From a 1924 summer-colony plan to a century of Mount Union golf.
The surviving record shows a project that evolved over several years. Tom Bendelow approved the terrain for an 18-hole course in 1924. The first nine holes were playable when the clubhouse opened in 1927, and the final nine were built during the years that followed. That phased story is more precise than treating a single date as the completion of every club facility.
R.P.M. Davis helps convene an organizing meeting at Mount Union High School. Contemporary reporting describes 128 stockholders and charter members and a 300-acre tract on the Walter Gifford farm, formerly the Cowden farm, acquired from Hercules Powder Company.
After visiting the site, golf architect Tom Bendelow writes to Davis that the rolling terrain is suitable for an 18-hole course. His letter documents the design vision, not a completed course.
Reports describe a project approaching 600 acres, assembled from several farms. Roads, water, sewer service, cottages, golf, swimming, tennis, boating, fishing, and trapshooting are part of the plan. Anna Wagner Keichline designs the Spanish-influenced stone-and-stucco clubhouse; Charles H. Baldwin builds it.
A dance marks the formal opening. The first nine golf holes are already in use, the pool is nearing completion, and another nine holes have been started. Contemporary opening reports separate what was playable from what promoters still planned to build.
The club publishes its own newspaper, hosts social events, expands the cottage colony, and continues building the golf course. A 1931 article credits superintendent William H. Griffith with constructing the last nine holes during his three years at the club.
The Juniata River devastates the cottage colony. Homes are swept away or torn open, possessions scatter downstream, and the club’s filing cabinet is recovered about 200 yards from where it had been stored. Its soaked records are unreadable.
A June 1936 trustee sale to a group led by Robert C. Yocum Jr. becomes entangled in a tax dispute. A court sets the sale aside in 1937. On April 2, 1938, the Home Association of Simpson-Hunt Post 107 purchases the property at a new trustee sale.
The new owners organize committees, repair greens and fairways, improve the pool and tennis courts, and offer golf, swimming, dancing, food, and children’s recreation. The property becomes the American Legion Country Club.
A clubhouse addition opens in 1947 as membership grows. In 1951, Bob Goodman, Ike Cunningham, Clyde Leighty, and Sam Price assemble championship trophies and plaques in the club bar, preserving a record that links the Colony Club and Legion eras.
Open and invitational events draw professionals and amateurs to Mount Union. A 1962 advertisement promotes the twelfth annual Mount Union Invitational with $3,000 in prizes and sponsorship from businesses across the region.
A new two-person amateur best-ball event brings golfers and returning families together for competition, dinner, dancing, and swimming. Don Dimoff Sr. and Butch Yelovich win the inaugural tournament. It grows into ALCC’s largest annual golf tradition.
Elinor Wible’s 48 club championships gain national attention in Sports Illustrated in 1986. The June Invitational reaches its 50th playing in 2024 and continues to attract a full field. After the 2026 fire at the Legion’s Stone House, the country club also becomes the base for continuing Post 107 operations.
This timeline draws on the club’s Golf archive and the wider local History archive. Where later recollections conflict with reporting made at the time, the contemporary report is identified here.