Apr. 19,1911 - Whereas the Golf Committee presented a plan showing the proposed layout of the new golf ground which necessitated the exchange of a portion of the land already purchased for other land adjoining...Resolved that the board approve the exchange...and the purchase of 3 acres additional for $7,500. - Thompson Resolution
Let me see if I can express what I'm having trouble wrapping my mind around...
In November of 1910 Merion reported that they "secured" 117 acres for their new golf course, which is believed to have been made up from some subset of the 140 acre Johnson Farm and all of the 21 acre Dallas Estate (totals rounded), so essentially they would have been using some at the time hypothetical 96 acres of the Johnson Farm.
In December of 1910 H.G. Lloyd, purportedly acting on the legal advise of one Mr. Cuyler, and acting in the interests of the Cricket Club, purchases the entire 161 acres, made up of the entire 140 acre Johnson Farm, and the 21 acre Dallas Estate.
So, presumably, at this time, the 117 acres of Merion secured land rest in whole within the 161 acres of Lloyd purchased land. One could infer that Lloyd would have bought up ALL land under consideration for golf course usage at that time, correct?
One could also infer at that time that the 117 acres was not precisely fixed, somewhat variable in terms of at least one of the boundaries, else why would Lloyd have purchased the whole shebang? In fact, the Cuyler letter (which we haven't seen here) apparently tells Lloyd that since there is no definite course yet, he should make this purchase which would allow him the flexibility to move and fix those boundaries as the course got routed and finalized.
So far, so good? I think I'm there.
We also know that when all was said and done, in July 1911, Merion purchased 120 acres, not 117, so there is a net of three acres purchased beyond what they secured.
In fact, the Thompson Resolution above seems to mention those three acres that need to be added and even affixes a price for them of $7500 (which was vastly higher per acre than what the acreage of the land they previously secured, which was $726.50 per acre). There is no formal record of this real estate transaction...Was this $7500 simply due compensation to Lloyd for having taken the capital risk of purchase of all of that land before the course and club purchase was finalized?
But most confusingly, the Thompson Resolution states that the proposed, recommended golf layout requires also the exchange of "land already purchased" for "other land adjoining".
Read strictly, I would see this as land outside of the boundaries of the 161-acres that Lloyd already purchased.
Would we think this "exchange" netted to 3 additional acres needed for the course? That wouldn't be an "exchange", by definition, would it, or do we think the 3 acres required was in excess of what MCC was able to "give back"?
Adding even more complexity to the mix, the "3 acres" shows up in two places. There are the 3 acres of Railroad Land that Merion leased (making the total original golf course 123 acres), and then there is the 3 acre differential between the original 117 acres "secured" and the 120 acres they eventually purchased.
I guess the bottom line question is this;
If the original 117 acres Merion "secured" in November 1910 was not fixed, but instead meant a "to not exceed" agreement with HDC, and those 117 acres were merely a hypothetical subset of the overall 161 acres Lloyd purchased a month later, then why the need to "exchange" land at all?
Why not just say, "as we laid out the course, we found our optimum plan required 120 acres instead of 117, and ask that the additional expenditure be approved."
Why the "exchange" language?
Thanks for any thoughts and ideas...