The New York Athletic Club Opens its New Clubhouse on Travers Island in Pelham in 1888

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A number of articles appeared in local newspapers in 1888 describing the opening of the New York Athletic Club's new clubhouse on Travers Island in Pelham. One such article appeared in the June 11, 1888 issue of the New-York Tribune. The text of that article appears below.

"ATHLETES IN THEIR SUMMER HOME.

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THE NEW-YORK ATHLETIC CLUB ENTERS ON ITS NEW CLUB-HOUSE AND GROUNDS.

Whenever clubmen have the treat of entering new quarters and vieing the results of the labors of a committee, always selected from those who are known for their good taste and their ability to act in accordance therewith, they are wont to show their appreciation in an enthusiastic manner. Such a spectacle was that witnessed when one of the firmst clubs of New-York took possession of its new house in Fifth-ave. a few weeks ago, but the enthusiasm displayed then could not compare for intensity with the feelings which were shown by half a thousand members of the New-York Athletic Club when they enjoyed the opening of their new summer home on Long Island Sound yesterday.

At 10:30 a.m. a special train left the Grand Central Station for Pelham Manor, and seven carloads of athletes were shortly after deposited on the greensward amid the usual attributes of a country scene. The jovial crowd at once strung out into a long line, which proceeded over typical country roads and footpaths to their destination in a kind of slow-going steeplechase over single-plank bridges, stone-walls, rail fences and all, to Travers Island. Among those who set their dusty feet on the island for the first time after its reconstruction were Walter Stanton, Thomas R. Keator and son, Joseph Longhman, G. Y. Gilbert, T. Warren Lawton, J.P. Thornton, Washington Morton, Frank Dickinson, William Murray, A. H. Curtis, B.C. Williams, Walter E. Peck, W.F. Shaw, Dr. Bartlett, Dr. Taylor, Charles T. Belden, William H. Raymond, James Schuyler, R. S. Luqueer, Carl Mayhoff, George H. Scott, J.J. O'Donahue, Edward Schenck, Frank Romayne, E. Clifford Potter, G. Hilliard, James Moore, Arthur H. Moore, J. Rhinelander Dillon, A. W. S. Cockran, Captain Frank Evans, Captain Waldo Sprague, Archibald Townsend, Charles Coster, Ed. Seibel, Edward Fuller, A. G. Mills, Dr. Guitteras, the ex-champion middle-weight of Harvard, Major Kipp, Judge Hyett, H. E. Toussaint, the champion swimmer, John Gulick, William E. Cable, Douglas Smythe, the club-house architect, J. H. Dalliva, of Detroit, Dr. D. McKeon, C. Cuskley, Max E. Moore and Edward Townsend.

Before noon a number of delegations arrived, among them being representative groups of the members of the New-York Riding Club, The Citizens' Bicycle Club, the Larchmont Yacht Club, the 7th Regiment and a number of rowing clubs. Shortly after noon T. Warren Lawton made a short address on behalf of President A. V. DeGolcouria, whom illness prevented from being present, and Mr. Lawton formally handed over the island to the club members, and, on the other hand, in the name of the club, thanked the members of the island committee for their endeavors."

Source: Athletes in Their Summer Home, New-York Tribune, June 11, 1888, p. 2, col. 6.

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