ABOUT THE CLUB


"In the lives of most members, the Country Club of Detroit holds a special place.  In a setting of inordinate beauty, it has the ability to brighten one's spirit on a glorious fall day or urge one to outdoor activity when the flowers first appear in spring.  But the majestic building and its expansive grounds are only the housing for something more important:  the fellowship of friends who congregate here."

Eugene A. Gargaro, Jr.
Past President

It was unseasonably cold, in the low 40's, when eight of the city's business elite walked or drove their horse-drawn carriages to the Detroit Club on October 1, 1897.  The men who gathered for lunch in that convivial environment were an eclectic group: manufacturers of freight cars, spring steel, stoves, varnish and steam boilers; two railroad lawyers; and the owner of Detroit's first skyscraper.  They had come together to found the Country Club of Detroit, intending to take over an existing clubhouse on Lake St. Clair in the Village of Grosse Pointe Farms.  Passion for golf drove them.  Introduced to Grosse Pointe just four years earlier, the game was growing in popularity.  By earlier agreement with five others, the group agreed this day to form the club with all 13 as its board of governors and attorney Henry Russell as chairman.  The first home of the Country Club of Detroit, with some updating, was the same clubhouse Mr. Farmer described in his 1886 book about Grosse Pointe.  In it he provided details of the Grosse Pointe Club building designed by architect W.E. Brown.  “The Club House is 100x140 feet in size, with a kitchen wing next to the west side...The main approach is through a Porte cohere fronting the road which leads to a deep loggia 12x30 feet in size," said Mr. Farmer.  "This gives entrance to the main hall fifteen feet wide, which extends through the building and ends in a loggia 16x30 feet in size on the lake front of the building." 


In 1905, members voted to buy the lakefront grounds and build a new clubhouse.  Their facility, now 19 years old, needed extensive repairs.  Albert Kahn, the city's preeminent architect, went to work.  The old building was razed and construction began on the new clubhouse in 1906.  Mr. Kahn's creation was admired by W. Hawkins Ferry in his book The Buildings of Detroit:  "Without indulging in the pretentious or the falsely picturesque, he was able to combine monumental simplicity with informal charm." The new four-story clubhouse opened on May 30, 1907.  "Early in the morning automobiles began to arrive and by noon hundreds were lined up in front of the clubhouse.  "Gay crowds all on pleasure bent filled the grounds and building," reported the Detroit News.  "Golf, boat racing, tennis, baseball and several other sports were on the list."  The clubhouse had 20 single bedrooms and similar number of guest rooms with a bath for every two rooms. 

The Country Club of Detroit was growing quickly---one year after the new clubhouse opened, membership reached 536.  As a demand for land rose, it became clear that the club must own its golf course or run the risk of losing it subdivision by subdivision.  In late 1910, members were offered two pieces of land and British golf architect Harry S. Colt was hired to design a golf course on the former Wier Farm, referred to as the "upper property".  The new course opened in September 1912, and for what remained of the playing season, the old course was in use as well.  Leases on the old links were then canceled at the end of the year.  Colt adjusted the new course in 1913 so that it totaled 6,412 yards.  A locker room and pavilion were built near the current site of the clubhouse and bridle paths and a trapshooting field were added.  At the lakeside "lower property" activities continued as before except that golfers now played at some distance from their clubhouse.  This was the situation for the rest of the decade during which time the yachting enthusiasts enjoyed the club's waterfront location while the golfers came to see it as an inconvenience.  The split came to a head in 1920 when the membership took up the issue of a clubhouse on the golf course grounds.  The Board knew that operating two clubhouses would not make financial sense so they had a vote in 1921 to which the yachtsmen lost to the golfers, however, the yachtsmen did obtain the opportunity to bid for the lakefront clubhouse should they wish to form a new club of their own.  On July 4, 1923 after more than a year of construction, the new clubhouse formally threw open its doors.  The beautiful lakefront clubhouse, the scene of so many fine parties over its quarter century as the Country Club of Detroit, closed at midnight on June 10, 1923.  Club members could now fully focus on their new home, which the Detroit District Golf Association's magazine The Detroit Golfer called a "triumph" in its August, 1923 issue.  "Albert Kahn has...provided everything that could possibly be desired in a country club, with not a jarring note," it said.  The building was described as "old English" and "of rambling character."  Housed on two floors, it was 350x176 feet with a main lounge measuring 35x65 feet.   Members had just two years to use their magnificent clubhouse before disaster struck.  At 3:45 a.m. on Sunday, October 18, 1925, fire broke out above the second floor and spread through all of the building except the kitchen wing. "Many members visited the wreckage Sunday afternoon and sought to retrieve personal belongings." the Detroit News reported.  

Within two days, the board hired Smith, Hinchman & Grylls to design a new clubhouse.  In spring 1926, a decision was made to purchase the Hall Estate, which totaled 147 acres between the club's western boundary and Moross Road.  The firm of Colt & Allison submitted plans for a redesigned golf course in April and earth began to move.  At the same time, clubhouse construction was underway.  And, to add to what must have been a chaotic situation, summer play on the golf course continued while both crews worked.  The golf course was completed at the end of the second summer, welcoming its first round on September 3, 1927.  The Smith, Hinchman clubhouse opened earlier, on April 23, 1927.  As October, 1929 arrived, the club's membership was at an all time high. 

The early 1960's brought focus on the golf course grounds.  By 1964, plans were made to add 20 trees to the course due to the spread of Dutch elm disease.  This was followed up at the turn of the decade by the tree replacement program initiated by Ralph T. McElvenny.    Discussions about the addition of a nine-hole course became serious and in 1964, the board approved a new three-par course designed by Robert Trent Jones.  The new course opened the summer of 1966.  Capital improvements continued with air-conditioning added to parts of the clubhouse in 1964 and two more tennis courts being built in 1967.  The swimming pool was heated in 1965 and the bowling alley was refurbished in 1969 after 30 years of use.  With the clubhouse a half century old, the 1970's and 1980's brought many projects aimed at renovating the facility.  The Great Hall was refurbished in 1974 and the Main Dining Room, Cocktail Lounge, Terrace Room and the Board of Governors' Room were renovated in the early 1980's.  In the summer of 1996, the club initiated the most extensive alteration to the golf course since Robert Trent Jones remodeled it in 1950's, and Mr. Jones played a role in this round of improvements as well.  Early in the year, the board retained Robert Trent Jones, Jr., as long term consulting architect for the course.  His master plan included minor revisions to the bunkers, tee improvements, some tree pruning, relocation and removal, drainage system upgrades and replacement of all the greens.  The renovations were completed by opening day of 1997. 

In 1997 CCD celebrated its 100th year of existence in its fourth clubhouse surrounded by its third golf course. Ten clay tennis courts, four platform tennis courts, six bowling lanes, a magnificent outdoor pool and a short nine hole course all help to make the club a center for sports activities.

What activities have occurred at CCD over these 100+ years fills history books. The Club’s history spans WWI, Prohibition, the Stock Market crash of 1929, the following depression, WWII, the era of the debutantes, all the big bands in America, and several clubhouse transformation parties beautiful beyond imagination.

Those turn of the century children and their parents began a hundred-year tradition of focusing on family activities at the club that continues today.  And as those earlier children grew into the adults who formed the content of the club's life, so will today's young people- well grounded in the sports and social amenities that create such a rich experience at the club---form the future of tomorrow's Country Club of Detroit. 

In Good Company.