(Submitted by the Historic Preservation Commission)
The Bowling Green Country Club, celebrating its 100th birthday this year, has been selected as the historic site of the month for September in Bowling Green.
From the first beginnings of the golf course in 1913-1914, the club has continued to connect people by offering golfing activities and sports, as well as its weekly Thursday night games of pinochle. Community service clubs such as the Rotary Club and the BGSU Retirees Association also meet there.
Early in the 20th century, the Wood County Fairgrounds was located in the area now recognized as Bowling Green City Park and the Bowling Green Country Club.
In 1924 began the creation of what is now the Bowling Green Country Club by a group of Bowling Green business and community leaders. The club was started by Joe Eberly and C.G. Helby. Additional board members were William James, Art Lodge, Henry Murlin and Lynn Reiss.
At the time the club started, the 73 acres now used for the course (near the present City Park) was owned by the Wood County Fair Company, and there was a racetrack fenced in on both sides. Permission had to be obtained from the fair board to use the grounds, and the nine holes were located inside the racetrack. Additional land owned by the City of Bowling Green was leased to the golf course in 1929.
In the early 1920s, there was a caddy registration shed on the southeast corner of the course at the corner of Conneaut Avenue and Fairview Avenue. In 1937, a new and larger clubhouse was constructed on the site of the present one. Several additions and improvements were made until it burned down on July 17, 1970.
On Aug. 15, 1971, the present clubhouse was opened – it had been constructed at a cost of slightly over $150,000.
The first club championships were held in 1925 and the men’s champion was Wendell Reigle. The first women’s champion was Marilyn Ziegler in 1951. And in those earlier days, golfers had to contend with the BGHS football stadium (located nearby) when teeing off on the finishing hole.
For years, the Country Club was the place to be for a potluck dinner and celebration of the 4th of July. Thousands of people from all over Northwest Ohio descended upon the course to watch the fireworks display.
In 1925, the course membership was 95 members. Today its numbers range from 125-150. In 1958, the club completed its layout for an 18-hole course, and this was redesigned in 1992 by David Pfaff. Other major improvements included the 1992 redesign and reconstruction of the clubhouse and then in 2022 another clubhouse renovation and the construction of the outdoor pavilion.
Local attorney Norm Geer, who joined the club when he was 13, stated “I love this course. I played thousands of rounds here.”
His childhood home was nearby at the corner of West Merry and Fairview avenues. He and his school friends would “…walk across the path to the park and literally spend the summer on the course, playing golf, swimming in the quarry, and searching for stray golf balls in the water.”
The BGCC has worked to transform itself from humble beginnings as a small toolhouse and caddy shed to its current building and manicured golf course. For more information, visit this site: https://www.bgcountryclub.com/
Would you like to nominate a historic building or site for recognition? You can do this through the city website at https://www.bgohio.org/FormCenter/Planning-13/Historic-BuildingSite-Nomination-Form- 83
You can learn more about the Historic Preservation Commission by attending the meetings on the fourth Tuesday of each month at 4 p.m., or by visiting the webpage at https://www.bgohio.org/436/Historic-Preservation-Commission
