Preparations for Annual Country Club Race Ball Held in Pelham in 1887

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The Country Club that opened in Pelham in 1884 was the site of many Steeplechase and other horse races.  Members of the Club held an annual "Race Ball" that formed the centerpiece of a region-wide celebration of the opening of the Races at the Country Club.  Below is a brief article published in 1887 describing preparations for one such ball.

"RURAL DELIGHTS.
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PREPARATIONS FOR THE COUNTRY CLUB BALL.
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The annual Country Club race ball will be given to-night at the club house, Bartow on the Sound, and the members of the club who have country seats near by will all have their houses full of parties coming up from town for the occasion.  The lady patronesses who will receive the guests are Mrs. James M. Waterbury, Mrs. Frank de R. Wessman, Mrs. Marion Story, Mrs. Frederic W. Jackson, Mrs. Howard N. Potter, Mrs. C. Oliver Iselin, Mrs. W. H. Sands and Mrs. Alfred Davenport.  The decorations of the club house will be of fall flowers and foliage, and emblems of the hunt and race will be used.  Mr. Tom Howard will be present to lead the cotillon.  Among the guests who are expected to be present are Colonel and Mrs. De Lancey Kane, the Misses Iselin, Miss Mabel Wright, Miss Annie Cutting, Mr. and Mrs. James L. Breest, Mr. and Ms. S. S. Sands, Jr., Mr. Hamilton Cary, Miss Cary, Mr. Charles A. Munn, Miss Romaine Stone, Messrs. Brockholst and William Cutting, Mr. A. de Navarro, Mr. Center Hitchcock, Mrs. John Zerega, Miss Charlotte Zerega, Miss Edith Newcomb, Miss Van Auken, Mr. Stanley Mortimer, Mr. Thomas Hitchcock, Jr., Mr. and Mrs. Charles Pelham Clinton, Mr. Foxhall Keene, Mr. and Mrs. James Low Harriman, Miss Paget and Mr. Aimerie Paget. . . . "

Source:  Rural Delights - Preparations for the Country Club Ball, The Evening Telegram-New York, Oct. 21, 1887, p. 2, col. 3. 

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