Brooklawn Country Club:
Drawing on the Past, Living into the Present, Building for the Future
Golf and tennis plus a range of recreational activities, an active social life, a place for families and friends. What was true of Brooklawn Country Club at the close of the 19th century is true of the club today. It’s the same … but evolved for the 21st century. A 9-hole course designed by members is now one of the finest 18-hole courses in Connecticut; three dirt tennis courts are a now seven-court tennis center; where no pool existed is a swimming and recreational complex; a farmhouse that once served as the clubhouse is today’s 50,000-square-foot center of club social life. Yet members are here today for the same reasons they were well over a century ago: to recreate, relax, enjoy themselves, share experiences with family and friends.
In that environment, the power and commerce elite of Bridgeport began to discuss the formation and structure of a new club where they could bring their families for the enjoyment of various athletic and social activities. The group was led by Dr. I. DeVerWarner, one of the Bridgeport’s most powerful businessmen. In May of 1895, Brooklawn Country Club was founded, officially incorporated as the Brooklawn Club Corporation.
At about the same time, Clapp Spooner, a wealthy business owner himself, had the idea of fine homes in a planned community on the outskirts of Bridgeport. Over the years, he acquired farms and other land and eventually his dream came alive when he assembled a large and impressive tract that he named “Brooklawn Park.” The newly formed Brooklawn Club Corporation signed a lease with Spooner for 60 acres and the use of a farmhouse and barn as its clubhouse facilities (sited where today’s 15th green is located). The catalyst practically ensuring the success of this venture in days well before automobiles were in common use was the extension of the trolley line down Brooklawn Avenue (now Stratfield Road) virtually to the front door of the clubhouse. Such was the beginning of Brooklawn Country Club.
At the time of the club’s founding, golf was a newly arrived import from the British isles and right away it became a central part of club life. Golf shared the spotlight with baseball, archery, tennis and trap shooting in those early years. Aquatics had a less than auspicious start at Brooklawn, as construction of a pool was approved by just a single vote in a referendum of members … and that wasn’t until 1932. Platform tennis debuted in the 1940s. Bowling goes back farther in time; the first two lanes date to 1897 and an era when pins were set by hand; that changed in the mid-1960s when the club installed what was considered “high tech”—automated pinspotters. Of course, social life has always been the hub of club activity, evidenced by the fact that just two decades after its founding Brooklawn built its present clubhouse, which the media promptly labeled “the showcase of Bridgeport.”
Brooklawn today continues to build for the future. A 17-bay maintenance facility for golf course and grounds equipment opened in 2019, and a complete renovation of the first floor of the clubhouse was completed in the fall of 2022. Plans are also in the works for an expansion of the platform tennis center, and the Club continues to have an active membership, a sound financial structure and dedicated professionals leading the golf, tennis, platform tennis and swimming programs.
The timeline that follows highlights notable events and people in Brooklawn’s long history. There are many: legendary golfers like Gene Sarazen whose game was formed at Brooklawn; five United States Golf Association championships; and a golf course that bears the unmistakable hand of golden age architect Albert Warren Tillinghast.
Brooklawn Historical Highlights
1895
Brooklawn founded by Bridgeport industrialists and financiers led by Dr. I. DeVer Warner
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Club rents land with existing farmhouse for use as clubhouse
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Members lay out original 9-hole golf course
1896
Brooklawn becomes one of the earliest members of the United States Golf Association
1897
Two bowling lanes installed at the clubhouse
1899
First tournament organized by the League of Connecticut Golf Clubs held at Brooklawn; group later becomes Connecticut State Golf Association
1900
Two-time Open Championship winner J.H. Taylor plays matches at Brooklawn
1903
Club builds three dirt tennis courts
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Four-time U.S. Open champion Willie Anderson wins the inaugural (and only) Brooklawn Open
1904
Brooklawn member Georgianna Bishop wins the U.S. Women’s Amateur at Merion Golf Club
1905
Club purchases land previously rented for the golf course, clubhouse and other structures as well as additional land now occupied by 17th and 18th holes and tennis center
1910
Club purchases Cornell Farm, enabling expansion of golf course to 18 holes
1916
Present clubhouse opens; six new clay tennis courts built on site of present tennis center
1917-1918
Gene Sarazen hired as assistant in golf shop
1920
Golfing legends Harry Vardon, Ted Ray and Francis Ouimet compete in exhibitions at Brooklawn
1921
Member “Watty” Watterson plays on victorious U.S. Davis Cup team; later inducted into Tennis Hall of Fame
1932
Course redesigned by A. W. Tillinghast opens for play; Gene Sarazen headlines opening event five days after winning the U.S. Open
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Brooklawn opens its first swimming pool
1940's
Two platform tennis courts installed
1974
Club hosts U.S. Junior Amateur
1979
Club hosts U.S. Women’s Open
1987
Club hosts U.S. Senior Open
1995
Brooklawn marks 100th anniversary with black tie gala among other events
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Current swimming pool opens
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Tiger Woods holds clinic for Bridgeport youth
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Summer vacation Kids’ Club established
2001
Current tennis center opens with new pavilion, seven courts, lights for night play
2003
Club hosts U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship
2020-2021
Brooklawn celebrates 125th anniversary in 2020
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Club hosts 3rd U.S. Senior Women’s Open in 2021