C.B. Macdonald in Buffalo?

[Jim_Kennedy]

Ron,
There are several articles mentioning possible land purchases of various sizes, up to 400+- acres. If they were planning an 'uber-club' their timing was right, your area seemed to have a great need for more courses/clubs during this period.


There does seems to have been a lot of flux in the organization, with a couple of different holding companies mentioned, several name changes for the project, a couple of different folks acting as president, with the catalyst of the project, Joe Murphy, moving to NJ during this time.      Sounds thoroughly 'modern'. 

You mentioned the clubhouse east of Shimerville Rd. Here it is today:


It's the oldest house on the east side of Shimerville, nothing on the lost nine holes was built before 1953.

[Ed Homsey]

Re a couple of pieces of info mentioned in this thread.  Interesting that there was a reference to creating a facility similar to Westchester Country club.  WCC was barely off the ground during that period of time.  Travis began the staking of the courses in 1919 and the grand opening was on May 25, 1921.  It was a grand, and expensive facility.  6 million was reported.

Ron--You mentioned Harries in connection with Cherry Hill Club.  Would be interesting to know what Travis had to do with "hiring" Harries, and would be very interesting to know what kinds of changes Harries may have made to Travis's design.  Recently some original course drawings, by Harries, have been found.  I have not, yet, had the opportunity to compare them with the original Travis drawings.  When I do, will let you know what I find.  Harries was a charter member of Cherry Hill Club.  Listed on their membership list dated January 27, 1923.

[Kevin Lynch]

Jim,


Thanks for clarifying the golf construction timing.  I had overlooked those lines while reading the "groundbreaking" articles, and realize that the groundbreaking referred more to the final clubhouse.




As for the delay in construction, I suppose the $750,000 price tag may have contributed to the lag, especially given the organizational changes you also noted.


Again, given that the lag between the initial project (1922) and eventual construction (mid 1924) is so short, I really have to question if it was built based on a prior CBM/Raynor routing.  The 1922 construction articles seem to indicate that some work was beginning, so I'm hopeful there was a formal routing prepared.  I think Ron had some discussions with the Brookfield historian, but don't know if we've ever seen a formal routing (either prepared by CBM or by Harries).

[Kevin Lynch]

I found a snippet from an old Harries article that I had which sheds some light on the nine hole course fate.


In a September 4, 1965 article about Harries entitled "Golf from the Ground Up; He Designs,Builds Courses" there was this section:

"Originally a 27-hole course, Brookfield now has 18 holes. The other nine went with land sold as building lots during the depression"

Harries also talked a little about the lessons he learned at Brookfield:


"There was a murky little stream running through the land,: he said, "and we naturally wanted to use it if we could. To do that, we had to make it deeper and narrower. 
Using a crowbar, we poked holes 3 feet deep and about 6 to 8 feet along the brook's course, then planted dynamite in them.  When the dynamite blast went off, mud and water shot 150 feet into the air, cascading downward to form banks on both sides and give us a near perfect water hazard. 
Confining the water to a narrow space served another purpose; it enabled us to fill the lowland around it and eliminate a swamp of muck and cattails."

[Sven Nilsen]

Just for reference, adding in the 1922 Buffalo News article Anthony referenced above.


If anyone has the exact date for it please let me know.





Also, if anyone has the citation for the 1921 article Ron posted, that would be helpful as well.


Sven

[Jim_Kennedy]

Kevin


Here's a blurb from the July 24th 1941 Buffalo Courier-Express...


Mrs. Lincoln, Mrs. Dautel and Mrs. Tennis Win at 'Brook Mrs. W. Lincoln took first place in Class A of the medal tournament staged on the women's course at Meadowbrook yesterday with a 49-10—39 and Mrs. Robert Jude wa s second 57-10—47. In Class B. Mrs. W. Dautel was first, 51-18—35 and Mrs. H. Schlager wa s next, 50-14:—§6. Mrs. R. Tennis topped Class C with a 59-22—37 and Mrs. J. Burns was second, 57-20—37. In the putting and approaching contest, the winners in three classes were Mrs. Jame s O'Shaunecy, Mrs. William Gallagher and Mrs. James Wells.


...so it seems to have made it through the Depression, and at least through the summer of 1941. It's probably more likely to have closed sometime during or after WW2.  It wasn't easy for courses to get supplies as the war progressed; there would have been fewer men playing; gas rationing might preclude trips out to Clarence, etc..

Here's the article for you:

http://tinyurl.com/h9r77cm

[Joe Bausch]

Just for reference, adding in the 1922 Buffalo News article Anthony referenced above.


If anyone has the exact date for it please let me know.





Also, if anyone has the citation for the 1921 article Ron posted, that would be helpful as well.


Sven

I believe this article is from the Buffalo Express (April 9, 1922).

[Sven Nilsen]

Thanks Joe.

[Ronald Montesano]

For Sven: Buffalo Courier, Thursday, November 17th, 1921


Here's a map I marked up. Brookfield/Meadowbrook is far right/east. The important marked roads are Transit and Main. If you remember, they talked about access from both of those roads, plus Shimerville (far right border of Brookfield property.) In other words, this was a huge piece of land, potentially, but a bit farther south of the Brookfield/Meadowbrook property. It had to be, in order to border Main Street (unless Main bent differently back then.)


Also marked are the properties of Park and Buffalo country clubs, each of which was five years off (around 1926) when Mossy Springs/Glen Acres was in discussion.

[Bret Lawrence]

I found a few aerials of Meadowbrook from 1927.  According to the index, these photographs were taken on July 4, 1927.  Unfortunately, the nine hole course is cut off, but you can see the 18 hole course.








Link to the site for a clearer view:
http://library.buffalo.edu/maps/img/8226-501-1927.jpg


http://library.buffalo.edu/maps/img/8226-500-1927.jpg

[Jim_Kennedy]

[Jim_Kennedy]

For Sven: Buffalo Courier, Thursday, November 17th, 1921


Here's a map I marked up. Brookfield/Meadowbrook is far right/east. The important marked roads are Transit and Main. If you remember, they talked about access from both of those roads, plus Shimerville (far right border of Brookfield property.) In other words, this was a huge piece of land, potentially, but a bit farther south of the Brookfield/Meadowbrook property. It had to be, in order to border Main Street (unless Main bent differently back then.)


Also marked are the properties of Park and Buffalo country clubs, each of which was five years off (around 1926) when Mossy Springs/Glen Acres was in discussion.

Ron,


The article says the property lies   "close by the main highway in the Village of Clarence, having access from three routes from the city, from Main, Sheimerville(sic) and Transit roads."
I don't think that 'having access from three routes from the city' is tantamount to 'having frontage on' all those roads.

The article mentions the purchase of 306 acs. If the property to be purchased touched the three roads you mention it would comprise ca. 850 acs. I don't know if the Holding Co. had bigger plans, but I haven't seen them.
The article mentioning Raynor's plan was for a golf course on Harris Hill. The rectangle of property between Shimerville
Rd. and Harris Rd. is ca. 350 acs., more in line with amount mentioned in the article. 

   

[Ronald Montesano]

Good points, Jim. I guess their definition of "frontage" would have to be specified here.


One possibility is that the second course (assuming the actual Meadowbrook/Brookfield course was part of the plan) would have occupied Sheridan Drive and south to Main Street. The problem is, that would eliminate the Transit Road frontage. You can imagine the conundrum.


I wonder if the original plot of land was due west of the Brookfield course and that a decision was made to abandon plans for the 36-hole complex, and devote that land to housing. There might have been dual epiphanies from CCB and Park, along the lines of "hey, we should move to the eastern suburbs, too." There's also the mention of the Transit Valley Club (which sits about 2.5 miles north of the Sheridan/Transit intersection) which would have meant three new clubs (CCB, TV and Park) building nearby courses at the same time as the GA/MS project was to move forward. At that point, monied folks with an interest in Glen Acres/Mossy Springs might have abandoned their plans, the land was developed for housing, and the Meadowbrook club came together as an afterthought.

[ANTHONYPIOPPI]

From the Meadowbrook website:



Founded in 1927 as the Meadowbrook Club, Brookfield has a rich heritage. The name change occurred in 1943 when 28 members financed the purchase of the Meadowbrook Club and its equipment.

Located in Clarence, New York, Brookfield Country Club was established in 1927 and has served as host to such prestigious events as the 1948 Western Open won by Mr. Ben Hogan, and the 1985 USGA Junior Boys Championship won by Mr. Charles Rymer.

Designed by Canadian Architect, William Harries, the golf course spreads over approximately 170 acres and can be described as a traditional layout, with subtle elevation change, mature tree lined fairways and small to medium sized greens.

Brookfield Country Club, Inc. is a business corporation, incorporated under and subject to the laws of the state of New York. It was incorporated on April 14, 1944 and is the successor to the Meadowbrook Country Club. There are approximately 350 stockholders, substantially all of whom are members of Brookfield Country Club, Inc. The Club is managed by a Board of 11 Directors, elected by the stockholders.

[Jim_Kennedy]

Ron,


Here are a few maps of the MCC property. From top to bottom:  modern, 1938, 1909, 1880. In all the maps the main roads are Harris at the left, Shimerville in the middle, and Thompson at the right. 

An article I sent to Bret talked a bit about the club's effort to acquire various parcels of land and I believe it was early in the process, maybe '21 or '22.  As you can see in the 1909 and 1938 maps, they weren't able to acquire the properties of Stephan, whose land abutted Harris Rd., and Wendling, the next lot over.  That may have been the reason that they kept looking eastward and eventually ended up with nearly 400 acres ( a figure mentioned in another article) in 1938.

As Tony posted, they now have about 170 acres, which matches up well with how many acres they lost when turning their western border (Meadowbrook Rd.) and the women's course into homesites.
       

[Ronald Montesano]

Jim,


I appreciate those property images. They certainly solidify what Meadowbrook/Brookfield was/is. I actually know a family that owns a compound on part of the old women's course. When you drive in, you can imagine where the holes where and how the land would have rolled.


I don't believe that there is any way that Mossy Springs/Glen Acres could have been what the newspaper articles purported it to be. To have frontage on those three streets (Transit, Main, Shimerville) would have meant an impossibly-large piece of property, along the lines of an Olympic Club (San Fran) or Olympia Fields (Chicago). While Buffalo was still an important city at the time, it wasn't what it had been, around the turn of the 20th century.


It will take some digging in the Clarence records office to find official documentation on these projects. Hopefully I'll have the time to do that in the coming weeks. This mystery deserves some resolution.

[Philip Caccamise]

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 Livingston 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.

That is correct Ron, although there was an error in the paper: it was actually originally named Geneseo Country Club (as it is in the village of Geneseo.)
http://www.livingstoncc.com/course/chistory/


One of my best friends (and someone I mentored in golf) is the head superintendent.

[Jim_Kennedy]

MCC -1951 - Women's course is gone and roadways/homes are going in