Cincinnati Tennis Club - History

History

Stewart Shillito, the son of John Shillito, the founder of the Cincinnati department store, Shillito's, had seen tennis played while on vacation at the fashionable seaside resort of Narragansett Pier, Rhode Island, and in 1878 he decided to build a court at his father's home on Highland Avenue and Oak Street in the Cincinnati neighborhood of Mt. Auburn.

After the first court was built, interest spread rapidly among enthusiastic friends of Shillito, and by 1880, Cincinnati was ready for a tennis club.

On December 3, 1880, Edmund H. Pendleton presided over a meeting held at the Burnet House in Cincinnati, the purpose being the organization of a tennis club. A constitution was drawn up and the following officers were nominated and elected: President - Jeptha Garrand; Secretary - Howard S. Winslow; and Treasurer - Albert C. Barney.

In one week, 86 players were enrolled as members, and the south wing of Music Hall was leased for indoor play until May 1881, making Cincinnati the site of some of the earliest indoor play in America. The lease on Music Hall was renewed for an additional year, but soon thereafter the decision was made to terminate the agreement. (The story is that the roof leaked, and the club members wanted a discount on the rent because of it.) With the termination of the lease, the era of the nineteenth century indoor tennis ended in Cincinnati.

At the time one of the officers of the Club, Howard S. Winslow, lived on Oak Street and Reading Road. His father generously made available to the members if the Club (CTC) sufficient ground to lay three grass courts at the rear of his property which was adjacent to a lane. The city fathers, seeing growing tennis activity, named the lane Tennis Lane. It continues to bear that name today.

The CTC remained at that location through 1885, when it moved, with no explanation, to a new location on Arbigust Street (now called Vernon Place).

For the next 13 years the Club occupied two different locations on Vernon Place. During these years the Club grew in terms of membership and activity, and in two of the three years, 1891 and 1893, the club sponsored the Ohio State Adult Championship. Having moved twice in 13 years, the club began looking in 1898 for a more permanent address.

Among the members of CTC were John B. Keys and John Scarborough. Each owned tracts of land which they were interested in developing into a subdivision. They both hoped to do the club a favor, and at the same time enhance the value of their holdings by encouraging the club to locate on their property. John Keys offered as a gift 3 acres (12,000 m2) of land on Bedford Avenue adjoining the new Cincinnati Golf Club. John Scarborough offered the Club what is substantially its present location, not as a gift, but rent free for the first few years. Mr. Scarborough agreed to lay out four courts and build a club house at his own expense.

Finally in the spring of 1899, Scarborough's offer was excepted because Keys' property on Bedford was considered "too far out in the country and somewhat inaccessible".

Thirty-eight members from Vernon Place along with many new members brought the membership to 186 when the courts were opened. Some of the improvements promised in the Scarborough agreements were not completed until 1900.

In the first year at the new location there were four courts, the present courts 1, 2, 9 and 10. In 1904 three more courts were added to the upper tier, the present 6, 7 and 8. In 1925 three courts were added to the lower tier, courts 3, 4 and 5. The original club house was torn down in 1905 and replaced with the present structure in 1906.