Saginaw Bay Yacht Club - History

History

The club was originally called the Bay City Boating and Fishing Club founded in the summer of 1894 by William Jennison and 109 other enthusiastic charter members. A clubhouse erected on piling on the Saginaw River at the foot of Scheurmann in Essexville opened in January 1895.

At the time lumbering was king in the Saginaw valley and forty sawmills lined the banks of the Saginaw River from the mouth to above Bay City and pungent odors of freshly cut white pine and hemlock were ever present. Heavy traffic of steam tugs, tow barges leaving the mills with finished lumber, as well as incoming tugs towing log rafts or barges loaded with logs had to be a challenge as well as a hazard for the yachtsman navigating the river. We can only imagine the cacophony of whistles and horns as boats navigated their way up and down river. Activity slowed in 1898 when Ontario decreed that all timber cut on Crown lands must stay in Canada cutting supplies significantly. Some mills along the Saginaw closed and some moved further north.

The small clubhouse was being rapidly outgrown. There was also a shortage of mooring space, which created an urgency to move the clubhouse down river. Luckily, an ideal parcel of land with 480 feet (150 m) frontage on the river and 170 feet (52 m) deep approximately a mile from the mouth of the river was available. At a meeting of the membership there was a unanimous vote of approval to proceed with plans provided that the membership could be increased to 150. This was quickly accomplished. The small clubhouse was moved on the ice to the new site, and Henry Webber, a building contractor, was hired to construct a new building alongside it. Completion date was set for July 1, 1904. An artists rendition of the new clubhouse appeared in the Bay City Tribune newspaper on May 5, 1904 which was highly acclaimed by the membership which looked forward to the best boating and social season ever. A grand opening of a beautiful 40' x 50' Victorian building was held on July 8, 1904.

A number of pilings were driven in the river in front of the clubhouse and floats attached with chain for boat moorings. Occasionally strong northerly storms scattered the fleet sinking some boats at their moorings. Between 1952 and 1956 basins were dredged on the north and south sides of the clubhouse, 600' (182m) long by 150' (46m) wide and eleven feet deep eliminating further damage to the fleet.

The day came when the club building was in dire need of repairs. The pilings it rested on had been shifted by the ice and were deteriorating. The floors were badly warped by previous flooding and the upper balcony had been closed for some time due to its poor condition. The consensus was that if money was to be spent it should be for a new building, so the old girl was tom down in 1959 and a new building constructed with the latest in modem facilities and conveniences. The grand opening was held in conjunction with the Commodores' Ball in April 1960. The Saginaw Bay Yacht Club continues to grow and improve its facilities to maintain her reputation as one of the finest clubs on the Great Lakes.