Club moves from Butler estate in 1892 and changes its name to Fox Meadow Tennis Club

Around 1892 the Club moved close to its present location, to a site just off Church Lane on land then owned by the Pophams and loaned to the Club by Lewis Popham1. At the new location, members played on four dirt courts. The Club changed its name to Fox Meadow Tennis Club about the time it shifted to the Popham land. However, even after the turn of the century, newspapers continued to refer to the Scarsdale Lawn Tennis Club. In the Club's first two decades, the community around it began to change appreciably. The trolley arrived with great fanfare on the Post Road in 1895; the town hired its first policeman in 1908; and the town's first store, the Scarsdale Supply Company, opened for business in 1912. Source: Diana Reische, Fox Meadow Tennis Club – The First Hundred Years,/em>, 1983 Note 1: Emily O. Butler, daughter of Charles Butler acquired the property in 1911 and lease[...]

Club informed that Butler land to be sold (1922) but offered first right of refusal on their leased land and two additional acres. Tennis Realty Corp. formed to acquire the land and title taken in 1923

Two years passed, and land prices rose sharply. In 1922 the Butlers informed the Club that the property it occupied would be put up for sale forthwith. The Club received first refusal for a three-acre site—encompassing the existing courts and two additional acres selling for $20,000, $5,000 more than in 1920. Faced with this friendly but firm notice to buy or move out, the Club acted decisively. John Jackson (head of a special committee evaluating possible locations for a permanent home) was instrumental in reorganizing the Club so it could finance the purchase. The Club became two legal entities, a corporation that bought and held the property and a tennis club that leased it The new Tennis Realty Corporation planned to issue capital stock of $20,000, divided into 400 shares, to be sold to old and new members at $50 a share. Each member could buy up to ten shares. As membership [...]

Club records sparse between 1886 and 1913. Alexander M. Crane elected FMTC President (1903-1904 & 1906)

Information about the Club is sparse between 1886 and 1913, when a new regime of record-keepers and minutes-takers took charge. There are some tantalizing fragments of information, however. Women were not only members before the 1913 reorganization; they also served on the Board of Governors, and one woman was president of the Club for at least two years, 1907 and 1909. Her election was described in a 1907 Scarsdale Inquirer: “Owing to an oversight, we have omitted any account of the annual meeting of the Scarsdale Lawn Tennis Club, which took place on the third Thursday of April, at the residence of Colonel Crane. Mr. Alexander M. Crane, the president, directed the meeting. The following officers were elected: President, Miss Hopeton Drake Atterbury; vice-president, Rupert W. K. Anderson; secretary, Harry Van Cortlandt Fish; treasurer, Robert Campbell Winmill; governing [...]

J. Lawrence Gilson President (1922-1923); Scarsdale Inquirer rates the Club’s singles players and notes pending move of the club from Church Lane

Scarsdale Inquirer, April 22, 1922

T. H. Owens elected FMTC President (1913). Club reorganizes and new constitution written.

In 1913 the Club reorganized completely, with 142 "charter members." Membership was limited to twenty persons per tennis court, and any individual over sixteen years old was eligible. After the 1913 reorganization, women were no longer elected to the Board of Governors, and they did not have a direct voice in managing the Club again until the 1970s. The new Club constitution stated that "the objects for which this club is formed are to provide and maintain proper grounds and facilities for playing the game of tennis, the development of social life among its members, their physical improvement and enjoyment, the accommodation and entertainment of the members and guests of the Club, and the promotion of the welfare of the neighborhood." Source: Diana Reische, Fox Meadow Tennis Club – The First Hundred Years, 1983

First women President. Hopeton D. Atterbury elected FMTC President (1907,1909); Club has strong family tradition.

Hopeton Atterbury's connections illustrate both the family nature of Fox Meadow Tennis Club and the continuity of many family ties with the organization. The Club's only woman president (1907-1909) to date1 was one of seven Atterbury daughters at "Woodlands," a twenty-five-acre estate off the Baraud extension of Drake Road just over the New Rochelle border. A niece recalls her as a champion horsewoman and a commanding presence. Hopeton Atterbury married Club member William Quaid, one of Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders in the Spanish-American War, and both remained active members of Fox Meadow. Quaid's sister Vera married Francis (Frank) Ayres, a president of the Club from 1916 to 1919. Hopeton Atterbury's sister Isabel was the mother of member Anne Sanford. Source: Diana Reische, Fox Meadow Tennis Club – The First Hundred Years, 1983 NOTE 1: Since Diana Reische[...]

WWI breaks out – July 1914

Difficult financial times for the Club.

J. Nelson Shreve elected FMTC President (1914-1915); articles of incorporation filed, a portable clubhouse installed, purchase of Wayside Cottage considered The period after 1913 appears to have been financially precarious, as neighboring clubs built and upgraded their facilities. The Scarsdale Golf Club built tennis courts in 1911, and in 1912 the County Tennis Club in Hartsdale constructed a clubhouse. Both events apparently lured some members and potential members from Fox Meadow. The Club's treasurer wrote endless letters dunning people for lapsed dues and asking payment for such items as tennis balls. (New balls were forty cents each, used balls twenty-five cents.) The Club's treasury did not cover all costs, as is indicated by the following letter from Herbert B. Shronk concerning a $45 bill for trophies: "As the Club now has in its treasury only about $10, it will be necessa[...]

Fox Meadow only tennis club in Country to allow women to play on weekends

Scarsdale Inquirer May 19, 1923

Search for permanent home begins (1916-1922).

By 1916 a joint committee with members from both Fox Meadow Tennis Club and the Town Club had been formed to “prepare a financial plan for procuring a site for the Club.” Within a year the Fox Meadow Board of Governors noted that the Butlers seemed willing to sell the Club three or four acres at Fox Meadow for approximately $4,000 an acre. World War I interrupted efforts to buy a permanent home and reorganize the Club. Eleven members' names were shifted to an Inactive Military List at no dues for the duration of the war. In 1917 the Club held a tournament to benefit the Scarsdale Red Cross and sent off a check for $300 from the proceeds. There do not seem to have been regular tournaments during this period for, in 1919, Rollin Kirby suggested that preparations be made for holding tournaments. Club President Frank Ayres favored junior tournaments and advocated allowin[...]