From 1931 To 1971
The Club had been an active center of skiing ever since the 1910s. Ski-joring as seen in the picture at right was one of the attractions; ski jumping, ice skating, carnivals and cross-country ski lessons were others. Melvil Dewey's son Godfrey was instrumental in bringing the Winter Olympics to Lake Placid in 1932. Without the club's facilities and its national profile, Lake Placid would not have qualified to host the Games.
In the 1930's, a group of students from the Yale School of Drama performed at the Club's Lakeside Theater during the summer months.
In 1954, the New York Times printed an article criticizing the Club for its refusal to admit Blacks and Jews. The B'nai B'rith Anti-Defamation League filed a complaint about the Club. The dispute lasted several years, until the League decided to drop the charges of discrimination in 1959. Representatives of the Club claimed that its members were religiously motivated and therefore wished to vacation as Christians among Christians in order to "strengthen their appreciation of and attachment to Christianity." Since Dewey's time, the Club had been very strict about membership, avoiding fashionable vacationers, not serving alcohol in the dining room, and only accepting guests who came recommended by other members. The criteria for membership were intact until 1976.
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