1934 Connecticut Aerials

[ANTHONYPIOPPI]

In 1934 Connecticut became the first to have an aerial survey taken of the entire state. My understanding it that it was done with biplanes from a height of about 5,000 feet. Within the last the entire archive became digitized. Working with Jim Kennedy, Brett Zimmerman and Kyle Zimmerman, were tracked down photos of nearly 100 courses, including some in New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island putting in close to 200 hours of research. Below are instructions and reference numbers to all the courses. .

While many of the courses are fantastic, the biggest surprise was probably the work of Robert Jack Ross, an engineer for the city of Hartford. The work of Devereux Emmet is also astounding, with the privately-owned Hob Nob Hill among our favorites.

If you find any errors, PLEASE EMAIL ME DIRECTLY: Apioppi@earthlink.net.

Enjoy.

Anthony

Directions:

Go to http://cslib.cdmhost.com/cdm4/aerials.php. In the upper right hand corner of the website is a search box. Plug the five-digit number of the corresponding course in and hit “search.” A thumbnail will appear, click on that and a larger version will appear, click on that to enlarge.
   One note, the architects listed for courses are those who had worked on the course up to the time of the photograph. The year a course incorporated, broke ground, or opened is not assigned.





Alexander Pope Private Course, Farmington, Unknown (NLE), 06454*
Alling Memorial Golf Course, New Haven, Robert D. Pryde, 10062
Banner Resort and CC- Moodus, Unknown, 06884
Brooklawn Country Club, Fairfield, A.W. Tillinghast, 04341
Canaan Country Club, Unknown, 08356
Candlewood Lake Club, Brookfield, Ted Farley, 07422
Canton Golf Public Golf Course, Robert Ross, (NLE) 09461
Chippanee Golf Club, Bristol, Herbert J. Lagerblade, 06231
Clinton Country Club, Unknown, 03106 (NLE)**
Country Club of Fairfield, Seth Raynor, 05491
Country Club of Farmington, Devereux Emmet, 06408, 06456, 06463
Country Club of New Canaan, Willie Park, Jr., 04764
Country Club of Waterbury, Donald Ross, 07106, 07107
D. Fairchild Wheeler, Fairfield, Robert White, 05516
East Hartford Golf Course, Unknown, 09656
East Mountain Golf Course, Waterbury, William and David Gordon, 07054
Edgewood Golf Club, Cromwell, R.J. Ross, 09207
E. Gaynor Brennan Golf Club, (FKA Hubbard Heights Country Club), Stamford, 04121
Enfield Golf Club, unknown, 07818
Ethel Walker Private Course, Simsbury, Unknown, (NLE) 09529
Fairview Country Club, Greenwich, Unknown, 04037
Fenwick Golf Course, Old Saybrook, Unknown, 02847
Golf Club of Avon, Unknown, 09478
Goodwin Park Golf Course, Hartford, Unknown, 09250
Greenwich Country Club, Seth Raynor, 03975
Grassy Hill Country Club, Orange, Unknown, 03199
Green Woods Country Club, Winsted, Unknown, (NLE) 07931
Harkness Estate Private Course, Watertown, Unknown, (NLE) 00513
Harrisville Golf Course, Woodstock, Aimee Salvas, 01185
Hartford Golf Club, West Hartford, Donald Ross/Devereux Emmet, 08949***
Highland Country Club, Middletown/Meriden, Unknown, 09333 (NLE)
Highland Golf Club, Shelton, Frank G. Gates, 03367
Hop Brook Golf Club, Naugatuck, Unknown, 07063
Hob Nob Hill, Salisbury, Deveux Emmet (NLE), 08187
Hotchkiss School, Salisbury, Seth Raynor, 08126
Hunter Golf Course, Meriden, Robert D. Pryde, 06168
Indian Hill Country Club, Newington, R.J. Ross, 09343
Innis Arden Club, Old Greenwich, J. Kennedy Tod, 04125
Keney Park, Hartford, Devereux Emmet/, 09719
Lake Waramaug, Preston, Unknown, 05911
Litchfield Country Club, Unknown, 07585
Longshore Golf Club, Orrin Smith, 05314
Louis Stoner Private Course, West Hartford, Orrin Smith, 09897 (NLE)
Madison Country Club, Willie Park, Jr., 04447
Manchester Country Club, Tom Bendelow, 06942
Mill River Country Club, Stratford, Thomas Winton, 03400
New Haven Country Club, Willie Park, Jr., 04926
New London Country Club, Waterford, Charlie Brooks, 00209
Newtown Country Club, Unknown, 03761
Norfolk Country Club, Unknown, 09794
Norwich Golf Course, Alfred Tull, 02029
Orange Hills Country Club, Orange, Robert D. Pryde, 03181
Paul Block Private Course, Greenwich, Wayne Stiles & John Van Kleek, 04042 (NLE)
Pequabuck Golf Club, Bristol, Unknown, 06229
Pine Orchard Yacht and Country Club, Branford, Robert D. Pryde, 05591
Pleasant View Golf Course, Meriden, Unknown, 06174 (NLE)
Plymouth Meadow Country Club, Windsor, Charles Henderson, 09705 (formerly Windsor Golf Club)
Quinnatisset Country Club, Thompson, Unknown, 01054
Quotonset Golf Club, Westbrook, Unkown, (NLE) 02987 (formerly Westbrook Golf Club)
Racebrook Country Club, Orange, Robert D. Pryde, 03254
Ridgewood Country Club, Danbury, Devereux Emmet, 02633
Rockledge Country Club, West Hartford, Maurice Kearney, 06145
Round Hill Club, Greenwich, Walter Travis, 04015
Salmon Creek Country Club, Granby, Orrin Smith, (NLE) 09816
Sharon Country Club, Unknown, 07279
Shennecossett Golf Course, Groton, Donald Ross, 00464
Shorehaven Golf Club, Norwalk, Robert White, 05250
Shuttle Meadow Country Club, New Britain, Willie Park, Jr., 06471 & 06469
Silver Spring Country Club, Robert White, 07175
Sleeping Giant Golf Course, Hamden, Ralph Barton, 04916
Southington Country Club, Unknown, 06384
Stanley Golf Course, New Britain, R.J. Ross, 06150
Suffield Country Club, Otis Smith, 09690
Sunset Ridge Country Club, East Hartford, Orrin Smith, 09654 (NLE)
Tamarack Country Club, Greenwich, Charles Banks, 04045
The Cedars, Lakeville, Unknown, (NLE), 08128
Torrington Country Club, Goshen, Orrin Smith, 10260
Tumble Brook Country Club, Bloomfield, Willie Park, Jr., 08970
Wallingford Country Club, Unknown, 05666
Wampanoag Country Club, West Hartford, Donald Ross, 08968
Washington Golf Club, David Johnson, 06055
Watertown Country Club, David Cornish, 07478
Wee Burn Country Club, Darien, Devereux Emmet, 04776
West Hartford Golf Club, (now known as Buena Vista Golf Course), Robert Ross, 06146
Wethersfield Country Club, Robert D. Pryde (9), Robert J. Ross (9), 09254
Willimantic Country Club, Unknown, 03657
Windsor Golf Club, Charles Henderson, 09705 (NLE)
Woodbridge Country Club, Orrin Smith, 04809
Woodstock Golf Course, Unknown, 01182
Woodway Country Club, Darien, Willie Park Jr., 04774
Yale Golf Course, New Haven, Seth Raynor, 04811


*Pope Course was six holes. Some green and tee sites visible in the photo. Property is now part of the Hill-Stead Museum.
**The current Clinton Country Club is in a different location.
***Holes south of road bisecting the course no longer exist.


MASSACHUSETTS

Longmeadow Country Club, Donald Ross, 07818

NEW YORK

Blind Brook Club, Port Chester, Seth Raynor, 04039, 04011****
Pound Ridge Country Club, Unknown, 04107
Kings Ridge Country Club, Thomas Winton, 04039*****
Quaker Hill Country Club, Pawling, Lowell Thomas (?), 05691 (NLE)

****An Unknown private course south of Blind Brook is visible in both photos
****Course is at top of photo. Blind Brook is just below.


RHODE ISLAND

Misquamicut Club, Westerly, Donald Ross, 00079

[Jim_Kennedy]

Tony,
Thanks for inviting me to participate in the hunt, it was fun chasing these places down.

Something I've enjoyed doing since last winter's effort is comparing some of these aerials with their modern day counterparts. It's amazing how many changes have occurred on some(most) of these courses, while others(few) remain fairly intact.

[Craig Disher]

Tony,
That is a wonderful resource. I've been able to locate a few courses in CT at the Nat'l Archives but often I've been stymied by the incompleteness of the collection there. They don't have the 1934 survey, possibly because it was done by the state and not the Dept of Agriculture. I'm amazed at what states have done with their historical photos compared to the much-better funded Nat'l Archives. NARA hasn't taken the first step to digitize their massive collection and the negatives continue to disintegrate.

Do you know if these photos were digitized from original negatives?

[ANTHONYPIOPPI]

Craig,

I believe they are from the original negatives. When I first started going there and, still, if you want to view later years, you have to go to the library, track down the photo number, put in a request, and twice a day the photos are brought out of the vault and can only be viewed wearing white gloves.

One reason I wanted to put access to these photos out is so that anyone can see them. Too much of valuable artifacts like this are being horded or hidden by "compilers" who claim to be historians.

Enjoy the collection. I hope it makes you as crazy looking at it as it did us researching it.

Anthony

[Peter Pallotta]

Anthony -

Wow! That's really wonderful stuff. My thanks to you, Jim, Brett and Kyle.

Peter  

[ANTHONYPIOPPI]

Peter,

You're welcome. Jim is partial to Hob Nob since it is up in his neighborhood and he has found some remaining features on what is now mostly homes. I love the bunkering that R.J Ross did at Edgewood.

Anthony

[Jim_Kennedy]

Tony,
Partly 'cause it's 880 yds. from my house to what was the first green.  

[Jim_Kennedy]

....what would that be for you Tony, a driver , nine iron?  

[Craig Disher]

Tony,
I'm sure aerials of most of these aren't available at NARA. I spent a long time at NARA looking for aerials of the Yale GC and was only available to find partial views. However, the quality of photos improved dramatically over the next 10 years. The military collection at NARA - which covered strategic areas and military bases mostly - holds some very high quality photos.

Here's a photo from the 1934 collection of a green at Misquamicutt GC and a photo of the same green from the military collection taken in the 1940s.

[ANTHONYPIOPPI]

Craig:

I think part of the problem with the Misquamicut photo is that it is on the fringe of the picture, so there seems to be more distortion than on photos of courses from directly above.

The National Archives and Records Administration is quite the place. Do you do the searching yourself?

Anthony

[Craig Disher]

Craig:

I think part of the problem with the Misquamicut photo is that it is on the fringe of the picture, so there seems to be more distortion than on photos of courses from directly above.

The National Archives and Records Administration is quite the place. Do you do the searching yourself?

Anthony

The edge problem is certainly present in most of the aerials I've worked with. Fortunately the photos overlap so it's usually possible to get a centered view with little distortion.

I do the searching myself. Anyone can obtain a researcher's card and access to the original material. The retrieval process is very tedious though. My time there would have been cut by 90% if the collections were saved and stored as conveniently as the CT collection.

[JimFatsi]

Anthony
Thank you for providing this info, I especially enjoyed looking at Seth Raynor's original CC of Fairfield layout!

[ANTHONYPIOPPI]

Jim,

Also one of my favorites. Under New York, check out Blind Brook and mystery private course just to the south of it.

Anthony

[Michael Christensen]

just got back into town........wow......being a member at new haven this is footage I have never seen.......can see the old holes across hartford tpke!

being from CT I will be on this site for hours!  

[Mike_Cirba]

Tony,

This is tremendous.   As someone who loves to research this stuff, the rapidly increasing amount of vintage materials becoming available at the press of a button is incredibly exciting!

Thanks very much for sharing your sources with us.

Mike

[ANTHONYPIOPPI]

Mike,

Michael,

I'm glad to know you will be spending hours on this site as we did the same compiling it. Some of the courses are truly amazing. Enjoy.

Mike,

It was our pleasure to provide this information. I realize that most people who visit this site don't give a rat's ass about this sort of information, but the for those that truly love architecture - me included - this is a goldmine.

Anthony

[Eric Morrison]

Great info! I have used the aerial photo of Shenny numerous times, and I look forward to checking out other courses in the state.
Thanks guys for compiling the info!

[ANTHONYPIOPPI]

Eric,

Glad our little research project is helping you out. The photos of your course are very cool.

Anthony

[JimFatsi]

Anthony
Another course found in NY - slide 04040 is Old Oaks CC.

The mistory course below Blind Brook slide 04039, appears to be 9 holes, but I could only make out 6 greens.

Familiar enough with Blind Brook - little has changed from 1934. a couple of bunker changes, otherwise it is what it is today.  

Kings Ridge -slide 04039 (aka Purchase Golf Course, aka present day 9 holer Doral) is not impressive as an 18 holer.

[ANTHONYPIOPPI]

Thanks to Eric Morrison, Norwich Country Club architect now reads "Donald Ross."

Jim

Thanks for that info. Any idea who designed Old Oaks and what town it sits?

The course below Blind Brook appears to be 6 holes. I've been in touch with the superintendent at Blind Brook and was not aware there was another course nearby. He could find no one at the club who knew anything about it.

Anthony

[SPDB]

Tony:
Old Oaks in Purchase, NY was designed by Tillinghast. It was originally a 27 hole layout , but 9 holes were claimed by I-684. I can't seem to be able to manipulate the search function, but it would be neat if we could move just a little west to see if we could peer in on the lost nine.

[Eric Morrison]

Alfred Tull!!! Not Donald Ross...?!

[Craig Disher]

...
The course below Blind Brook appears to be 6 holes. I've been in touch with the superintendent at Blind Brook and was not aware there was another course nearby. He could find no one at the club who knew anything about it.

Anthony

You'll be able to see in the aerial I just emailed you that the small course was gone by 1943. It looks like the owner was a gardener rather than a golfer.

[Jim_Kennedy]

SPDB,
Problem is you can't, at least not with this group of aerials.
The photos end at the border.

If, when bringing up a photo, you scroll up and click on the town that's in the "Subject-LCSH" heading you will come up with the the index page. Click on any of these and you can look at  different parts of the town.  

[Jim_Kennedy]

Tony,
I have no information on the name of the 6-holer but it's location is now a neighborhood. You can see it on any of the map sites for Rye Brook. Just look for N. Ridge St. and Country Ridge Dr., the course sat in this area.

The oldest homes look to be from the '60s.