A place for the wealthy to play and socialize... but what was there before wealthy families began settling in Penllyn?
Sycamore Farm and the Foulke Family
While the Foulke family was known to own the mansion by the Penllyn station, they have another mansion directly north from Penllyn. It started with William Foulke (1708-1775) who stated in his will that his son Jesse Foulke (1742-1821) will take over the family mansion while his other son Levi Foulke (1739-1815) will take over the other mansion north of Penllyn. It wasn't clear if Levi was responsible for building the mansion or only the eastern end of the home. The mansion had the initials "L & A.F.," presumably belonged to Levi and his wife Ann.
Over the years the mansion was passed on from Levi to his son William Foulke (1767-1833), and then to his son William Foulke (1802-1882). This William had the property from 1833 to 1865 when he sold it to Daniel C. Wharton (1808-1876).
A Start of a New Club
It was 8 at night when a group of wealthy neighbors met at the home of J. Waln Vaux in Penllyn. In the meeting, they discussed about the formation of a club in the area. As a result, the group named J. Waln Vaux as President and Henry McKean Ingersoll as Secretary and Treasury. The Penllyn Club was officially charted in June 1900 for the purpose of "social enjoyment and the encouragement of cricket, golf, tennis, and other athletic sports."
At first they began a golf club, and hired a landscape architect to design the course. Unfortunately, their plan failed in 1902, and surrendered the landscape to the cows.
In 1903, the club purchased the former Wharton estate for about $6,400.
In 1905, they built a swimming pool, which was considered a "radical idea" since there wasn't any swimming pools in the area or even in Philadelphia neighborhoods. A year later, a Polo Club was founded by Alfred Biddle, Francis Bond, William Hart, Edward and Harry Ingersoll, Harry Markoe, Jr., and Henry and Richard Vaux.
Fun Fact #1: The Penllyn Polo Club defeated the champions, the US Army team, in the Twelve Goal Tournament.
Bibliography
"Club History." Penllyn Club. Accessed June 7, 2022. https://www.penllynclub.com/club-history.
Herman, Andrew Mark. Eastern Montgomery County Revisited. (Charleston: Arcadia Publishing, 2005): 73.
Jenkins, Howard Malcolm. Historical collections relating to Gwynedd, a township of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, settled, 1696, by immigrants from Wales, with some data referring to the adjoining township, of Montgomery, also settled by Welsh. (Philadelphia: Howard Malcolm Jenkins, 1897): 250-252, 260, 268-269, 274-275.
Laffaye, Horace A. Polo In The United States: A History. (Jefferson: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2011): 106, 139.
"Local History Sketch. Interesting Local Matter Collected by 'E.M.' The Old Evan Hugh Grant and Its Boundaries--Foulke Family in Possession 137 Years--Progeny of Hugh Foulke--William Dudley Foulke, Esq." Ambler Gazette. November 16, 1916. Page 7. http://digitalcollections.powerlibrary.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/wivp-gazett/id/7096/rec/3.
Morris, William E, and Smith & Wistar. Map of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania: from original surveys. [Philadelphia: Smith & Wistar, 1849] Map. https://www.loc.gov/item/2012590207/.
Scott, J. D. Montgomery County 1877, Gwynedd, North Wales, Ambler, Royer's Ford, Limerick Station, 1877.
Yen... I'm hoping we can meet one day. My wife and I are the current Club Stewards at Penllyn Club and we are very interested in discovering all the history of the Club we can so that we can share it with Club Members. Your work is wonderful, and is the most we have yet been able to find; this is very important information. If you know more about the Club I would love to find out all I can. We live at the Club if you would be interested to come visit. Feel free to call me at 610.805.5322 or email me at accessknapp@gmail.com.
It’s awesome to hear that both sides of my family were instrumental in the development of the Penlyn Club. Thank you for do such diligence in your eresearch!