Everglades Club
{{Short description|Social club in Palm Beach, Florida}}
{{Infobox organization
| name = The Everglades Club
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| image = PB FL Everglades Club01.jpg
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| size = 275px
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| formation = January 25, 1919
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| purpose = social club, golf club
| headquarters =
| location = 356 Worth Avenue
Palm Beach, Florida
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| membership = (not publicly available)
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| key_people = Paris Singer, Addison Mizner
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| website = (none, by deliberate decision)
| remarks = dues are very high
}}
The Everglades Club is a social club in Palm Beach, Florida. When its construction began in July 1918, it was to be called the Touchstone Convalescent Club, and it was intended to be a hospital for the wounded of World War I.Curl 1984. p. 42 But the war ended a few months later, and it changed into a private club.
The Club has no sign, website, or Wi-Fi. Cell phones are prohibited.
History
Paris Singer and his good friend, the architect Addison Mizner, were visiting Palm Beach in the spring of 1918. Singer decided to build a hospital with Mizner as the architect. Singer had already built three hospitals in France for the wounded. It was during World War I when only war-related buildings could be built.{{cite web | url=http://www.pbchistoryonline.org/page/private-clubs | title=Private Clubs, at Palm Beach County History Online | publisher=Historical Society of Palm Beach County | accessdate=October 17, 2023 | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408143132/https://www.pbchistoryonline.org/page/private-clubs | archivedate=April 8, 2023}} Construction began in July. (The site at the west end of Worth Avenue formerly contained Alligator Joe's, a tourist attraction.{{cite news
|title=Then and now: Alligator Joe's and the Everglades Club
|first1=Sara E.
|last1=Skinner
|last2=@Palm Beach Post Staff Researchers
|date=May 22, 2014
|access-date=February 4, 2018
|url=http://historicpalmbeach.blog.palmbeachpost.com/2011/01/12/then-and-now-alligator-joes-and-the-everglades-club/}}) By November 1918 seven residential villas and a medical center had been built on the north side of Worth Avenue, across from the main building.{{citation
|page=7
|first=Donald W.
|last=Curl
|title=Mizner's Florida
|publisher=The Architectural History Foundation and the MIT Press
|year=1992
|quote=First published 1984
|isbn=0262530686}}{{rp|43}} Singer purchased laboratory and surgical equipment and fittings for an operating room.{{rp|44}} Singer sent out as many as 300,000 invitations to eligible Army and Navy officers, who had to be screened and had to be able to pay their own room and board.{{rp|43, 47}}
However, World War I had ended, and most former soldiers wanted to go home. The hospital was reinvisioned as a private club; the medical equipment was donated to a hospital in West Palm Beach.{{rp|47}} There was a main building, eight separate villas, tennis courts, a parking garage across the street, and a yacht basin. The club opened on 25 January 1919. Paris Singer was the President of the club and he decided who could become a member. For its second season in 1920, Mizner supervised the construction of a nine-hole golf course and the landscaping of the club's 60 acres. He also built Via Mizner, an addition on Worth Avenue with eleven apartments and sixteen shops.Curl 1984. p. 49
Mizner's design for the Everglades Club was widely considered to be the biggest success of his career."{{citation
|last=Seebohm
|first=Caroline
|year=2001
|title=Boca Rococo. How Addison Mizner Invented Florida's Gold Coast
|publisher=Clarkson Potter
|isbn=0609605151
|url-access=registration
|url=https://archive.org/details/bocarococohowadd00seeb
}}{{rp|163}} It helped establish a new architectural style for Florida.Curl 1984. p. 59{{cite web | url=http://www.bocahistory.org/exhibits/exhibits_mizner.asp | title=Mizner's Dream | publisher=Boca Raton Historical Society | accessdate=July 15, 2013 | url-status=dead | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120229042045/http://www.bocahistory.org/exhibits/exhibits_mizner.asp | archivedate=February 29, 2012 }} In the club's first season Mizner received four architectural commissions. He went on to become America's foremost society architect of his era.Curl 1984. p. 60
Singer began his club with twenty-five charter members. Two years later, the membership was closed at 500 members.Michener 1984. p. 19 Eliza Osgood Vanderbilt Webb (1860–1936) was one of its earliest female members.[https://www.chicagotribune.com/2005/05/01/vanderbilt-rehab-a-study-in-family-memories/ Vanderbilt rehab a study in family memories], the Chicago Tribune, May 01, 2005 Businessman Jack C. Massey was a member.{{cite news|title=Business Legend Jack Massey Dies|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/298888555/?terms=%22Jack%2BC.%2BMassey%22|accessdate=December 17, 2017|work=The Palm Beach Daily News|date=February 16, 1990|pages=1; 4|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=registration }}
An additional nine holes were added to the golf course in 1930.{{cite web | url=http://evergladesclub.palmbeach.florida.us.linksandlodging.com/ | title=Everglades Club - Palm Beach, Florida | publisher=Links And Lodging | accessdate=July 13, 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130914202216/http://evergladesclub.palmbeach.florida.us.linksandlodging.com/ | archive-date=September 14, 2013 | url-status=dead }}
=21st century=
By 1999, the club's initiation fees were reportedly around $35,000.{{cite news |last1=Grantham |first1=Loretta |title=Private clubs of Palm Beach very hush hush — then came Mar-a-Lago |url=https://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/story/entertainment/society/1999/06/05/private-clubs-palm-beach-very/6642339007/ |work=Palm Beach Daily News |date=1999-06-05}}
As of 2022, the club deliberately does not have a website. Cellphones are prohibited on the property.{{cite web | url=http://clikhear.palmbeachpost.com/2011/south-florida/palm-beach-county/inside-the-everglades-club-the-origins-of-palm-beach-style/ | title=Inside the Everglades Club: the origins of Palm Beach style | publisher=The Palm Beach Post | accessdate=July 12, 2013 | author=Marshall, Barbara | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130507111126/http://clikhear.palmbeachpost.com/2011/south-florida/palm-beach-county/inside-the-everglades-club-the-origins-of-palm-beach-style/ | archive-date=May 7, 2013 | url-status=dead }}
In 2023, Connecticut College president Katherine Bergeron's decision to host a fundraiser at the Everglades Club was met with protests by the college's students. The school's dean of equity and inclusion also resigned after he objected to the school's plans.{{cite news |last1=Detelj |first1=Tina |title=Conn. College students call for president's resignation following fundraiser controversy |url=https://www.wtnh.com/news/conn-college-students-call-for-presidents-resignation-following-fundraiser-controversy/ |access-date=7 March 2023 |publisher=WTNH |date=2023-02-10}}
Membership policies
The club has long been criticized for reported discrimination against Jewish and Black people.{{cite news
|title=An exclusive look inside the mysterious Everglades Club
|first=Barbara
|last=Marshall
|date=April 17, 2011
|newspaper=Palm Beach Post
|url=http://www.palmbeachpost.com/entertainment/exclusive-look-inside-the-mysterious-everglades-club/CAL6R6a4TJ61GVIAeSL1EP/
|access-date=February 4, 2018}} Sammy Davis Jr. was turned away at the door.{{cite news
|title=The Chef and the "Amigo"
|first=Lisa
|last=Rab
|date=July 23, 2009
|newspaper=New Times Broward-Palm Beach
|url=http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/news/the-chef-and-the-amigo-6343976
|access-date=February 4, 2018}} According to socialite C.Z. Guest, she and her husband were temporarily suspended from the club after they brought Jewish guests—Estée Lauder and her husband—to a party there in 1972. Joseph Kennedy, father of the slain president, resigned his membership in the early '60s "to avoid scrutiny for belonging to a club known for excluding African-American and Jewish people."
As of 2014, there has never been an African-American member.{{cite book
|title=Villa Mizner: The House that Changed Palm Beach
|first=Richard René
|last=Silvin
|isbn=978-1884886744
|year=2014
|publisher=Star Group Books}}{{rp|172–173}} According to 2009 president William Panill, no African-American has ever applied. The Club now has Jewish members, but how many is unknown because, according to Panill, "we don't ask."{{cite news
|title=Don't Ask, Don't Tell: Details on the Everglades Club's Policy Toward Jews
|first=Lisa
|last=Rab
|date=July 22, 2009
|access-date=February 4, 2018
|newspaper=New Times Broward-Palm Beach
|url=http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/news/dont-ask-dont-tell-details-on-the-everglades-clubs-policy-toward-jews-6463916}} Panill admitted in 2009 that he receives inquiries about whether a member can bring a Jewish guest.
"And I know that people have called me on the phone when I—in the first years, and said I have so and so guest in my house, he's the president of some big university, he's Jewish, can I bring him to the Everglades Club? I say absolutely, no problem at all. Anybody you have in your home or anybody that's a friend of yours, bring them.And they brought them and there had been no incident of any complaining, or, and no letters issued, or no. I have many friends that are Jewish people that come to the club and they are welcome there, and there's no problem with it."{{Cite web |title=3653165.0.pdf |url=http://media.browardpalmbeach.com/3653165.0.pdf}}
Famous members
- Willis S. Paine (1848–1927){{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/whoswho141926/page/1481/mode/1up |title=Who's Who in America |publisher=The A. N. Marquis Company |year=1926 |editor-last=Marquis |editor-first=Albert Nelson |editor-link=Albert Nelson Marquis |volume=14 |location=Chicago, I.L. |pages=1481 |via=Internet Archive}}
- Eliza Osgood Vanderbilt Webb (1860–1936)[https://www.chicagotribune.com/2005/05/01/vanderbilt-rehab-a-study-in-family-memories/ Vanderbilt rehab a study in family memories], Chicago Tribune, May 01, 2005
- Clarence H. Geist (1866–1938)
- Clarence Dietsch (1881–1961)Palm Beach Daily News, Palm Beach, FL., 16 Dec 1946, page 5
- Owen Ray Skelton (1886–1969){{cite journal |author= |date=2003 |title=2002 Automotive Hall of Fame inductees |url= |journal=Automotive News |volume=77 |issue=6006 |pages=11 |access-date=}}
- Gurnee Munn (1887–1960){{cite news |date=May 8, 1960 |title=Gurnee Munn,73, Realty Han, Dies. Palm Beach Operator Was an Executive of Automatic Totalisator Company |work=New York Times}}
- Audrey Emery (1904–1971){{Cite news |date=1971-11-26 |title=MRS. AUDREY EMERY, DUKE DMITRI WIDOW |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/11/26/archives/mrs-audrey-emery-duke-dmitri-widow.html |access-date=2022-03-14 |issn=0362-4331}}
- Jack C. Massey (1904–1990)
- Paul Miller (1906–1991){{cite book |title=Paul Miller Curatorial Files |publisher=Special Collections and University Archives, Oklahoma State University Libraries |edition=Box 2, File 40}}
- Guilford Dudley (1907–2002){{cite news |last1=Donnelly |first1=Shannon |date=June 16, 2002 |title=Diplomat G. Dudley dies at 94. Former Cocoanuts president, seasonal PBer Guilford Dudley dies in Nashville |pages=1; 10 |work=The Palm Beach Daily News |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/298803292 |url-access=subscription |via=Newspapers.com |accessdate=May 3, 2018}}
- Alfonso Fanjul Sr. (1909–1980){{cite news |last1=Jones Poit |first1=Katrina |date=October 17, 1980 |title=Sugar Magnate Alfonso Fanjul Dead At 71 |page=1 |work=The Palm Beach Post |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/135020587/ |accessdate=August 9, 2017}}
- John L. Hanigan (1914–1996){{cite news |date=July 3, 1996 |title=Funeral Notices: John L. Hanigan 1911–1996 |page=39 |work=The Palm Beach Post |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/134633958/?terms=%22John%2BL.%2BHanigan%22 |url-access=registration |via=Newspapers.com |accessdate=January 3, 2018}}
- Adolphus Busch Orthwein (1917–2013){{cite news |last=Donnelly |first=Shannon |date=November 27, 2013 |title=Orthwein, Anheuser-Busch heir, dies at 96 |newspaper=Palm Beach Daily News |location=Palm Beach, Florida |url=http://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/news/news/local/orthwein-anheuser-busch-heir-dies-at-96/nb6Jz/ |access-date=October 7, 2015}}
- William Johnston Armfield (1934–2016){{cite news |date=14 July 2016 |title=Armfield IV, William Johnston |newspaper=News & Record |publisher=BH Media Group, Inc. |location=Richmond, Virginia |url=http://www.greensboro.com/obituaries/armfield-iv-william-johnston/article_e1c92f5f-d365-5110-946d-e04970a33490.html |access-date=18 August 2016}}
Further reading
- {{cite news
|title='Let Them Win': Tales of Life Inside the Everglades Club
|first=Lisa
|last=Rab
|date=July 23, 2009
|access-date=February 4, 2018
|newspaper=New Times Broward-Palm Beach
|url=http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/news/let-them-win-tales-of-life-inside-the-everglades-club-6472901}}
References
;Notes
{{reflist|1}}
;Bibliography
{{refbegin}}
- Curl, Donald W. Mizner's Florida. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 1984.
- Michener, Edward C. The Everglades Club. (Palm Beach): The Everglades Club, 1985.
{{refend}}
{{coord|26|42|1.23|N|80|2|28.3|W|scale:10000_region:US|display=title}}
External links
{{Commons category|Everglades Club}}
- {{HABS |survey=FL-226 |id=fl0177 |title=Everglades Club, Palm Beach, Palm Beach County, FL |photos=20 |color=1 |data=13 |cap=3 |supp=yes}}
Category:Historic American Buildings Survey in Florida
Category:Addison Mizner buildings