The Club House

The Club House was the center of activity for members and guests at Lake Conemaugh. The club's first summer season at Lake Conemaugh, was in 1881. The structure was built in two sections. The original portion of the club house contained 17 bedrooms and was open for the first season. It contained a kitchen, dining room, and bedrooms. An addition was completed around 1887. David Knox Miller, nephew of member Philander Knox, was the architect for the addition. It was three stories and had 48 rooms. In all, 16 cottages would line the shore of Lake Conemaugh.

With a membership to the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club, members were entitled to a two week stay per season at the Club House. Fees for room and board at the Club House were $1.60 per day for members and $2.50 for guests. According to the Rules and Regulations that were posted at the club, "No family, whether guests' or members', shall occupy more than one front room in the Club House, unless occupying four or more rooms in all, when they shall be entitled to two front rooms." Whether members or guests were staying at the Club House, or their cottage, everyone took their meals together in the dining room at the Club House that could accommodate 150 people.

In 1889, indoor plumbing was in the process of being installed at the clubhouse and cottages. A $36,000 mortgage was taken out on the Club House in May 1889, possibly to pay for the scheduled upgrades that summer.

In 2006, several historic structures in the St. Michael Historic District and 1889 Clubhouse were acquired by the National Park Service as part of Johnstown Flood National Memorial. They were donated by the 1889 South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club Historical Preservation Society.

 

The Club House then and now

Left image
The Club House in the mid-1880s
Credit: Louis Semple Clarke collection

Right image
The Club House as it appears today
Credit: NPS