The Newport Reading Room (also known as The Reading Room), founded in 1854, is a gentlemen's club located on

Bellevue Avenue The Bellevue Avenue Historic District is located along and around Bellevue Avenue in Newport, Rhode Island, United States. Its property is almost exclusively residential, including many of the Gilded Age mansions built by affluent summer vaca ...

Newport Newport most commonly refers to: *Newport, Wales *Newport, Rhode Island, US Newport or New Port may also refer to: Places Asia *Newport City, Metro Manila, a Philippine district in Pasay Europe Ireland *Newport, County Mayo, a town on the ...

, Rhode Island, USA. Its primary building features an actual book reading room. The Spouting Rock Beach Association, which owns the famed

Bailey's Beach Bailey's Beach (officially named as and owned by the Spouting Rock Beach Association) is a private beach and club in Newport, Rhode Island, United States. History According to the ''Providence Journal'', Bailey's Beach in Newport Rhode Island was ...

, has been reported to own the building. However this claim, according to the club's leadership, is incorrect.

History

The Newport Reading Room was founded in 1854 by

William Shepard Wetmore William Shepard Wetmore (January 26, 1801 – June 16, 1862) was an American businessman and philanthropist who was an Old China Trade merchant. Early life He was born on January 26, 1801 to Nancy Shepard and Seth Wetmore in St. Albans, Vermon ...

, a wealthy China trade merchant, and several other notable Newporters, including Yankee traders and Southern planters who summered in Newport. Several of the managing stock holders were full-time Rhode Island residents while others were summer residents. Supposedly, the Newport Casino, a rival club nearby on Bellevue Avenue was started by a former Reading Room member, James Gordon Bennett, Jr., as described:

The Newport Reading Room incident concerns Bennett and one of his polo buddies, Captain Candy, better known as "Sugar Candy." A wager was concocted whereby Sugar Candy would mount his polo pony and ride up the short flight of stairs into the exclusive club located on Bellevue Avenue. Bennett was reprimanded, Sugar Candy supposedly shown the door for the last time. As the story goes (never proven), Bennett started the Newport Casino in response.

The Reading Room has a long history of hosting charitable fundraisers, for example the ''New York Times'' reported on the club's 1912 baseball game against the U.S. Navy officers of the Atlantic Fleet to raise funds for Newport Hospital. The Reading Room was one of the centers of Newport social life with other traditional institutions such as the

Redwood Library The Redwood Library and Athenaeum is a subscription library, museum, rare book repository and research center founded in 1747, and located at 50 Bellevue Avenue in Newport, Rhode Island. The building, designed by Peter Harrison and completed ...

, Newport Country Club, Trinity Church,

, New York Yacht Club summer clubhouse and the Newport Casino

Notable Stockholder Members

There are several categories of membership that include Stockholders, those who are eligible to vote; annual subscribers, resident and non-resident; and junior members.A complete list of all stockholder members for the first 150 years, from 1853 to 2003, is in ''Newport Reading Room: Sesquicentennial History, 2003'' (Newport: NRR, 2003), pp. 181-197. * Henry H. Anderson, Jr. * Vincent Astor * George F. Baker *

James Gordon Bennett, Jr. James Gordon Bennett Jr. (May 10, 1841May 14, 1918) was publisher of the '' New York Herald'', founded by his father, James Gordon Bennett Sr. (1795–1872), who emigrated from Scotland. He was generally known as Gordon Bennett to distinguish hi ...

John Nicholas Brown John Nicholas Brown may refer to: * John Nicholas Brown I (1861–1900), American book collector * John Nicholas Brown II John Nicholas Brown II (February 21, 1900 – October 10, 1979) was the United States Assistant Secretary of the Navy (AI ...

* Rear Admiral

Henry E. Eccles Henry Effingham Eccles (born in Bayside, New York, on December 31, 1898 - died May 14, 1986 in Needham, Massachusetts) was a Rear Admiral in the United States Navy and a major figure at the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island from the la ...

Elbridge T. Gerry Elbridge Gerry (; July 17, 1744 – November 23, 1814) was an American Founding Father, merchant, politician, and diplomat who served as the fifth vice president of the United States under President James Madison from 1813 until his death in 18 ...

Robert Goelet Sr. Robert Goelet Sr. (September 19, 1809 – September 22, 1879) was an American businessman and co-founder of the Chemical Bank of New York. Early life Goelet was born on September 19, 1809, to "one of the oldest and most respected amiliesi ...

John N. A. Griswold John Noble Alsop Griswold (May 29, 1822 – September 18, 1909) was an American China trade merchant, industrialist, and diplomat. Early life Griswold was born in New York City on May 29, 1822. He was the son of George Griswold (1777–1859), wh ...

Theodore Havemeyer Theodore Augustus Havemeyer (May 17, 1839 – April 26, 1897) was an American businessman who was the first president of the U.S. Golf Association and co-founder of the Newport Country Club, host to both the first U.S. Amateur and the first U.S. ...

* Vice Admiral

John T. Hayward John Tucker "Chick" Hayward (15 November 1908 – 23 May 1999) was an American naval aviator during World War II. He helped develop one of the two atomic bombs that was dropped on Japan in the closing days of the war. Later, he was a pioneer ...

* Thomas Wentworth Higginson * Arthur Curtiss James *

George Noble Jones George Noble Jones (1811–1876) was a wealthy American southern plantation owner who owned the El Destino Plantation and Chemonie Plantation. In 1839 he hired English architect Richard Upjohn to build a house on 253 Bellevue Avenue in Newport, Rh ...

William Beach Lawrence William Beach Lawrence (October 23, 1800 – March 26, 1881) was an American politician and jurist who served as lieutenant governor of Rhode Island from 1851 to 1852 under Governor Philip Allen. Early life Lawrence was born in New York City ...

Lewis Cass Ledyard Lewis Cass Ledyard (April 4, 1851 – January 27, 1932) was a New York City lawyer. He was a partner at the firm Carter Ledyard & Milburn, personal counsel to J.P. Morgan, and a president of the New York City Bar Association. Early life Lewis ...

* Pierre Lorillard *

Charles May Oelrichs Charles May Oelrichs (August 27, 1858 – January 15, 1932) was an American broker and clubman who was prominent in New York society during the Gilded Age. Early life Oelrichs was born on August 27, 1858, in Baltimore, Maryland. He was the son o ...

* Duncan Pell * Claiborne Pell *

Frederick H. Prince Frederick Henry Prince (November 30, 1860 – February 2, 1953) was an American stockbroker, investment banking, investment banker and financier. Early life Prince was born in Winchester, Massachusetts on November 30, 1860, the son of Frede ...

* Cornelius Vanderbilt II *

Harold S. Vanderbilt Harold Stirling Vanderbilt CBE (July 6, 1884 – July 4, 1970) was an American railroad executive, a champion yachtsman, an innovator and champion player of contract bridge, and a member of the Vanderbilt family. Early life He was born in Oakdale, ...

* Rear Admiral

J.C. Wylie Rear Admiral Joseph Caldwell Wylie, Jr., USN, (March 3, 1911 – January 29, 1993) (called "J. C." Wylie or "Bill" Wylie), was an American strategic theorist, author, and US Naval officer. Wylie is best known for writing ''Military Strategy: A Gen ...

References

External links

https://www.golocalprov.com/news/An-Ugly-Anti-Semitic-Episode-in-Newport-When-a-Club-Wanted-Throw-Out-a-Jewi
RI Supreme Court Case, ''In re Newport Reading Room et al.'', 21 RI 440 (1899)
{{Newport, Rhode Island 1854 establishments in Rhode Island Clubs and societies in the United States Gentlemen's clubs in the United States Organizations established in 1854

History

Notable Stockholder Members

See also

References

External links