About Cherry Hill
Cherry Hill Club Limited – The Beginning
Letters Patent for the Cherry Hill Club Limited were issued by the Ontario Provincial Secretary, on December 28,1922. Capital for the venture was set at $100,000 and nine prominent Buffalo citizens were the founders who acted as provisional directors. Each of the founders, with the possible exception of one, owned property on the Canadian shore of Lake Erie, in and around the Point Abino area. These men were listed in the original club documents as follows:
“Howard Bissell and Jesse Chase Dann, Bankers; Henry May, Capitalist; Walter Fleming Stafford and Roland Lord O’Brian, Brokers; Joseph Harrison Morey and Edward Emerson Coatsworth, Attorneys; John Fitzgerald Fairbairn, Physician; and Walton Olie King, Manufacturer; all Of the City of Buffalo, in the State of New York, One of the United States of America.”
The stated purpose of the Club was :
“To establish a country club for the encouragement of golf, tennis, bowling and other sports, and for the maintenance of a country place for social meeting and purposes of amusement, and to carry on any other business which may seem to the Company capable of being conveniently carried on in connection with its business, or calculated directly or indirectly to enhance the value of or render profitable any of the Company’s property or rights.”
Cherry Hill Golf Course under construction c. 1924.
The Club purchased two farms, which had been operated by the Barnhardt and Laur families. The Barnhardt property was known as Cherry Hill Farm, and its farm house was situated near the current Clubhouse site. The Laur property was to the east, and the original red brick farm house is now used as the Club Office.
Architect ,Walter J. Travis, was retained for a fee of $3000 to design the golf course. Much of the intent and make-up of Travis’ original design remains intact today, although the order of the nines was reversed early in the Club’s history, for unknown reasons.
William E. Harries was one of the original subscribers of stock in Cherry Hill, and his firm, Harries and Hall, cleared the land and built the course according to Travis’ design. His estimate for this work, submitted to the board was $52,245.72. Construction of the course took place in 1923 and the spring of 1924. Sand was hauled in by a horse-drawn cart from Point Abino and 5,000 evergreen seedlings were purchased from the Canadian government.
On July 9, 1924 the first official round of golf was played on the nine holes that were then ready for play. The Clubhouse was also completed at that time, and the first board meeting was held at the Clubhouse on July 2,1924. The Club officially opened July 11, 1924 with a dinner dance for members and families only. On July 19 there was a buffet supper and dance for members and guests. The cost for each affair was $3.00 per plate. The year-end audit showed that the total cost of building the Clubhouse and a caddie house was $97,584.54.
In retrospect one can safely say that the stated purposes in the founding of the Club have been upheld for these many years, and that the early choices and expenditures made by the founders, have benefited generations of Cherry Hill members in immeasurable terms.
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