Pennsylvania Barge Club is an amateur

rowing Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically atta ...

club, situated along the historic

Boathouse Row Boathouse Row is a historic site located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on the east bank of the Schuylkill River just north of the Fairmount Water Works and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It consists of a row of 15 boathouses housing social and ro ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. It was founded in 1861 and joined the

Schuylkill Navy The Schuylkill Navy is an association of amateur rowing clubs of Philadelphia. Founded in 1858, it is the oldest amateur athletic governing body in the United States. The member clubs are all on the Schuylkill River where it flows through Fairmou ...

in 1865. The club's boathouse, at #4 Boathouse Row, is also known as the Hollenback House, named for William M. Hollenback, Jr., who served as President of

USRowing The United States Rowing Association, commonly known as USRowing, is the national governing body for the sport of Rowing in the United States. It serves to promote the sport on all levels of competition, including the selection and training of ...

from 1979 until 1985. Painter

Thomas Eakins Thomas Cowperthwait Eakins (; July 25, 1844 – June 25, 1916) was an American realist painter, photographer, sculptor, and fine arts educator. He is widely acknowledged to be one of the most important American artists. For the length ...

was most likely a longtime member of Pennsylvania Barge Club. His friend, Max Schmitt, rowed for the club, and won the single sculls championship 6 times. In Schuylkill Navy races, Pennsylvania Barge had 359 entries and 106 victories. Its teams represented the United States in the 1920 (four-with-cox), 1924 (four-with), 1928 (four-with and four-without), and 1932 (pair-with) Olympic Games. As a result of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the club suffered a drastic reduction in membership. In 1955, the Club turned its boathouse over to the

. Thereafter, the Pennsylvania Barge Club served as an administrative center for rowing, including serving as Headquarters for the

National Association of Amateur Oarsmen The National Association of Amateur Oarsmen, organized in 1872, was the first national governing body of the sport of rowing in the United States, and the first American sports organization to publish a definition of "amateur". Before the NAAO, re ...

, which later became

. The building also housed the

, the United States rowing Society (formerly Schuylkill Navy Association), the Philadelphia Scholastic Rowing Association, the Middle States Regatta Association, and the Dad Vail Rowing Association. In 2009, the club was reactivated and reinstated as a member of the Schuylkill Navy.

History of the boathouse

In 1868, the club received permission from the

Fairmount Park Fairmount Park is the largest municipal park in Philadelphia and the historic name for a group of parks located throughout the city. Fairmount Park consists of two park sections named East Park and West Park, divided by the Schuylkill River, with ...

Commission to build a replacement for its brick house. Between 1869 and 1871, the Club erected a boathouse with

Crescent Boat Club Crescent Boat Club is an American amateur rowing club located at #5 Boathouse Row in the historic Boathouse Row of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1867 when Pickwick Barge Club and Iona Barge Club merged. Crescent Boat Club joined the ...

. In 1892, Pennsylvania Barge Club replaced their half of the double boathouse. Architect, Luis Hickman, designed Pennsylvania Barge Club's boathouse in the picturesque Victorian style. Hickman was a member of the T-Square Club and known for his renovation of Merchants' Exchange Building. In 1912, the Club hired C.E. Schermerhorn to add second floor of timber and stucco.

Photo gallery

File:Pennsylvania Barge Club.png, Pennsylvania Barge Club,
#4

in 1972 with a Drexel "D" painted on the dock. File:Crescent-Pennsylvania2010.jpg,

Crescent A crescent shape (, ) is a symbol or emblem used to represent the lunar phase in the first quarter (the "sickle moon"), or by extension a symbol representing the Moon itself. In Hinduism, Lord Shiva is often shown wearing a crescent moon on his ...

& Pennsylvania Barge Club in 2010 with an "L" painted on the dock for La Salle College Higschool File:4KellyDr.jpg, Pennsylvania Barge Club from

Kelly Drive A kelly drive is a type of well drilling device on an oil or gas drilling rig that employs a section of pipe with a polygonal (three-, four-, six-, or eight-sided) or splined outer surface, which passes through the matching polygonal or spline ...

. File:Oarsmen on the schuylkill thomas eakins.jpeg, "Oarsmen on the Schuylkill" also known as "Pennsylvania Barge Club Four" by

(c. 1874). File:Detail 3 max schmitt in a single scull thomas eakins.jpeg, Max Schmitt, 6-time single-sculls champion. Detail of the Eakins painting ''

Max Schmitt in a Single Scull ''Max Schmitt in a Single Scull'' (also known as ''The Champion Single Sculls'' or ''The Champion, Single Sculls'') is an 1871 painting by Thomas Eakins, Goodrich catalogue #44. It is in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art ...

''.

References

External links

Pennsylvania Barge Club
on wikimapia.org {{Schuylkill Navy National Register of Historic Places in Philadelphia National Historic Landmarks in Pennsylvania Buildings and structures in Philadelphia Cultural infrastructure completed in 1892 Tudor Revival architecture in Pennsylvania Boathouse Row Schuylkill Navy Sports clubs established in 1861 1861 establishments in Pennsylvania Philadelphia Register of Historic Places Historic district contributing properties in Pennsylvania Boathouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania

History of the boathouse

Photo gallery

See also

References

Further reading

External links