades and furnishings that blend styles and periods in a way that captures the eclectic spirit of the original design.

The RMS Titanic is again in the news, and the news is never good.

Original Huntingdon Valley member George D. Widener, his wife Eleanor, daughter of original Huntingdon Valley member William Lukens Elkins, and their son, Harry Widener, were all aboard the inaugural sailing of the Titanic in March 1912.

The Wideners had been in Europe for different reasons. George D. Widener was searching for a chef for his French restaurant at his new Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Philadelphia. The story goes that Widener decided to build a new hotel after his wife, Eleanor, was asked to leave the Bellevue Stratford Hotel for smoking in their dining room.

Eleanor Elkins was in Europe, accumulating a trousseau for her daughter, Eleanor, who would marry Walker Cup captain Fitz Eugene Dixon later in the year.

Harry Widener, a 1907 graduate of Harvard, was a noted collector of rare books and was in Europe in search of new additions to his library.

In total, the Wideners had been in Europe for six months when they booked their return to the United States. The Widener family, along with Edwin Keeping, Mr. Widener's valet, and Amalie Gieger, Mrs. Widener's maid, and some $700,000/$18.5 million in current dollars of Mrs. Widener's jewelry, departed from the Paris Ritz Hotel and met the Titanic in Cherbourg, France, where it had arrived after departing Southampton earlier in the day.

The Wideners occupied suites C80 and C82 in the first-class section of the ship. In total, 325 first-class passengers were on board, and management stocked 20,000 bottles of beer and stout, 1,500 bottles of wine, and 8,000 cigars to ensure that at least the men in first class would be incredibly happy. The New York Astors were among the first-class passengers.

On the fourth night of the crossing, April 15, the Wideners hosted an invitation-only dinner party in honor of the Captain of the Titanic, Edward J. Smith, who was retiring once in New York. The celebration was characterized as "the social high point of the voyage" and the party was highlighted in the award-winning James Cameron film, Titanic.

At about 11:40 PM ship time, the Titanic struck an iceberg, slicing open the hull of the ship below the water line. Captain Smith was awakened, and he quickly deduced that the situation was dire.

Mrs. Widener told a reporter, published in the New York Times on April 20, 1912: "Mr. Widener and I had retired to our cabin for the night when the shock of crashing into the iceberg occurred. We thought little of it and did not leave our cabin. We must have remained there for an hour before becoming frightful. Then Mr. Widener went to our son Harry's room and took him to our cabin. A short time later, Harry went to the deck, hurried back, and told us we must go on deck. Mr. Widener and Harry, a few minutes later, went on deck and aided the officers, who were then having trouble with those in steerage. That was the last that I saw of my husband or son. I went on deck and was put into a lifeboat. As the boat pulled away from the Titanic, I saw one of the officers shoot himself in the head, and a few minutes later saw Captain Smith jump from the bridge into the sea."

Early the next morning, the lifeboat of women was rescued by the RMS Carpathia. Although packed with survivors resting and sleeping everywhere, Mrs. Widener and Mrs. Astor were taken to the captain's stateroom for the balance of the journey to New York.

Back in Philadelphia, news of the tragedy was quickly communicated to the Widener family. Although it would be days before any specific word on the fate of the passengers would emerge, the Wideners sensed the inevitable. George D. Widener Jr., the brother of Harry Widener, original Huntingdon Valley member William L. Elkins, and Captain S.G. Chase of the Widener yacht Josephine, headed to Nova Scotia in the private train car of original Huntingdon Valley member PAB Widener to recover the bodies of the missing Wideners and Edwin Keeping, his butler. Upon arrival, they learned that the bodies had not been recovered; all had been lost at sea, despite earlier reports to the contrary. Of the 1,500 passengers who died at sea, only 340 bodies were recovered.

There were numerous services held across Philadelphia that paid tribute to the Widener family, but on May 15, over a month after the disaster, the Widener family held their own services at St. Paul's Church on Old York Road, where the Wideners were parishioners. Shortly after the burials at the Widener mausoleum, the family would start an ambitious and generous period of philanthropy in honor of both George D. Widener and Harry Widener.

Mrs. Widener proposed to the trustees of Harvard University her desire to build a new library on the Harvard campus to serve the student body as well as to house Harry Widener's extensive collection of rare books. The Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library was built in less than two years at a current cost of approximately $90 million and designed by now famed architect and original Huntingdon Valley member Horace Trumbauer. Mrs. Widener would commission family friend Louis Comfort Tiffany to design two memorial stained-glass windows for installation at St. Paul's Church. They remain in place today.

Original Huntingdon Valley member and family patriarch Peter Arrell Brown (PAB) Widener would die at Lynnewood Hall in 1915. The New York Times wrote that he succumbed to "old age and the deep sorrow caused by the loss of his son and grandson in the Titanic disaster."

Edward T. Stotesbury was one of our original Huntingdon Valley members. Stotesbury was a Philadelphia boy who did not attend formal college and worked as an office boy at the prominent brokerage firm of Drexel and Co. His salary was $16.60 a month. Years later, he would be one of the eleven founding partners of what is now JPMorgan Chase and Co., and in 1929, he declared his wealth as $100 million, or the equivalent of $1.4 billion today. He was one of the many "rags to riches stories" amongst our original Huntingdon Valley members.

Stotesbury would marry at age 24, and the family would live on Rittenhouse Square in what was heralded to be the largest and grandest townhouse on the East Coast. He would breed thoroughbreds on a property outside the city while amassing an art collection that would only be rivaled by Henry Frick and Henry Huntington. He was hugely active in the business, social, and civic activities of the city and "touched the life of Philadelphia in many points in the fields of music, art, education, and philanthropy," according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.

In 1881, at the age of thirty-two, his young wife Frances Butcher Stotesbury would die in childbirth. Devastated, Stotesbury retreated from civic endeavors, grew reclusive, and made his work his life.

In 1912, at age 63 and a widower for 31 years, Stotesbury married Eva Roberts Cromwell, a widow who was 16 years his junior. "Stotesbury gave his new wife a $100,000 diamond and sapphire necklace ($3 million in current dollars) and settled $4,000,000 ($120 million in current dollars) in her name," according to author E. Digby Baltzell.

Stotesbury and his bride would embark on an unprecedented spending spree, building mansions along the East Coast.

It started with another re-do of the Stotesbury townhouse in Philadelphia which now included the installation of an imported English ballroom that took over five hundred craftsmen a year to complete. The Stotesburys would also install a mirror maze and hidden doors to divert authorities from their extravagant affairs during Prohibition.

But the real spending began when Mrs. Stotesbury felt that the townhouse could not accommodate their lavish entertaining and contacted the original Huntingdon Valley member Horace Trumbauer to design and build a palatial estate on nearly 300 acres in Wyndmoor, PA, just north of Philadelphia. The estate, named Whitemarsh Hall, would start construction in 1916 with Mrs. Stotesbury living on site in an 18-room manor to supervise construction. When completed in 1921, Whitemarsh Hall would be one of the largest and most lavish homes ever built in the United States. Approached by a one-mile driveway, the property had 147 rooms over six floors, including three floors underground, twenty-nine bathrooms, three elevators, a movie theatre, twenty-four fireplaces, five staircases, a pipe organ, a barber shop, and a billiard room. Later labeled as the American Versailles, Henry Ford, after visiting Whitemarsh Hall, commented: "It's a great experience to see how the rich live."

During the construction of Whitemarsh Hall, the Stotesburys looked for a location for a winter residence and Palm Beach, Florida was the answer. The result, El Mirasol, reflected a Spanish and Italian Mediterranean influence that became the architectural rage in Palm Beach, and the project became Addison Mizner's largest and greatest creation. The 42-acre lake to oceanfront property had thirty-seven rooms, a 40-car garage, a tearoom, a 100-seat dining room, a theater, and a private zoo. Palm Beach had never seen a house of such proportions and grandeur, and Mrs. Stotesbury became the grande dame of the winter Society of Palm Beach — Queen Eva — hosting events at El Mirasol that often included more than 1,200 guests.

Now needing a place to spend the summers, the Stotesburys looked to Bar Harbor, Maine, considered second only to Newport as the summer social resort and popular with Philadelphia Society. The Stotesburys bought the estate of Pennsylvania Railroad president Alexander Cassatt, but with only fifteen servants' rooms, Mrs. Stotesbury insisted that the house be razed. She agreed plans for a new house on the site, and when that house was completed and fully furnished, she was still not pleased and told the builders to start all over again.

At the end of the day, the cottage they named Wingwood House — used for only part of the summer — was eighty rooms with an additional thirty-room servant wing, twenty-six fireplaces, and twenty-eight bathrooms, all overlooking Frenchman's Bay. Many of the bathrooms had gold fixtures, which Mrs. Stotesbury described as an economy move as "they saved polishing, you know."

At a cost of $1 million, or approximately $13 million in current dollar value, Wingwood House was the largest colonial house ever built in Maine when it was completed in 1927.

The Stotesburys would spend the winters at El Mirasol in Palm Beach, return on their yacht — the Nedeva, one of five — to spend the spring at Whitemarsh Hall outside Philadelphia. In the summer, they would go by private train car to Wingwood House in Bar Harbor and return to Whitemarsh Hall in the fall. It is estimated that during their marriage, they entertained 100,000 individuals at their three homes.

Running costs did not come cheap, with Whitemarsh Hall alone costing about $1 million a year to run. Think about that when you look for last-minute summer rentals.

Enjoy the rest of your summer, and thanks for all your positive feedback on my articles about our original membership. More to come, including rumors of a book.

Gustavus William Bergner, an original member of Huntingdon Valley in 1897, was 23 years old when the club opened its doors.

Bergner was born into a family of beer brewers. His great-grandfather emigrated from Germany to the United States, landed in Philadelphia, and opened a brewery at 7th and Girard Streets, an area considered a Philadelphia suburb at the time. His son joined the business, which was then one of the city's leading breweries, but later decided to partner with another brewer, the old firm of Engel and Wolf, which was growing much more rapidly due to the success of its lager beer.

Compared to the heavier English beers and ales of the day, lager had less alcohol and a subtle flavor, and it became the beer of choice in Philadelphia by the 1880s, and the newly named Bergner and the Engel Brewing Company became the country's third largest brewery. Gustavus's father, Charles W. Bergner, would become president of the company in 1883, when Gustavus Bergner was 9 years old.

Gustavus W. Bergner, the original Huntingdon Valley member, would start work at the family brewery when he was 19 years old and would become general manager and director of the firm ten years later. He would attend and graduate from the University of Pennsylvania as part of the class of 1908 and would become president of the brewing company in 1911. Bergner was characterized as a "pleasing personality that has won him a host of friends" and was a member of the Union League, as well as the Philadelphia Country Club and St. Davids, after he had left Huntingdon Valley. He would also be one of the original members of the Pine Valley Golf Club.

Bergner and his family would spend the summers at Avalon, New Jersey where he had a large home and four lots on Avalon Avenue. Avalon would provide much drama for him.

In 1916, during their summer vacation, Bergner's sixteen-year-old daughter Jean eloped and married an eighteen-year-old named R. Bertrom Bew from a prominent Ventnor/Atlantic City family that was instrumental in the creation of Avalon, New Jersey. Months later, still outraged by the marriage, Gustavus effectively kidnapped his daughter and held her hostage in their Ritz-Carlton apartment, where she was closely guarded by servants. The courts became involved, the couple eventually separated, and the episode, which gained national attention, was dubbed by a local Philadelphia newspaper "the Romance of the Seashore."

In 1920, with Prohibition in place, Bergner, as secretary of the Pennsylvania State Brewers Association, fought to save the industry, but all breweries in the country were closed and padlocked by the federal government. His company would never reopen.

In a strange twist, Gustavus W. Bergner turned to politics and would become a three-term mayor of Avalon, New Jersey, serving from 1925 to 1937. During his tenure, he was the driving force behind the Townsends Inlet Bridge, building the 8th Street jetty, and constructing the Avalon amusement pier and convention hall.

Peter Arrell Brown Widener was one of our original Huntingdon Valley members and another phenomenal "rags to riches" story.

The son of a Philadelphia bricklayer, Widener would start his career as a butcher. He would parlay a significant profit on the sale of mutton to Union troops in the Philadelphia area into an empire built on trolley cars, oil, railroads, real estate, and, later in his life, art. His estate was estimated at $2.4 billion in current dollars when he died in 1915.

In 1897, both his art collection and his expanded family outgrew his Philadelphia mansion at Broad and Girard, and he commissioned the original Huntingdon Valley member and architect Horace Trumbauer to design a home on a 300-acre tract in Cheltenham Township. Wrote author Michael C. Kathrens: "Widener asked Trumbauer to design a structure that would graciously accommodate himself, his son George, his wife Eleanor, and their three children, George, Harry, and Eleanor. He also required quarters for his younger son Joseph with his wife, Ella, and their two children, PAB Jr., and Josephine. To maintain both the house and its ten family members in typical Widener style, a live-in staff of up to forty people was required."

Two years later, the Widener clan moved into a 110-room Georgian-style estate named Lynnewood Hall. The estate was virtually self-sustaining and included a 117-acre working farm, a half-mile racetrack with a polo field and stables for raising thoroughbred horses. The property had its own power plant, reservoir, water pumps, laundry, carpentry shop, and bakery. Thirty-seven full-time servants were employed, with extras called in for parties and other events, as the ballroom could accommodate one thousand people.

Inside Lynnewood Hall, Widener could display his extensive art collection uncluttered, with several artists having their own gallery — a Rembrandt room where his fourteen original paintings were the largest private collection in the United States, a Raphael room, and a Van Dyck room, for example. As much of the home was designed as an art gallery, many pieces of European art were moved and housed at Lynnewood Hall during World War II to protect them from being destroyed or stolen by the Nazi army. Amongst all the incredible art by the world's greatest painters, Widener prominently hung a painting of himself which he had commissioned and simply named Meat Packer.

Peter Arrell Brown Widener would die at Lynnewood Hall in 1915, saddened by the tragic death of his son and original Huntingdon Valley member George D. Widener and his twenty-seven-year-old grandson Harry, who both perished on the Titanic in 1912. His other son, Joseph Widener, would live at Lynnewood Hall until his death in 1943.

After Joseph Widener's death, the family began selling portions of the estate grounds to developers for single-family homes and apartments. The current property now encompasses only 34 acres. In 1952, the entire estate was sold to the Faith Theological Seminary, which trained Christian leaders and ministers at the property for 40+ years. The estate was later sold to the First Korean Church of New York, although they never occupied the property due to legal and zoning challenges.

Most recently, in February 2023, the building was acquired by the Lynnewood Hall Preservation Foundation, which plans to restore the Lynnewood Hall buildings and open the estate grounds to the public. Their planned investment in the property is ambitious, staggering, and very exciting. Their website, lynnewoodhallpreservation.org, is well worth a visit and features great old and current photos of the estate. The Lynnewood Hall restoration, coupled with the ongoing restoration of the William Lukens Elkins estate, Elstowe Manor, directly across the street, makes for an interesting future and hopefully the rebirth of the Gilded Age estates of two of our original Huntingdon Valley members.

More is available about both Widener and Elkins, as well as over 200 more original members and their estates, in my recent book, More Than Golf — stories of how the original Huntingdon Valley Country Club membership shaped Philadelphia and the Nation. I appreciate your support to date as well as your kind comments. The book is available in the pro shop. Think Christmas.

Happy New Year.

In earlier articles, I had written about William Lukens Elkins, one of our original 1897 club members. An entrepreneur who "invented gasoline," a streetcar pioneer along with original members Peter Widener and Caleb Fox and a real estate developer, Elkins was quite a success story. The Elkins estate, still in outstanding condition on Ashbourne Road, "across the street" from Lynnewood Hall, is a tribute to another original Huntingdon Valley member, architect Horace Trumbauer.

William Lukens and Marie Louise Elkins had four children. Their youngest son, William Lukens Elkins Jr., born in 1863, would become a successful Philadelphia businessman in the iron, coke, and gas fields. He would marry Kate Felton, a San Francisco woman who was the daughter of a U.S. Congressman, Senator, and co-founder of what is now Chevron Oil. The Felton family was one of the richest in California, and their country estate was in Menlo Park, California. Elkins Jr. and Felton would marry in Philadelphia in 1888. They would live in Ogontz, Cheltenham Township, PA, in an estate the couple cleverly named Menlo Lodge, which was adjacent to the current Elkins estate footprint. Shortly after, the newlyweds would have two children, Felton Elkins, the eldest, and Marie Louise Elkins.

In 1902, at age 38, William Elkins Jr. would develop what The Philadelphia Inquirer described as "cerebro-spinal" issues and die unexpectedly. His official cause of death was apoplexy. His widow and two children, then aged thirteen and ten, would return to San Francisco, where the Felton family was socially and politically prominent.

In April 1911, Mrs. Kate Felton Elkins Jr., the Elkins widow, would announce her engagement to William Delaware Neilson, a prominent Philadelphia attorney, ignoring a $500,000 "no-marry" clause written into the William Elkins Jr. will. Six months later, Mrs. William Elkins Neilson would announce the engagement of her 19-year-old daughter, Marie Louise Elkins, to Mr. Christian de Guigne II, a Frenchman living in San Francisco and the son of Count Christian de Guigne, of a noble French family residing outside Bordeaux. Count de Guigne had come to America in the 1870s and founded what became the Leslie Salt Company and the Stauffer Chemical Company. The son, de Guigne II, was Harvard-educated, an accomplished polo player, and often characterized as "the wild child" and "playboy son" by West Coast newspapers.

After his marriage to Marie Louise Elkins, he would commission a massive, secluded mansion on 47 acres in Hillsborough/San Francisco named Guigne Court. The 16,000-square-foot home with views of the San Francisco Bay would be the newlyweds' home until 1922, when the couple divorced after 11 years of marriage.

Guigne Court would be passed down to de Guigne's sons, but the cost of maintenance and the lack of interest in the property were problematic. The property was listed for sale in 2013 for $100 million, including the crazy condition that the current de Guigne owner be permitted to stay in the property until his death! The price and conditions did not attract many buyers, and in 2017, Elon Musk bought the property for $23.5 million. Musk sold the estate in 2021 for $30 million, and it is not clear whether he ever stayed in the mansion built for the granddaughter of the original Huntingdon Valley member, William Lukens Elkins.

It's cold, it's wet, you can't play golf. Turn on the television and watch the Millrose Games from New York City!

Starting February 11, the best track and field athletics in the world will gather to compete in the 115th Millrose Games in New York City.

Sounds great but what does that have to do with Huntingdon Valley? It starts with Rodman Wanamaker, a son of John Wanamaker of retailing fame. Both were original 1897 Huntingdon Valley members in addition to another son, Thomas Wanamaker.

John Wanamaker started one of the most successful retailing empires in the United States in 1861. With flagship stores in Philadelphia, New York City and Paris, Wanamaker introduced new concepts to retailing, consistent with his Protestant beliefs, which engaged customers and created trust. Active with the YMCA, his church and many other civic organizations in Philadelphia, Wanamaker would later become Postmaster General of the United States.

Rodman Wanamaker, his youngest son, effectively took control of the Wanamaker retail empire as his father aged and brother Thomas died unexpectedly. Rodman Wanamaker had spent ten years in the Wanamaker Paris store and then managed the New York store. Unlike his father, Rodman was not a man of simple values and principles. Authors write, "Rodman lived in a world of almost magisterial luxury. His measure of success was whether a governor, a prince, or a princess had dined at his house. He had yachts and countless servants. As a hobby, he wrote French piano music."

Wanamaker, however, was also a clever businessman. The Wanamaker brand of style, elegant stores, and a wide variety of domestic and imported merchandise attracted a broad range of shoppers in New York City in 1908. Wanamaker also recognized that sports were becoming very important to the American public, and Wanamaker's became a major retailer of tennis and golf equipment, for example. To accelerate golf equipment sales, Wanamaker would lead the creation of the Professional Golfers Association and its annual golf event, the PGA Championship. Considered now as one of professional golf's four majors, the winner of that annual event, which is still played today and won last year by Justin Thomas, receives the Wanamaker Trophy.

At the Wanamaker New York City store in 1908, employees formed a track club for their own personal fitness and well-being. They named the club the Millrose Athletic Club, after the name of Rodman Wanamaker's country estate in Jenkintown near Washington Lane and Old York Road, and adjacent to Lindenhurst, the much larger estate of his father. Rodman Wanamaker would provide equipment and resources to the club, and in 1908, they held their first formal competition, the Millrose Games.

Over the years, the annual event has attracted the most talented track and field athletes from around the world. The games culminate with the signature race of the event, the running of the Wanamaker Mile, named in honor of original Huntingdon Valley member Rodman Wanamaker. Legendary runners who have won the race include Eamonn Coghlan, Marty Liquori, and Kip Keino. What a great name!

Rodman Wanamaker would also introduce playing the Star-Spangled Banner at the games and is credited with starting this tradition, which was later extended to all public sporting events.

Enjoy the Millrose Games; it is cold outside, and think of our original Huntingdon Valley member, Rodman Wanamaker.

One of our original 1897/1903 members at Huntingdon Valley was a gentleman named Colonel John I. Rogers. Born in Philadelphia, Rogers would graduate from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, pass the bar in 1865 and practice law in the city.

Characterized as "contentious, contemptuous, and litigious," Rogers would also serve as a Pennsylvania state legislator, be elected as the Philadelphia City Controller, and receive an appointment by the Governor of Pennsylvania as Judge Advocate General of the Pennsylvania National Guard with a rank of colonel. From that appointment forward, his preferred appellation was Colonel Rogers.

Successful, wealthy, and politically connected, Rogers would be approached by Al Reach, a Philadelphia sporting goods businessman and one of baseball's first professional players. Reach wanted to buy or secure a professional baseball team for Philadelphia and wanted Colonel Rogers as an investor. They would eventually become co-owners of the Philadelphia Quakers, nicknamed the Phillies, in 1883 and remain co-owners until 1899.

Although the new team was not very good initially, with a .179 winning percentage, Reach would secure baseball's best coach, Harry Wright, and Phillies baseball started to improve, and fans filled the seats. But things would quickly change. A state-of-the-art wood stadium they built would, unfortunately, burn to the ground. Baseball officials would create an American League, putting pressure on star player retention, and, coupled with Rogers's reputation as "the cheapest man in the major leagues," the Phillies' baseball and baseball finances struggled.

Al Reach had enough. He left the Phillies to focus on his sporting goods business, where his Reach baseball became the official baseball of the American League. The original Huntingdon Valley member, Colonel Rogers, had become the majority owner of the Philadelphia Phillies in 1899.

In 1900, an American League franchise, the Athletics, appeared in Philadelphia. Several key Phillies moved to the American League team, given better contracts and conditions. Colonel Rogers, an attorney by training, brought the issue to the Pennsylvania courts, citing baseball's reserve clause, where the rights to a player are retained by the team. He would eventually win a three-year court battle to uphold the reserve clause prospectively, but by then, more star players on the Phillies had left the team, and the league had tired of the contentious Colonel Rogers.

Colonel Rogers would sell the team in 1903 to a consortium of investors, which included original Huntingdon Valley members Arthur Newbold, Clement Newbold, and Francis E. Bond (father of "James Bond"), Alex Van Rensselaer, George W. Elkins, and George H. Frazier.

The Philadelphia Inquirer noted: "This group of gentlemen are so well known to Philadelphians that they do not need any introduction. There is every reason to believe that this new syndicate will do much to elevate the character of Philadelphia sportsmanship. There is hardly a name on the list, the owner of which could not put up the price for which the club is supposed to have been sold, and without having any more effect than the loss of a button off his night shirt."

The team was sold for $180,000 or approximately $4.5 million in current dollars, with Reach and Colonel Rogers maintaining rights to the stadium.

Forbes magazine currently values the Philadelphia Phillies franchise at $2.3 billion. Go Phillies!!