Merion Cricket Club is a private club in

Haverford, Pennsylvania Haverford is an unincorporated community located in both Haverford Township in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States, and Lower Merion Township in Montgomery County, approximately west of Philadelphia. The Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) ope ...

, founded in 1865. The current clubhouse is its sixth, the last four having been designed by Philadelphia architect

Frank Furness Frank Heyling Furness (November 12, 1839 - June 27, 1912) was an American architect of the Victorian era. He designed more than 600 buildings, most in the Philadelphia area, and is remembered for his diverse, muscular, often unordinarily scaled b ...

and his partner, Allen Evans, who was also a founder of the club. The club was designated a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places liste ...

in 1987 for its leading role in the promotion, development and continued support of

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

squash Squash may refer to: Sports * Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets * Squash (professional wrestling), an extremely one-sided match in professional wrestling * Squash tennis, a game similar to squash but pla ...

, and

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cov ...

in the United States.

History

The club was founded in October 1865 by William Woodrow Montgomery and Marshall Ewing. Its first meeting was held at

Glenays Glenays, also known as Leighton House, was an historic home which was located in Radnor Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania. History and architectural features The property was purchased by Richard Roger Montgomery and his wife Elisabeth B ...

, the home of William Woodrow Montgomery, on December 16, 1865. While there was some thought of converting into a baseball club due to a lack of a permanent facility, its first cricket match was held in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, May 19, 1866. From 1873 to 1892, the club occupied grounds in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, before moving to its present grounds in Haverford. The first tennis match was held in 1881; the first golf course was laid out in 1896, with other courses in 1912 and 1914.

Facilities

The first clubhouse (1865–73) was an existing house in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, on land owned by Col. Owen Jones. The second (1873–80) was an industrial building in

Ardmore, Pennsylvania Ardmore is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) spanning the border between Delaware and Montgomery counties in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The population was 12,455 at the 2010 census and had risen to 13,566 in ...

, about a mile southeast of the current grounds. The third (1880–92), by Furness & Evans, on Cricket Avenue in Ardmore, was destroyed by fire in 1892. The fourth (1892–96), at the present location, although backing onto Montgomery Avenue, was destroyed by fire in January 1896. The fifth (1896), backing onto Grays Lane, was destroyed by fire before its completion. The sixth (and present) clubhouse was built to the same plan as the fifth but in stone and brick.

Alexander Cassatt Alexander Johnston Cassatt (December 8, 1839 – December 28, 1906) was the seventh president of the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR), serving from June 9, 1899, to December 28, 1906. Family and early life Alexander Cassatt was born on December 8, ...

, a vice-president of the

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...

(later PRR president), paid for the fireproof clubhouse. On the club grounds there are indoor and outdoor

courts, paddle tennis courts, singles and doubles

courts, a

bowling Bowling is a target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a ball toward pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). The term ''bowling'' usually refers to pin bowling (most commonly ten-pin bowling), though ...

alley, dining facilities and a

ballroom A ballroom or ballhall is a large room inside a building, the primary purpose of which is holding large formal parties called balls. Traditionally, most balls were held in private residences; many mansions and palaces, especially historic ...

. Seasonally, the club has

croquet Croquet ( or ; french: croquet) is a sport that involves hitting wooden or plastic balls with a mallet through hoops (often called "wickets" in the United States) embedded in a grass playing court. Its international governing body is the W ...

and

events. The Club also fields a football (association football) team known as the Merion C.C. Football Club. The team competes annually for The Manheim Prize, the oldest amateur soccer trophy in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. The Club's tennis and squash facilities have been host to many historically significant national and international championships.

Merion Golf Club

In 1896 members of the Merion Cricket Club founded the Merion Golf Club which has hosted the U.S. Open five times, for the first time in 1934. In 1941, this became a separate club. The Merion Golf Club most recently hosted the U.S. Open in 2013.

Gallery

File:Henry Scattergood.jpg,

Henry Scattergood Joseph Henry Scattergood (January 26, 1877 – June 15, 1953) was an American cricketer, active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Scattergood was one of the Philadelphian cricketers that played from the end of the 19th century through t ...

playing at Merion (c. 1897) File:John A Lester.jpg,

John Lester John Ashby Lester (August 1, 1871September 3, 1969) was an American cricketer, active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and a teacher. Lester was one of the Philadelphian cricketers who played from the end of the 19th century until the ...

playing at Merion (c. 1897) File:Small Lester Batting.jpg, Small Lester playing at Merion File:MerionCricketCottage.jpg, "The Cottage"

References

External links