Re: FDR in Philadelphia
Here is the course history:
http://www.golfphilly.com/fdrhistory.htmlF.D.R. Golf Club
F.D.R. Golf Club officially opened on July 13, 1940. The course is part of the Fairmount Park Commission's Franklin D. Roosevelt Park, formally known as League Island Park, and is located adjacent to the grounds where Philadelphia's Sesquicentennial Exposition, an international fair in honor of the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, was held in 1926.
Much of the recreational grounds of F.D.R. Golf Club were created with fill. To fill in the areas that the Fairmount park Commission acquired for the golf course, which were referred to in the newspaper accounts as "desolate swamps," materials and debris from the torn-down Exposition structures and broken concrete that were once part of Oregon and Passyunk Avenues were used.
Drawings for the construction of the golf course date from 1930.
Arrangements to acquire the required acreage for the course began in the 1920's. The golf course was built in large part by Works Progress Administration funds and labor. Although by the end of 1935 50% of the preliminary clearing, grading and drainage work for the golf course was finished and a planting plan prepared, the course was not completed for another five years.
During much of the 1930's while the Depression continued, Fairmount Park worked at times under rules that required the work week be limited to 18 hours, and when funds ran out work stopped completely until more funding became available.
Although early plans for the course show that it was originally designed as 27 holes, F.D. R. Golf Club has been an 18 hole course for as long as anyone can remember.