USA > Vermont > Bennington County > Manchester > Manchester, Vermont : a pleasant land among the mountains, 1761-1961 > Part 19
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William Howard Taft, the first president to be entertained here while in office, visited Manchester October 9 and 10, 1912. After an evening speech to the well-packed Music Hall, he shook hands with over 700 people and amid long and hearty cheering left to spend the night with Robert Todd Lincoln at "Hildene." Those who
9. Manchester Journal, September 5, 1912.
10. Sarah N. Cleghorn, entry September 1912, vol. VII (1910-1912). Clippings and notes kept for the Manchester Historical Society, p. 109.
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watched his exit were amused to see his close fit through the door of the Lincoln limousine.
Following the sudden accidental death of George Orvis in 1917, his widow, Anna Louise Simonds Orvis, continued to run the hotel. In June 1921 she sold the controlling interest in all Equinox properties, excepting the Equinox Spring Company, to Mrs. V. H. P. Brown of New York. Andrew Martin stayed to manage the hotel until May of the following year, when he severed his connection after forty-six years with the business. Apparently Mrs. Orvis re- gretted the action. In November 1922 came the announcement that she and Martin were back in control.
In late 1927 the famed bottling plant was turned into a waiters' dormitory and Mrs. Orvis, as leading stockholder and president of the Equinox Company, was looking for new enterprises to increase the volume of patronage to the Equinox House. Among these were an adequate airport in Manchester, the maintenance of an eighteen- hole golf course, and the construction of a new skeet field north of Equinox Pond. Unfortunately these were heavy financial loads com- ing at the time of a national depression.
The last recorded meeting of stockholders was April 16, 1938 and of directors, August 15, 1938. A petition was filed for bank- ruptcy and the company was legally dissolved.
In order to protect the welfare of the Village, a group of citizens took over the declining hotel and leased it to Arthur E. Langdon of Melrose, Massachusetts, and A. Rea Ball of Pine Orchard, Connect- icut. Langdon withdrew from active participation in 1939 and Ball took over the presidency of Ball and Langdon, Inc., making Frank- lin Hodgkins manager of the hotel.
On June 1, 1953 Ball leased the Equinox property for ten years to John J. Dewey of St. Petersburg, Florida, who, under the Dewey Hotel Corporation, now operates the hotel. Dewey, who has an op- tion to buy, has done as much as his predecessors in renovating, improving, and adding to the Equinox House. Among his major contributions have been a swimming pool and a number of guest villas.
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ยง Other "First-Class Establishments"
MANCHESTER has always been a town of inns and taverns. The Eliakim Weller tavern was the present Captain H. McConkey house on the east side of the Village Street near Dellwood Cemetery. The early Legislature met here on October 14, 1779, the first of three times in Manchester. Sometimes known as "Anna Weller's," the tavern was later the residence of Lieutenant-Governor Leonard Sargeant, Deacon Isaac Burton, and the Rev. Dr. George Smythe.
Also on the east side of the Street on the present site of the Equinox Junior was a tavern first operated by Truman Purdy, father of Mrs. Levi C. Orvis, Sr. It was later the property of Abram Straight and known as "Straight's Tavern." In 1907 an excellent well was discovered in front of the Equinox Junior which probably belonged to this very old inn. In this building were a courtroom and jail used prior to construction of the Court House. The Allis Tavern, where the early North Star Masonic Lodge met, is also said to have been in this locality. In 1866 F. H. Orvis acquired the prop- erty, rebuilt it, added the Seth Lyons house, and renamed the whole building the "Equinox Junior" as an annex to his Equinox House.
The Manchester Hotel replaced an old barn on the corner of Union Street and U.S. Rte. 7 opposite the Court House. Charles F. Orvis laid the foundation about 1861. The hotel opened in April 1863. It included a drugstore and the Manchester Water-Cure rooms of Dr. L. H. Sprague and later became another section of the Equinox Junior.
The Leland Tavern located on the Street below the present Equi- nox House was kept by Alexander and Simeon Leland, who also ran a stage line to Chester. It was in existence in 1830. Simeon kept a tavern on the other side of the mountain while his brother was host at the Manchester inn. A tavern on the West Road on what is now Overton property was kept by Captain Frederick Smith some- time prior to 1867.
The 1811 House property in the Village changed hands six times before it became the land of Jeremiah French, the Tory whose es- tate was eventually confiscated. Jared Munson bought the property
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from the state September 13, 1778.11 It is said that Governor Chit- tenden and his council stayed at this location while the Legislature of 1788 met next door in the meeting house. The dwelling was raised to two stories and otherwise enlarged and remodeled in 1811. The house stayed in the Munson family for many years until John Moffat, naming it the "Munson House," turned it into a year- round hotel. Among other owners have been John Boynton, O. Cushman, Charles Isham, and Henry B. Robinson. Isham, son-in- law of Robert T. Lincoln, made it into his private home in 1905. Robinson opened the inn in 1939 as the "1811 House" and still operates it.
The Pierpont Tavern (the Wickham residence now belonging to Elizabeth Page Harris) was operated by Robert Pierpont about 1795 and later, briefly, by Captain Peter Black.
The Orvis Inn had been built by 1833. It had five owners before Dr. Ezra Francisco bought it in 1851. Much of the large property was split up later and sold to various owners, the house being pur- chased by J. M. Shattuck. Charles F. Orvis bought it from William B. Thomas in 1883. Orvis, his son Robert, and his daughter Mary Marbury, operated it as a summer boarding house. It was later operated, though still only in the summer, by Mr. and Mrs. Robert Orvis. In 1937 Mrs. George Orvis leased the inn to run during the winter. It was one of the first in town to remain open through the season for the accommodation of skiers. The Robert Orvis's con- tinued summer operation until 1939 when their daughter, Rhoda, assumed most of the responsibility. John Ortlieb, a New York skier who first came to this area about 1935, was so impressed with the potential ski conditions that in 1940 he leased the Orvis Inn, buy- ing it in 1942. The inn was purchased by Mr. and Mrs. Henry B. Robinson in May 1957, who sold it to William D. Boardman in 1960.
Fiske's Summit House, located on the west side of U.S. Rte. 7 in the south part of the Village, was opened in 1884 by Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Fiske. A "plain, thoroughly comfortable farmhouse" ad- vertising "an abundant table," the Summit House accommodated fifty guests. Their daughter, Alice, took over the operation of the
11. Land Records, vol. I, p. 318.
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inn about 1900, renaming it "Macnaughtan's" and receiving a good patronage. It became the property of Mr. and Mrs. James McCooey in 1941, but the inn was forced to close following a serious fire.
The Worthy Inn, formerly the Orchard Park Hotel, was opened for the first time in 1907 by Charles H. Willard and Company. It was purchased in 1919 by the owner of the Hotel Worthy, Spring- field, Massachusetts, James T. Brown, who carried on the business under the name of the Manchester Hotel Company. In time he made extensive alterations and built up a thriving summer business. In April 1945 the hotel was purchased by Snow Valley, Inc., to ac- commodate the increasing number of skiers coming to Manchester. The inn, with lodgings for 150 guests, now caters to a brisk winter trade. A swimming pool has been added to its facilities.
The Wilburton Inn, former residence of James Wilbur, was pur- chased in October 1943 by John Ortlieb, who took possession fol- lowing the departure of the Windsor Mountain School, which had occupied the property for several years. The Wilburton Inn, Inc., of which Ortlieb is president, operates year-round.
The first tavern at Factory Point was kept by Martin Mead on the site of the present Colburn House. Prior to becoming a hotel in 1872, the Colburn House was on the farm of Martin Slocum, Josiah H. Bartlett, and E. A. Jameson. It was rebuilt for Cyrus Roberts by carpenters Orson Brewster, Henry Bundy, and Richard Cook. The third floor was made into a dance hall. The first guest to register was Charles Burton in April 1872. During a dance January 31, 1877, a fire started in the woodshed wing and despite a twenty- below temperature, it was quickly extinguished by the Manchester Street engine and the Factory Point "Great Falls."
The Colburn House, now noted for its excellent cuisine, once advertised itself as having "as pure spring water, by actual analysis, as it is possible to get." Owners and managers through the years have been John Vanderlip, John Moffat, John Angel, Henry Davis, Lorenzo Shaffner, Mrs. Shaffner, Berniece Weed, Perry Bond, David Rutledge, H. W. Mattison, William Caulstone, and Frank Bond. Bond ran the inn from 1905 until his death in 1947. On June 4, 1951 his son, Charles, sold it to Alex and Margaret Knothe, who are still the proprietors.
The Old Tavern at Manchester Center, the property of Walter
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Clemons since 1934, has been known as the "Stagecoach Inn," "Thayer's Hotel," and the "Fairview" and is said to have been built in 1790. Painted yellow with high white columns, it has been changed very little. One of its unique features is the third floor ball- room with a spring floor, small stage, and tiny dressing rooms under the eaves. Aaron Sheldon of Dorset, said to have been one of the best carpenters in the county, built this hotel.
The Brick Tavern at Barnumville, now the home of Reid Lefevre, Senator from Bennington County, was a stagecoach inn built about 1825. A successful hostelry, it was one of the best in the county be- cause of its location below the toll gate at the foot of the Peru Turn- pike. Here the teamsters stopped to rest their teams before going over the mountain, stabling their horses in a barn across the road. The tavern, originally of wood, has also been owned by men named Mattison, Bailey, Upton, Hicks, Cook, and Benedict.
The Brooks Tavern at Manchester Center was built by David Brooks. It opened about 1814 and stood on the corner between Harry Adams' home and what is now the Battenkill Locker (Adams Hall). The Briggs House at Manchester Center, also a tavern, was built by John Roberts. The property has since been owned by Eben Curtiss, Russell Dean, Dr. Claude Campbell, and James B. Camp- bell.
Building operations for the Battenkill Inn at Manchester Depot began in 1903. It was opened in 1905, a convenient stopping place for visitors getting off the trains. Robert Batchelder operated it un- til 1909. At one time the property of Burr and Burton Seminary, it was sold December 1944 to Peter Kregas and James L. Peters, who opened it as "Mt. Equinox Lodge." In 1952, under new ownership, it was named "Town Tavern." In 1960, it again bears its original name.
Estabrook's Opera House at the Center was originally a tavern built between 1815 and 1820 by James Borland with money bor- bowed from William Ames. Borland died in 1821 and Ames took over the inn. It had a wing at each end and a brick oven in the cel- lar. The blue tavern sign measured four by six feet with a red border. Painted on it were a bush full of birds and a man holding a bird. The inscription read-"A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush." In 1867 Julia Ames Hill sold the property to W. H. Fuller-
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ton, who sold it to Dr. Ezra Edson. When Emerson Estabrook bought it, he remodeled the third floor into an opera house and sold the west wing to H. W. Mattison for a home. Over 100 tickets were sold to the grand opening in May 1884.
In 1887 the hostelry was threatened by fire when Mrs. Estabrook aired some feather beds on the roof. They were touched off by sparks from the furnace of a tinsmith working there. (The loss was paid three days later by Fowler & Son, the insurance agency still in existence at Manchester Center.)
Unfortunately six years later, on December 22, 1893, the Opera House burned beyond repair. It was rebuilt in 1896 on the same premises, now the location of the Factory Point National Bank.
CHAPTER XXIII
Manchester-A Golf Mecca
F VOR nearly seventy years Manchester has had a golf course, and lovers of the ancient sport continue to find their way to this "center of summer golf" as naturally as did the first en- thusiasts of the game.
It was George A. Orvis, later proprietor of the Equinox House, who early recognized the growing popularity of golf as a recrea- tional attraction. In 1894 he laid out a crude six-hole course with fairways carved through prairie weed, tamaracks, and swamp in a rough field behind the hotel. Two years later Orvis again took the initiative and interested a number of golfers in developing a nine- hole course a little east of the Village on land north of Union Street. Six of these holes lay on Orvis property while the other three were "borrowed" from the pastureland of Judge Loveland Munson.
This was Manchester's earliest golfing group, "The Hillside Golf Club," composed chiefly of year-round residents. Though the club had rooms in the post office (Hard) block on Union Street, the hotel co-operated with the new sport by building a small clubhouse and locker room. In a short time Manchester welcomed its first pro- fessional, Harry Rawlins, whose brother, Horace, was later to be- come "pro" at the Ekwanok.
Manchester's summer community in "the gay nineties" was com- posed, as now, of hotel guests and part-time residents. While visit- ing here in 1899, James L. Taylor of Brooklyn, New York, a leader in the development of golf in the New York area, saw a much greater future for the town as a golf center. Deciding to make Manchester
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his summer home, Taylor negotiated for property consisting of a few acres on the east side of U.S. Rte. 7 through the Village and south of the River Road. He also acquired from I. L. Schuyler some 200 adjacent acres north of the River Road and extending east to the Battenkill.
All the early golfers agreed that this farm land in its beautiful mountain setting was admirably adapted in its natural layout for the construction of a first-class golf course. The rolling sweep of land with a stream running through it provided many natural hazards. Most American golf courses were characterized by straight- away fairways crossed at intervals with bunkers flanked by moats of sand. It is little wonder that this Manchester land looked good to golfers who appreciated the Scottish type of layout.
Taylor offered to deed a sufficient amount of this land for con- struction of an eighteen-hole course and a clubhouse. Meeting at the Manchester home of Henry W. Brown of Philadelphia Septem- ber 4, 1899 to consider and accept this offer were:
H. W. Brown and J. L. Taylor H. M. Sill and C. M. Clark, Philadelphia, Pa. Clark Burnham, Brooklyn, N. Y. Arthur Taylor, New York City George A. Orvis, Manchester, Vt. Herbert Cassard, Baltimore, Md.
The group formed the "Equinox Country Club" with a capital stock of $10,000 represented by 200 shares at a par value of $50 each. Taylor offered to take fifty shares of capital stock as payment for the land deeded.
Edward S. Isham of Chicago, Illinois, summer resident of "Ormsby Hill" in Manchester, was asked to be the club's first pres- ident. Upon accepting the honor, Isham suggested that the organi- zation be incorporated as the "Ekwanok Country Club," thus using what is attributed to being the Indian spelling of "Equinox." In addition to the founders and Isham, six more men signed the pro- posal for incorporation September 7, 1899:
Franklin H. Orvis, Manchester, Vt.
George E. Thacher, Albany, N. Y.
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B. F. Newcomer, Baltimore, Md. Edward J. Durban, Philadelphia, Pa. F. C. Brown, R. F. McQueen, and Joseph Lichtenauer, New York City
On this same date, I. L. Schuyler turned over the deed to James L. Taylor, making it possible for Taylor to give the land as promised to the Ekwanok Country Club.
The first board of governors included Edward S. Isham, James L. Taylor, George Thacher, H. M. Sill, Herbert Cassard, Clark Burn- ham, Arthur Taylor, George A. Orvis, Henry W. Brown, and C. M. Clark. The first officers assisting Isham were George H. Thacher, first vice-president; James L. Taylor, second vice-president; C. M. Clark, treasurer; George A. Orvis, clerk.
When Robert Todd Lincoln came to Manchester in 1905 to es- tablish summer residence, he was elected president and continued in that capacity until his death in 1926. It is said that when Mr. Lin- coln golfed with his famed "Lincoln Foursome" (which was often), they practically had the whole course to themselves. The foursome, composed of Mr. Lincoln, Robert M. Janney of Philadelphia, and Horace G. Young and George H. Thacher of Albany, broke up in 1920 upon the death of Janney. Shortly after Lincoln's death, Mrs. Lincoln presented the Ekwanok Country Club with his golf bag and clubs and also a handsome glass case in which to enshrine them. She also gave the Lincoln Memorial Cup, a trophy in annual com- petition during the Lincoln Memorial Tourney.
There have been only three secretaries in the history of the club. Clarence M. Clark held that position the longest, from 1899 to 1932. Stanley B. Ineson was secretary from 1932 to 1958 and has been succeeded by John S. McCormick, Jr.
After business transactions were over in 1899, James L. Taylor invited John Duncan Dunn, prominent golf course designer and architect from New York, and Walter Travis, eminent golfer, to de- sign the course. Both men had been in Manchester earlier to advise on the possibilities offered by Taylor's land. While showing them the property, he had remarked that someday it would either be a golf course or a sheep farm and Travis had replied, "I believe you will have one of the finest golf courses in the country."
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The turf seemed especially adapted for golf, being firm and springy, while the natural surroundings prevented "baking." The hazards were all natural, with "The Pit" being the largest natural hazard in the country. A force of some fifty men were employed constantly on the links in late September 1899. A steam roller did the leveling; prairie weed was uprooted; long ditches were dug for the many thousand feet of drainpipe to be laid; the greens were seeded. The course, presently 6,485 yards from the back tees, has undergone only minor change since 1903. The seventeenth green has been altered from an elevated figure eight to a flat putting green and the traps have been altered on the sixth and ninth holes. The original fifth hole, now the famous seventh, was on the land of Ar- thur Taylor and this was purchased from his widow in 1904.
When it was seen that the course would be ready for play in the summer of 1900, a special meeting of the incorporators was held March 16, 1900 in New York City for the approval of clubhouse plans submitted by H. Sellers, Philadelphia architect. Herbert Cas- sard, hardworking chairman of the construction committee, was authorized to contract with Hiram Eggleston, Manchester builder. It was Cassard who chose the location for the clubhouse, which was immediately in the rear of the present seventeenth tee.
At this time the only outlet to the highway from the deeded land was some distance down the River Road. This was rectified by the purchase of land from H. M. Sill, who constructed at his own ex- pense a driveway from U.S. Rte. 7 opposite Taconic Avenue to the clubhouse. The club thereby had a permanent right-of-way twenty- five feet wide. One more involved negotiation was needed before the entire course was to come under the ownership of the club. This was the purchase of the knoll on which the fifth hole was located from Mrs. Taylor in 1904.
On October 25, 1938 the clubhouse burned at an estimated loss of $75,000 and was immediately replaced by the present building through the generous financial assistance of Bartlett Arkell, presi- dent of the Beech-Nut Packing Corporation, Canajoharie, New York. The new Ekwanok clubhouse was built on the site of the tennis courts.
At the turn of the century, sentiment all over the country was strongly against certain forms of Sunday recreation, golf included.
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Mark Willing of Chicago offered $1,000 to the club with the stipu- lation that no golf be played on Sunday. A large majority of the in- corporators agreed with Willing. In fact, the deed from the James Taylors had specified that "this property should not be used dur- ing the Sabbath day for playing golf or for any other purpose in- consistent with the spirit of the existing laws of the State of Ver- mont." The acceptance of the restrictions was not altered until amendment was voted in July 1911 to eliminate this provision.
The Ladies' Committee, composed of a member from the family of each governor, was formed soon after the first stockholders' meeting July 3, 1900. These women have been responsible for much that is sociable and attractive at the club. It was Miss Elizabeth Isham who suggested the corporate seal-the crest of the Vermont coat of arms, a stag's head. The Bartlett Arkell trophy, decorated with Manchester scenes as rendered in silver from sketches by Luigi Lucioni, was presented to the club by Mrs. Arkell with a trust fund established by her for the annual prize for the medalist of the Robert Todd Lincoln tournament. Annual tourneys for the Orvis and Isham cups ended in 1927 and 1929 respectively.
The success of golfing in Manchester led to the forming of the Vermont State Golf Association in 1902. The first state champion- ship was played at the Ekwanok Country Club in 1903. In 1914 Francis Ouimet won the U. S. National Amateur Golf Champion - ship at the Ekwanok and in 1937 the New England Championship was held there. Patty Berg won a trophy in the first annual Ekwanok women's invitation tournament in 1936. Among other eminent golfers who have staged exhibition matches at the club are Joyce Wethered, English champion; Lawson Little; and Craig Wood. The course is recognized as one of the finest in the United States by a long list of outstanding professional players and golf enthusiasts.
Present officers of the Ekwanok Country Club are Charles S. Sargent, Jr., president; H. C. Keister, vice-president; Charles E. Childs, treasurer; Howard G. Marsden, assistant treasurer; John S. McCormick, Jr., clerk. On the Board of Governors are Allan Brown, John Byler, Charles E. Childs, William A. Coombs, Charles E. Davis, Jr., Maurice G. Field, H. C. Keister, John S. McCormick, Jr., John McGann, Harold S. Matzinger, Elam Miller, Charles W. Nichols, Jr., Carlton Overton, Robert C. Palmer, and Charles S. Sargent, Jr.
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Andrew J. Christie (1880-1961) was golf professional and green- keeper at the Ekwanok Country Club for twenty-six years. A native of Scotland, he came to Manchester in 1913.
The Orvis family were always ardent promoters of Manchester as a golfing center. Three were original stockholders of the Ekwanok club-Edward C. Orvis, Franklin H. Orvis, and George A. Orvis. The story of the Equinox Links Club belongs to another member of that enterprising family, Anna Louise Simonds Orvis, widow of George Orvis, and president of the board of directors of the Equi- nox Company.
It had been evident for a long time that the splendid course at the Ekwanok club could not possibly accommodate all who wished to play there. Mrs. Orvis was willing to invest her money to aid Man- chester in keeping a hold on the summer resort business. Land was purchased from Mrs. Fannie Strong and Mrs. Charles Isham. In July 1925 the Equinox Company began construction of an eighteen- hole course designed by Walter J. Travis. This club was to be op- erated and controlled by the management of the Equinox House and was named the "Equinox Links Club."
A force of some twenty men began draining the land and clearing underbrush, but it was not until the fall of 1926 that construction was finished. Travis spent his entire summer in Manchester giving the work his personal attention. The enterprise was commented upon throughout the state. One northern Vermont newspaper ap- plauded-"Good eighteen hole courses are not commonly found in pairs anywhere in the country."
Two houses just east of Wiley's store on Union Street were moved to make a site for the clubhouse, and foundations for the caddy house had been laid close by in 1925. During some eight years, caddies were supplied to both Manchester courses from a caddy camp run by Dr. and Mrs. F. T. Currie of Cambridge, Massa- chusetts, on Boynton Terrace above Prospect Street in the Village. These boys came solely from Cambridge and vicinity and it was not until depression years that the caddy camp was discontinued and local boys given an opportunity to earn money by caddying.
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