The Automobile Club of America (ACA) was the first automobile club formed in America in 1899. The club was dissolved in 1932 following the Great Depression and declining membership.

History

Early history

On June 7, 1899, a group of gentlemen auto racers met at the

Waldorf-Astoria Hotel The Waldorf Astoria New York is a luxury hotel and condominium residence in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, New York. The structure, at 301 Park Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets, is a 47-story, Art Deco landmark des ...

in Manhattan and founded the Automobile Club of America. The Automobile Club of America was officially incorporated on August 15, 1899, in order to "maintain a social club devoted to the sport of automobilism and to its development throughout the country". The original directors of the club were: Frank C. Hollister, Charles R. Flint, George Moore Smith, Winslow E. Busby, Whitney Lyon, George F. Chamberlain, Homer W. Hedge, and William Henry Hall of New York City and V. Everit Macy of Scarborough-on-Hudson. While it was called the Automobile Club of America, it was really a local organization. It was a founding member of the

American Automobile Association American Automobile Association (AAA) is a federation of motor clubs throughout North America. AAA is a privately held not-for-profit national member association and service organization with over 60 million members in the United States and Cana ...

(AAA) in 1902. In 1907, the organization built its clubhouse, which was essentially a garage at 247 West 54th Street with a terra-cotta exterior. Architect

Ernest Flagg Ernest Flagg (February 6, 1857 – April 10, 1947) was an American architect in the Beaux-Arts style. He was also an advocate for urban reform and architecture's social responsibility. Early life and education Flagg was born in Brooklyn, New ...

"designed a sophisticated factorylike building with great banks of metal windows, set in a rich screen of glazed terra cotta, particularly fulsome on the second floor. There, a double-height assembly hall, modeled on one at Château de Cheverny in the

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, ran 100 feet across the building’s front, adjacent to a grill room on the same scale at the back."

Feud with AAA

In 1908, the AAA increased their membership dues, leading to a falling out with the ACA. The Automobile Club of America (ACA) created the American Grand Prize, the first traces of Grand Prix style racing in the U.S. along, and in competition with, the then established Vanderbilt Cup – sanctioned by the AAA's Racing Board. This race escalated the feud between the ACA and the AAA. Later in 1908 it was decided that AAA would sanction all big time racing nationally and the ACA would sanction all international events held on American soil. On December 2, 1908, AAA dissolved the Racing Board and created the Contest Board soon after. Though the rationale for this decision has been lost with time, the move was most likely done to allow AAA to oversee all automobile events and not just racing contests.

Post-1908

In 1909, after the number of members looking for garage space doubled, the club built an addition on West 55th Street. By 1910, membership in the club was up to 1,000. In 1923, however, the club sold the complex and the original buildings were converted to other uses before being torn down in 2008. William L Harkness house 12 east 53rd st

William L Harkness house 12 east 53rd st

The club relocated to the former Fisk- Harkness townhouse at 12 East 53rd Street and separately negotiated blocks of space in garages around Manhattan. The Fisk–Harkness House had , which represented an increase of over the club's existing space in the automobile district south of

Columbus Circle Columbus Circle is a traffic circle and heavily trafficked intersection in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Manhattan, located at the intersection of Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eighth Avenue, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway, ...

. Furthermore, 12 East 53rd Street was close to several other clubhouses along Fifth Avenue, including those of the University Club, Union Club, Calumet Club,

Knickerbocker Club The Knickerbocker Club (known informally as The Knick) is a gentlemen's club in New York City that was founded in 1871. It is considered to be the most exclusive club in the United States and one of the most Aristocracy (class), aristocratic gent ...

, and Metropolitan Club. The Club received a $190,000 mortgage on the new building in early 1924. After undergoing $100,000 worth of renovations, the clubhouse was dedicated in April 1925. The clubhouse was among the locations where New York license plates were distributed. Events hosted at the house included a luncheon with a

League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...

Non-Partisan Association official, an annual session of the National Highway Traffic Administration, as well as

bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...

games and tea dances. In the 1920s, the ACA quietly rejoined the AAA.

Decline and demise

The club had a peak membership of 6,000, but following the

Great Depression in the United States In the United States, the Great Depression began with the Wall Street Crash of October 1929 and then spread worldwide. The nadir came in 1931–1933, and recovery came in 1940. The stock market crash marked the beginning of a decade of high u ...

, several thousand members left the club. As a result, in January 1932, the Automobile Club's governors voted to dissolve the club. The East 53rd Street building was placed for sale at a foreclosure auction that August, and it was sold to the

Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York The Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York (also known as Mutual of New York or MONY) was the oldest continuous writer of insurance policies in the United States. Incorporated in 1842, it was headquartered at 1740 Broadway, before becoming a ...

for $50,000. The building was later renovated into the showroom of art dealer Symons Galleries in 1938.

Prominent members

Among the prominent members of the Club were: * Charles R. Flint * Homer Hedge * V. Everit Macy * Grant B. Schley * Arthur H. Woods * Edmund L. Baylies * James A. Blair Jr. * Egerton L. Winthrop Jr. * James A. Burden Jr. * Chauncey M. Depew * Elbert H. Gary * Alan R. Hawley * Hamilton Fish Kean * Clarence H. Mackay * Juliana Cutting * William W. Miller * Dudley Olcott * Percy Avery Rockefeller * Henry Rogers Winthrop II * Henry R. Taylor

History

Early history

Feud with AAA

Post-1908

Decline and demise

Prominent members

References

Sources

See also