Tony:
Regarding the explanation in post #91 of Merion East being central to a real estate development or vice versa, the same could probably be said for any independent real estate developer (someone who was not a member of a club and had no direct interest in a club) who had more land contiguous to a site than he was willing to sell or could sell for a golf course or golf club. The point is, unlike the likes of say Mountain Lake, Fishers Island, or even initially Pine Valley or NGLA that actually owned the land slated for or initially considered for residential development, Merion (MCC), THE CLUB, did not have any actual interest (as in the sense of a financial or development or ownership interest) in a residential development. The residential real estate developer and development company had nothing to do technically or actually with MCC and Merion East golf course.
On the other hand, MCC's (Merion) site search committee had other options or alternatives of land to purchase in the general area and it seems a large part of the consideration for their choice to go where they did had to do with two primary factors----the proximity of Merion East (Ardmore) to railroad lines and the discounting of the purchase price for the land for a golf course by the independent residential real estate developer.
I have the very distinct feeling that if MCC's site search committee had chosen to buy the alternative site they were looking at (which quite likely could be the site Philadelphia Country Club is now on) that MCC's primary "angel" (Horatio Gates Lloyd) may've chosen to buy, or to organize the purchase of, the site of Merion East Ardmore anyway and create another golf course and club on that very site anyway. It just wouldn't have been Merion East, MCC and eventually Merion GC.
That very thing was not uncommon around here back then and is actually what happened with my own course and club, Gulph Mills GC, and the pre-existing (in 1916) St. David's GC. The additional irony of the latter is that most of the principals who founded GMGC in 1916 did not even come from St David's GC, they came from Merion (MCC).
There is even another interesting reason that that kind of thing happened around here as it did and probably as much as it did back then (and may've happened in more than those two cases) and that is back then this entire area (The Philadelphia Main Line----eg about 40,000 acres) was essentially under the virtual control of the extremely long arms of one of the most remarkable companies in American history----The Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR).
Mac:
There is another factor of Merion that can probably be considered groundbreaking or revolutionary in American golf and architecture and that is we believe it was the first 36 hole golf club in America. Intially we thought Merion became the first 36 hole club in America in 1914 when Merion West was added to Merion East but Merion's historian just realized this year that it was actually 1912 because MCC Haverford was not shut down until about a year or so after Merion East opened for play.