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 14 Kelly Drive Boathouse Row Philadelphia PA 19130 (215) 978 8824 |
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history
The Club was founded on May 4, 1938 and is the oldest active women’s club of its kind in the United States. The clubhouse located at 14 Kelly Drive on historic Boathouse Row in Philadelphia, was built in 1861 as the home to the Philadelphia Skating Club and Humane Society. The Philadelphia Girls’ Rowing Club rented this building until they were able to purchase it in 1962. The original organizers of the Club were Ruth Adams Robinhold, Gladys Hauser Lux, Lovey Farrell and Mrs. Ernestine Bayer, who chaired the organizational meeting of the Club at which thirteen additional women became the core founders of the Club. The Club was founded because none of the other boathouses on the Schuylkill would “allow members of the weaker sex” to join their clubs. In July, 1939, the Schuylkill Navy agreed to host the first women’s race on the Schuylkill River known as an “exhibition race”, which continued through the late 1950sbefore the women were welcome to race in other regattas.Three doubles competed and Ernestine and her rowing partner Jeanette Waetjen Hoover won the first exhibition race.
The Women’s Eight from the Philadelphia Girls’ Rowing Club won the first National Women’s Rowing Championships in Seattle in 1966 and again in 1967 at Lake Merrit, California. They were the first American women’s rowing club to compete in the European Rowing Championships held in Vichy, France. This is historic as it was the first time a women’s club represented the United States in Europe. To honor the occasion, then Mayor James Tate presented the Philadelphia Girls’ Rowing Club with the key to the City of Philadelphia.
Carol Bower (left) and Joanne Iverson (right) are two current members of note who have raised the profile of women in the sport. Before joining the Philadelphia Girls’ Rowing Club, Carol won a gold medal for the Women’s Eight in the 1984 Olympic Games. Joanne Iverson was inducted in to the NCAA Women’s Rowing Hall of Fame for organizing, along with Ted Nash and Ed Lickiss, the National Women’s Rowing Association, which is now known as the United States Rowing Association.
After renting 14 Kelly Drive on Boathouse Row for many years from the Philadelphia Skating Club and Humane Society, the Philadelphia Girls’ Rowing Club obtained ownership of the building in 1962 and joined the Schuylkill Navy not long thereafter. Today, with eleven member clubs, the Schuylkill Navy has established Philadelphia as a leading venue in the rowing world sponsoring many regattas, training recreational rowers as well as world-class Olympic competitors.
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Minutes from the first 118 meetings from May 4, 1938 to December 4, 1947. |
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| 1938 |
Seventeen women founded the club on May 4, 1938:
Ernestine Bayer |
Helen Muldowney Kiniry |
| 1939 |
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Photo taken at the Philadelphia Rifle Club.Front row left to right:Stella Sokolowska Peters, Doris Starsmore Brugger, Margaret Cantwell Sonzogni, Evelyn Forkan, Betty Flavin Ford, Ruth Adams Robinhold, Helen Muldowny Kiniry, Lucille Browning Nino, Gladys Hauser Lux. |
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The PGRC Girls |
| 1948 |
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PGRC Tenth Anniversary Banquet - 1948 |
| 1961 |
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The Philadelphia Girls' Rowing Club house at 14 Boat House Row predates the founding of the club in 1938. As early as 1855 The Philadelphia Skating and Humane Society tried to secure a grant from the city to build a home on the banks of the Schuylkill. The building was completed for $4,873 by February 1861. In addition to providing comfort for skaters, the building housed a hospital and "apparatus used for rescuing persons from a watery grave." Other clubs,including University and Undine rented the house before PGRC. The complete report on the building can be read by clicking on The Philadelphia Girls’ Rowing Club: An Incremental Historic Structure Report (4.1mb), by Anna Stillner, MS. See also Submission to the Philadelphia Historical Commission (868kb), by Susan Anderson, 1980. |
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| 1967 |
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PGRC - first U.S. Women's Team arriving in France. |
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The Mayor of Philadelphia honors the PGRC with the "Key to the City" |
| 1973 |
Marge Flynn organized the first Bill Braxton Memorial Regatta. The other organizers were Tom Rafferty and Vince Bindo. Today the Braxton Regatta proceeds make it possible to fund scholarships given to entering college freshmen.
| 1984 |
Elizabeth Griffin Bergen was elected Commodore of the Schuylkill Navy. The Philadelphia Girls’ Rowing Club was permitted to join the Schuylkill Navy in the 1960s.
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July 1984. Pictured on the porch of the club: Helen Kiniry, Stella Peters, Jeanne Quirk, Lorraine English, Mary Jonik, Jeannette Hoover, Lovey Farrell, Betty Wilkins, Doris Brugger, Betty Ford, Claire Eisner. |
| 1998 |
We celebrated our 60th anniversary on May 1-2, 1998 and were delighted that so many former members and six of the founders joined us!
Special tribute was paid to founding member Ruth Robinhold. Not only has she been an active member for all sixty years, her constant and generous support of the club is an inspiration to us all. A new trophy in her name will be awarded at the Stotesbury Regatta to the Girl's Junior Quad, one of her favorite events. In addition to her club support, she is well known for giving out medals at many regattas.
| 2007 |
 Ruth Robinhold, taken on her wedding day, September 2007. Ruth was previously married to William Robinhold, a member of Undine, for more than 60 years. After being widowed, she married Richard Henderson in September 2007. |
Spotlight on Joanne Iverson |
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Joanne Iverson was inducted into the NCAA Women’s Rowing Hall of Fame for organizing, along with Ted Nash and Ed Lickiss, the National Women’s Rowing Association, that later became part of the National Association of Amateur Oarsman, presently known as the United States Rowing Association. |
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| 2008 |
70th Anniversary |
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| 2011 |
Poem by Evelyn Polillo, read at the club on the occasion of Ruth Robinhold's 98th birthday. |
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1. On February twentieth |
10. The Philadelphia Skating Club |
2. Nine months of preparation time |
11. Ruth rowed on many rivers and |
3. Our little Ruth grew up to be |
12. She met him on the row that day |
4. Beneath her gay exterior |
13. They hit it off right from the start |
5. She nurtured flowers of all kinds |
14. A man named Richard came along |
6. As time went on Ruth wondered which |
15. Mr. and Mrs. Henderson |
7. But ladies rowing in a club? |
16. Ruth has a quota for each day |
8. An ad was placed in classified |
17. You are our favorite Rowing Queen |
9. First thing on the agenda was |
18. Big truck loads of that yellow fruit |
Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
1300 Locust Street
December 22, 2011
Lisa Fittipaldi, club secretary, delivered to the museum 35 boxes and three presentation binders of history from before 1938 to 2011. The collection documents the club’s activities from its founding until the present. It includes constitutions, bylaws, meeting minutes and notes, correspondence, financial records, membership and dues records, boat logs, scrapbooks, photographs, property records, engineers’ reports, architectural drawings, grant applications, newsletters, event programs, books, clippings, CDs/DVDs, artifacts, and medals. There is some documentation of other rowing organizations, especially the National Women’s Rowing Association.