Bryan,
You asked me to describe again my theory of what I think happened. I thought I had done that some pages ago when I first summarized the original historical property boundaries and drew out on those pre-purchase maps what I thought happend, and then again later I thought I had done it using the Merion internal documents that showed what was done by Barker, and what was done by Macdonald in mid-1910, as well as the correspondence to membership in November 1910 but I'll try to summarize.
First, I believe that the northeastern and southern sections of the Johnson Farm were the areas originally considered by both Barker as well as Macdonald and Whigham as part of the "nearly 120 acres" that would be required to be purchased that Robert Lesley referred to in July, 1910, and which the Site Committee recommended to the Board. The fact that they measure out to 119 acres per your measurement of the area seems consistent with that.
I also believe that it would have been difficult not to realize that grabbing ahold of the Dallas Estate which ran contiguous to the southern portion of the Johnson Farm was a wise move for either real estate or golf course purposes, and you provided the definitive documents that showed that area coming under HDC control in October 1910, well after the July 1, 1910 solicitation to membership.
I believe that pickup of the Dallas Estate then provided options for the golf course that hadn't been possible prior. It also allowed Lloyd to work with Connell to negotiate a real estate/golf course boundary along the western edge of the northeastern part of the Johnson Farm that could be moved as necessary to create the golf course, but which also allowed them to keep real estate acreage maximized and the golf course kept to about 117 acres, which is what they eventually recommended securing.
Thus, the creation of the "approximate road", which replaced the historical boundary of the Johnson Farm along that edge, probably early November 1910.
No matter what the November 1910 Land Plan measures out to, we know it is inaccurate and we know that Merion intended to secure 117 acres, not the 122 or whatever the oversized and otherwise flawed 1910 Land Plan turned out to be. While I think the shape of the "approximate road" is probably close to what was intended and even close to what was on the plan they worked with, we still know it's off, so it's subject to continued speculation and doesn't serve our purposes as well as we had hoped.
We also know that it was supposed to be 117 acres from all of the documents and news accounts at the time the property was recommended to membership in November, and we know it from Hugh Wilson's first letter to Piper/Oakley later in February 1911 when he also mentions that they have 117 acres....not 120. That is a very specific number and I'm certain it was consistent with whatever topo maps they had created which HAD to have included the land boundaries.
I also believe that the golf course was 117 acres prior to the Francis Swap and 120 acres afterwards. I think they netted 3 additional acres but it's iimpossible to prove with anything other than the events and correspondences. We would need to see the boundary of Hugh WIlson's topo map that measuured 117 acres total to see specifically where it happened along Golf House Road.
To your measurements...
It really doesn't matter much if that section of the Johnson Farm to the west across Ardmore Ave from the second hole was 23 or 21 acres. The point is the difference to get to 117 acres can only be found to the west of GHR between Ardmore and College Aves because comparing the metes and bounds on those two deeds shows there is no other place on the property where metes and bounds changed once one takes out that land of the Johnson Farm across from #2.
If that far section was 21 then the acreage immediately to the west of GHR before the swap would be app 23 acres and app. 20 acres after the swap. It really doesn't matter; the only point is the golf course had to total 117 acres before the swap and 120 after it. That's how the golf course gained three acres in there to get to 120.1 acres on the July 1911 deed from the 117 MCC originally agreed to purchase. I'd remind you once again that Hugh Wilson wrote about a 117 acres purchase on 2/1/11 and not a 120 acres purchase as we know happened on 7/19/11.
I also believe the additional three acres mentioned during the April 1911 Board Meeting is is not the railroad land since my understanding is that the metes and bounds on the Dec. 1910 deed and the July 1911 deed are the same along the creek.
I know it's frustrating to all of us that the 1910 Land Plan is not measurable to an accurate scale because if it were, we could certainly see definitively what's changed. But we also KNOW that it's not accurate, clearly, so it's also sort of frustrating that we're still trying to measure that proposed land plan that seems unreliable for measurement. Everyone seems to agree to that so I'm not sure exactly what we are still thinking can be uncovered there.
The point is that whoever was routing and designing the golf course frankly couldn't have been using that Nov 1910 proposed plan to route and design the course----they were using a topo map Hugh Wilson also referred to and sent to Piper & Oakley in February 1911 that most assurely DID have a measurable and accurate delineation on them for Golf House Road! Otherwise there wouldn't have been anything at all that would have been limiting them in that area, would there?
Remember all it was out there was just open ground. They probably just measured and staked out on the ground the measurable delineation of GHR showing on their topo contour maps (that enclosed a total of 117 acres) and could see it was a problem fitting those last five holes in with that delineation on their topo contour maps. That delineation of GHR on those topo maps is the only thing that could've been limiting them at that point.
The other issue is that if the Francis Swap had happened before Nov. 1910 there would've been no reason at all for the board to consider an exchange for land ALREADY PURCHASED for land ADJOINING AND the purchase of 3 acres additional as it already would've been considered and done before Lloyd even purchased the 161 acres and it obviously would've been reflected on those topo contour maps with their GHR delineation (which in that case would not have been limiting them on those last five holes).
It is also important to understand that in Nov. 1910 on the HDC real estate side 221 acres were slated for residential development while in reality only app 218 acres were ever actually developed of the original 338 acres mentioned by HDC and MCC.
I think some folks here are still hung up on the language Richard Francis used to describe the northern part of the property and still think that Merion had to to come along and swap for that whole "Triangle", and then looki at the Land Plan of November 1910 and thinki since some land up there was already identified that everything must have happened before then, even if it doesn't measure out to what Francis said on that plan, or other factors such as the size of the plot and other timings make it a jigsaw puzzle piece that certainly doesn't fit the story or timelines in any way.
What some folks here don't seem to be understanding, and the reason is doesn't fit is because that is NOT what was swapped.
If Francis had done all that before Nov. 1910 then they probably just would've shown the membership in Nov. 1910 a map with the fix already on it and the exact boundaries of what the July 21, 1911 survey and deed showed at that time! Wouldn't they??
Hope this helps!!
