Jekyll Island Club facts for kids

Jekyll Island Club Historic District
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark District
Club House and Annex
Location in Georgia (U.S. state) Show map of Georgia (U.S. state) Location in the United States Show map of the United States
Location	Jekyll Island, Georgia
Area	240 acres (97.1 hectares)
Built	1884-1930
Architect	Multiple
Architectural style	Queen Anne
NRHP reference No.	72000385
Quick facts for kids Significant dates
Added to NRHP	January 20, 1972
Designated NHLD	June 2, 1978

The Jekyll Island Club was a private club on Jekyll Island, on Georgia's Atlantic coast. It was founded in 1886 when members of an incorporated hunting and recreational club purchased the island for $125,000 (about $3.1 million in 2017) from John Eugene du Bignon. The original design of the Jekyll Island Clubhouse, with its signature turret, was completed in January 1888. The club thrived through the early 20th century; its members came from many of the world's wealthiest families, most notably the Morgans, Rockefellers, and Vanderbilts. The club closed at the end of the 1942 season due to complications from World War II.

In 1947, after five years of funding a staff to keep up the lawn and cottages, the island was purchased from the club's remaining members for $675,000 (about $7.4 million in 2017) during condemnation proceedings by the state of Georgia. The state tried operating the club as a resort, but this was not financially successful, and the entire complex was closed by 1971.

The complex was designated a historic landmark in 1978.

It was restored and reopened as a luxury resort hotel in 1985. Today, Jekyll Island Club Hotel is a member of Historic Hotels of America, the official program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Founding

Jekyll Island Clubhouse

At the end of the plantation era of Jekyll Island, Newton Finney, suggested to Dubignon, his brother-in-law, that they might acquire the island and then sell it to Northern businessmen as a winter resort. A New York banker helped with the purchase of the entire island. By 1885, Dubignon was the sole owner of Jekyll.

In 1885, Finney and a New York associate, Oliver K. King, gathered a group of men and petitioned the Glynn county courts, becoming incorporated as the "Jekyl Island Club" on December 9, 1885. They agreed to sell 100 shares of the Jekyll Island Club stock to 50 people at $600 a share (about $15,000 in 2017).

duBignon Cottage

Rockefeller Cottage

Finney had no difficulty selling the shares. Six of the first seven shares went to the men who signed the charter petition: Finney, Dubignon, King, Richard L. Ogden, William B. D'Wolf, and Charles L. Schlatter. In all, Finney was able to find 53 people to join the Club, including such famous names as Henry Hyde, Marshall Field, John Pierpont Morgan, Joseph Pulitzer, and William K. Vanderbilt.

On February 17, 1886, Finney signed an official agreement with Dubignon, who sold Jekyll Island to Finney's Jekyll Island Club for $125,000. On April 1, 1886, a meeting was held in New York to create the constitution and by-laws, and to nominate officers for the club. The first president was Lloyd Aspinwall, vice president was Judge Henry Elias Howland, treasurer was Franklin M. Ketchum, and Richard L. Ogden became secretary. These men faced the difficult task of turning the undeveloped property into a social club for the wealthy upper class of America.

Lloyd Aspinwall served just 5 months as the club president before he died suddenly. Henry Howland then took up the position as president of the Club.

Committees were formed to get the club off the ground. Charles A. Alexander of Chicago was chosen to design the clubhouse, and Horace William Shaler Cleveland, a famous landscape architect, was chosen to design and lay out the grounds.

Ground was broken on the clubhouse building in mid-August 1886. After some setbacks the clubhouse was completed on November 1. The club officially opened its doors when the executive committee arrived for the 1888 season on January 21.

Several nationally important events took place on Jekyll Island during the Club era, including the first transcontinental telephone call made by Theodore N. Vail, president of AT&T, to Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas A. Watson and President Woodrow Wilson in 1915; and the development of the Aldrich–Vreeland Act for the National Monetary Commission in 1908.

Recreation during the club era

The Jekyll Island Club was a unique resort, more family-oriented than the Union Club or the Chicago Club. It enjoyed great popularity among the elite classes, maintaining a highly exclusive character for 60 years.

When the club started out, hunting was a major recreational activity. A gamekeeper was hired to keep the island well-stocked with pheasants, turkeys, quail and deer.

All members were to report daily what they had killed and turn it over to the club. Wild game was a common sight on the menu of the clubhouse. A taxidermist shop was located within the club compound, specifically for mounting the prize game.

As the club grew, other recreations became popular. Golf eventually took over as the Club's dominant sport. The first course was located just to the north of the Club compound. Later, in the 1920s, an ocean side course was built. A portion of this historic golf course is still intact, and can be played.

Other leisure activities included carriage driving, tennis, and bicycling.

Role in the history of the Federal Reserve

Jekyll Island was the location of a meeting in November 1910 in which draft legislation was written to create a central banking system for the United States. Following the Panic of 1907, banking reform became a major issue in the United States. Senator Nelson Aldrich (R-RI), chairman of the National Monetary Commission, went to Europe for almost two years to study that continent's banking systems. Upon his return, he brought together many of the country's leading financiers to Jekyll Island to discuss monetary policy and the banking system, drafting legislation which was introduced in Congress as the "Aldrich Plan". Some ideas from the Aldrich Plan were later incorporated into the Federal Reserve Act.

On the evening of November 22, 1910, Sen. Aldrich and A.P. Andrews (Assistant Secretary of the United States Treasury Department), Paul Warburg (a naturalized German representing Kuhn, Loeb & Co.), Frank A. Vanderlip (president of the National City Bank of New York), Henry P. Davison (senior partner of J. P. Morgan Company), Charles D. Norton (president of the Morgan-dominated First National Bank of New York), and Benjamin Strong (representing J. P. Morgan), together representing about one quarter of the world's wealth at the time, left Hoboken, New Jersey on a train in complete secrecy, dropping their last names in favor of first names, or code names, so no one would discover who they all were. The excuse for such powerful representatives and wealth was to go on a duck hunting trip on Jekyll Island.

Forbes magazine founder Bertie Charles Forbes wrote several years later:

Picture a party of the nation's greatest bankers stealing out of New York on a private railroad car under cover of darkness, stealthily riding hundreds of miles South, embarking on a mysterious launch, sneaking onto an island deserted by all but a few servants, living there a full week under such rigid secrecy that the names of not one of them was once mentioned, lest the servants learn the identity and disclose to the world this strangest, most secret expedition in the history of American finance. I am not romancing; I am giving to the world, for the first time, the real story of how the famous Aldrich currency report, the foundation of our new currency system, was written ... The utmost secrecy was enjoined upon all. The public must not glean a hint of what was to be done. Senator Aldrich notified each one to go quietly into a private car of which the railroad had received orders to draw up on an unfrequented platform. Off the party set. New York's ubiquitous reporters had been foiled ... Nelson (Aldrich) had confided to Henry, Frank, Paul and Piatt that he was to keep them locked up at Jekyll Island, out of the rest of the world, until they had evolved and compiled a scientific currency system for the United States, the real birth of the present Federal Reserve System, the plan done on Jekyll Island in the conference with Paul, Frank and Henry ... Warburg is the link that binds the Aldrich system and the present system together. He more than any one man has made the system possible as a working reality.

Decline and closure of the club

The Great Depression in 1929 caused great changes on Jekyll Island. This depression touched even the very wealthy across the country and membership in an exclusive club became an extravagance. Membership dropped slowly through the 1930s as the depression continued.

With the financial situation of the club worsening, the executive committee decided to create a new level of club membership in 1933. A more affordable level of membership, the Associate membership was designed to fit the needs, and pocketbook, of anyone. It was an attempt to draw in new and younger people as well as to draw more members back to the clubhouse. This new membership did revitalize the club membership roster, although only for a brief period.

World War II was the final blow to the life of the Jekyll Island Club. The club opened as usual for the 1942 season. However, by the beginning of March it was announced there would be an early close to the season due to the club's financial situation and the strain the war had on the labor situation. The 1942 season would turn out to be the final season for the Jekyll Island Club.

There was hope by the president that the Club might be reopened after the war with renewed interest. However, in 1946 the state of Georgia entered the picture. The state's revenue commissioner, Melvin E. Thompson, wanted to purchase one of Georgia's barrier islands and open it to the public as a state park. Finally, on June 2, 1947, the state purchased the island through a condemnation order for $675,000 (or approximately $5,563,416 in 2003 dollars).

The club was turned into a public resort by the state, but closed by 1971, a financial failure. It was made a historic landmark in 1978 and restored and reopened as the Radisson Jekyll Island Club Hotel in 1985. Radisson ceased managing the hotel some years later, and it currently operates as the Jekyll Island Club Resort.

List of members

During the club's inception, a limit of 100 members was imposed to ensure the club's exclusiveness. During the financially difficult Great Depression period, the club began referring to its members as founders and created the new Associate Membership. This membership was purchased at a lower price, but with all of the benefits that the founders enjoyed, and limited to a total of 150.

This list includes many of the most notable members and is not exhaustive.

Associate Members: (This class of membership was adopted in 1933)

Presidents

• 1886–1887 — Lloyd Aspinwall
• 1887–1896 — Henry Howland
• 1897–1914 — Charles Lanier
• 1914–1919 — Frederick Bourne
• 1919–1927 — Dr. Walter James
• 1927–1933 — Walter Jennings
• 1933–1938 — J.P. Morgan Jr.
• 1938–1942 — Bernon Prentice

Jekyll Island Club Historic District

Jekyll Island Club Historic District is a National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) historic district and National Historic Landmark District in Glynn County, Georgia. Located on the west side of Jekyll Island, the 240-acre (97.1 hectares) district is roughly bordered by Riverview Drive to the west, and the long arc of Stable Road (Old Village Boulevard) to the north, east and south. It contains thirty-three contributing properties from the Jekyll Island Club, including the separately-NRHP-listed Rockefeller Cottage and Faith Chapel. Jekyll Island Club Historic District was added to the NRHP on January 20, 1972, and was designated a national historic landmark district on June 2, 1978.

From 1967-1968, Savannah landscape architect Clermont Huger Lee created a master development plan with the goal to restore the area known as “Millionaire’s Village” to its 1910-1929 era. Though not fully implemented, Lee’s plans served as a foundation in the redevelopment of today’s Jekyll Island Historic District.

Contributing properties

Name	Image	Year	Location/ GPS Coordinates	Architect	Architectural Style	Material	Notes
Baker-Crane Carriage House		Built c.1890	101 James Road		Queen Anne Revival		Built for Frederic Baker, whose adjacent cottage, Solterra, burned in 1914 Later owned by Richard Teller Crane Jr., who demolished Solterra to build Crane Cottage
Boat Engineer's Cottage		Built 1916	21 Pier Road				Built by the Club to house its boat engineer, John Courier Currently houses a gift shop, Something For Everyone
Bookkeeper's Cottage Stephens Cottage		Built 1900	32 Pier Road 31°03′32″N 81°25′07″W / 31.058961°N 81.418586°W / 31.058961; -81.418586 (The Cottage)				Built by the Club to house its bookkeeper, Julius A. Falk Currently houses The Cottage Gift Shop
Chauffeurs' Dormitory		Built 1905	17 Pier Road 31°03′31″N 81°25′10″W / 31.05866666°N 81.41953333°W / 31.05866666; -81.41953333 (Chauffeurs' Dormitory)				Currently houses Island House Gifts The rear addition houses Jekyll Island U.S. Post Office
Cherokee Cottage Shrady-James Cottage		Built 1904	191 Old Plantation Road 31°03′40″N 81°25′20″W / 31.060983°N 81.42211°W / 31.060983; -81.42211 (Cherokee Cottage)	Carrere & Hastings	Italian Renaissance Revival		Built for George Frederick Shrady Sr. Later owned by Dr. Walter Belknap James Cherokee Cottage in 1911:
Club House		Built 1887	371 Riverview Drive 31°03′33″N 81°25′19″W / 31.059116°N 81.4220421°W / 31.059116; -81.4220421 (Jekyll Island Club Resort)	Charles A. Alexander	Queen Anne Revival		In an 1886 perspective drawing:
Club House Annex		Built 1901-1903	Old Plantation Road 31°03′33″N 81°25′17″W / 31.059088°N 81.421478°W / 31.059088; -81.421478 (Jekyll Island Club House Annex)	Charles Alling Gifford	Italian Renaissance Revival		"The Annex" featured eight 4-bedroom condominium apartments on the first and second floors, twenty guest bedrooms on the third floor, and servant bedrooms on the fourth floor.
Commissary		Built c.1900	24 Pier Road 31°03′32″N 81°25′12″W / 31.0590046°N 81.4200983°W / 31.0590046; -81.4200983 (Commissary)				Currently houses Just By Hand, a handicrafts shop
Crane Cottage		Built 1917-1918	371 Riverview Drive 31°03′38″N 81°25′21″W / 31.060596°N 81.4226187°W / 31.060596; -81.4226187 (Crane Cottage)	Adler & Dangler	Mediterranean Revival	stucco over brick terracotta tile roof	Built for Richard Teller Crane Jr., on the site of Solterra (burned 1914) Courtyard:
DuBignon Cottage Club Cottage		Built 1884 Relocated 1896	171 Old Plantation Road 31°03′32″N 81°25′14″W / 31.0588°N 81.4206°W / 31.0588; -81.4206 (DuBignon Cottage)		Stick Style		Only building that pre-dated 1886 establishment of the Club Originally stood on site of San Souci Apartments Relocated to present site, 1896
Faith Chapel		Built 1904 Renovated 1970	181 Old Plantation Road 31°03′38″N 81°25′18″W / 31.060556°N 81.421667°W / 31.060556; -81.421667 (Faith Chapel)	Howard Constable	Shingle Style	wood shingles	The tower's terracotta gargoyles are based on those of Notre-Dame de Paris: King David Window by Louis Comfort Tiffany:
Furness Cottage		Built 1889-1891 Renovated 1930 Renovated 2017	101 Old Plantation Road 31°03′24″N 81°25′11″W / 31.056667°N 81.419611°W / 31.056667; -81.419611 (Walter Rogers Furness Cottage)	Furness, Evans & Company	Shingle Style	wood shingles	Built for Walter Rogers Furness Relocated 1896 and 1930. Served as Jekyll Island Infirmary, 1930-1942 Damaged by Hurricane Matthew, 2016
Georgia Sea Turtle Center Jekyll Island Power Plant		Built c.1903 Renovated 2006	214 Stable Road 31°03′36″N 81°25′10″W / 31.059926°N 81.419540°W / 31.059926; -81.419540 (Georgia Sea Turtle Center)			brick	The Georgia Sea Turtle Center opened in 2007
Goodyear Cottage		Built 1903-1906 Renovated 1973	321 Riverview Drive 31°03′23″N 81°25′18″W / 31.0565°N 81.4218°W / 31.0565; -81.4218 (Goodyear Cottage)	Carrere & Hastings	Italian Renaissance Revival		Goodyear Cottage in 1911:
Gould Casino Auditorium		Built 1902 Remodeled 1957	203 Old Plantation Road 31°03′44″N 81°25′21″W / 31.06215°N 81.42251°W / 31.06215; -81.42251 (Gould Casino)	Walter Blair			Built by Edwin Gould as indoor tennis courts.
Hollybourne Cottage		Built 1890	379 Riverview Drive 31°03′44″N 81°25′23″W / 31.0622°N 81.423°W / 31.0622; -81.423 (Hollybourne Cottage)	William H. Day		tabby concrete	Built for Charles Stewart Maurice Hollybourne Cottage in 1911:
Jekyll Island Authority Administration Building			100 James Road				Built as a dormitory for married servants. Currently houses offices of the Jekyll Island Authority
Jekyll Island Authority Offices			James Road 31°03′35″N 81°25′13″W / 31.059758°N 81.420372°W / 31.059758; -81.420372 (Jekyll Island Authority Offices)				Built as a dormitory for single servants.
Jekyll Island Museum Club Stables		Built 1897 Renovated 2017-2019	100 Stable Road 31°03′30″N 81°25′04″W / 31.058290°N 81.417889°W / 31.058290; -81.417889 (Jekyll Island Museum)				Reopened April 27, 2019, following a two-year renovation
Jekyll Island U.S. Post Office (rear of Chauffeur's Dormitory)			17-A Pier Road 31°03′32″N 81°25′16″W / 31.0588276°N 81.4210029°W / 31.0588276; -81.4210029 (Jekyll Island U.S. Post Office)
Mistletoe Cottage Claflin-Porter Cottage		Built 1900	Riverview Drive 31°03′25″N 81°25′18″W / 31.0568059°N 81.4218°W / 31.0568059; -81.4218 (Mistletoe Cottage)	Charles Alling Gifford	Dutch Colonial Revival	wood shingles	Built for Henry Kirke Porter John Claflin purchased it in 1926
Morgan Tennis Court		Built 1930	151 Old Plantation Road 31°03′29″N 81°25′14″W / 31.058049°N 81.420588°W / 31.058049; -81.420588 (Morgan Tennis Court)				Named for Club president J. P. Morgan Jr.
Moss Cottage		Built 1896	341 Riverview Drive 31°03′21″N 81°25′18″W / 31.055843°N 81.421647°W / 31.055843; -81.421647 (Moss Cottage)		Dutch Colonial Revival	wood shingles	Built for William Struthers Jr. Later owned by George Henry Macy Moss Cottage in 1911:
Pump House		Built c.1925	south of Morgan Tennis Court
Rockefeller Cottage Indian Mound Cottage		Built 1892 Expanded c.1910	361 Riverview Drive 31°03′27″N 81°25′19″W / 31.0575°N 81.421944°W / 31.0575; -81.421944 (Rockefeller Cottage)		Shingle Style	wood shingles	Rockefeller Cottage in 1911: Built for Gordon McKay Bought by William Rockefeller, 1905.
San Souci Apartments		Built 1896	365 Pier Road 31°03′29″N 81°25′17″W / 31.05815°N 81.42144°W / 31.05815; -81.42144 (San Souci)	Charles Alling Gifford	Shingle Style	wood shingles	Built by Henry Baldwin Hyde as a 6-unit condominium J. P. Morgan owned one of the apartments
San Souci Boiler House		Built 1896	150 Old Plantation Road 31°03′29″N 81°25′16″W / 31.0579269°N 81.4209922°W / 31.0579269; -81.4209922 (Island Sweets Shoppe)				Visible at far right in a 1911 photograph: Built to provide heat and hot water for San Souci Apartments Currently houses the Island Sweets Shoppe
Solterra Dovecote		Built c.1890 Restored 2016	Old Plantation Road				Visible just left of center in a 1911 photograph: Built for Frederic Baker Survived 1914 burning of Solterra Cottage
Staff Dining Hall		c.1910	13 Pier Road 31°03′31″N 81°25′13″W / 31.0586831°N 81.4202132°W / 31.0586831; -81.4202132 (Remember When)				Currently houses Remember When
Villa Marianna		Built 1929	201 Old Plantation Road 31°03′43″N 81°25′20″W / 31.062011°N 81.4223338°W / 31.062011; -81.4223338 (Villa Marianna)	Mogens Tvede	Mediterranean Revival		Built for Frank Miller Gould, named for his daughter
Villa Opso		Built 1927	381 Riverview Drive 31°03′46″N 81°25′24″W / 31.062855°N 81.423218°W / 31.062855; -81.423218 (Villa Opso)	John Russell Pope	Mediterranean Revival		Built for Walter Jennings Takes its name from the Guale name for Jekyll Island
Wharf Jekyll Landing Wharf			1 Pier Road 31°03′30″N 81°25′27″W / 31.0582°N 81.4242°W / 31.0582; -81.4242 (Jekyll Landing Wharf)				Wharf in 1911:

Non-contributing and demolished properties

Name	Image	Year	Location/ GPS Coordinates	Architect	Architectural Style	Material	Notes
Brown Cottage		1888 Demolished c.1944	North Riverview Drive 31°04′08″N 81°25′34″W / 31.0689°N 81.42598°W / 31.0689; -81.42598 (Brown Cottage Chimney)	William Burnet Tuthill	Queen Anne Revival		Built for McEvers Bayard Brown
Chichota Cottage		Built 1897 Demolished 1941	375 Riverview Drive 31°03′41″N 81°25′24″W / 31.06128333°N 81.42325°W / 31.06128333; -81.42325 (Chichota Ruins)		Beaux-Arts		Built for David H. King Jr. Entrance through a courtyard with swimming pool Edwin Gould purchased the cottage in 1900 Chichota's entrance steps, flanked by lions, and its swimming pool survive
Dairy Barn		Built 1910	North Riverview Drive 31°04′42″N 81°25′25″W / 31.078317°N 81.423733°W / 31.078317; -81.423733 (Dairy Silo)				Remnants of the dairy barn's concrete grain silo survive
Doc's Snack Shop
James Memorial Swimming Pool		1927	west of Club House				Named for Club president Dr. Walter Belknap James
Jekyll Island Amphitheater		Built 1973	North Stable Road 31°03′53″N 81°25′12″W / 31.064822°N 81.420033°W / 31.064822; -81.420033 (Jekyll Island Amphitheater)
Public Restroom			behind Faith Chapel
Pulitzer-Albright Cottage		Built 1897-1898 Expanded 1899, 1904 Burned 1950s	Riverview Drive 31°03′20″N 81°25′16″W / 31.0555°N 81.4212°W / 31.0555; -81.4212 (Pulitzer-Albright Cottage)	Charles Alling Gifford	Italian Renaissance Revival		Built for Joseph Pulitzer Pulitzer relocated the Furness Cottage to his building plot, 1896, and lived in it while his cottage was under construction Later owned by John J. Albright
Red Row			North Stable Road 31°03′53″N 81°25′12″W / 31.064822°N 81.420033°W / 31.064822; -81.420033 (Jekyll Island Amphitheater)				Ten houses built by the Club for African-American employees The workers were displaced in 1947, when Georgia purchased the island Jekyll Island Amphitheater was built on the site in 1973
Schoolhouse		Built 1901	Schoolhouse Lane				Children of white employees were taught at the schoolhouse. A schoolhouse for black children was later built.
Skeet House		Built 1930s Relocated 2014	Pier Road 31°03′32″N 81°25′12″W / 31.059005°N 81.420098°W / 31.059005; -81.420098 (Skeet House)				Relocated about 1 mi (1.6 km) from former shooting range Currently stands beside DuBignon Cottage
Solterra Baker Cottage		Built 1890-1891 Burned 1914	Riverview Drive 31°03′38″N 81°25′23″W / 31.06064°N 81.42298°W / 31.06064; -81.42298 (Solterra)		Queen Anne Revival		Built for Frederic Baker Crane Cottage (1918) was built on Solterras's site Solterra Dovecote and the Baker-Crane Carriage House survive
Union Chapel		Built 1898 Relocated c.1904	North Stable Road				African-American church, near Red Row
Water Tower/Windmill		Built 1891 Destroyed 1898 Rebuilt 1898 Destroyed 1928	Old Plantation Road				Located just east of the Club House Both water towers/windmills were destroyed by hurricanes

See also

• List of National Historic Landmarks in Georgia (U.S. state)
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Glynn County, Georgia