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Talamore at Oak Terrace - Club
History
James W. Hilty
XVI. THE END OF THE BEGINNING.
The tenth
anniversary of the opening of Talamore at Oak Terrace
has afforded us this opportunity to pause and take
stock, to assess the past and reflect on a promising
future.
This history
was compiled for several purposes. One very practical
purpose for such a history is that no satisfactory
version existed and no systematic collection of sources
and materials had yet been attempted. We knew beforehand
that the game of golf has been played continuously on
Talamore land since 1923, but little else beyond the
barest of facts. As time passes, our memories of the
past are numbed and manipulated by collective amnesia,
deliberate distortions, or honest errors. This history,
therefore, marks a modest beginning of a historical
process that will include the collection and retention
of important documents and an effort to build a sense of
collective ownership in our shared past.
A second
purpose for this history is that it affords us a brief
appreciation of the rich historical confluences dwelling
within Talamore's past and still evident in its present
state. The property, as we have seen, has many lives,
many incarnations. We glimpsed its Indian, Welsh, and
English influences during Pennsylvania's earliest years.
We walked for a moment with the ghosts of pre-income tax
Philadelphia wealth and the awesome financial power of
Henry Pratt McKean, visual remnants of whom remain,
whether inconsequential artifacts, such as isolated
pieces of the iron fencing that once surrounded his
entire estate, or the dominating presence of the brick
and limestone trimmed manor house and carriage house. We
sampled Talamore's Scottish linkages, through the game
of golf and Alexander Findlay's personal impact on Pine
Run and Oak Terrace. We have traversed the terrain of
major transformations in the game of golf as manifested
through comparative golf course designs, ranging from
Alexander Findlay's conceptions of a game played close
to the ground to Bob Levy's notions of a game with
precise targets and controlled ball flight.
Finally,
history also allows us to sort out the important
questions and isolate the important actors. “Some
people,” as Robert Kennedy was fond of saying, “see
things as they are and ask, why? Others see things as
they ought to be and ask, Why not?” Throughout this
history we have vicariously experienced the challenges
facing those who dared to ask, “Why not?” Talamore today
is a striking example of the power of entrepreneurial
imagination and the challenge of bringing ideas to life
and sustaining them over time.
Talamore at
Oak Terrace remains an ever-evolving work in progress
positioned within an extraordinary past and framed
against a buoyant future.
James W.
Hilty
April 2005
Thanks and Acknowledgments:
Special Thanks to Bob Levy, Jr., Elmer F. “Bud” Hansen,
Joseph E. Boscoe (Bradford White), John van Steenwyk,
Jim Smith, Jr., Bernie Waddell, Jim Carnahan, Steve
Koslowski, Robert Driscoll, Liz Driscoll, Maura & Kathy
Hilty.
Research assistance and sources: Bob Davis, Patty Moran
(USGA Golf House), Margaret Jerrido (Temple University
Urban Archives), Smadar Shtuhl (Temple History
Department), Pete & Margaret Choate and Herb Levy
(Horsham Preservation & Historical Association ), Patty
Mousley (Graeme Park), Mike Stokes (Montgomery County
Planning Commission), Phil J. Ruth (author of Fair Land
Gwynedd), Janice Pearce & Jeff McGranahan (Historical
Society of Montgomery County), the late Joe Harrington
(Montgomery Newspapers), George Thomas (University of
Pennsylvania), Kim Burton (Historical Society of
Pennsylvania), Joe Logan (Philadelphia Inquirer).
Talamore residents: Maureen McKee, Wendy Lebing, Jodi
Pollock, Joe & Fred Gerngross.
Thanks for encouragement: Dan & Jane Ginty, Joe Murphy,
Tony D'Emilio, Don Fagnan, Bob Gavin, Jack McIlhenny,
Bob Elker, Lou Zotter, Bob Dugan, Brian Ginty, Parker
Smith, Bob Abramski, Elaine Snyder, Marty Boland, Tim
Black, Diane Sarkisian and Lynn Wrobel.
 Talamore
at Oak Terrace would like to thank Dr. James Hilty for
all of his efforts in bringing our members the history
of their club.
Dr.
Hilty, a longtime Oak Terrace and founding Talmore
Member is Coordinator of History at Temple University
Ambler and is a noted authority on presidential history.
Dr. Hilty has an extensive background in presidential
history, publishing works on Franklin Roosevelt, Harry
Truman, John F. Kennedy, and Bill Clinton. His most
recent book is
Robert Kennedy: Brother Protector. He has
also provided political commentaries for various
publications including the Philadelphia Inquirer and
served as historical consultant for an NBC News
syndicated documentary, "Robert F. Kennedy: The Man, The
Myth and the Memories," narrated by Tom Brokaw.
Chapters
I. Earliest History
II. Pine Run Farms - The McKean Estate
III. McKean Manor House - Pine Ridge
IV. Horace Trumbauer and Talamore at Oak Terrace
V. Scandal and the Declension of the McKeans
VI. Pine Run Country Club and Alexander Findlay
-- Brushing Against Golf Immortality
VII. Bankers' and the Great Depression.
VIII. Oak Terrace at Oak Terrace - The Wingel Years
IX. The “Old Oak”.
X. “Slammin' Sammy” Snead Comes to Oak Terrace.
XI. Location, Location, Location
XII. Oak Terrace at Oak Terrace - The “Bud” Hansen
Years.
XIII. Talamore at Oak Terrace - Realen and Bob Levy,
Jr.
XIV. Talamore at Oak Terrace: The making of a golf
course
XV. The switchover, 1993-1995:
XVI. THE END OF THE BEGINNING |
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