Merion Cricket Club is a private club in Haverford, Pennsylvania

Haverford, Pennsylvania

Haverford is an unincorporated community located partially in Haverford Township in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, USA, but primarily in Lower Merion Township in Montgomery County, about west of Philadelphia. It is on the Main Line, which is known historically for its wealth. As of August 2009,...

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

Frank Furness

Frank Heyling Furness was an acclaimed American architect of the Victorian era. He designed more than 600 buildings, most in the Philadelphia area, and is remembered for his eclectic, muscular, often idiosyncratically scaled buildings, and for his influence on the Chicago architect Louis Sullivan...

 and his partner, Allen Evans (a Club founder).

History

The club was founded in October 1865 by William Montgomery and Marshall Ewing, and its first meeting held 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

Wynnewood, Pennsylvania

Wynnewood, Pennsylvania is a suburban community located outside of Philadelphia in Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania and Haverford Township, Pennsylvania, United States. Wynnewood was named in 1691 for Dr. Thomas Wynne, William Penn's physician and the first Speaker of the Pennsylvania General...

, on land owned by Col. Owen Jones. The second (1873–80) was an industrial building in Ardmore, Pennsylvania

Ardmore, Pennsylvania

Ardmore is a census-designated place in Delaware and Montgomery counties in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The population was 12,455 at the 2010 census...

, 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 Cassatt

Alexander Johnston Cassatt was the 7th president of the Pennsylvania Railroad , serving from June 9, 1899 to December 28, 1906. Frequently referred to as A. J. Cassatt, the great accomplishment under his stewardship was the planning and construction of tunnels under the Hudson River to finally...

, a vice-president of the Pennsylvania Railroad

Pennsylvania Railroad

The Pennsylvania Railroad was an American Class I railroad, founded in 1846. Commonly referred to as the "Pennsy", the PRR was headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....

 (later PRR president), paid for the fireproof clubhouse.

On the club grounds there are indoor and outdoor tennis

Tennis

Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

 courts, paddle tennis

Paddle tennis

Paddle tennis is a game adapted from tennis and played for over a century. Compared to tennis, the court is smaller and has no doubles lanes, and the net is lower. Paddle tennis is played with a solid paddle as opposed to a strung racquet, and a depressurized tennis ball is used along with an...

 courts, squash

Squash (sport)

Squash is a high-speed racquet sport played by two players in a four-walled court with a small, hollow rubber ball...

 courts, a bowling

Bowling

Bowling Bowling Bowling (1375–1425; late Middle English bowle, variant of boule Bowling (1375–1425; late Middle English bowle, variant of boule...

 alley, dining facilities and a ballroom

Ballroom

A ballroom is a large room inside a building, the designated purpose of which is holding formal dances called balls. Traditionally, most balls were held in private residences; many mansions contain one or more ballrooms...

. Seasonally, the club has Croquet

Croquet

Croquet is a lawn game, played both as a recreational pastime and as a competitive sport. It involves hitting plastic or wooden balls with a mallet through hoops embedded into the grass playing court.-History:...

 and cricket

Cricket

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

 events also. Many famous tennis players have visited the club, including Arthur Ashe

Arthur Ashe

Arthur Robert Ashe, Jr. was a professional tennis player, born and raised in Richmond, Virginia. During his career, he won three Grand Slam titles, putting him among the best ever from the United States...

 and Björn Borg

Björn Borg

Björn Rune Borg is a former world no. 1 tennis player from Sweden. Between 1974 and 1981 he won 11 Grand Slam singles titles. He won five consecutive Wimbledon singles titles and six French Open singles titles...

.

Merion Golf Club

In 1896 members of the Merion Cricket Club founded the Merion Golf Club

Merion Golf Club

Merion Golf Club is a private golf club located near Ardmore, Pennsylvania that is consistently rated by Golf Digest, among America's greatest golf courses, and will host the U.S. Open in 2013...

 which has hosted the United States Open Championship

U.S. Open (golf)

The United States Open Championship, commonly known as the U.S. Open, is the annual open golf tournament of the United States. It is the second of the four major championships in golf, and is on the official schedule of both the PGA Tour and the European Tour...

five times. The Merion Golf Club will host the U.S. Open in 2013. In 1941, this became a separate club.

External links

• Merion Cricket Club
• Merion Cricket Club at Historic American Buildings Surveyhttp://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?hh:1:./temp/~ammem_QOwM::