Bachelors Barge Club

Bachelors Barge Club is an amateur rowing club located at #6 Boathouse Row in the historic Boathouse Row of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is the oldest continuously operating boathouse in the United States.[4] It went through renovations as part of the "Light Boathouse Row" initiative, in which new LED lights were fitted to each of the boathouses.[5] Bachelors Barge Club is currently home to several programs, including the Conestoga High School Crew Team,[6] and the Drexel University Crew Team,[7] among several others.

Bachelors Barge Club
Location#6 Boathouse Row, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
Home waterSchuylkill River
Established1853
Navy admission1859 (reinstated 1882)[1]
Key people
  • James A. Meadowcroft (President)
  • Henry Hauptfuhrer (Captain)
  • John Rice (Treasurer)
  • Margaret Gordon (Coach)
Membership150[2]
ColorsNavy   and Red  
AffiliationsConestoga High School and Drexel University
Websitebachelorsbargeclub.org
Bachelors Barge Club
Bachelors Barge Club is located in Pennsylvania
Bachelors Barge Club
Bachelors Barge Club is located in the United States
Bachelors Barge Club
LocationPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania
Coordinates39.96978°N 75.18527°W / 39.96978; -75.18527
Part ofBoat House Row (ID87000821[3])
Added to NRHPFebruary 27, 1987

Founding

The founding fathers of Bachelors Barge Club were members of the Phoenix Engine Company, a volunteer fire-fighting organization. Initially, membership was limited to bachelors, however the Club opened its doors to married men shortly after its founding. Membership at the club has risen considerably since the early 1980s when the Club counted only 10 members.[2] Now, the majority of Bachelors Barge Club's 150 members are women.[2]

Israel W. Morris,[8] a prominent iron merchant and philanthropist, is credited with founding the club. He was also elected as its second president. Other prominent Old Philadelphian 19th century industrialist members include Charles F. Berwind (coal), William Weightman (chemicals), Maxwell Wyeth (pharmaceuticals), Charles E. Mather[9] (insurance), W. Atlee Burpee (seeds and plants), Clarkson Clothier (retailing) and J. B. Lippincott (publishing).

William Gilmore[10] and other members of Bachelors Barge Club won Olympic medals for the single and the four in 1924, the single in 1928, and the double in the 1932.[4]

In 1995, Barb Spitz and Izzie (Gordon) Brown won the silver medal in the Woman's lightweight Double event at the Pan AM Games in Argentina.[11] Also in 1995, the team, coached by Harold Finigan, won the Point Trophy at the Canadian Henley Regatta—winning every sculling event in the Intermediate and Senior Women's categories.[12] The next year, the athletes went on to win gold at the World Championships in Strathclyde. In 1996, Ty Bennin and Andy McMarlin won US Olympic Team Trials in the Men's 2x. Coached by Harold FInigan [13] In 1999, the club fielded a girls junior quad that qualified to row at the Junior WOrld Championships in Plovdid, Bulgaria.[14]

Cody Lowry was named to the 2009 US National Team to row in the Lightweight Men's Single Sculls.[15]

The Boathouse

Bachelors Barge Club occupied several boathouses in succession before 1860, when it built a stone building.[16] In 1884, architects Edward Hazelhurst and Samuel Huckel, Jr. designed the club's social up-river house in East Falls, the Bachelor's Button.[17] The two architects had teamed up in 1881, and maintained a 20-year partnership that produced residential and ecclesiastical architecture including the Union Methodist Church and the Mother Bethel A.M.E. Church.[17]

In 1893, the Fairmount Park Commission allowed the club to replace its 1860 building.[16] In 1894, construction was finished on the Mediterranean-style boathouse at #6 Boathouse Row, which was also designed by the Harlehurst and Huckel team.[17] Huckel became a member of Bachelors after designing its boathouse.[17] Today, the building remains relatively unchanged.[16]

Wharton Crew

The several organizations that row out of Bachelors include the Wharton Crew Team, which is the rowing team for Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania.[18] All other University of Pennsylvania crews row out of College Boat Club. Wharton Crew is one of the largest graduate and professional student athletic clubs at Penn.[18] The program owns two Vespoli eight shells –– the Wharton Journal and the Russell Palmer.[18] In 1997, team member and co-captain, John Hall, broke the world record in the master's lightweight 2000 meter ergometer.[19]

References
  1. "Boathouse Row". Living Places. Retrieved April 30, 2010.
  2. Thomas Eakins Head of the Schuylkill Regatta 2009 Program (PDF), Thomas Eakins Head of the Schuylkill Regatta, 2009, p. 18, retrieved April 30, 2010
  3. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
  4. "The Stotesbury Cup Regatta". Stotesbury.com. Retrieved May 5, 2010.
  5. "LEDs Rejuvenate Philly's Boathouse Row". Live Design. July 11, 2005. Retrieved May 5, 2010.
  6. "About Us, History". Conestoga High School Crew. Archived from the original on July 25, 2011. Retrieved May 5, 2010.
  7. "Drexel Crew to Row Out of Historic Bachelors Barge Club". Drexel University Athletics. Retrieved May 5, 2010.
  8. Morris Family Papers, Collection 2000B, 1695-1965 (bulk 1772-1884) (PDF), The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 2007, p. 12, archived (PDF) from the original on June 7, 2010, retrieved May 3, 2010
  9. "Transportation Mutual Insurance Company". A.M. Best's Insurance Reports: Fire and Marine. Alfred M. Best Company. 1919. p. 623. Archived from the original on July 7, 2011. Retrieved May 5, 2010.
  10. "William Gilmore". Olympedia. Retrieved October 29, 2021.
  11. Independent Rowing News, 12 March 1995 page 1
  12. Independent Rowing News 9 August 1995
  13. Independent Rowing News, 4 May 1996
  14. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on February 26, 2020. Retrieved February 26, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  15. "USRowing Announces 2009 World Championships Roster". United States Olympic Committee. August 10, 2009. Archived from the original on July 28, 2011. Retrieved May 5, 2010.
  16. "National Register of Historic Places Inventory--Nomination Form". NPS Focus, National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service, US Department of the Interior. November 27, 1983. p. 661. Retrieved May 7, 2010.
  17. "National Register of Historic Places Inventory--Nomination Form". NPS Focus, National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service, US Department of the Interior. November 27, 1983. p. 673. Retrieved May 7, 2010.
  18. "The Wharton Graduate Association Clubs, Crew & Rowing Club". Wharton Graduate Association. Archived from the original on 19 June 2010. Retrieved 14 May 2010.
  19. Arend, Jennifer (March 18, 1997). "Wharton crew team member paddles his way to break world rowing records". The Daily Pennsylvanian. Archived from the original on January 21, 2013. Retrieved May 14, 2010.

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