Merion Cricket Club

Merion Cricket Club is a private club in Haverford, Pennsylvania, founded in 1865. The current clubhouse is its sixth, the last four having been designed by Philadelphia architect Frank Furness and his partner, Allen Evans, who was also a founder of the club.[3] The club was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1987 for its leading role in the promotion, development and continued support of cricket, golf, squash, and tennis in the United States.[4]

Not to be confused with Merion Golf Club or Merrion Cricket Club.
Merion Cricket Club
The "Main House," of brick and stone, replaced a wooden clubhouse that was destroyed by fire in September 1896.
LocationMontgomery Avenue & Grays Lane, Haverford, Pennsylvania
Coordinates40°0′56″N 75°17′53″W
Built1897
ArchitectAllen Evans
Furness, Evans & Co.
Architectural styleLate Victorian/Colonial Revival
NRHP reference No.87000759
Significant dates
Added to NRHPFebruary 27, 1987[1]
Designated NHLFebruary 27, 1987[2]

History

The club was founded in October 1865 by William Woodrow Montgomery and Marshall Ewing.[5] Its first meeting was held at Glenays, the home of William Woodrow Montgomery, on December 16, 1865. While there was some thought of converting into a baseball club due to a lack of a permanent facility,[5] its first cricket match was held in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, May 19, 1866. From 1873 to 1892, the club occupied grounds in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, before moving to its present grounds in Haverford. The first tennis match was held in 1881; the first golf course was laid out in 1896, with other courses in 1912 and 1914.[6]

Facilities
The fourth clubhouse (1892), backing onto Montgomery Avenue, was destroyed by fire in January 1896.

The first clubhouse (1865–73) was an existing house in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, on land owned by Col. Owen Jones. The second (1873–80) was an industrial building in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, about a mile southeast of the current grounds. The third (1880–92), by Furness & Evans, on Cricket Avenue in Ardmore, was destroyed by fire in 1892. The fourth (1892–96), at the present location, although backing onto Montgomery Avenue, was destroyed by fire in January 1896. The fifth (1896), backing onto Grays Lane, was destroyed by fire before its completion. The sixth (and present) clubhouse was built to the same plan as the fifth but in stone and brick. Alexander Cassatt, a vice-president of the Pennsylvania Railroad (later PRR president), paid for the fireproof clubhouse.[7]

On the club grounds there are indoor and outdoor tennis courts, paddle tennis courts, squash courts, a bowling alley, dining facilities and a ballroom. Seasonally, the club has croquet and cricket events.

The club also fields a football (association football) team known as the Merion C.C. Football Club. The team competes annually for The Manheim Prize, the oldest amateur soccer trophy in the United States.

Merion Golf Club

In 1896 members of the Merion Cricket Club founded the Merion Golf Club which has hosted the U.S. Open five times, for the first time in 1934. In 1941, this became a separate club.[8] The Merion Golf Club recently hosted the U.S. Open in 2013.

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See also

References
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
  2. "Merion Cricket Club". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Archived from the original on 2012-10-08. Retrieved 2008-07-02.
  3. History Archived 2010-04-23 at the Wayback Machine from The Merion Cricket Club Website.
  4. "NHL nomination for Merion Cricket Club". National Park Service. Retrieved 2017-04-11.
  5. Melville, Tom (1998). The Tented Field: A History of Cricket in America. Popular Press. p. 125. ISBN 0-87972-770-5. Retrieved 24 August 2009.
  6. Ferree, Barr (1916). Yearbook of the Pennsylvania Society. New York: The Pennsylvania Society. p. 174.
  7. Richard Jones, ed., The First 300: The Amazing and Rich History of Lower Merion (Lower Merion Historical Society, 2000), pp. 222–23.
  8. Trenham, Peter C. "A Chronicle of the Philadelphia Section PGA and Golf in the Philadelphia Area". Trenham Golf History. Retrieved 14 January 2013.
Preceded by
Germantown Cricket Club
Philadelphia		 Davis Cup
Final Venue
1939		 Succeeded by
Kooyong Stadium
Melbourne
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