C.B. Macdonald in Buffalo?

[Bret Lawrence]

I recently came across an article from 1922 describing the history of golf in Buffalo.


In the article, the author names Charles Macdonald as the first person to lay out a golf course in Buffalo.  His early course consisted of three holes.


I have never heard of this information before and was wondering if anyone had any information that would confirm or deny this story? (Considering it was written 25 years later.)


Both of these clips are from the same Buffalo Courier article-February 5, 1922.






Here is the article in full:http://tinyurl.com/pshd2a6

[Bret Lawrence]

At the end of the article, the author again mentions Charles B. Macdonald.  Noting that he has recently been engaged by the Mossey Springs Country Club to lay out links in the early Spring.  Does anyone have any information on this course?

[Nigel Islam]

Bret,
    So the article says CBM laid out three holes in 1893 and then was scheduled to lay out 9 for Mossey Springs circa 1922? Am I reading this correctly? Surely by 1922 a course in Buffalo would have been steered towards Raynor even if CBM was the initial contact. This is quite a fascinating article on several levels. Thanks.

[Jim_Kennedy]

Bret,
    So the article says CBM laid out three holes in 1893 and then was scheduled to lay out 9 for Mossey Springs circa 1922? Am I reading this correctly? Surely by 1922 a course in Buffalo would have been steered towards Raynor even if CBM was the initial contact. This is quite a fascinating article on several levels. Thanks.

Yes, and Geroge Bahto started a thread on that a while ago.


http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,48335.msg1088052.html#msg1088052


I wonder if the holes CBM was supposed to have built were east of Orchard Park? I think that's what was called "The Park Club" back then.

[Ronald Montesano]

I wonder if the holes CBM was supposed to have built were east of Orchard Park? I think that's what was called "The Park Club" back then.

No. Not possible. The OPCC was the overflow course built by The Park Club, whose original course was in Delaware Park (kinda sorta where the Delaware Park Meadows course is today.) Park moved out to Williamsville, to its present Chuck Alison course. After membership exploded, they hired Walt Travis to build OPCC, which then split off from Park.

[Ronald Montesano]

Bret,
    So the article says CBM laid out three holes in 1893 and then was scheduled to lay out 9 for Mossey Springs circa 1922?

The CBM holes were across the street from the original Park Club, on land that was used by the World's Fair in 1901. Those holes are long gone.


Kevin Lynch and I have narrowed Mossy Springs down to a certain area, east of Transit Road, near the present site of Brookfield CC. Brookfield also had an 18-hole ladies course across the street from the present course, but it has been developed. More to come.


If you want to purchase this issue, you can read my piece on early Buffalo golf. I don't have a copy of the article on my hard drive.


https://www.wnyheritagepress.org/content/eyes_of_the_golf_world_on_buffalo/index.html

[ANTHONYPIOPPI]

Great find Bret:


Mossy Springs was renamed Glen Acres. A Buffalo News article from 1922, not sure of the day and month, said work "Work on construction of the Glen Acres Golf Club course will get underway on a large scale within the next few days." Seth Raynor is listed as the construction superintendent. The article said the club was trying to decide on a name of either Mossy Springs, Glen Acres or Glen Brook.


"The Glen Acres links are situated on the Harris Hill road a short thoroughfare that swings off Main street just before Williamsville."


Appears to be very close to or the site of the existing Brookfield Golf Club in Clarence, NY as Ron indicated.


Inaugural club officers were Mark A Daly, president; Dr. Ch. Mackey of Lancaster, VP: Joseph P. Murphy secretary and treasurer.


Could be an interesting story of what stopped the club from being built when it looked as if construction was ready to go.


Anthony

[MCirba]

Nice to see you here, Mr. Pioppi. 

[Kevin Lynch]

I have been trying for a few years to find out what ever happened to the 1922 GlenAcres / Mossey Springs design referenced in the article from George Bahto in the other thread.  In all my review of the contemporary newspapers, there are multiple references to construction beginning in 1922, but then there is zero reference to the course after that (whether via interclub competition references or discussions of future developments).  I suspect very strongly that this was the Meadowbrook / Brookfield site that was developed a few years later in 1926. There were a few common names among the founding members of Mossey Springs / GlenAcres and the founders of Meadowbrook / Brookfield, and the description of the MS/GA property is similar to the current course.


What I've been trying to determine is whether the course built in 1926/27 (attributed to William Harries) had any remnants of the CBM / Raynor design mentioned in the 1922 articles.  Harries was a prominent builder of courses designed by others around that time (e.g. Travis' Cherry Hill or Alison's Park CC). I have talked with the Clarence Historical Society, but not found anything definitive to date.  Conversations with the club historian didn't uncover any awareness of the 1922 proposed routings.


As for the CBM holes, I believe these were routed on the original Rumsey property, which was just east of the original Park Club course (on the site of the Pan Am Expo).  Dr Charles Cary married Evelyn Rumsey, and he Rumsey family owned most of the land adjacent to the current Delaware Park.


The original Park Club had a course on the site of the Pan Am Expo (north of Hoyt Lake and west of the current Delaware Park Meadow course).  As Ron noted, those holes are long gone, and CBM's original 3 (between the old Park and current Meadows course) are gone as well as far as I know, unless they somehow survived and were incorporated into the Meadows Course.

[ANTHONYPIOPPI]

Really great to be here, Mike. When do the personal attacks start?

[MCirba]

Anthony,

You slovenly ignoramus.   How dare you return?

There, does that feel better?   

Seriously, I just don't engage.   Some love to argue for the sake of it and I won't give them the satisfaction.  There is enough good here to stick around and lots of folks who love to discuss history and architecture so I'm cool with that.

[Bret Lawrence]

Thanks for the information Ronald, Anthony and Kevin.


The name Meadowbrook seems to indicate the same type of property as the name Glen Springs or Glen Acres would.


I noticed that the road directly north of Brookfield is called Greiner Road.  The article I posted listed a Fred Greiner as a trusty aid to Joseph P. Murphy . 


According to Greiners obituary from December 26, 1922, he was a well known Republican political figure in Buffalo.  He was a postmaster for 12 years and owned a farm in Clarence where he liked to spend a lot of his time. 


Does anyone have any more background information on Greiner?  Was Greiner Road named after Fred Greiner?   Do we know who Meadowbrook purchased their property from?


I wonder if Glen Acres was planning on using Greiners property before he unexpectedly passed away?  Is it possible his death tied up the property for a few years to come?

[Jim_Kennedy]

Bret ,


I've been reading a couple of articles about Meadowbrook and some of the same names from Glen Acres / Mossy Springs appear, like Joseph Murphy and Howard H Burkhardt.  Another name, Mark A. Daly, was elected president of the Glen Acres Holding Co. in 1922, but within 5 years he was at The Park Club.


Meadowbrook CC began construction of their golf course in the summer of 1924. I'm beginning to think that no golf course was ever built for the MS/GA organization, and that organization eventually built MCC.   

[Kevin Lynch]

Thanks for the information Ronald, Anthony and Kevin.


The name Meadowbrook seems to indicate the same type of property as the name Glen Springs or Glen Acres would.


I noticed that the road directly north of Brookfield is called Greiner Road.  The article I posted listed a Fred Greiner as a trusty aid to Joseph P. Murphy . 


According to Greiners obituary from December 26, 1922, he was a well known Republican political figure in Buffalo.  He was a postmaster for 12 years and owned a farm in Clarence where he liked to spend a lot of his time. 


Does anyone have any more background information on Greiner?  Was Greiner Road named after Fred Greiner?   Do we know who Meadowbrook purchased their property from?


I wonder if Glen Acres was planning on using Greiners property before he unexpectedly passed away?  Is it possible his death tied up the property for a few years to come?

You're asking many of the same questions I've been trying to flesh out.  I asked the Clarence Historical Society about the naming of Greiner Road, but never received a formal response.  I lost my momentum when I was researching this about a year ago - perhaps your questions will get me kick-started again. 


I didn't see any discussion of the land acquisition in my research of the Fulton Archives, but given the common founding members, similar descriptions of the land, and similar plans (27-36 holes), I'm fairly confident that MS/GA is Meadowbrook/Brookfield. 


I like your theory that the land may have come from Greiner.  I hadn't realized that Greiner passed away in December 1922, so that may have been a factor in the delay.  I will dig back through the Archives with a little more focus on Greiner to see what I can find.

[Kevin Lynch]

Bret ,


I've been reading a couple of articles about Meadowbrook and some of the same names from Glen Acres / Mossy Springs appear, like Joseph Murphy and Howard H Burkhardt.  Another name, Mark A. Daly, was elected president of the Glen Acres Holding Co. in 1922, but within 5 years he was at The Park Club.


Meadowbrook CC began construction of their golf course in the summer of 1924. I'm beginning to think that no golf course was ever built for the MS/GA organization, and that organization eventually built MCC.

Jim - where did you find a reference to summer of 1924 construction?  All the articles I've found show groundbreaking in September 1926 (9/8/26 Buffalo Evening News; 9/12/26 Buffalo Courier Express). 


The Burkhardt family was heavily involved in many golf projects in Buffalo.  I found an article about the proposed development of Audubon Village, which was a Radburn-like proposal. 

http://www.cyburbia.org/forums/showthread.php?t=28428

[Jim_Kennedy]

Kevin,


Bret has a number of articles that I sent to him, including one that pretty much establishes that Meadowbrook is built on the same site that was chosen for Mossy Springs/Glen Acres. 


An article dated Jan. 1927 mentions that the construction of the course began 2 1/2 years earlier, hence the mid 1924 start.

[Bret Lawrence]

Here is an article Jim Kennedy forwarded to me.  This article makes it sound like Meadowbrook was built on the same property as the course proposed in 1922.  This article is from the Buffalo Evening News-April 14, 1927:








Link to the article in full:
http://tinyurl.com/o5njllk


EDIT:I linked the wrong article and resource. Now the link matches the post.

[Kevin Lynch]

Thanks for the link, Bret.  I must not have found this one because of the typo in Meadowbrook and the fact that I had never heard of Harris Hill Country Club as a name for the project.


With the link to Joe Murphy, I agree that this confirms the same property.  I am still curious if the 1922  CBM / Raynor routing was ever put on paper or if any of those holes remain in the Meadowbrook / Brookfield outing. 


This September 1926 groundbreaking article refers to Harries & Hall as the "engineers." 


http://tinyurl.com/q8zgrbr




Harries & Hall was a Toronto-based landscape architectural firm, with William Harries being the "Buffalo presence." 

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Forgotten+landscape+architectural+firm+of+Harries,+Hall+and+Kruse+of...-a030235619


Harries is credited with the design of many Buffalo-area courses, but is also accepted as the builder of other courses in the area designed by others (e.g Park, Willowdale/Westwood, Cherry Hill).  Given this, I don't think it's too much of a stretch to wonder if Harries simply built Meadowbrook based on someone else's design.  Given the number of founders who were involved in the initial 1922 MS/GA project and the 1926 MD/BF development, is it possible that Brookfield is a CBM/Raynor routing?


I haven't been able to find much at all about the 9 NLE holes that were built to the east across Shimmerville Road.  They disappeared somewhere between 1928 and 1951 aerials, but I can't find any articles mentioning the "shrinkage" of the club.  The 1926 articles refer to a 9-hole women's course, but little else once the course was opened.

[Jim_Kennedy]

Kevin,

Here's the paragraph from the Jan.1927 article about the construction schedule for the golf course:
 
This new golf club was made possible through the sale of 250 original  units to as many individuals. The sale of these units provided sufficient funds for the entire project. The clubhouse now under construction will be formally opened to members on June 1st (1927).  Construction of the course proper started two and one half years ago (ca. June 1924). The syndicate which was responsible for the construction of the Meadowbrook course is also laying out homesites adjoining the club property, the theory being for members of play where they live and live where they play.

...and here's the complete article, which also has  has two views of the nearly completed clubhouse:


http://tinyurl.com/nap4fk4

Cost of this project some 90 years ago -  $750,000, or ca. $10.25mil today.

[Ronald Montesano]

Jim, that is certainly the Brookfield clubhouse. The first point I note is that the course is being "patterned after" the Westchester-Biltmore course. I'm going on a limb with the assumption that means the Walter J. Travis course (correct/incorrect?) If that is so, another connection arises. In 1922, Travis hired the firm of William Harries to build his Cherry Hill Club course across the Niagara River from Buffalo, in Ridgeway, Ontario. Harries became a member at Cherry Hill at some point. William Harries is the 1927 architect of record at Brookfield (FKA Meadowbrook.)


Buried in paragraph two is the mention of "dot the two courses." They did have a second course across Shimerville Road. It is now private residences. The women's clubhouse was also located across the road, opposite the main entrance. Also a private residence, its stature from the road reveals something greater than a new-build.


And, in the second piece, to the right of the Meadowbrook one, titled "Walter Bemish Golf Pro," that Genesee Country Club is now called Livingstone Country Club, based on my investigative effort.



Still very interesting to me. I'd like to put this Glen Acres/Mossy Springs historical mystery to bed, and just may have the time to do so after the new year rings in. Maybe we'll unearth a ghost for Uncle George.

[Ronald Montesano]

I think we've seen this 1921 artucke before. Click the image to expand the article. It reveals that they wanted use land west of the present 18, toward Transit Road, with Shimerville Road being the eastern border. Although a bit of hyperbole might be in play here, this was to be a massive undertaking, with folks from all the first-ring suburbs of Buffalo, and the city itself. Park Club was still located in north Buffalo, in Delaware Park. It did not move to Williamsville until 1927 (Williamsville is five miles from where Mossy Springs was planned.) CCBuffalo's Donald Ross course (the one that followed the Travis redesign that hosted the 1912 US Open) did not open near Park Club's Williamsville course until 1926.


I wonder out loud if the Mossy Springs proposal was either a competitive one or a means of bringing some of these clubs together into an uber-club. Up the road in Rochester, Oak Hill completed its land swap with University of Rochester in that same year of 1921, planning to build 36 holes with Mr. Donald J. Ross. If the Mossy Springs contingent wanted to one-up its Rochester brethren, why not go with an even bigger name, like CBM/SR? Again, this is all speculation, but fun just the same.

[Tom_Doak]

Cost of this project some 90 years ago -  $750,000, or ca. $10.25mil today.

That's a very big number for the twenties, when you consider that the scope of work back then was much different than today -- there were no cart paths, and usually only minimal irrigation.  I'd guess that either they got into rock, or they are including the cost of the clubhouse in that figure.

[Jaeger Kovich]

I seem to remember Yale and Lido both being said to have cost $500,000, and tied for the highest budgets of the times.

[MCirba]

Great thread, fellows.   This is the type of collective, collaborative architectural research that really makes GCA a unique place.   Thanks!

[Jim_Kennedy]

Cost of this project some 90 years ago -  $750,000, or ca. $10.25mil today.

That's a very big number for the twenties, when you consider that the scope of work back then was much different than today -- there were no cart paths, and usually only minimal irrigation.  I'd guess that either they got into rock, or they are including the cost of the clubhouse in that figure.

That would have been a big number, but yes, it included clubhouses.

         The club course and buildings now in process of erection represent a total expense outlay of approximately $750,000. This gives one a fair idea of the magnificent clubhouse that will grace a point of vantage on the club property. The main structure will be a stucco building, with the first floor devoted to a mammoth lounging and reception room, two dining rooms, kitchen, locker rooms, shower baths and other essentials. The second floor is divided into quarters for .the hired help and also into special card rooms for the members. The ladies' clubhouse will have its own particular charm to the feminine golfer, with the usual locker rooms and showers.