Wedgwood Country Club
Started by cbellomy, Dec 19 2006 07:04 PM
10 replies to this topic
#1
Posted 19 December 2006 - 07:04 PM
Continuing with my stubborn insistence that even fairly recent suburban history still deserves to be recorded, I bring you the topic of the old Wedgwood Country Club. I live in the home where my wife grew up in the late 60s and 70s, and she remembers some aspects of the club fairly well, but her recollection of the exact location of the clubhouse, along with the routing of the golf course, doesn't make much sense to me.
Is there any information lying around somewhere telling the story of this doomed club? I'd like to know how nice it was considered when the neighborhood was young, what facilities it had, how many golf holes, where they were routed, when and why it closed, and the exact location of the clubhouse... among any other ephemera anybody might be able to conjure.
In exchange, I can tell about a jillion Lake Worth stories.
Is there any information lying around somewhere telling the story of this doomed club? I'd like to know how nice it was considered when the neighborhood was young, what facilities it had, how many golf holes, where they were routed, when and why it closed, and the exact location of the clubhouse... among any other ephemera anybody might be able to conjure.
In exchange, I can tell about a jillion Lake Worth stories.
#2
Posted 19 December 2006 - 09:10 PM
... old Wedgwood Country Club. I live in the home where my wife grew up in the late 60s and 70s, and she remembers some aspects of the club fairly well, but her recollection of the exact location of the clubhouse, along with the routing of the golf course, doesn't make much sense to me...
In High school (PHS) I dated a girl who loved a few blocks from where she said the CC was. That location was Wedgewood United Methodist Church, and I believe it was on Wonder Drive. Something tells me the congregation may have moved since that time (1976).
#3
Posted 19 December 2006 - 10:51 PM
Continuing with my stubborn insistence that even fairly recent suburban history still deserves to be recorded, I bring you the topic of the old Wedgwood Country Club. I live in the home where my wife grew up in the late 60s and 70s, and she remembers some aspects of the club fairly well, but her recollection of the exact location of the clubhouse, along with the routing of the golf course, doesn't make much sense to me.
Is there any information lying around somewhere telling the story of this doomed club? I'd like to know how nice it was considered when the neighborhood was young, what facilities it had, how many golf holes, where they were routed, when and why it closed, and the exact location of the clubhouse... among any other ephemera anybody might be able to conjure.
In exchange, I can tell about a jillion Lake Worth stories.
We moved to Wedgwood in the summer of 1958 and lived a few blocks from Wedgwood Country Club. Over the years it opened and closed several times under different owners before it was purchased for the newly formed Wedgwood Methodist Church. We joined the club for $10.80 a month in dues and had full access to the facilities. The building was on Wonder Dr. and you went up a steep drive way to enter the complex. The actual country club was composed of two separate buildings for formal use and also had a very nice pool and club room as well as tennis courts. The golf course was located in front and along Wonder Drive and was just a nine hole chipping course. All the kids spent everyday in the summer at the pool and they also had kids movies on Saturday's. They had the usual functions such as Sunday lunches, bingo, pool parties and other such. I believe the last owners name was Pearson. He and his wife ran the club and when it closed he managed a steak house on Camp Bowie. The building was of similiar architecture to homes in the area designed and built by Clinton Wright. The ranch house mentioned in another thread that was the birth place of Wedgwood is of similiar architecture. E. L. Baker was one of the developers of the area and I believe he and his family lived in the ranch house. It is located one street over from the country club. I went to school with his son when Bruce Shulkey opened in the fall of 1958. The church later moved to a new facility off Hulen I believe and the club was torn down and the pool filled with dirt. A new group home was then built on the location and is there today. Most of the surrounding land is still vacant.
#4
Posted 19 December 2006 - 11:53 PM
I believe the last owners name was Pearson. He and his wife ran the club and when it closed he managed a steak house on Camp Bowie.
London House?
If these are the same Pearsons I'm thinking of, my first wife and I used to babysit their kids back in the mid 80s. This is a twist to this story I never expected!
#5
Posted 20 December 2006 - 07:00 AM
I believe the last owners name was Pearson. He and his wife ran the club and when it closed he managed a steak house on Camp Bowie.
London House?
If these are the same Pearsons I'm thinking of, my first wife and I used to babysit their kids back in the mid 80s. This is a twist to this story I never expected!
That is the restaurant they owned. You are probably talking about babysitting their grandkids. In the early to mid 60's when they owned the country club, the Pearsons had two young children, a boy and girl probably 4 or 5 years old. They would have been grown by the 80's. I do seem to remember the son worked at the restaurant also.
#6
Posted 20 December 2006 - 10:18 AM
I think the Blue Raider fields sit on some of the land for the golf course. It was directly adjacent to the church property.
I wasn't around when it was a Country Club, but I spent a lot of time there when the church owned it. They hosted a Boy Scout Troop, 499, out of there for many years. It was a nice pool and was always used after summer meetings. The interior was getting long in the tooth though.
I wasn't around when it was a Country Club, but I spent a lot of time there when the church owned it. They hosted a Boy Scout Troop, 499, out of there for many years. It was a nice pool and was always used after summer meetings. The interior was getting long in the tooth though.
Erik France
#7
Posted 20 December 2006 - 01:52 PM
I think the Blue Raider fields sit on some of the land for the golf course. It was directly adjacent to the church property.
I wasn't around when it was a Country Club, but I spent a lot of time there when the church owned it. They hosted a Boy Scout Troop, 499, out of there for many years. It was a nice pool and was always used after summer meetings. The interior was getting long in the tooth though.
There was talk for years in the 60's that they were going to add a professional 18 hole golf course to the country club. All the land behind the club was just vacant land and there was plenty of room to build it. It never happened though. Blue Raider Field is on Alta Mesa just west of Southwest High School and close to a mile from the old country club. It has been there since the early 60's.
#8
Posted 02 December 2007 - 11:56 PM
Looks like I found this web site just in time! I have recently done some investigating about the Wedgwood Country Club on my own and I've learned quite a bit.
First, some background: I belonged to Cub Scout pack 499, and we held our den meetings in the Wedgwood Methodist Church in the late 1970s. (Our pack meetings were usually held at J. T. Stevens Elementary School.) But I also went to the swimming pool at that church quite often during those long, hot summers. Our family did not belong to the church but they sold season passes to anyone with $. I think my sister also used the tennis courts there.
Not until recently did I have any idea that the church had once been a country club. I went to a totally different church, which of course did not have a swimming pool and in my youth I wondered why. I have many happy memories of the Wedgwood Pool. Hard to believe that we didn't have cardboard windshield shades for our cars back then; after hot-footing our way out to the parking lot after a swim, our skin would be seared to the boiling-hot car seats in the station wagon!
I do remember once a big thunderstorm came through while our whole family was visiting that pool, and the lifeguards told everybody to get out of the water.
The swimming pool was quite big. It looked like a big, short letter "T." The top of the "T" was about five feet deep, and the middle of the "T" was the deep end... 10 feet, IIRC. That's also where the diving boards were. I never ventured into the deep end because I was too young and too scared. There was also a little kiddie pool nearby.
The church had an extremely steep entrance from the street and I could coast all the way downhill for several blocks on my bicycle... IF I didn't get creamed by a car on Wonder Drive! There was this line of big bushes blocking your view from the top of that hill, and you couldn't see any cars coming from there. More than once I took a chance and ended up dynamiting my brakes on my bike.
But after looking through some old phone books at the downtown FW central library, this is what I've been able to find out:
There was nothing at 6041 Wonder in 1962. But in 1963 the Wedgwood Country Club was constructed there; its telephone number was AX2-4759. It was still the Wedgwood Country Club in 1965 (tennis courts and swimming pool). But by 1966 it had become the Wedgwood Methodist Church. In 1980 it was still the Wedgwood Methodist Church. It was gone by 1983. At some point in the early 1980s the property was fenced off, the building demolished, and the swimming pool filled in with dirt. It stayed that way for many years, until a few years into the new millennium when a new building was constructed on the property. Today nothing remains of the church or the pool.
In June 2007 a childhood friend surprised me by mentioning that not only did he remember the pool, but he and his family were actually members of the Wedgwood Methodist Church back then. They lived on Walla, very close to the area. He supports the “died on the vine” theory of why the church closed.
In late November 2007 I talked to a representative of the local United Methodist Church headquarters in downtown Fort Worth, and she told me that their archives said that the Wedgwood Methodist Church did indeed just “die on the vine.” Membership had decreased to the point where it was no longer economically viable, so the congregation joined another local Methodist church en masse.
It wasn't until I read this web site that I learned that the country club had ever had a golf course. Much of that surrounding land is still undeveloped, though some big high-voltage power lines run over much of it. Strangely, even though I grew up in that area, not once in my entire life have I ever been to Blue Raider! I had several friends who did, though.
My family moved into our house in Wedgwood in late 1969 and my dad told me that he'd heard some scuttlebutt about local families not liking the country club because of all the traffic it generated or some such. Don't know for sure.
First, some background: I belonged to Cub Scout pack 499, and we held our den meetings in the Wedgwood Methodist Church in the late 1970s. (Our pack meetings were usually held at J. T. Stevens Elementary School.) But I also went to the swimming pool at that church quite often during those long, hot summers. Our family did not belong to the church but they sold season passes to anyone with $. I think my sister also used the tennis courts there.
Not until recently did I have any idea that the church had once been a country club. I went to a totally different church, which of course did not have a swimming pool and in my youth I wondered why. I have many happy memories of the Wedgwood Pool. Hard to believe that we didn't have cardboard windshield shades for our cars back then; after hot-footing our way out to the parking lot after a swim, our skin would be seared to the boiling-hot car seats in the station wagon!
I do remember once a big thunderstorm came through while our whole family was visiting that pool, and the lifeguards told everybody to get out of the water.
The swimming pool was quite big. It looked like a big, short letter "T." The top of the "T" was about five feet deep, and the middle of the "T" was the deep end... 10 feet, IIRC. That's also where the diving boards were. I never ventured into the deep end because I was too young and too scared. There was also a little kiddie pool nearby.
The church had an extremely steep entrance from the street and I could coast all the way downhill for several blocks on my bicycle... IF I didn't get creamed by a car on Wonder Drive! There was this line of big bushes blocking your view from the top of that hill, and you couldn't see any cars coming from there. More than once I took a chance and ended up dynamiting my brakes on my bike.
But after looking through some old phone books at the downtown FW central library, this is what I've been able to find out:
There was nothing at 6041 Wonder in 1962. But in 1963 the Wedgwood Country Club was constructed there; its telephone number was AX2-4759. It was still the Wedgwood Country Club in 1965 (tennis courts and swimming pool). But by 1966 it had become the Wedgwood Methodist Church. In 1980 it was still the Wedgwood Methodist Church. It was gone by 1983. At some point in the early 1980s the property was fenced off, the building demolished, and the swimming pool filled in with dirt. It stayed that way for many years, until a few years into the new millennium when a new building was constructed on the property. Today nothing remains of the church or the pool.
In June 2007 a childhood friend surprised me by mentioning that not only did he remember the pool, but he and his family were actually members of the Wedgwood Methodist Church back then. They lived on Walla, very close to the area. He supports the “died on the vine” theory of why the church closed.
In late November 2007 I talked to a representative of the local United Methodist Church headquarters in downtown Fort Worth, and she told me that their archives said that the Wedgwood Methodist Church did indeed just “die on the vine.” Membership had decreased to the point where it was no longer economically viable, so the congregation joined another local Methodist church en masse.
It wasn't until I read this web site that I learned that the country club had ever had a golf course. Much of that surrounding land is still undeveloped, though some big high-voltage power lines run over much of it. Strangely, even though I grew up in that area, not once in my entire life have I ever been to Blue Raider! I had several friends who did, though.
My family moved into our house in Wedgwood in late 1969 and my dad told me that he'd heard some scuttlebutt about local families not liking the country club because of all the traffic it generated or some such. Don't know for sure.
#9
Posted 19 July 2011 - 12:40 AM
To my surprise, I found a recently posted image of what the Wedgwood Country Club looked like during the planning stage:
http://www.fortworth.../wedgwoodcc.jpg
This drawing is a little different from the way I remember the building and surrounding area appearing when it was Wedgwood Methodist Church, but it's close.
As I recall, the main building held the sanctuary and several activity rooms. If all you wanted to do was use the big swimming pool, you parked your car in the big parking lot and walked over to the other building, which contained locker rooms and the concession stand/ticket booth (tennis courts were behind this building).
http://www.fortworth.../wedgwoodcc.jpg
This drawing is a little different from the way I remember the building and surrounding area appearing when it was Wedgwood Methodist Church, but it's close.
As I recall, the main building held the sanctuary and several activity rooms. If all you wanted to do was use the big swimming pool, you parked your car in the big parking lot and walked over to the other building, which contained locker rooms and the concession stand/ticket booth (tennis courts were behind this building).
#10
Posted 19 July 2011 - 10:11 AM
I live in Wedgwood and have heard there once was a country club . Had no idea where it was located until now. It would've been nice if the place could have become a community center for Wedgwood after the church folded, but alas, such is history.
My neighbor across the street as well as myself live in houses built by Clinton Wright (he informed me of the following once he learned of my interest in architecture). In our case he used the Fort Worth architectural firm known as Kneer and Hamm to design our structures. Wright himself lived in a very nice mid-century modern house on Kimberly that was on the market earlier this year (wasn't on long...apparently it sold quickly!). William Kneer, I think, built a house on Wooten, the section of Wooten that picks up off Trail Lake after it and Woodway split (downhill from the dance studio). It is still there last time I looked, but could use a little TLC.
Wedgwood is still a desirable neighborhood, for the most part. Just wish it had a community center...at least we still have a library.
My neighbor across the street as well as myself live in houses built by Clinton Wright (he informed me of the following once he learned of my interest in architecture). In our case he used the Fort Worth architectural firm known as Kneer and Hamm to design our structures. Wright himself lived in a very nice mid-century modern house on Kimberly that was on the market earlier this year (wasn't on long...apparently it sold quickly!). William Kneer, I think, built a house on Wooten, the section of Wooten that picks up off Trail Lake after it and Woodway split (downhill from the dance studio). It is still there last time I looked, but could use a little TLC.
Wedgwood is still a desirable neighborhood, for the most part. Just wish it had a community center...at least we still have a library.
#11
Posted 19 July 2011 - 06:31 PM
The country club site is currently owned by the All Church Home for Children. While much of the property is vacant, they have a couple of group homes there.
After the club house was torn down, plans were filed with the city to redevelop the property as townhouses. I believe those plans fell apart during the savings and loan crises. (I must be getting really old, I am now in my second real estate crash). You may remember that to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary, Perry and Nancy Bass donated $50 million to a variety of charities. One of those charities was the All Church Home. Shortly after the announcement of this gift, they purchased the old country club site. I think the All Church Home purchased the property from the FDIC or RTC.
You can see the old clubhouse in this 1963 aerial:
http://www.historica...88771&year=1963
After the club house was torn down, plans were filed with the city to redevelop the property as townhouses. I believe those plans fell apart during the savings and loan crises. (I must be getting really old, I am now in my second real estate crash). You may remember that to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary, Perry and Nancy Bass donated $50 million to a variety of charities. One of those charities was the All Church Home. Shortly after the announcement of this gift, they purchased the old country club site. I think the All Church Home purchased the property from the FDIC or RTC.
You can see the old clubhouse in this 1963 aerial:
http://www.historica...88771&year=1963
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