History

In the heart of Pennsylvania's Juniata Valley, the story of American Legion Country Club unfolds as one of vision, collaboration, and community. It began on August 26, 1924, when R.P.M. Davis, a retired banker and manufacturer, called a meeting at Mount Union High School to launch what would become the largest public enterprise ever undertaken by the people of Mount Union — a country club and summer colony on the 300-acre Walter Gifford farm, organized as the Juniata Valley Realty Corporation and Juniata Valley Country Club with 128 stockholders and charter members.

The clubhouse, swimming pool, tennis courts, and an 18-hole golf course were completed by 1926, drawing influential members including Governor J.S. Fisher, former Governor William C. Sproul, Pennsylvania Railroad President General W.W. Atterbury, and Penn State President Ralph D. Hetzel. The St. Patrick's Day Flood of 1936 devastated the property and pushed the club into bankruptcy; after a brief, short-lived sale, The American Legion purchased the club on June 6, 1937, and transformed it into the American Legion Country Club that continues today. Membership grew sharply after World War II, prompting a clubhouse addition in 1947.

The club's legacy is tied to two names in particular: golf course architect Tom Bendelow, who envisioned the 18-hole layout in a letter to R.P.M. Davis, and Anna Wagner Keichline, the pioneering architect who designed the main clubhouse building.