Fairmount Rowing Association
Fairmount Rowing Association is an amateur rowing club, founded in 1877. The facility, located at #2 Boathouse Row in the historic Boathouse Row of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is on the National Register of Historic Places.[1] Fairmount originally catered to blue-collar youths living in the Fairmount neighborhood.[2] In 1916, after decades of being rejected, the club was finally allowed to join the Schuylkill Navy.[2] The Club boasts being known as the "premiere club for Masters rowing in the mid-Atlantic region"[2] and has produced several world class rowers.[3][4][5]
History of the boathouse
The structure currently known as #2 Boathouse Row is a result of a 1945 expansion project that eliminated #3 Boathouse Row by merging it into Fairmount Rowing Association’s building at #2 Boathouse Row.[2]
Pacific Barge Club
Pacific Barge Club was founded in 1859, but was not a member of the Schuylkill Navy.[6] In 1860, Pacific Barge Club built a stone cottage-style boathouse at the site of #2 Boathouse row.[6] Half of the building was occupied by the Pacific Barge Club while the other half was rented to the Philadelphia Boat Club.[6] In 1881, the Fairmount Rowing Association purchased #2 Boathouse Row and Pacific Barge Club’s equipment.[2]
In 1904, Fairmount Rowing demolished the stone building built by Pacific Barge Club. Walter Smedley, a founder of the T-Square Club, designed the Georgian Revival style Flemish bond brick structure that replaced the 1860 stone boathouse and now occupies the southern half of the Fairmount Rowing's boathouse.[2] Smedley, specialized in colonial revival residences, and also designed the Northern National Bank and the West Philadelphia Title and Trust Company.[7]
Camilla Boat Club and Quaker City Barge Club
Camilla Boat Club was a founding member of the Schuylkill Navy.[8] Camilla was a champion of the Schuylkill, but the Club disband as a result of disagreements between members.[9] In 1858, the remnants of the defunct Camilla Boat Club reorganized to form Quaker City Barge Club.[10]
By 1866, Quaker City Barge Club had purchased #3 Boathouse Row from the Pacific Barge Club.[11] Among various rowing accomplishment, Quaker City raced the first four oared boat with coxswain.[12] The Quaker City Barge Club began to decline in the 1880s and never raced in the Schuylkill Navy Regatta after 1926.[2] In 1932, the Quaker City Barge Club declared itself “inactive” in the Schuylkill Navy and became completely defunct in the 1940s.[2] In 1945, under the leadership of John Carlin, Fairmount Rowing Association bought Quaker City Barge Club's equipment and absorbed its boathouse, which now serves as the northern half of Fairmount Rowing's boathouse.[2]
References
- ^ NPS Focus, National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service, US Department of the Interior designating buildings 1-15 E. River Dr. (Boathouse Row) as Historic places. Search "Boat House Row" in the Resource Name box.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Silverberg, Lee (19 May 2008). "A Very Brief History of the Fairmount Rowing Association". Fairmount Rowing Association. http://www.fairmountrowing.org/history.htm. Retrieved 1 May 2010.
- ^ Teresa Z. Bell won an Olympic medal in the Lightweight Women’s Double. See Walker, Teresa M. (28 July 1996). "U.S. Rowing Women Fall Short Of Gold". Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/sports/olympics/daily/rowing/july/28/row28.htm. Retrieved 1 May 2010. Bell was rowing out of Fairmount. See "Schuylkill Navy Honors Philadelphia's National Teamers". Rowing News 3 (22): p. 3. 15–29 December 1996. http://books.google.com/books?id=YUcEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PP3. Retrieved 1 May 2010.
- ^ James Castellan competed in the 1976 olympics. See Hood, Clifton R. (June 2006). "Penn in the Olympics: Penn Athletes Competing in the Olympic Games". University Archives and Records Center, University of Pennsylvania. http://www.archives.upenn.edu/histy/features/sports/olympics/athletes.html. Retrieved 1 May 2010. Castellan is a Fairmount rower. See Silverberg, Lee (19 May 2008). "A Very Brief History of the Fairmount Rowing Association". Fairmount Rowing Association. http://www.fairmountrowing.org/history.htm. Retrieved 1 May 2010.
- ^ *Stan Cwiklinski, 1964 US Olympic gold medalist in the Men's Eight, rowed with Fairmount until joining Vesper Boat Club in 1963. See Stan Cwiklinski sports-reference.com
- ^ a b c Peverelly, Charles A. (1866). "Pacific Barge Club". The Book of American Pastimes. New York. p. 217. http://books.google.com/books?id=j1cqAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA217.
- ^ Moak, Jefferson (27 November 1983). "National Registry of Historic Places Inventory--Nomination Form". NPS Focus, National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service, US Department of the Interior. p. 674. http://image1.nps.gov:9001/StyleServer/calcrgn?cat=NHLS&item=Text/87000821.djvu&style=nps/FOCUS-DJview.xsl&wid=640&hei=480&oif=jpeg&props=item(SUMMARY,COPYRIGHT),cat(Name)&page=23. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
- ^ Crowther, Samuel; Arthur Brown Ruhl (1905). "The Beginnings of Rowing". Rowing and Track Athletics. New York: MacMillan. p. 24. http://books.google.com/books?id=vxULAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA24.
- ^ Peverelly, Charles A. (1866). "Quaker City Barge Club". The Book of American Pastimes. New York. p. 208. http://books.google.com/books?id=j1cqAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA208.
- ^ Kelley, Robert F. (1932). American rowing; Its Background and Traditions. G. P. Putnam's sons. p. 59. http://books.google.com/books?id=4v2BAAAAMAAJ&q=camilla.
- ^ Peverelly, Charles A. (1866). "Quaker City Barge Club". The Book of American Pastimes. New York. p. 210. http://books.google.com/books?id=j1cqAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA210.
- ^ Heiland, Louis (1938). The Schuylkill Navy of Philadelphia, 1858 - 1937. Philadelphia: The Drake Press, Inc. p. 60. http://books.google.com/books?id=vRdrOgAACAAJ.
Further reading
- "Boathouse Row". Living Places. http://www.livingplaces.com/PA/Philadelphia_County/Philadelphia_City/Boathouse_Row.html. Retrieved 30 April 2010.
- "Thomas Eakins Head of the Schuylkill Regatta 2009 Program". Thomas Eakins Head of the Schuylkill Regatta. 2009. p. 18. http://www.hosr.org/2009HOSRPROGRAM.pdf. Retrieved 30 April 2010.
- "National Registry of Historic Places Inventory--Nomination Form". NPS Focus, National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service, US Department of the Interior. 27 November 1983. pp. 659–60. http://image1.nps.gov:9001/StyleServer/calcrgn?cat=NHLS&item=Text/87000821.djvu&style=nps/FOCUS-DJview.xsl&wid=640&hei=480&oif=jpeg&props=item(SUMMARY,COPYRIGHT),cat(Name)&page=10. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
- Burt, Nathaniel (1999). "The Schuylkill Navy". The Perennial Philadelphians: the anatomy of an American aristocracy. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 297. ISBN 9780812216936. http://books.google.com/books?id=L9ueb6r1uXgC&pg=PA297.
- Heiland, Louis (1938). The Schuylkill Navy of Philadelphia, 1858 - 1937. Philadelphia: The Drake Press, Inc. p. 69. http://books.google.com/books?id=vRdrOgAACAAJ.
- Janssen, Frederick W. (15 August 1888). "Quaker City Barge Club". Outing Library of Sports: American Amateur Athletic and Aquatic History 1829-1888. New York. p. 212. http://books.google.com/books?id=j2p68grSMFoC&pg=PA212.
- Keyser, K. C. (1872). "The Pacific Barge Club and The Quaker City Barge Club". Fairmount Park: Sketches of its Scenery, Waters, and History (5th ed.). Philadelphia: Claxton, Remsen, and Haffelfinger. pp. 131–32. http://books.google.com/books?id=pWKQ8GKMRigC&pg=PA130.
- Scharf, John Thomas; Westcott, Thompson (1884). "Public Squares, Parks, and Monuments". History of Philadelphia, 1609-1884. 3. L. H. Everts & Company. p. 1871. http://books.google.com/books?id=8uYkAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1871.
- Stillner, Anna (2005). The Philadelphia Girls’ Rowing Club: An Incremental Historic Structure Report (Thesis). pp. 100–01. http://repository.upenn.edu/hp_theses/41. Retrieved 30 April 2010.
- Sweeney, Joe. "The History of the Penn Athletic Club Rowing Association: Part 2 - Beginning of the Clubs". Schuylkill Navy. http://www.boathouserow.org/pac/pachist2.html. Retrieved 30 April 2010.
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