Glen View Club -- Focus on the First Quarter Century, Part I

Blogging on the history of a country club -- how, you might ask, has it come to that? 

Let me explain it this way. I was channel surfing the other night and came across a C-SPAN Q&A interview with Erik Larson author of "Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania," just published on the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the ship. When asked why write on the Lusitania, Mr. Larson emphasized two things -- he was interested to learn more on the topic, and he found a treasure trove of original material (in his case at the Hoover Institute on the campus of Stanford University). 

Then, Erik Larson replayed video he shot out of a low lying porthole, framing the dark, roiling and seemingly limitless cold expanse of the North Atlantic. The Lusitania was sunk in those unforgiving waters on May 7, 1915, with a loss of 1,198 of the 1,959 on board.  Larson said he voyaged across the Atlantic because when it came to writing history he considered it essential to have visited "the scene of the crime." To have been there, even a hundred years later, gave him a sense of perspective and stark reality that helped the story come alive. 

For me, Glen View Club was a scene I visited more than a thousand time from 1964 through 1972. It is a ready made backdrop for a story. As for interest, the club was founded when United States golf in particular, and our country in general, were growing up. Glen View is a stage that was populated by key actors in those processes, people such as Angus S. Hibbard, a telecommunications pioneer, urban planner and architect Daniel Burnham, and Jock Hutchison, the first United States citizen to win the British Open championship.  By virtue of Glen View Club's notoriety and the stature of its members, plus resources like newspapers.com, choniclingamerica.loc.gov, archives.chicagotribune.com and books.google.com, treasure laden archives are there for the researching.

Mr. Allen satisfied an early need to stock Glen View
Club with polo ponies. Chicago Tribune, April 5, 1898.

So it is with this post and more to come, that we blog on the early history of Glen View Club in Golf, Illinois -- the club's formation, its early membership, and its design and development. Originally founded as Glen View Golf and Polo Club in 1897, Glen View has long been a retreat for rest, recreation and respite of social and business aristocracy up Chicago's North Shore. For me it was a place where I learned how to toil.

Glen View Club's membership has included prominent politicians and leading doctors and lawyers, as well as captains of finance, industry and commerce, with some intellectuals and a legendary golfer or two thrown in for good measure.

Noted members through the years have included U.S. Presidents, William Howard Taft and Warren G. Harding, Vice President Charles Gates Dawes, and renowned amateur golfer, Charles “Chick” Evans. Chick was joined in the World Golf Hall of Fame by Jock Hutchison, who served as Glen View Club’s head professional for 35 years.

I remember well caddying in the 1960s for octogenarians Chick Evans and Jock Hutchison, both major champions during Glen View Club's early years. I will write separately on each in due course.

Glen View revolves around outdoor recreation -- golf, tennis and swimming in the summer, and paddle tennis and trap/skeet shooting in the fall and winter. Early on the club hosted the most important tournaments in American golf.

In 1899, Glen View Club hosted the first Western Open – one of five to be held on our course. The Club hosted the 1902 U.S. Amateur, which was won by member, Louis N. James, the first American born golfer to claim the title. In 1904, Willie Anderson won the third of his four U.S. Opens at Glen View Club.

Glen View Club's female 
curlers  had a sense of humor.

Glen View once had a rustic indoor curling rink with parallel ice sheets, overseen by a mezzanine wet bar that saw more action than what unfolded on the pebbled ice surfaces below. When winter weather cooperates, the club grounds open to members and guests for ice skating, cross-country skiing and snow shoeing.

Glen View Club has a spacious and grand English-style clubhouse in its 95th year. The building's architecture befits the grandiosity and lavishness of the roaring 20s when it was built. It rises from the apex of the property, at 655 feet above sea level. If it were not for the forests, you could see south from the top floor clear into Chicago. 

The clubhouse presides over a fantastic piece of rolling riparian property that was sculpted by the advancing and retreating waters of proglacial Lake Chicago, and etched by meanders of the West Fork of the North Branch of the Chicago River. Lake Chicago was ancestor of modern day Lake Michigan. Its waters were blocked from exiting through the present northeasterly St. Lawrence River route by massive glaciers during the Wisconsin glaciation. With that outlet blocked, Lake Chicago was approximately sixty-five feet higher (640 feet above sea level) and rose over Lake Michigan's banks, saturating all of the City of Chicago and most of Cook County. Lake Chicago drained south into the Des Plaines River valley, and from there into the Illinois and Mississippi rivers. 

So it was that fourteen thousand years ago, Lake Chicago swelled across the flood plain lying below the Glen View Club clubhouse, and covered the river channel (the river is about 610 feet above sea level at Glen View Club). The Deerfield Morain lies between the West and Middle forks of the North Branch, which places the clubhouse at or near its southerly tip (the forks merge just south of Glen View Club between the 17th and 18th holes of the Chick Evans golf course).

Glen View clubhouse and 18th green viewed from the 18th tee in the present day. This vista of the closing hole rises 45 feet across the West Fork flood plain. The shore of ancient Lake Chicago emerged approximately at the 18th green.

Per www.freemaptools.com, the 18th green's elevation is 640.655 feet above sea level.

Lake Chicago's elevation was 640 feet above seal level. Lake Michicgan's more recent predecessors, Lake Alogonquin and the Nipissing Stage, were 605 feet above sea level. Lake Michigan currently averages between 575 and 580 feet elevation.

I have never joined a country club and likely never will. My connection with Glen View Club was as a caddie in its employ from the time when I was ten years old in September, 1964 through the summer after my freshman year of college in 1972. Most every summer day, and weekends spring and fall, I walked or biked or bummed a ride up the road to put my caddie number into the draw at the caddie shack, hoping for a round or two (or even three) of work. My tenure (as a scared youngster) included the day of the infamous strike. Glen View is where I developed an ethic and respect for hard work, and learned how to confront (or stoically accept) many of the vagaries and challenges of life. 

Boys caddying at Glen View Club, 1901, sixty three years prior to my first loop.

I would not be surprised to learn that Glen View has commissioned a work or works of its history, which sit on a dusty shelf in the clubhouse, or in home libraries of longtime members. I do not have access to such, but in the era of the internet, with diligent search and a bit of ingenuity, I have access to a great deal of material that earlier authors would not have had available to their task. So here we collect, sift, winnow and present vignettes on place, people and process, textured with coincident slices of the life and times at the end of the 19th and into the early 20th century. Let's get at it.

The Founding of Glen View Club

Glen View was conceived and designed by its membership. Quite a membership it was. The historical note on the club's website identifies the key founders and their roles. From that we can explore and trace the trail of Glen View's home grown development.

Glen View Club was the inspiration of William Caldwell, a Scotsman on the faculty of Northwestern University. He proposed the need for a club of suitable privacy and superb conviviality to a group of businessmen in February of 1897. The following month, the Glen View Golf & Polo Club was incorporated. By year’s end, Glen View’s first hundred members were enjoying Chicago’s second 18-hole golf course.

The Dewes family cemetery on the Glen View Club grounds
 is located between the 17th tee and the Golf Road entrance.
.

The original property was purchased from the Dewes family, who immigrated from Yorkshire, England, and homesteaded the land in the early 19th Century. On the site selection committee was Daniel H. Burnham, renowned urban planner, who convinced noted landscape architect O.C. Simonds, to become a member and lay-out the grounds. The task of designing the first clubhouse was assigned to member, William Holabird, of the prominent architectural firm, Holabird & Roche. That first clubhouse was destroyed by fire in 1921. Today’s nearly 200 acres of rolling beauty stand as testament to these early visions.

The initial golf course was designed by Richard Leslie, the Club’s first golf professional, in consultation with member and golf course architect, Herbert J. Tweedie.

Conviviality probably meant serving beer, wine and liquor which were not options in dry Evanston. I offer a minor correction. The second nine did not open until 1898. But Caldwell and friends moved unimaginably fast -- less than two years from conception to execution. Can you imagine moving that quickly today?

The Original Settlers.

I would call him a homesteader, but the way it is told is Robert Dewes originally purchased the land where Glen View Club is located. The Chicago Treaty of 1833, which ceded Indian claims to land in Illinois to the federal government, cleared the way. 

The village of Glenview's website history page describes how the land came to be settled. 

After the 1833 Treaty of Chicago, a flood of early settlers came into the area. One of the first families to take up residence was that of George Heslington. They had been living at Fort Dearborn (Chicago) since their arrival from England, waiting to lay claim to their future home site. All early settlers were permitted to select 160 acres of land in the area now known and Niles and Maine Townships near the site of the present Glen View Club. Located on the Deerfield moraine, their farm was just north of a large Potawatomi village. Their baby daughter was the first white child born in the Glenview area and was a great pet of the friendly neighboring Potawatomi Indians. In 1836, Mrs. Heslingtons' parents, the Robert Dewes, arrived and settled near their daughter. Just as the Heslingtons followed the Indian's example of choosing high land, the early settlers in the Glenview area proper all located along the established Indian trails. Two were called the Little Fort and the Indian Lakes Trails, now Waukegan and Glenview Roads. Others settled along the Milwaukee Trail.

A 1927 article in Wilmette Life chronicled the story of the pioneer settler and his cabin, which remains on site to this day.

Wilmette Life, July 15,1927

Land Sold for $1.25 in 1836

We have mentioned history and sentiment in this story so here is something along those lines. Officials of the club have gone to the trouble of digging back into the past to find something about the land on which their club is located. They discovered that back in 1836 a man by the name of Robert Dewes came to America from Yorkshire, England. He came to Illinois and in Niles Township picked out a place to settle. He bought four hundred acres of land from the government, paying just one dollar and twenty-five cents an acre for it. 

Wilmette Life, July 15, 1927

When Robert Dewes died some years later his son John inherited the farm. Others of the family of Dewes came to Niles and those who claim to know say that Jane Milne, who was the daughter of a cousin of John Dewes, was the first white child born in the township.

It was from John Dewes that the Glen View Club bought the 200 acres occupied by the club. There never has been any ground expansion. Two hundred acres has been sufficient for the club's needs.

The log cabin on the right side of the 17th hole is an original built by the Dewes.

Now for sentiment. John Dewes' first home was a log cabin. The cabin was built on the land which Dewes later sold to the club. But the club did not destroy the cabin. It is there today, somewhat dilapidated, but bolstered up with a bit of new lumber and nursed along it still stands between the sixteenth and seventeenth fairways, a landmark of club sentimentalism. The old port holes through which Robert Dewes rifle projected when hostile Indians threatened are still there. The cabin is near the bank of the north branch of the Chicago River which runs through the golf course.

Here is a picture of the cabin published in the 1911 "Second Book of the North Shore."

Second Book of the North Shore, Highways and Byways, Past and Present; J. Harrison White, 1911

J. Harrison White's Second Book explicated the pre-history of the club and noted the beauty of Glen View's grounds:

The Glen View golf grounds occupy the site of the farm that followed Indian occupation of the land. It is a site of intense interest, traditionally, for here was a very important Indian village, and the earth has yielded relics of a past with which the average man is totally unfamiliar. The balconies of the club house afford vistas of this undulating country, and here is inspiration for both poet and artist.

Here is a rear winter view of the log cabin, courtesy of a neighboring property's 2013 real estate listing.

Modern winter view of the Dewes  cabin, across the 15th and 16th fairways from the backyard of a home once owned by Glen View members Tom and Mary Alice Coulter.

William Caldwell, Inspiration for the Club.

Founder William Caldwell was a Scottish immigrant. He was an intellectual and a good guy to boot. The sources of Caldwell's inspiration to form Glen View and his love for golf laid in Scotland. The particular places are suggested by a biographical aside in this 1897 review of Caldwell's scholarly tome, "Schopenhauer's System in its Philosophical Significance." Try to say that three times fast.

The Monist, January 1897

St. Andrews, Scotland is renown as the home of golf. The Old Course, the oldest in golf, is located a drive and a pitching wedge down from the University of St. Andrews, where Caldwell was Examiner in Philosophy. Edinburgh, Scotland where Caldwell was Shaw Fellow at the University of Edinburgh, is nearby Muirfield, the course in The Open championship rota where Jack Nicklaus won his first British Open in 1966, and which inspired Muirfield Village, "Jack's course," in Dublin, Ohio, where the PGA Memorial tournament is held each spring. Caldwell's golf roots were multiple and deep.

On Williams Caldwell's appointment to its faculty, Northwestern University welcomed him not only for his academic credentials, but also for his "fine social and personal qualities."

Professor Caldwell comes to Northwestern with a very distinguished record. He was for seven years a Fellow of the University of Edinburgh and Assistant Professor of Philosophy there. A residence of from two to three years in France and Germany familiarized him with social conditions and questions in these countries, and on the invitation of the Sage School of Philosophy of Cornell University he came to the United States, believing this to be the greatest field for the study of social conditions and philosophical activities. From the Sage School of Philosophy he was called to the Department of Political Economy in Chicago University.

Dr. Caldwell has been a contributor to the Philosophical Review, the Journal of Political Economy and numerous other reviews. He has also written articles in Mind (London) and several articles in the last edition of Chambers' Encyclopedia. He is at present completing a philosophical treatise that will shortly go to press. The matter of the book was delivered in the form of special lectures given in the University of Edinburgh in the fall of 1893. Dr. Caldwell obtained leave of absence from the University of Chicago for that purpose.

He combines the learning and enthusiasm of the scholar and teacher with fine social and personal qualities, and his brilliant record as student, teacher and author gives promise of a continued useful and eminent career.

Caldwell's good nature and professional stature no doubt contributed to attracting an erudite as well as convivial membership.

Daniel H. Burnham, Club Site Selection.

Burnham Harbor, Bing Maps satellite view.

The selection of Glen View Club's location is just one of many instances where Daniel H. Burnham influenced the placement and design of a notable site. On a grander stage, Burnham was an architect and city planner. He is credited as primary author of the 1909 "Plan of Chicago" which was the blueprint for many physical features, and important design elements, that characterize Chicago to this day.

Most Chicagoans are well acquainted with Daniel H. Burnham's namesake Burnham Harbor. The harbor is ringed by the Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium, Adler Planetarium, McCormick Place, and Soldiers Field. The easterly isthmus was once occupied by Meigs Field (named after Merrill Meigs by the way, who was a member of Glen View in the 1960s during my caddie days). Many of us had childhood experiences visiting one or more of these attractions on grade school field trips. At one time or another, just about every Chicago area resident has attended a concert or sporting event, wiled away a weekend afternoon in a museum, were exposed to the wonders of nature, visited an exposition and/or took in a theatrical performance at one or more of these venues. 

Daniel Burnham was a prolific architect and urban planning pioneer. He left an immense legacy.

Few individuals have had more impact on the American city than architect and planner Daniel Hudson Burnham. In the midst of late 19th century urban disorder, Burnham offered a powerful vision of what a civilized American city could look like. He built some of the first skyscrapers in the world; directed construction of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition that inspired the City Beautiful Movement; and created urban plans for Washington DC, Chicago, Cleveland, San Francisco and Manila—all before the profession of urban planning existed. In fact, some say that he invented it.

"Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men's blood and probably themselves will not be realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work." — Daniel Hudson Burnham (1846-1912)

His work sought to reconcile things often thought opposite: the practical and the ideal, business and art, and capitalism and democracy. At the center of it all was the idea of a vibrant urban community. A timely, intriguing story in the American experience, Make No Little Plans: Daniel Burnham and the American City explores Burnham's fascinating career and complex legacy as public debate continues today about how and for whom cities are planned. 

Union Station, Washington DC, designed by Daniel H. Burnham, 1910 view.

Union Station, Washington DC, modern view.

 As Director of Works for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Burnham not only envisioned a "beautiful city" but also constructed it in record time despite enormous obstacles. The Fair itself, which recorded over 27 million visits, represents a pivotal shared cultural moment in 19th century America that exposed people to scores of foreign countries and cultures from around the world and to the idea that a city could be beautiful.

Burnham's other architectural achievements include constructing over 500 structures, including architectural icons such as the Reliance, Rookery, Marshall Fields and Monadnock Buildings in Chicago; the Flatiron Building in New York; the Merchants Exchange Building in San Francisco; and Union Station in Washington, DC. He seemed to have been willing to tackle any commission —from the Mount Wilson Observatory in California to Selfridges department store in London.

I embarked at Burnham designed Union Station, Washington DC, many times on rail trips up to Philadephia and New York, and, even one time, up to New London Connecticut for an excursion to Fisher's Island, New York. In the late 1970s when I first walked through the station's main hall, it was moldy, decrepit and leaking from above. Covered wooden walkways snaked through to deflect the falling detritus of rotting ceilings and provide sure footing above the puddles, so us passengers could safely walk to the AMTRAK departure gates located at the rear. More recently, the station has been grandly restored and refurbished, with a modern shopping mall, movie theaters, full service restaurants, a fantastic food court and direct access to a MetroRail Red Line station, within. If you are in DC touring the National Mall or Capitol Hill, Union Station is a great place to stop for a meal, respite from a rain storm or the hot summer sun, or to purchase souvenirs. Enjoy the architecture too.

Glen View Club was a treasured retreat for Daniel Burnham. 

He played golf at Glenview Country Club whenever business and weather would allow, often working overtime at night in his downtown office to justify spending a full day on the Glenview links. He played with his sons and business friends, including Edward Ayer, Will Brown, Martin Ryerson, and Owen Aldis; and seemed to derive pleasure from the game. "Come out to Glenview," he wrote a business acquaintance in Pittsburgh, "You have no idea how beautiful it is out there. There is nothing like it in the country." In addition to the game itself, he also enjoyed the dinners and parties in the clubhouse with Margaret and other friends. Burnham of Chicago, Architect and Planner, Hines. 2008.

Burnham built big and bold and to last. He died in Heidelburg, Germany in 1912.

At his death in 1912, Daniel Burnham’s company was the world’s largest architectural firm and had become the model for countless later firms that utilized global business techniques instead of the traditional, near Medieval methods of earlier architects. He had become the head of the American Institute of Architects and been named by President Taft to be Chairman of the Committee on the Fine Arts.

Frank Lloyd Wright, in his 1912 eulogy in Architectural Record , wrote: “(Burnham) made masterful use of the methods and men of his time…(as) an enthusiastic promoter of great construction enterprises…his powerful personality was supreme.”

So he was, but the design and architecture of Glen View Club would be left to other members in the profession, also design practitioners of significant note.

O. C. Simonds and Bill Holabird, Club Architects.

Members Ossian Cole Simonds and William Holabird were the tandem who designed the Glen View Golf and Polo Club grounds and clubhouse, respectively. The effort was one in a long line of professional collaborations. They were co-founders of the architectural firm, Holabird & Simonds, which became Holarbird, Simonds & Roche, then Holabird & Roche and which today is Holabird and Root.

The Palmolive Building, by Holabird & Root. 

The original [Holabird & Root] founders, William Holabird and Ossian Cole Simonds, worked in the office of William LeBaron Jenney. They set up their own independent practice, Holabird & Simonds, in 1880 when they took on the project for an extension to Graceland Cemetery, passed on to them by Jenney. In 1881, Martin Roche, who had also worked for Jenney, joined them as a third partner. After only working together on five projects, Simonds left the firm in 1883 to pursue a career as a landscape architect. Holabird, Simonds & Roche became Holabird & Roche. A few years later however, the firm once again collaborated with the ex-partner when, from 1889 to 1895, they designed and built Fort Sheridan, for which Simonds provided the landscaping.

Beginning with the Tacoma Building (completed 1889; demolished 1929), their first major commission, and the Marquette Building (1895), the firm became well known for its groundbreaking Chicago School skyscrapers. An enormously successful practice, they also designed large, ornate hotels across the country, including Chicago's Palmer House.

Daniel H. Burnham grave, in the O. C. Simonds designed setting at Graceland Cemetery.

Landscape architect Ossian Cole, "O. C.," Simonds' career was groundbreaking in conception as well as reality. 

Ossian Cole Simonds was one of the early practitioners of modern American naturalistic landscape design. His technique of using thickets of native trees and gently sculpted landforms in the early part of the 20th century caught the public’s attention and he became an influential landscape designer. He humbly attributed his design approach to “old principles” yet his innovative ideas were the inspiration behind the Midwestern ‘prairie style’ school of landscape design.

In a 1922 talk at the University of Illinois, Simonds urged design students to become familiar "with the hills and valleys, the level areas, the location of buildings, the distant views, the existing growth, the surrounding property…" before beginning a design.

Landscape Architect O. C. Simonds

He noted that a landscape designer has "a mission to investigate, study, and acquire knowledge regarding the beauty of Nature and to impart this knowledge to those with whom he comes in contact."

Early in his career Simonds was employed full-time as superintendent at Graceland Cemetery in Chicago.

Graceland Cemetery was a learning laboratory for Simonds as he developed an expertise in landscape gardening. Lathrop introduced him to a practice his family had used at their Cottage Hill estate since the 1850s (an unusual procedure at the time) —transplanting wild trees and shrubs from local farms into an existing designed landscape. Adopting this technique at the cemetery, Simonds design made use of groupings of native shrubs and trees. He became a master plantsman by studying local woods and prairies to learn which species naturally associated with one another. Simonds studied hydrology and topography and observed the ravines north of Chicago, which inspired him to use a site’s natural processes to create scenic vignettes in his landscape practice. Although Wilhelm Tyler Miller in his 1915 publication, The Prairie Spirit in Landscape Gardening, credits Simonds, Jens Jensen, and Walter Burley Griffin as creators of the Prairie Style, Simonds himself disliked classification and indicated that his goal was to create the most pleasing arrangement for the site.

Simonds golf course landscape design practice developed later in life.

Also during this time, golf became a popular pastime, as a result of the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893. Seizing the opportunity, Simonds worked on the design of two of the first eighteen-hole golf courses in the country, Chicago Golf in Wheaton, Illinois, established in 1894 and the Glen View Golf and Polo Club, Golf, Illinois, in 1897. Additionally, Simonds would design settings and drainage for the Indian Hills Club in Winnetka, Illinois; Blackhawk Country Club, in Madison, Wisconsin; and Belle Meade in Nashville, Tennessee.

In the early years, Ossian Simonds served with Daniel Burnham on the grounds committee of Glen View Club. No pressure on the course superintendent, eh?

O. C. was a founding member of the American Society of Landscape Architects and the American Association of Cemetery Superintendents. Simonds was educated as a civil engineer as well as an architect, and preferred to call himself a landscape gardener. He was instrumental in starting the landscape architecture program at his alma mater, the University of Michigan. He drew up the original plans for the Morton Arboretum. 

As for the clubhouse architect:

William Holabird was born in Armenia Union, New York on September 11, 1851. He spent his childhood in St. Paul, Minnesota. He attended West Point Military Academy for two years, resigning in 1875, when he left to marry Maria F. Augur. William and Maria moved to Chicago. Holabird's engineering experience qualified him for a job with Chicago architect William LeBaron Jenney where he met future partners Ossian Simonds and Martin Roche. 

*****

The partnership of Holabird and Roche has been compared to Burnham and Root. Holabird, like Burnham was the businessman. Roche, like Root was the artist and designer.

Holabird was a massive presence. He was 6'-5" tall and peaked at 260 lbs. Roche suffered from a curvature of the spine. Holabird had six children. Roche was a life long bachelor. Despite their differences, their partnership was one of the most prolific in the country. In 1910 they employed more than 100 draftsmen, creating some of Chicago's most important buildings. William Holabird died in Evanston on July 19, 1923. He was followed by Martin Roche on July 5, 1927.

Decades laster, William's grandson, William Holabird, joined the architectural firm and was, despite a crooked arm, a highly talented golfer and regular player when I caddied at Glen View Club. 

At first blush, it might appear that the name William Holabird had skipped a generation. But that is not true. 

Minneapolis Journal, April 19, 1901

William Holabird, Jr., was a champion turn-of-the-century golfer who beat the club pro while still was a prepster.

The Evening Times, September 3, 1901

BEATEN BY HIS PUPIL

Auchterlonie Loses a Golf Game at the Glen View Club.

CHICAGO, Sept. 3 -- Larry Auchterlonie, professional instructor at the Glen View Golf Club, had to submit to defeat at the hands of his pupil, William Holabird, Jr., and Herbert J. Tweedie, in a best ball match at Glen View yesterday, five up and three to play. Holabird's individual score over Auchterlonie was four up and three to play. 

While Tweedie enjoyed the distinction of being one of the two who defeated the famous Scotch golfer, young Holabird had to be credited with three separate honors -- that of equaling the professional record of the course by going around in seventy-one, never before accomplished by an amateur or "pro" in a match, the victory over the Glen View professional and the winning of the cup offered for the best net score in the handicap last Saturday. He secured the latter by winning the play-off of the tie from Tweedie, it having been agreed before starting that the scores in the event would decide the tie. Young Holabird's match was the best golf seen in the West this year.

Auchterlonie did not defeat high school student William Holabird, Jr., but would go on to win the U.S. Open championship the next year. 

But, also in 1902, as Holabird, Jr., was finishing prep school he was stricken with the typhus -- just prior to a greatly anticipated appearance in the 1902 U.S. Amateur at Glen View Club. He tragically did not live to experience his scheduled matriculation at Yale that fall.

Boston Evening Transcript, August 19, 1902

PROMINENT GOLFER DEAD

WILLIAM HOLABIRD, JR., DIES AT EVANSTON

Special to the Transcript:

Chicago, Ill., Aug. 19 -- William Holabird, Jr., the crack young golfer of the Glenview Golf Club, died early this morning at his home in Evanston of typhoid fever. "Manny" was one of the best-known golfers in America, having been especially praised by Walter J. Travis for his style of play.

The Sunday preceding the national championship at Glenview Holabird was stricken, and his physician refused to permit him to attempt to fulfill his cherished ambition, to participate in a golf championship on his home links. Holabird was preparing for Yale at the Hill School at Pottstown, Pa., where he and several of his classmates were inoculated with fever germs from polluted drinking water. Bruce Smith, another prominent Western golfer and a classmate, also was compelled to remain out of the nationa tourney by typhoid fever.

Holabird was the winner of the Chicago Cup at Wheaton, the Glenview Cup and was prominent in three championships. A. G. Lockwood of Boston, it will be recalled, put him of the national tourney at Atlantic City by phenomenal play.

William Holabird, Jr., interred at Graceland.

Expressions of sympathy have been coming in to the Holabird home at Evanston all the moring form golfers all over the West. Holabird's father is one of the props of golf in the Western Golf Association. The funeral will be from St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Evanston at noon tomorrow. Holabird's amateur record of 71 for the Glenview course, made last year, has never been excelled.

Among other engagements, the firm of Holabird and Roche/Root designed Soldier's Field, Chicago, 1923-1926 and the Marquette Building (still standing) in downtown Chicago,1893-95, and the art deco North Dakota state capitol building, 1934.

Marquette Building, Holabird & Roche,
Dearborn and Adams, Chicago, IL

The North Dakota state capitol (above) was designed to fit a Depression era budget by Holabird &Root after the original state capitol burned to the ground in December, 1930. I spent a week on the grounds last winter at the North Dakota State Historical Society researching family history, not realizing the connection to William Holabird at the time. 

Holabird and Root also designed the iconic, hand operated, art deco center field scoreboard in Wrigley Field. I am a Cubs fan, by the way. As a young man, the William Holabird who I occasionally caddied for was at the center of the action (part of a bleacher improvement project), as he recalled in a 1987 interview.

William Holabird, 83, was involved with the bleacher project from the day former Cubs owner P.K. Wrigley first walked into his uncle`s architectural firm, Holabird & Root.

Wrigley Field scoreboard by Holabird & Root.

"Wrigley came to the office and said he wanted new bleachers," said Holabird, who years later would become president of the firm. "They were afraid they might have an accident there because they`d been up there quite a long time, and wood doesn`t last too long."

Then 33, Holabird served as an errand boy for the company, and his job that summer was running the blueprints back and forth between the firm and the ballpark.

"I'm only three or four years out of Yale at the time, and I don`t know what`s up or down with a hammer," he recalled. "My uncle, John Holabird Sr., told me I was going to learn the business from the bottom up, and, boy, did I learn it."

Holabird said that when the Cubs played at home that year, the workers had to be finished by 2:30 p.m. for the regular 3 o`clock starts.

"I spent most of my time just watching the games,`` he now admits. "It was a good opportunity to see a game for free."

Here are pictures of the Holabird & Roche designed original Glen View Club clubhouse, inside and out.

Outing, Sport, Travel and Recreation, 1899

Original clubhouse dining room, Glen View Club.
The Inland Architect and News Record, Volume xxxiii, 1899.

Original Clubhouse, Glen View Club, 1901.
Golfer's Green Book.

Course Designers.

Course designer Richard Leslie was a consummate golf professional and skilled club manufacturer. Course design partner Herbert J. Tweedie was a skilled amateur golfer and a highly successful golf industry businessman.

Richard Leslie served as Glen View's first resident golf professional. As his duties expanded, the club brought in co-professional Laurie Auchterlonie. 

The Inter Ocean, April 15, 1900

Richard Leslie of Glenview is one of the best known professionals in the United States, particularly in the West, where he has spent nearly five years, manufacturing clubs and teaching ambitious golfers how the game should be played. He has been with Glenview for the past three years and the wonderful improvement in the course is mainly due to his close attention to details. He was joined last season by Laurence Auchterlonie, the former well known St. Andrews' amateur, who is now the instructor at Glenview, as Leslie has to devote all his time to looking after the business end. Auchterlonie just returned from a visit to Scotland and he says he expects to play a great game this year. He is certainly a splendid player, but luck was against him last year. Both Leslie and Aucherlonie are greatly appreciated by the Glenview members and they are probably fixtures at the club.

Richard Leslie golf equipment ad, The Inter Ocean (Chicago), April 15, 1900

The Inter Ocean, April 15, 1900

In 1903. Golf Illustrated magazine referred to Mr. Leslie as the Glen View's "greenkeeper" in an article entitled "Golf de Luxe in America."

Another luxurious club is the Glen View where the championship was held last July. It is conveniently near Chicago and the club house is admirable in every way The dining hall is decorated with the antlers of the deer of the north and the head of the noble bison The course is parklike very pretty and sporting many of the trees are hickory from which the shafts of the clubs are made The course is 6,266 yards in length and the bogey is 83. Some of the holes bear appropriate or quaint titles such as "High ball" -- the Yankee name for a whisky and soda -- "Lovers Lane," "Old Hickory," "Trouble," "Sunset," "Log Cabin," and "Home Sweet Home." 

Golf Illustrated, July 1903.

Richard Leslie of Musselburgh is the greenkeeper and Laurie Auchterlonie is with him. The soil is clay chiefly, but it is fairly light and dries quickly while the course is well drained. May, June, July, and August are the busy months and during the season sixteen men are employed on the ground. Mr. Chandler Egan of the Exmoor club holds the amateur record while Auchterlonie has done a 71. Vardon played here and was delighted with the course. 

A couple years later, Leslie moved on to become head professional at Town & Country Club in St. Paul, replacing George Braid, who moved down to become club pro at Midlothian in the Chicago area.

Minneapolis Journal, March 30,1906

When tragedy struck his family in Minnesota in 1908, Leslie left America and sailed back home across the Atlantic for good.

From Fields to Fairways, Classic Golf Clubs of Minnesota

Herbert J. Tweedie

Course co-designer Herbert J. Tweedie was India born. He came to his golf credentials and the United States by way of Liverpool, England and Hoylake, home of the Royal Liverpool Golf Club. Tweedie is credited with a dozen Chicago area golf course designs.

Tweedie was born in Bombay, India on July 26, 1864, just across the road from the famous writer, Rudyard Kipling. In 1867, he moved with his family to Liverpool, England, and then to nearby Hoylake. This is the home to the Royal Liverpool Golf Club where the 2006 British Open was staged. 

Living so close to the famous links obviously had an influence on young Herbert. By the age of 11, Herbert had won the Boy’s Medal at the club two years in a row, which was quite an accomplishment as the event was open to boys up to the age of 15. He would win a number of other golf events in the area over the next several years.

Herbert J. Tweedie golf shop ad. The Inter Ocean, April 15, 1900.

He was married to Mary Armson on September 15, 1886. They honeymooned with Herbert’s entire family at Niagara Falls on their way to Neosho, MO, where Herbert was to assist in managing livestock. The venture failed though, so a new career in sporting goods and golf was soon launched in Chicago. Herbert became a golf representative with AG Spalding & Brother managing the Chicago store for the rest of his life. He was also the western golf manager for Crawford, McGregor & Canby Company of Dayton, OH, at the same time manufacturing golf clubs and designing golf courses. 

In Cornish and Whitten’s “The Golf Course”, Tweedie was credited with laying out the following courses: Belmont, Bryn Mawr, Exmoor, Homewood (now Flossmoor), Glen View, LaGrange, Midlothian, Park Ridge, Hinsdale, Rockford, Washington Park, Westward Ho, Maple Bluff, and a remodel with James and Robert Foulis at Onwentsia. 

New York Times, December 10 , 1900

Apparently at some point Herbert Tweedie had accepted money in a golfing competition or had otherwise lost his amateur standing. The New York Times noted in 1900 that Herbert J. Tweedie had been "reinstated" to the amateur ranks.  The Times said "Mr. Tweedie is one of the most expert authorities in the country on the laying out of golf links, and many of the courses around Chicago and still further West have been planned by him and brought up to a high standard for the game." The paper hastened to add that "Mr. Tweedie has never been a professional, in the minute sense of the word, as he is thoroughly a gentleman golfer."

Herbert Tweedie's golf equipment business profited from the growth of domestically manufactured goods. He explained that the market had shifted to American from Scottish and English sources of supply.

The Inter Ocean, April 15 , 1906

Not only has the American golfer ceased to mail postal orders to Scotch and English manufacturers of gold paraphernalia, but the spiked golf shoe is now on the other foot, and Uncle Sam's industriousness and inventive manufacturers are reaping a harvest from the actual exports of "heads," "shafts," and other parts of well regulated golf outfits.

"In a very short time," said no less an authority than Herbert J. Tweedie, yesterday, "the world will be entirely dependent upon the United States for its supply of wood, such as hickory and persimmon, necessary for use in the assembling of golf clubs. Large quantities of these woods are being exported weekly in the shape of heads and shafts to England and Scotland. It is nothing unusual for me to make a single shipment of 50,000 shafts to London for distribution in Great Britain."

"The seasoning of these woods is quite an art, and great care in the selection of the tree, and much nursing and attention from that time is necessary, up to the moments when the assembled club is presented at the tee."

For several years Mr. Tweedie has been familioar with the metamorphosis of American golf, both from a sportive point of vantage and from an industrial standpoint, and speaks proudly of the many and diversified change which each have taken in the attitude of American golf.

"Since my acquaintance withe golf business, about a decade ago," he said, "the situation has entirely changed in this country. "From being a large importing country, in golf goods, we are now not only manufacturers for home consumption, but large exporters as well."

Mr. Tweedie's familiarity with the game in Scotland long before he entered the local field of golf as a game and as a business, and the experience he has gained while watching the development of the sport on American soil, adds value to anything he might say in regard to a comparison of foreign and domestic golf accouterments.

"Some little time ago," he said, "I sent some of the famous McGregor clubs to my old friend, the well known former amateur champion, Harold H. Hilton, and in acknowledgement of the receipt he spoke most encouragingly, and even enthusiastically of the goods I sent to him." 'The clubs you sent me are good,' he declared, 'just my stamp, and in the question of balance are, in my opinion, absolutely theoretically correct. The driver I would not part with  for worlds. It is the only socket club I have ever been able to play with. To me it seems you have a better idea of the balance of a club than the people over here.'"

In speaking of the many changes which have taken place in recent years in golfdom Mr. Tweedie asserts that the old fashioned spliced driver is a thing of the past, replaced by the socket, which, in his opinion, is not only theoretically but practically the desirable club.

In reference to the outlook for this and future years in golfdom, Mr. Tweedie is an optimist of the most pronounced type, and predicts a rapid and lasting development not alone in the immediate circle of enthusiasts, but throughout the entire scope of Uncle Sam's game preserves. 

"I see nothing but good omens for much golf all over the country," he said, "and the coming season should be a good one not only in the West, but in the country at large."

Steel would not replace hickory shafts until the 1920s and 1930s. Persimmon remained the wood of choice for drivers and fairway woods, until TaylorMade metal woods became the rage in the 1980s.

Tweedie was known to have a large and multi-generational golfing family.

A Golfing Family 

Speak softly and let the whole family carry golf sticks, seems to be the motto at the Tweedie home in Downers Grove according to the Chicago Evening Post. Herbert J. Tweedie, the veteran golfer and president of the Belmont Golf Club, is not only one of the best known and most popular veteran exponents of the game in the country, but he has set all records at naught in the matter of a golfing family. Every member of the Tweedie household, with the exception of the baby fifteen months old, plays the Royal and Ancient game. 

Mrs. Tweedie recently took up the sport and has made considerable progress. Violet, the eldest child, won a trophy at Belmont on July 4th. Douglas, the eldest boy, has developed the prowess of a Findlay Douglas in miniature, and if he continues he will be a worthy representative of his father. 

Golf Illustrated, July 31, 1903.

Years ago in the old country, Herbert J Tweedie's father was one of the best amateur golfers and an old print of a scene on St. Andrews links, or perhaps it was at Hoylake, treasured by Mr. Tweedie, shows the grizzled executive of the Belmont Club attired in typical golf clothes of the period, and armed with the clubs that he invariably carried for his father. Douglas is a good enough player now to declare that his father is away off his game if he does not make holes in bogey right along. 

Then there is Dorothy Tweedie, a little miss who has a perfect swing and who needs only a little more muscle to become a good golfer. Norman Tweedie, Lawrence, or "Little Pop" and Helen, are the other little Tweedies. "I had it from W. H. Crawford of Dayton Ohio," said Pop Tweedie, "that he is having his club maker finish some special clubs for the baby, and the next thing in order I suppose will be the teaching of the little girl. She had a good follow through when crying, but of late has become such a sweet tempered child, that I have hopes of soon getting her into a successful driver." 

Chicago Tribune, June 4, 1905

Among those named prominently as founders, Herbert J. Tweedie did not stay on as a member or an employee of Glen View Club. But Tweedie maintained a lasting association as a freqeunt competitor at Glen View Club, such as when he had partnered with William Holabird, Jr., in the successful match against club pro Laurie Auchterlonie, and was a good friend.  Tweedie once vied without success for the Glen View cup as a Belmont member (the original Chicago Golf links, now a nine-hole course operated by the Downers Grove park district) where he was club president for many years. 

Herbert J. Tweedie committed his course design guidelines to writing, emphasizing thoughtful use of the natural terrain, a principle much visible to this day in the layout of the Glen View links.

“The ideal golf green is as nature laid it out ~ not as poor mortals make it.”

“The great advantage of laying out a course (on land, not on paper) by a competent man is that he can place the holes not only at a proper and suitable distance apart, but that he can take advantage of every feature that presents itself on the ground.”

“The following must be considered when selecting land for a fair green: first quality of turf, second beauty of surroundings, and finally presence of natural hazards such as sandpits or pits.”

“Hazards ought not, if artificial, to be placed hole after hole at stated distances from tee to hole; variety is the charm of the old game and no rule of three is permissible. There should be a minimum of ugly cops and earthworks among the hazards.”

“There is no better test of golf than on the natural green, on the gentle slope of a hill, but alas and alack. Such greens are but seldom found, and when discovered old golfers are known to embrace them with rapture.”

“A club 160 acres or more is needed for a good 18 hole course. The greens should be generous in size, a minimum of 3,660 sq. feet up to 10,000 sq. feet. The home green, “the holy of holies,” should be 10,000 sq. feet without a doubt. Greens should be rolled, hand mowed and watered frequently.”

“Drainage is of upmost importance. Greens may be drained by laying 3” tile.”

“To perfect a good golf course it is always essential to duly recognize the soil situation and climate, and to endeavor to produce the most suitable and best growing grasses ~ which form turf.”

Holes like 3, 6, 12, 13, 14, 17 and 18 at Glen View especially represent the classic application Herbert Tweedie's principle of "taking advantage of every feature that presents itself on the ground."

The Inter Ocean, July 11 , 1906

Herbert J. Tweedie, age 41, died in July, 1906. leaving his bereaved widow with eight children. Members and friends at Glen View played a benefit to provide funds for the family. 

GOLFERS HONOR THE MEMORY OF HEBERT J. TWEEDIE

The Inter Ocean, July 21 , 1906

Large Turnout Pays Tribute to the Late Player by Competing in Benefit Handicap at Glenview for Cup Donated by P. B. Hoyt. 

BY JOSEPH E. G. RYAN 

Tribute to the memory of the late Herbert J. Tweedie cast a pathetic mantle over the open handicap at Glenview yesterday, which was arranged by Phelps B. Hoyt and other officials of that organization, to secure funds for the family of the deceased golfer. 

It is just thirteen years since the progenitor of the game in this section teed the first golf in the West at Belmont, and judging by the liberal manner in which the followers of the royal and ancient game are contributing to the Tweedie memorial fund, it is apparent that they are not unappreciative of the efforts of the most popular player that Great Britain ever sent us.

Individual subscriptions inaugurated by members of the Glenview club will probably amount to $2,500, and it is quite likely that a total of $5,000 will be available for dear old "Pop" Tweedie's family before the lists close.

Dr. G. P. Marquis won the Tweedie Memorial cup, which was offered by President Phelps B. Hoyt of Glenview. The handicapping was done by Thomas Bandelow, and the result is a tribute to the judiciousness of the allowances.

A memoriam of $5,000 in 1906 would be worth about $125,000 today.

We find that Herbert's son, Douglas, followed in his father's footsteps in the golf industry. He became a senior official of the Spalding Bros. sporting goods firm which remained a major force in golf as late as the 1970s. In 1916, Douglas Tweedie explained that the introduction of new technology kept golf ball prices high, even though royalties and input costs had decreased. In 1926, he explained that golf ball prices were high, due to the rising cost of rubber.

Bismarck Tribune, January 21, 1916

Bismarck Tribune, January 21, 1916

Oakland Tribune, January 28, 1926

The current routing and flow of the Glen View course is based on the William S. Flynn 1922 redesign that follows closely the original routing. I suspect that if Herbert J. Tweedie had lived longer and had a prominent role in designing eastern courses (like Mr. Flynn), Glen View would be primarily known as a Tweedie course in this day. Herbert J. Tweedie's legacy is well in place.

Original Design of Glen View Club -- Modern Day Departures.

Glen View Club was praised for its beauty from day one. It was "the club" for Evanston residents.

Outing, Volume 34, July, 1899

The main club to which Evanstonians belong is the Glen View Golf and Polo Club, located on the North Branch, six miles west of Evanston. Here a club has been established which has won one of the first places in the galaxy of Chicago organizations. A forest innocent of an axe had to be cut out or tunneled through to lay out part of the course, and leveling, sodding, and all kinds of landscape work had to be done; but the results of this outlay of money and labor has been one of the most picturesque course in the country. The club-house is on a knoll in the center of the grounds.

Back of the house is a reservoir of clear water, one of the hazards of the course. Sloping greens abound, and altogether the course is a beautiful one, a pleasure to play upon. There are several good golfers in the club, the champion being William Holabird, Jr., a youth of sixteen, who has twice won the championship cup. A close second is the captainn, Phelps B. Hoyt, who is secretary of the Western Association. 

Laurence Auchterlonie, one of the very best Scotch professionals who have come to this country is teacher. Before coming to this country he was an amateur at St. Andrews, and always finished well up in the list. He won the gold medal given as first prize by the Royal and Ancient Golf Club, in 1897, the same trophy Findlay Douglas took in 1896.

The referenced reservoir was between the eighth and ninth holes. It was gone by the time I caddied, but was restored in a late 20th century course renovation. The 1899 "Outing" magazine article included a picture the original clubhouse with gentlemen in period attire in the foreground.

Southern Clubhouse view,Outing, Volume 34, July, 1899

For the modern baseline, below is the current course layout cropped from a Google earth screenshot. The front nine is on the eastern half of the site looping south, then east, then north, and finishing with a zig, a zag, a zig and a zag, west, south, east and west again, back to the club house. The back nine is on the western half of the property. It heads west from the clubhouse, then steers north on the par 3 11th, before looping around the border of the grounds, finishing with three parallel holes that lead to the classic uphill finishing hole, with its panoramic view framed by the sweep of the river and the classic clubhouse above.

I found two early course maps, circa 1901, five years after founding, and then circa 1922, just prior to the Flynn renovation. They are roughly similar.

Golfers Green Book, 1901

Hotel Monthly, July 1922

As between the 1901 and 1922 maps there are differences in bunkering and what appears to be several major green re-locations. The ninth green was pushed back about 60 or 70 yards to lengthen the hole. The tenth green was pushed back maybe 80 or 100 yards. The thirteenth green was moved from the west to the east side of the river (and the tee moved back to the corner of the grounds) adding 150 yards to the hole and converting it from a par 4 to a par 5.

The 1922 Flynn redesign kept to the original course routing (it is difficult to imagine better use of the conjunction of land, slope and river on the back nine) and made a number of major adjustments on the front nine. The second green was moved from what now is the beginning of the third fairway to a more northeasterly position paralleling the third hole. The third tee was pulled back into the corner down by Golf Road, and the green was pulled back from the eastern property line to make way for the chute in front of the new fourth tee. The fourth green was pulled up and movedagainst the driving range and well left of the property line, yielding space in the general area where the fifth tee is now located. Holes 6 through 9 were relatively untouched.

On the back 9, the 11th tee was moved away from the 10th green and pushed up against the river. The remainder of the back nine was relatively untouched.

In the style of the day and of many classic courses, (like St. Andrews and Augusta National) the holes were originally named. A listing published in the Golfers Green Book shows the name, "bogey" and yardage of each Glen View Club hole as of April 1, 1901.

Second Book of the North Shore,
Highways and Byways,
Past and Present;, J. Harrison White, 1911

Glenview Club 

SCORE CARD 

Main Course 

NO. HOLES YARDS BOGEY 

1 The Elm, 440 5 
2 High Balls, 230 4 
3 Sleepy Hollow, 375 5 
4 Polo, 360 5 
5 Lovers' Lane, 330 4 
6 Old Hickory, 560 6 
7 The Round-Up,180 3 
8 Trouble, 460 6 
9 Reservoir, 250 4 
10 Westward Ho, 440 5 
11 Sunset, 210 5 
12 Willow Bend 235 3 
13 The Meadow, 356 4 
14 The Roost, 170 4 
15 Spookey, 512 6 
16 The Orchard, 335 5 
17 Log Cabin, 285 4 
18 Home, Sweet Home, 323 5 


Total 6,051 83 

Second Book of the North Shore, Highways and Byways, Past and Present;, J. Harrison White, 1911

The Inter Ocean, March 18, 1898

These days we might refer to the 1897 debut of Glen View Club as a soft opening. Bunkering work and work on course improvements continued intensively into 1898, The Inter Ocean reported in mid March, "[w]ork on the Glen View course was commenced on Monday. At present only a few men are at work, but next week a force of 100 laborers will be actively engaged in building bunkers and making other improvements in the course. The regulation eighteen holes will be played over the summer."

When the back nine opened for play in August of 1898, the Chicago Tribune described the routing, albeit authored by a reporter who who apparently suffered from a bit of compass dyslexia.

Chicago Tribune, August 27, 1898.

NEW COURSE AT GLEN VIEW.

Golfers Will Try the New Nine Holes

Today for the First Time -- Many Natural Hazards.

At the Glen View club this afternoon the players will for the first time try the additional nine-hole course. As might be expected, the new half is not yet in good shape, much work on it still being necessary. On the course the grass is on the long side while the greens are not as smooth as they will be be later on. These little differences will only add zest to the maiden trials of the players, and totals of from sixty to seventy-five are likely to be much In evidence. 

Beginning at the terrace west of the clubhouse, the course runs due west about 330 yards. Hole 10 is located just across the river, which at the point of crossing is about twelve yards wide, which with the banks added makes a difficult hazard for the amateur. Teeing from the east bank of the river the player will traverse a hilly course in going to hole 11 and en route will cross the river twice more. Small trees and a luxuriant growth of weeds line the banks on both sides, and a ball driven in them is as good as lost. An expansive green affords the player some hope of escape at the finish. but it is perilously near the brink of the river. 

Hole 12 is about 200 yards from the tee, but in order to get to it the player will have to drive south and then east. A straight drive across the bend of the river Is possible, though made dangerous by the presence of some large trees, and a safe angular road will be adopted by everybody. The green is circular In form and arched at the top.

The passage to hole 13 is over hilly ground until near the river, where the ground dips suddenly to a level space, on which is located the green. The direction is southeast and the distance about 300 yards. From the east side of the river the player, to get to 14, will have to loft a distance of some 140 yards otherwise a bank will cause trouble. Fifteen, the long hole, as about 500 yards away, but with the exception of a deep ditch slightly to the left of the course there are no serious obstacles. Sixteen Is about 300 yards distant, a log hut and numerous apple trees being the chief objects to avoid. 

Large trees are situated on both sides of the course in going to 17 but there is fully forty feet wide a fair margin of escape for pulled or sliced drives. Here again the river is twice crossed. The distance is nearly 300 yards. In driving to the home hole the wide portion of the river is crossed. and in order to land clear at least 150 yards will have to be. Numerous trees await the sliced ball, but as the ground beneath them is free from weeds, serious results are not apt to follow. The course Is northwest and the distance about 330 yards.  

Not a single artificial hazard is needed and the course is without doubt one of the most difficult in the country.

The program for this afternoon is as follows: Two o clock, second series for championship cup, match play eighteen holes. At the same hour, members' consolation, match play, nine holes, handicap. Four o clock, members' consolation; finals, eighteen holes handicap.

The junior tournament scheduled for yesterday morning was not played. Harry Turple, the club professional, playing on Thursday James H. Kirk, reduced the record for the double nine-hole course by two strokes. He made both rounds in 38.

Getting to and from Glen View -- the Early Days

Glen View Club and its association with the Milwaukee Road and the Village of Golf are well known. 

The name “Golf” derived from frequent visits to the area in the late 19th century by Albert J. Earling, then president of the Milwaukee Road railroad. Earling loved the game of golf and regularly had his private railroad car pulled to a siding near the railroad station and then took a horse drawn carriage to the nearby Glen View Club. Because of Earling’s telling his staff that he was “going out to golf” the train station and subsequently the Village came to be known as Golf. 

My days as caddie intersected with a time when some members were chauffeured up the long drive to the clubhouse, comfortably ensconced in the rear seat of their cars, typically a Lincoln Continental. The vast majority drove themselves. But when Glen View Club was founded car ownership was rare even among its well healed membership. Fewer than 10,000 motor vehicles were registered in the U.S. in 1900. The first Model T Fords were not built until 1908. Most country roads were unpaved and difficult to impossible to traverse during the winter or after rain storms. Touring via automobile was considered recreation -- not reliable transportation. 

Glen View Club had a horses first policy. Automobile usage on club grounds was strictly regulated and access was limited to a rear entrance.

RULES FOR AUTOMOBILES MADE BY GLEN VIEW CLUB

Chicago Daily Tribune, September 7, 1902

Narrow Escapes from Runaway Accidents in the Grounds Cause Stringent Regulations to Be Adopted

On account of several narrow escapes from accidents, by encountering automobiles, the directors of the Glen View club have adopted some new rules for the protection of persons driving horses. One rule is: 

"Hereafter all automobiles moving inside the club premises must stop instantly when meeting horses, whether signaled by the drivers or not, and remain absolutely still until the horses have gone by. It is also requested that on the public roads outside the club premises all members of the club or visitors observe the same precautions. "

For the use of members who go to the club in automobiles a road is being constructed through the grounds to the north, and when it is open nobody will be allowed to enter the club premises in an automobile by any other road."

The mere threat of rain was sufficient to keep guests who deigned to travel to Glen View Club by automobile off the road.

CLOUDS DETAIN GOLF CROWDS.

Proposed Driving Parties to the Glen View Club Postponed by Bad Weather Till Today.

Chicago Tribune. July 17, 1902

Threatening skies interfered with the festivities at the Glen View Club yesterday. Some of the driving parties from other points were postponed until today, and duck and pique suits for the women took the place of the sheer batistes and organdies, seen on the veranda the previous day.

******

Thursday is ladies day at the Glen View Club, so many of the social affairs have been kept for today. The luncheon and dinner parties will be especially interesting. There will be music to accompnay the dinners, and afterwards dancing, and the big contingent form other clubs, which were present on the opening day, are expected again today.

At the turn of the 20th century and continuing into the early 1930s, Golf Road/Simpson Street did not exist west of Harms Road. Approaching Glen View Club by motor vehicle was circuitous and indirect. The sight of most any car traveling up to the clubhouse would have been rare indeed.

Note in the early Glen View clubhouse photo below, the road looping in front of the structure was merely two ruts.

Original Clubhouse, Glen View Club
The Inland Architect and News Record, Volume xxxiii, 1899.

The routing of railroad lines played an enormous part in the location of development throughout the United States in the last half of the 19th and the first half of the 20th centuries. So it was in Cook County and neighboring environs. Most of the original golf clubs in the Chicago area were built along the railroads to permit ready access radiating out from the city.

The Inter Ocean, April 15, 1900

Here are directions, published circa 1901, on how to get to Glen View Club. 

HOW TO GET TO GLENVIEW.

Golfers' Green Book, 1901

Take the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul railroad to Golf station, a run of about thirty minutes from the Union depot, Canal and Madison streets. Club buses connect with the clubhouse about two-thirds of a mile distant. Buses also run to Evanston, six miles distant, twice daily. The bus fare from the depot to the clubhouse is ten cents each way, and the fare to Evanston on the regular bus is 25 cents each way. The railroad fare to Golf station is 45 cents one way, and 75 cents to Golf station and return. Commutation tickets — 10 rides, $1.75; 25 rides, $3.55.

There is no record of the route or the condition of the roads traveled by bus to and from Evanston but they could not have been very good. The buses were horse drawn.

Images of America, Glenview

The North Shore and Western Railroad.

I am fascinated by railroads and their history. Right now I am reading Stephen Ambrose's book, "Nothing Like it in the World," on the construction of the first transcontinental railroad. The guest bedroom in our Bozeman, Montana home is decorated with railroad memorabilia -- we call it the train room. One of the attractions that influenced the purchase our home, is that the wrap around porch presides over a view of BNSF trains chugging up to Bozeman pass, their train whistles echoing throughout the valley.

So I was delighted when I learned, to improve access, club interests opened a streetcar line from Evanston to Glen View Club in 1906. That bit of lore had not seeped into my consciousness during my long days hanging around the caddie shack. The streetcar was called the North Shore and Western Railroad, a title much grander than the underlying enterprise.

North Shore & Western Railway Company

The North Shore & Western Railway Company was formed and owned by the members of the Glen View Club in Golf, Illinois. It comprised two pieces of equipment, one streetcar and a snow plow. There were two employees, a motorman and conductor. The hours of operation were set for the convenience of the members of the golf club.

It operated from the golf club through a portion of Harms Woods crossing the North Branch of the Chicago River in the woods and ran straight east on what is now known as Old Orchard Road to Evanston, where the street becomes Harrison Street. It was nicknamed the Toonerville Trolley and a piece of a rail is on display at the Skokie Historical Society.

The streetcar line was incorporated thus.

Moody's Manual of Railroads and Corporation Securities, Volume 35

The Glen View Club streetcar is pictured in a book published on the history of Skokie.

 North Shore & Western railroad trolley car, Images of America, Skokie

The trolley was a basic conveyance.

By 1906, Evanston had yet another streetcar company. The North Shore & Western Railway ran along Harrison Street from Lincolnwood Drive and continued west to the Glenview Golf Club. By this time, the CCT had extended service west on Central to Lincolnwood; connection with the NS&W was made at that point. Evanstonians called these streetcars "Dinkys" and "Toonerville Trolleys" after a popular cartoon of the time. [Buckley, p. 37]

"The trolleys used to have pot-belly stoves in the wintertime, you know, and then the conductor had to shovel in the coal, I remember that. If it was really cold, you tried to get up near where the stove was, where it was warm!"

Management at the North Shore & Western Railway labored to lower their patrons' expectations.

Topeka State Journal, July 22, 1918

HAVE OWN LINES

--------

Two  Chicago Golf Clubs Possess Electric Lines.

--------

Railways Serve Public "on Nothing a Year" Revenue.

--------

Chicago, July 22 -- Two golf clubs in the suburban region of Chicago have private railroads leading to their links, which with their palatial club houses are sequestered far from the ordinary channels of travel.

Both private lines use electric power, although the Midlothian Country club line formerly employed a small steam locomotive to haul members from a station on the Rock Island line to its club house.

The other golf railroad is a cross country line, running to the Glenview club form the aristocratic north shore suburbs. It also serves the Westmoreland Country club, where the Western open championship was won last year by James Barnes with a record score of 283 strokes for 72 holes. This road, bearing the pretentious name, North Shore & Western railroad, recently issued the following notice describing its physical, financial and service status: 

It Caters to Cemetery.

"Patrons should not ride over this line in a spirit of indifference, ennui or nonchalance. It is four miles long, four feet eight inches wide and has an ambitious name. It also has two standard streaks of rust covered by an ample mortgage. It has but two paid employees, and its president and manager serve for glory only. It does not pay dividends, but has escaped receivership and government control. It has not escaped any other torment, tax or tribulation. It caters to two golf clubs and one cemetery; incidentally it serves the public. It has a future, great expectation and complacent stockholders.

"You will note, in passing, truck gardens of great fertility, a cemetery rapidly increasing in population, and from the zenith of the trestle another standard railroad, no wider but longer than the one which you are privileged to ride."Near the western terminal, after entering the forest preserve, you cross a fork of one of the branches of the Chicago river, which is not very wide nor very deep, but ebbs and flows with rainfall. The terminal itself is immediately adjacent, or, rather conveniently contiguous to the nineteenth hole of Glen View club.

"Patrons are requested not to complain or comment adversely upon the service. We are doing the best we can on nothing a year."  

One of the things that patrons apparently were not supposed to complain about was the lack of security. One time, on the final leg approaching Glen View Club, streetcar riders were subjected to a rocky assault.

Chicago Tribune, 
September 29, 1921,

Vandals Stone Trolley Car in Forest Tract

--------

A trolley car which runs into the country west from Central street Evanston, passing Westmoreland Golf club and the forest preserve on the north branch of the Chicago river and terminating its run at the Glen View club, was twice attacked and stoned last night.

Bricks and pieces of iron were hurled against the side of the car by at least a dozen persons. Windows were shattered and passengers imperiled. No cause for the incident except rural hooliganism could be discovered.

Outside Police District.

The incident was cited as a new reason for rural police. The murder of a bank cashier in Glenview last Saturday was cited as a more serious reasons. The rural roads of Cook county are practically unprotected.

Frank Pearsons, motorman of the car attacked last night, said that on the early trip out last night he had Just passed the viaduct over the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul railroad and was entering a strip of the preserve when out of the darkness came a shower of beer bottles, pieces of iron, brick, and rocks. 

They thumped against the side of the car and smashed all the windows. The passengers, alarmed, started for the door. None jumped. 

Repeated on Return Trip.

On the return trip, at the same point, the same thing occurred. The assailants were well hidden by the trees, Pearson said. On his return to Evanston he reported the matter to the police. 

When they refused to take action because of lack of jurisdiction, Pearsons notified Charles F. Speed, manager of tho road, that he would not make the last trip for fear he would be killed. 

Mr. Speed gathered some friends and personally took the car out on the run.

No clue to the identity of the vandals was found. It will be necessary to send the car to a repair shop for the next few days.

FINGER PRINTS IN GLEN VIEW.

Maintaining that the murder of Fred Charletensen, cashier of the Glen View State bank, was the work of some local amateur in crime, Marshal Schultz yesterday declared that the finger prints of every citizen will be taken to I clear up the mystery. 

Feeling is raising high in the village. Authorities are already watching one resident.

Notwithstanding security issues and the absence of amenities, the trolley line was worthy of fond reminisce. In a 1993 Chicago Tribune intereview, a long-time Village of Golf resident recalled the Milwaukee Road passenger trains and the streetcar.

"When I was growing up here, there wasn't anything as far as the eye could see," says Frank Cooper, who has lived in the same frame house since 1914, almost a decade and a half before Golf became a town.

"At night, you could see the Milwaukee Road Pioneer Limited racing by," continues Cooper. "It looked like a beautiful string of lighted beads.

In the summer, the ice man would come by on a truck, and we'd chop off a 100-pound block for the house.

"In the winter, my friends and I would go over to the Glen View Club and slide down its hills.

"The electric trolley cars stopped at the Glen View Club, and we would take them to Evanston, to go to school. It seemed like Evanston was so far away, and as for Chicago-it was another world."

With the passing years, "one house kept going up after the next," adds Cooper. "Eventually, they even put in sewers and everything. Before you know it, there wasn't any room left."

The Streetcar Lives.

Though last operated over eighty years past, an article in Chicago Wilderness magazine lays claim that traces of the streetcar line can still be found.

From 1907 until 1926, for instance, a trolley line — still traceable, if you know where to look — ran through Harms Woods, bringing picnickers from Evanston and members and golf caddies to the Glen View Club. In the late 1930s roughly 2,000 men lived in a Civilian Conservation Corps camp nearby while they dug the Skokie Lagoons.

Not one to turn down a challenge, I looked for evidence of the streetcar line -- as well as I can that is from from 1,300 miles distant. 

First, I checked out a 1929 USGS topographic map. There are the tracks just east of "Glenview Country Club!"

USGS 1929 Topographic Map

The railway as marked extends from what is identified as Harrison Street. It appears to terminate near the Glen View Club property line.

Then I looked at the 1953 USGS map. The railway was still marked along its forest preserve easement.

USGS 1953 Topographic Map

The 1953 maps explicitly shows the right of way ran to the edge of Glen View Club property -- near the location of the the current fifth green and maintenance yard. Edens Expressway and Golf Road were completed and are marked on the 1953 map, but Old Orchard Road was still identified as Harrison Street.

From these topo maps I knew where to look so I turned to aerial photos, the first I could find being from 1939.

Aerial Photo of Glen View Club, 1939.

Sure enough, a distinct imprint of the right of way cuts across the top right section of this picture, extending west from Harms Road to just behind the 5th green and across to the Coronet Drive northerly club entrance (constructed specially for automobiles we recall). At this time, the maintenance garage was apparently located in the converted stables north of the driving range, as it was during the time I caddied. From this photo we can also see the lagoon between the eight and ninth holes is gone. The course appears to be laid out exactly as it was when I caddied in the 1960s and 1970s.

Then I looked at a couple of 21st century aerial photos.

April 2, 2013 satellite view.

Seen with the benefit of no leaf cover this April 2, 2013 satellite view from Google earth reveals a faintly visible railway cut along the forest floor between the North Branch trail and the northeast corner of the Glen View Club maintenance building.

April 29, 2005 satellite view.

With the trees greening up, the imprint of the streetcar line also shows up in this April, 29, 2005 satellite view. 

From the North Branch trail, which runs just west of the river, it would be straightforward to explore the old right of way, and, identify, perhaps, what remains in the way of old ties, rails or earthworks. 

I would not be surprised if footings of the trolley bridge over the river remain visible as well. These explorations I cannot perform from Bozeman, Montana, so I can only hope an intrepid reader will do so, and photograph and report on what they find.

Note: Hurrah! Brian Morrison, a professional photographer working out of Northbrook, read our post, reconnoitered the decaying streetcar route, and photographed and reported on what he found. He wrote:

After a trip to Harms Wood this afternoon, I was looking for more info on the NS&W and came across your blog. There are definitely visible remnants of the line. I had done the same recon with old and new aerial photos that you did, and came to the same conclusion - that research onsite was necessary.

His pictures of the the line's remnants are published here.

The Happy Golfer Visits Glen View

In 1914 Henry Leach, the "Happy Golfer," wrote on his experiences roaming the world and playing golf. He included in his book "The Happy Golfer: Being Some Experiences, Reflections, and a Few Deductions of a Wandering Player" accolades about Glen View Club and its then recently instituted "Twa Days" event (the member/guest event celebrated its 101st anniversary last year).

At the Glen View Country Club they have a special autumn festival also which has a character of its own. The motto of Glen View is “Laigh and lang”—low and long—which is a good variation on the monotonous “far and sure.” And about Glen View there is a Scottish flavour; in manners and customs for a very brief season in the golden days of the fall there is wafted from the far distant Highlands a breath of Scotland. Here they call their festival the “Twa Days,” and it is carried through with a fine spirit. There are competitions in number and kind to satisfy everybody, and the social side of the affair is excellent. 

Twa Days Announcement, Chicago Tribune, Sept. 14, 1917.

Glen View, again, is not like the others either. I spent some days there as the guest of the club, and nowhere have I had a more pleasurable time. It came after an exceedingly strenuous, rushing period at other places, and towards the end of one of the hottest spells of weather that they had known for many summers in those burning parts. Glen View is a pretty name, but it is not prettier than the golf course there, which is one of the most charming I know. It reminded one in some ways of Sudbrook Park in the early summer, always, as I think, one of the most delightful inland courses in the south of England; but Glen View, with its sleepy streams, is nicer. It may not be up to "championship standard ” in its architectural features, but it might be made so.

TWA Days Low Gross Cup, 1921

Twa Days 1921, Laigh and Lange, Low Gross

Yet if such a change would remove much of the character of Glen View, I, in my selfishness, knowing that on some future morning I shall again take the 9.35 from Chicago on the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railroad, and alight at the station which is called “ Golf,” hope for my high pleasure that there will be none such made. When a club once becomes infatuated with the championship idea its contentment and happiness depart, and Glen View is best as it is. The holes have character. The greens are placed in the most beautiful nooks and corners, great belts of trees surround the course, and a stream winds snakelike through the grounds.

Modern Twa Days Logo

At about every third hole there is a large barrel which is filled every morning with fresh spring water, into which a large block of ice is placed. When you play in a shade temperature of nearly a hundred degrees, as I have done at this place, you appreciate these barrels. They have a natty way of naming their holes at Glen View. 

The first is called “The Elm,” the second “High Ball,” the third “Sleepy Hollow,” and the next in order are “ Polo,” “Lover’s Lane,” “Old Hickory,” “The Round Up,” “Trouble,” “Reservoir,” “Westward Ho ! ” “The Grove,” “Sunset,” “ The Bridge,” “ The Roost,” “Spookey,” “The Orchard,” “Log Cabin,” and “Sweet Home.” The course is 6,279 yards long, and every one of these yards is a pleasure to play along. Visitors do like this place. In one year recently there were 3,550 of them who paid a dollar a day for the privilege of playing. The members of the club pay one hundred dollars a year subscription, and nowadays it costs about five hundred dollars for admission. Every member must be the possessor of a hundred dollar share in the club, and these shares are now at a premium of about five times their par value. 

At few other places in the golfing world is there such a nicely appointed club-house as there is here. One could put two or three of the largest dining-rooms that our golf clubs possess into the one of Glen View, and the furnishing is finely and tastefully done in a Flemish style. Some of the golfing prints with which we are most familiar hang upon the walls. Other pictures of value keep them company, and there is a large crayon drawing done on the spot by my old friend, the late Tom Browne, who once came here with his bag of clubs.

The café at the Glen View club is an interesting institution. The club has one of the cleverest cocktail mixers in America, and the printed list of available liquid refreshments that is laid upon the tables suggests a little consideration. The American golfers, for the most part, do not drink very much, and what they do drink has little effect upon them, thanks to the heat and much perspiration; but they do like novelties and the variety. 

So on this list—which, mind you, includes no wines, which are quoted on a separate sheet—there are scheduled no fewer than 147 different kinds of refreshments. There are thirteen “soft drinks,” eight different lemonade mixtures, eleven sorts of mineral waters, thirteen beers and ales, six rye whiskies, seven Bourbon whiskies, eleven Scotch and Irish whiskies, thirteen varieties of cocktails, two “toddies,” three “ sours,” three “ rickies,” three “cobblers,” six “ fizzes,” two “flips,” seven “punches,” three “smashes,” and thirty-six “miscellaneous.” The last is a most interesting section. It includes the “Prairie Oyster,” the “ Millionaire,” the “Pousse l’Amour,” the “ Sam Ward,” the “Russian Cooler,” the “Japanese Cooler,” the “ Golfer’s Delight,” the “Angel’s Dream,” the “Ladies’ Puff,” and the “ Glen View High Ball.” Nearly all of these cost twenty or twenty-five cents each.

One may be most pleasurably lazy at Glen View. The club-house has some forty bedrooms, with a fine equipment of shower and other baths, and the usual telephone service to all the bedrooms with a complete telephone exchange downstairs. The service and comfort are as good as they can be. I liked the lounges and the shady verandahs, with rocking-chairs to tip one away to a short dream on a hot afternoon of purling brooks on English hills and woods in Wales. Yet when I awake I am satisfied. There is no hurry here. In the mornings one would hear the men rising at six o’clock and splashing themselves about in the bath department, and generally becoming very active all at once. Some time later I would join them at breakfast, and see them depart very early for their businesses at Chicago. When they had gone one could settle down, and there were ladies to chatter with or to play Chopin or something else on the piano. 

It is necessary to take things a little easily during the early and hot part of the day, because soon in the afternoon the men come back from Chicago, and they are all energy and rush as if they had not spent a howling morning in the “Pit” or one of the other great business centres. One has to fall in with their schemes of activity, which endure until the evening meal, taken in an easy way of enfizmille in the restaurant of the club, luscious green corn to begin with and the most appetising dishes later, -with laughter and gossip always. And later in the evening David Noyes and I might sit in the dark on the verandah, and under those stars of Illinois speak of the differences between English people and the Americans as we respectively saw them. 

We understood each other and could be frank. “The worst of America,” said I, “is that it has no soul, and the Americans have none either.” "Well,” said he,“but we have big hearts.” Agreed. He is a leading broker in the “Pit ” at Chicago, the great wheat market of the world, and one morning he took me there and I met many golfers I knew round about those four screeching masses of men who make of this place a babel and such an exhibition of raw fighting human nature as, with all its differences, I can only compare with the same brilliant and yet ugly show that is made in the rooms of the Casino at Monte Carlo. It is raw life on the strain at both places—hot seething life. The reposeful Glen View is needed for the people who barter there....

So it is with the words of the "Happy Golfer" that we complete Part I of this history. Much ground remains to be covered of the first quarter century, including the 1902 U.S. Amateur and the 1904 U.S. Open at Glen View Club, Chick Evans' and Jock Hutchison's early associations with the club, biographies of a number of early prominent members, the history and mystique around "The Boy Scouts Fountain" and the design and construction of the 1921 clubhouse that continues in operation to this day.

This morning, April 2, 2015, I complete Part I because it is snowing in Bozeman, Montana, keeping me off the links. As much as anything, the date of publication for Part II of this history will depend on the vagaries and wild swings of spring weather in this part of the Northern Rockies. Stay tuned for more.


APPENDIX

Selected additional Along the Gradyent blog posts referencing Glen View Club.

• Hello, Goodbye AT&T
• Newsreel: Jock Hutchison Wins Open Championship
• John and Bonnie: A Profile in Oil, Finance, Politics and High Society
• Morton Grove Before the Baby Boom: Life and Times at the Lincoln Tavern
• Four Days in Mile High
• Evans Scholars Loses its Long Time Leader
• Congratulations to Two Great PGA Champions
• Caddying for the Cubs
• The Masters (Repost)
• A Comic Genius is Gone
• Leave it to the Brit
• Please Visit the BMW Championship: It's for the Caddies
• Growing Up in Morton Grove
• Yes Virginia, There Is a Caddie Scholarship
• The Caddies Thank You Dr. King!

Page images of the quoted excerpts from the Happy Golfer.

Chicago Tribune, July 17, 1906

Chicago Tribune, April 21, 1916