Alfred Corning Clark

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Alfred Corning Clark (November 14, 1844 – April 8, 1896) was the son of Edward Clark, a founder of the Singer Sewing Machine Company. Alfred Corning Clark was the father of Edward Severin Clark, Robert Sterling Clark, Frederick Ambrose Clark and Stephen Carlton Clark.

Between 1888 and 1891, Clark built the first gymnasium in Cooperstown, New York. Although very successful, the facility had become obsolete by the 1920s and was demolished and rebuilt by Edward Severin Clark. The new Alfred Corning Clark Gymnasium was reopened in 1930, sporting such improvements as a swimming pool and bowling alleys. That site is today now part of the Baseball Hall of Fame.

The successor to the original ACC Gym is the Clark Sports Center a greatly expanded facility, completed in the mid 1980's, located on the former grounds of Iroquois Farm (the F. Ambrose Clark estate) under the direction of Stephen C. Clark Jr., the great-grandson of the gym’s founder.

He was married to Elizabeth Scriven, who in 1902, after she was widowed, became the second wife of Henry Codman Potter, the Episcopal bishop of New York.

[edit] References

• Mark Simonson, The Daily Star: Clark family helped keep public in shape with gyms