Midland Hills -- Raynor Plan Found!

[Brandon Urban]

Midland Hills (St Paul, MN) Superintendent, Mike Manthey, tweeted out this morning that he had made an incredible find above a false ceiling in his office. Jim Urbina is already scheduled to put together a master plan for the club and I can only imagine how much better this will make it.
Midland is a fun golf course now. I can't wait to see it in all its glory.

Midland Tweet by burban965, on Flickr

Midland Map by burban965, on Flickr

Midland Map 2 by burban965, on Flickr

[Jeff Schley]

This is a REALLY cool story!  Thanks for sharing as who would have thought.  Probably up there since the last remodel of the office in the 80 or 70's with a drop ceiling and someone put it up there and forgot.

[PCCraig]

Very cool. Excited to see what Jim and Mike do at Midland Hills. (The first thing they should do is campaign to go back to the original name/logo and call it The University Club)

[Marty Bonnar]

Couldn’t resist looking up Crane & Ordway.
Cool history:
http://saintpaulhistorical.com/items/show/217


Cheers,
F.

[Stephen Davis]

This is such a great find! I can hardly believe it!

[Gene Greco]

How cool is THAT?!
Thanks for sharing..

[Rich Goodale]

Excellent, Brandon!  Midland Hills in my top ten of the "golf courses I have played and been blown away with without much support from other GCA.com afficionados".  Hope to play there again this year.


Rich

[Dan Kelly]

As a member of the club in question (and the green committee thereof), I could hardly be more excited than I am about what is to come.


So many mysteries solved, in a flash!


Just one, for now: The original 17 (current 2), which we have been calling a Road hole, was clearly not a Road hole at all!


Of course, many mysteries remain — to be solved  by Mr. Urbina. Can’t wait!

[MCirba]

This whole thing is awesome.

Congratulations to the club and all involved!   

[Peter Flory]

As a member of the club in question (and the green committee thereof), I could hardly be more excited than I am about what is to come.


So many mysteries solved, in a flash!


Just one, for now: The original 17 (current 2), which we have been calling a Road hole, was clearly not a Road hole at all!


Of course, many mysteries remain — to be solved  by Mr. Urbina. Can’t wait!

Weren't the holes named?  Or was there a lot of missing information? 


This is really great for you guys. 

[Steve Wilson]

In a false ceiling!  A few years ago the manager at a bar I sometimes frequent called my attention to a basketball program from the early 1950s that a man had found in his randomly collected  memorabilia.  The manager thought I might find it interesting as the tournament was held at the predecessor of the consolidated high school I attended and at the gym.  One of our counties better players had been a sophomore at the time.  Once I finished going through the team pictures, etc. I turned it over and there on the back cover was the tournament draw filled out in my father's handwriting.  I immediately purchased it and took it home to dad who recognized it and said he had been the official scorekeeper for the tournament.


So curious what survives and what is lost. 

[Sven Nilsen]

Awesome find.


Noticed right off the bat that the Biarritz hole (top middle of the plan) has a green section clearly delineated from the run up area, which appears to be how the hole is maintained today.


Coincidentally, it looks like today's 17th was meant to be the Road Hole.

[Dan Kelly]

As a member of the club in question (and the green committee thereof), I could hardly be more excited than I am about what is to come.


So many mysteries solved, in a flash!


Just one, for now: The original 17 (current 2), which we have been calling a Road hole, was clearly not a Road hole at all!


Of course, many mysteries remain — to be solved  by Mr. Urbina. Can’t wait!

Weren't the holes named?  Or was there a lot of missing information? 


This is really great for you guys.

No hole names on this blueprint.

[Dan Kelly]

Awesome find.


Noticed right off the bat that the Biarritz hole (top middle of the plan) has a green section clearly delineated from the run up area, which appears to be how the hole is maintained today.


Coincidentally, it looks like today's 17th was meant to be the Road Hole.

Yes, that is how our Biarritz is,


And no, I don’t see a Road in current 17. On the original drawing, that is 15, and there is no Road bunker.

[Dan Kelly]

Couldn’t resist looking up Crane & Ordway.
Cool history:
http://saintpaulhistorical.com/items/show/217


Cheers,
F.

Their building, just west of the St. Paul Saints’ new home, CHS Field, is into a new chapter: [size=78%]https://www.aeonmn.org/properties/crane-ordway/[/size]

[Marty Bonnar]

I’ve inverted the blueprint to improve the detail. Unfortunately, I can’t get this stupid IPad to post the image. Here’s a link to a shared google image. If anyone can post it to the thread, feel free.
Alternatively, if we can get a higher res original, that would be even better!:


https://photos.app.goo.gl/roaJq9nCKAajjBsk1


Cheers,
F.

[Jim_Kennedy]

Midland  clubhouse and mower - 1930 - Minnesota Historical Society.
Their site has some on-the-ground photos of Interlachen, Minikahda, White Bear ( during the match between "Long" Jim Barnes and "Chick" Evans, etc.

http://search.mnhs.org//index.php?brand=cms&q=midland%20hills%20golf&startindex=376

[Jim_Kennedy]

Marty's photo - flipped longways for size and cleaned up a tad.

[Marty Bonnar]

Nice, Jim. Cheers.
Higher res original WOULD be fantastic!


F.

[Brandon Urban]

Here's a really nice follow up article on the discovery of the map and the years spent looking for it.


http://www.golfcoursearchitecture.net/content/historic-raynor-plans-for-midland-hills-unearthed-after-years-of-searching

[Bret Lawrence]

Brandon,


Thanks for sharing!  Great find. 


Historic aerials.com has aerials dating back to 1947 for this course.  If you look at the Biarritz throughout the years it has changed its look many times.


Good luck with the restoration.


Bret

[PCCraig]

Brandon,


Thanks for sharing!  Great find. 


Historic aerials.com has aerials dating back to 1947 for this course.  If you look at the Biarritz throughout the years it has changed its look many times.


Good luck with the restoration.


Bret

For Minnesota golf courses, check out the University of Minnesota's Map Library. They have a huge inventory of old aerials across the state.


https://www.lib.umn.edu/apps/mhapo/


Here is a link to a good 1930's era map:


http://geo.lib.umn.edu/Hennepin_County/y1937/WN-2-153.jpg

[Jim_Kennedy]

Mike Manthey's Midland Hills blog:
http://www.mhccturf.com/?p=1140


Scroll to the bottom of the home page and click on "Seth Raynor" to view MM's hole-by-hole dissection of the course.

Lots of info found there, along w/this wonderful photo of SR:

[Buck Wolter]

Brandon,


Thanks for sharing!  Great find. 


Historic aerials.com has aerials dating back to 1947 for this course.  If you look at the Biarritz throughout the years it has changed its look many times.


Good luck with the restoration.


Bret

For Minnesota golf courses, check out the University of Minnesota's Map Library. They have a huge inventory of old aerials across the state.


https://www.lib.umn.edu/apps/mhapo/


Here is a link to a good 1930's era map:


http://geo.lib.umn.edu/Hennepin_County/y1937/WN-2-153.jpg

That's Awesome --found Owatonna CC (Original 9 I assume) in 1938


http://maps.dnr.state.mn.us/landview/historical_airphotos/usda/wd/y1938/wd04329.jpg

[Joe Hancock]

Mike Manthey's Midland Hills blog:
http://www.mhccturf.com/?p=1140


Scroll to the bottom of the home page and click on "Seth Raynor" to view MM's hole-by-hole dissection of the course.

Lots of info found there, along w/this wonderful photo of SR:

That looks like Michael Palin to me......