Ken Cupery
Fan of the 19th Century
I've been wading through newspaper accounts of activities of the Brooklyn Canoe Club in the 1800's and into the 1920's. The fate of this club is related to some other research that I am doing at the moment.
The club was active through the turn of the century but appears to have had its last annual meeting (at least as reported in local newspapers) in 1927. The last newspaper reference lists the club as a creditor in the bankruptcy proceedings of a private banker in 1929. Thereafter reports of the club simply vanish. The club is notably absent in reports of canoe competitions in the 1930's. This was sort of the waning time of recreational canoeing, i think, so the club may have slowly died and disbanded. There are however rumors of a boathouse fire that may have precipitated the demise of the club.
As far as i can determine, none of the canoe clubs in the NYC area are continuations of the old BCC. (As opposed to the New York Canoe Club which was founded in 1870's and which eventually morphed into the North Shore Yacht Club, still operating on Long Island).
In any case, I can find no contemporaneous records detailing the demise and am curious if anyone else might have information?
I have probed most of the sources that I know of or can access. (As a footnote, the ACA is generally useless for this type of information).
I do note some records from the Atlantic Division of the ACA are in the collections of the the Mystic Seaport Library, but am reluctant to make the trek from Rochester for fishing expedition for such a specific tidbit of information.
Any speculations/suggestions welcomed!
I can certainly supply more detail if you're interested.
The club was active through the turn of the century but appears to have had its last annual meeting (at least as reported in local newspapers) in 1927. The last newspaper reference lists the club as a creditor in the bankruptcy proceedings of a private banker in 1929. Thereafter reports of the club simply vanish. The club is notably absent in reports of canoe competitions in the 1930's. This was sort of the waning time of recreational canoeing, i think, so the club may have slowly died and disbanded. There are however rumors of a boathouse fire that may have precipitated the demise of the club.
As far as i can determine, none of the canoe clubs in the NYC area are continuations of the old BCC. (As opposed to the New York Canoe Club which was founded in 1870's and which eventually morphed into the North Shore Yacht Club, still operating on Long Island).
In any case, I can find no contemporaneous records detailing the demise and am curious if anyone else might have information?
I have probed most of the sources that I know of or can access. (As a footnote, the ACA is generally useless for this type of information).
I do note some records from the Atlantic Division of the ACA are in the collections of the the Mystic Seaport Library, but am reluctant to make the trek from Rochester for fishing expedition for such a specific tidbit of information.
Any speculations/suggestions welcomed!
I can certainly supply more detail if you're interested.
