Community Country Club (Hills and Dales) - Dayton, OH - Reseach Help Requested

[MCirba]

I've been trying to research the architectural history of what is today the Community Golf Club of Dayton, Ohio.  The municipal layout includes two courses, the "Hills" and the "Dales".   

An Italian immigrant living in Philadephia named Joe Coble won the US Publinks tournament there in 1924 on what is today known as the Hills course, but both 18 hole courses were already in existence at that point.

The course is part of a bigger park system that was donated by John H. Patterson, who at the time headed the National Cash Register Company.   In fact, the first nine hole course on the property (circa 1911 or 1914, I believe) was really the first NCR Country Club, with members made predominantly from employees of that organization.

Patterson deeded the course and hundreds of acres of parkland to the city in 1918.   By 1919 the course was expanded to 18 holes.

Demand grew such that in 1921 a new nine hole course was constructed.   By 1922, this became an a second full 18 hole course.   Even in that early time period the courses were known as the 6200 yard "Hills" course and the easier 4,800 yard "Dales" course.

Some online sources claim the courses were designed by Alex "Nipper" Campbell, but that seems unlikely as my understanding is that Campbell did not move to Dayton until 1925.

Cornish & Whitten show the architect to be professional William (Willie) V. Hoare, who was primarily based in the Midwest, but I've yet to find anything contemporaneous to substantiate that.   Hoare was based in Dayton in the early part of the 20th century and appears to have worked for McGregor Sporting Goods very early on, but again that seems to have been prior to the timeline for Community GC.

C&W also mentions a A9 for the long-time Club Manager named Earl Shock.

Thanks in advance for any help with this effort.

[JLahrman]

Wow, had no idea the Publinx was played there.

Also had no idea that there would ever be a discussion of these courses on GCA...

[MCirba]

JLahrman,


As a muni rat and history buff I often find that munis have the most interesting histories and were equally often designed by architects of note.


Better still, many of them retain original features as the cities in question rarely had the monies to muck them up. 

[JLahrman]

You're probably right. Avon Fields in Cincinnati has an interesting history as well. And Bobby Jones himself hit the first drive at Sharon Woods, where I learned the game.

I lived barely a mile from Community in Dayton for a couple of years and played there several times. A fun little muni not far from downtown, I usually like those places. Plus there were square dancing classes two nights a week in the pavilion in the parking lot.

[MCirba]

Just a few updates;

Earl Shock was appointed Superintendent/Manager in 1918 when the 9 hole course was deeded over to the city of Dayton by John H. Patterson of NCR.   He was at the course for a number of decades and his daughter was taught by Nipper Campbell and developed into a top-flite Woman's golfer who is presently in the Dayton Hall of Fame.

Some reports have Campbell coming to Cincinnati in 1919, which would have worked better for the timeline, but in fact Campbell was in Boston for some time after resigning from Baltimore.   He came to Cincinnati in March of 1921 to become pro at Losantiville CC.   That club was north of the city, and Community CC was south of Dayton, so it's only about an hour's drive.

Without knowing who brought Campbell out west at the time it's tough to determine but it does seem possible that the nine hole loops that were created in 1921 and 1922 and subsequent reconfiguration of the golf holes into two distinct nine hole courses might have been Campbell.     Certainly work that was described as rebuilding all the greens and adding bunkers, etc., in 1923 in anticipation of the 1924 US Publinks may have relied on his expertise.

Again, no direct evidence, but he was in the area at the time.

[Richard Hetzel]

I have played Community a few times. I thought that I had seen some information on Nipper Campbell when reading some old issues of American Golfer, but I can't seem to locate that particular pdf right now. Fun golf course with decent use of the hillside for a few holes. The Ohio Historical Society has a few pictures on their website. Here is one of a shelter and then another one I took 5-6 years ago where the shelter is still present.


I cannot remember where I found this picture online.


Photo showing one of 5 original golf shelters on the course.
This photograph shows one of five shelter houses on the Hills and Dales Park golf course. Hills and Dales was a gift of 297 acres from John Patterson (co-founder of the National Cash Register Company). It was designed between the years 1906 and 1918, by the Olmsted Brothers, who were famous for their work on New York's Central Park.

Shelters are still in existence today.
that I took with an original shelter building still in existence.



Here is shot from the 1950's with another shelter visible to the right.


I found this snippet on the Ohio website as well:

http://ohsweb.ohiohistory.org/ohiopix/search.php

    Hills and Dales Course was a gift of 297 acres from John Patterson (co-founder of National Cash Register Company). It was designed between the years 1906-1918, by the Olmstead Brothers, who were famous for their work on New York’s Central Park.
 

[Richard Hetzel]

Here is a little more reading that I just stumbled upon...


http://daytonology.blogspot.com/2008/01/olmstead-landscape-system.html





Do you think it is possible that the Olmsted Firm designed the courses, or only the park itself? They have an online research tool, but not much online for Dayton.


http://www.olmstedonline.org/

[Joe_Tucholski]

Here's an article on the history of golf in the area.  It doesn't indicate who designed Community but the organization may be of some use.


http://www.daytonareasportshistory.com/golf/BriefHistoryGolfDaytonAreaSportsHistory.htm


I guess I assume it was a conglomeration workers and then credit is assigned to the first name/professional architect that made suggestions during construction or even after construction.

[MCirba]

I'm happy to announce that I've been able to determine the original architect of the golf courses of the Community Golf Club in Dayton, OH.

Cornish & Whitten show the original course desiged by William V. Hoare with 9 added later by Earl Shock.   The confusion may lie in some of the circumstances and ties between Dayton Country Club, NCR Country Club, and what is today known as Community Golf Links.   Hoare had been the first professional at Dayton CC in the late 1890s but had moved on well before the land where Community Golf Course exists was developed for golf.

Basically, in 1907 it was determined that Dayton Country Club needed to move to new digs (their existing location) and a professional by the name of Joseph (Joe) S. Nicholl was hired, and he laid out their new course which was played on by the next year.

Just south of that land the founder of National Cash Register Company Joseph H. Patterson had a large estate of several hundred acres.   Patterson was bemoaning that more of Dayton's citizens couldn't use the park and a fried suggested perhaps he should try to develop the new game of golf on that land.   Evidently (see below) Mr. Nicholl was brought over to lay out a nine hole course on Patterson's estate which opened about 1914.


For a number of years most of the play on the course was from employees of NCR, and it was even referred to at times as NCR Country Club.   By 1918 Patterson was getting up in years and he opened his nine-hole course to the city and another nine holes was built, again by Nicholl.   The next year Patterson formally gifted much of his estate to the city of Dayton, a gift of several hundred acres.

Nicholl added another nine over time but passed away in August of 1922 at the young age of 40.   Within months, a new plan was announced to fit 36 holes ,the Hills course and the Dales course on the property, incorporating the original NCR nine, and the two nines that Nicholl built.   The addition of another nine to make it 36 is often credited to Earl Shock who was in charge of the property but that's uncertain.

What is known through another article posted here previously by Sven is that in the fall of 1922, shortly after Nicholl's death, Donald Ross (who was working at Dayton CC) or one of his associates was brought over to the Community Country Club (as the municipal courses were now known) to review the plans that had been put together for some months and offer advice on those plans.   It seems likely that Nicholl, who suffered a heart attack and died a week later in August would have known of those plans,  as well.   It's also possible that Ross may have offered some advice related to some new bunkering, as the city was hoping to host the US Publinks ,which they successfully did in 1924 with Joe Coble of Philadelphia winning.

Some accounts also mention a tie in with Alex Campbell, who came to Dayton around 1925, but who worked in the Cincinnati area since 1919.   I've yet to see any documentation in that regard.
In the meantime, meet Mr. Joe Nicholl, who seemed very important to the early development of golf in the Dayton area.

[MCirba]

Btw...I do believe that Alex Campbell was involved in modifications to the golf course in the late 1920s including the rebuilding of all the greens and reconfiguration of a number of golf holes. I just haven't been able to prove it... Yet.