The Union League of Philadelphia is a private club founded in 1862 by the Old Philadelphians as a patriotic society to support the policies of

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation throu ...

. As of 2022, the club has over 4,000 members. Its main building was built in 1865 and added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1979. Union League clubs, which are legally separate but share similar histories and maintain reciprocal links with one another, are also located in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

and

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Additional Union League clubs were formerly located in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

and

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134 ...

History

The Union League of Philadelphia was founded on November 22nd, 1862, as a patriotic society to support the Union and the policies of President Abraham Lincoln. It laid the philosophical foundation for other Union Leagues that followed suite during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and t ...

. It has supported the American military in all conflicts since. Its motto is "Amor Patriae Ducit" or "Love of Country Leads." It is today the oldest of the remaining loyalty leagues. Although the club is no longer exclusively white or male in membership, allowing its first black member in 1972 and first female member in the 1980's, it is still considered to be politically conservative. The club drew criticism from its members for giving a gold medal, the same award it gave to Lincoln, to Florida Governor

Ron DeSantis Ronald Dion DeSantis (; born September 14, 1978) is an American politician serving as the 46th governor of Florida since January 2019. A member of the Republican Party, DeSantis represented Florida's 6th district in the U.S. House of Repres ...

in 2022. Other recipients of the award include George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, and

Donald Rumsfeld Donald Henry Rumsfeld (July 9, 1932 – June 29, 2021) was an American politician, government official and businessman who served as Secretary of Defense from 1975 to 1977 under president Gerald Ford, and again from 2001 to 2006 under Preside ...

. The club has given other awards to conservative figures such as Jeff Sessions,

Clarence Thomas Clarence Thomas (born June 23, 1948) is an American jurist who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was nominated by President George H. W. Bush to succeed Thurgood Marshall and has served since 1 ...

, and

Samuel Alito Samuel Anthony Alito Jr. ( ; born April 1, 1950) is an American lawyer and jurist who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was nominated by President George W. Bush on October 31, 2005, and has serve ...

. The club's building, a Second Empire-style structure with a brick and

brownstone Brownstone is a brown Triassic–Jurassic sandstone that was historically a popular building material. The term is also used in the United States and Canada to refer to a townhouse clad in this or any other aesthetically similar material. Type ...

façade, was designed by John Fraser and completed in May 1865. The opening was originally scheduled for March of that year, with President Lincoln in attendance, but was delayed due to wartime construction supply shortages.

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, formerly the Dean of the

University of Pennsylvania Law School The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School (also known as Penn Law or Penn Carey Law) is the law school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is among the most selective and oldes ...

, was the 13th President of the Union League in 1897 and 1898. In 1905, Philadelphia architect and Union League member

Horace Trumbauer Horace Trumbauer (December 28, 1868 – September 18, 1938) was a prominent American architect of the Gilded Age, known for designing residential manors for the wealthy. Later in his career he also designed hotels, office buildings, and much of t ...

won a design competition to build major additions to the building. The Beaux Arts-style additions, completed in 1910 and 1911, expanded the length of the building to an entire city block. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. The club's has a Heritage Center to store and display its extensive collection of Civil War-related documents and objects. It also maintains a large library for members. In 2014, the club purchased the Torresdale-Frankford Country Club in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

, and renamed it the Union League Golf Club at Torresdale. In 2017, the club purchased the Sand Barrens Golf Club in Swainton, New Jersey, and renamed it the Union League National Golf Club. The club has been giving out scholarships and providing public education on Philadelphia and the Civil War since the 1940's. In 2019, it combined these efforts by founding the Legacy Foundation with the goal of "inspiring more educated, engaged, and responsible citizens." In 2021, the club purchased the Ace Club and Conference Center (formerly the Chubb Insurance Conference Center) in

Lafayette Hill, Pennsylvania Lafayette Hill is an unincorporated community, primarily within Whitemarsh Township, Montgomery County in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States. A small part of it is in Springfield Township. Lafayette Hill is located just west of ...

, and renamed it the Union League Golf Club at Liberty Hill.

Gallery

File:Union Club Philly Statue 2.jpg, Washington Grays Monument by John A Wilson in front of Union League of Philadelphia File:Union League of Philadelphia, Philadelphia - IMG 6646.JPG, 1911 addition, from 15th Street File:Union League of Philadelphia Celebrates the 63rd Birthday of the USAF.jpg, Memorial Room File:Union League of Philadelphia Historical Marker 140 S Broad St Philadelphia PA (DSC 3188).jpg, Historical Marker

References

Notes Bibliography * Fleming, Walter L. ed. ''Documentary History of Reconstruction: Political, Military, Social, Religious, Educational, and Industrial'' (1906). vol 2 pp 1–29. * Union League of Philadelphia
''The League'' (1909)

External links

*
The Heritage Center of The Union League of Philadelphia

The Union League Club of New York

The Union League Club of Chicago
{{National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania, state=collapsed 1864 establishments in Pennsylvania Clubhouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Philadelphia Clubs and societies in the United States Pennsylvania in the American Civil War Gentlemen's clubs in the United States Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia Organizations based in Philadelphia Organizations established in 1862 1862 establishments in Pennsylvania Conservative organizations in the United States

History

Gallery

See also

References

External links