Letter from Joshua Coffin Chase to Sydney Octavius Chase (March 15, 1922)
Dublin Core
Title
Letter from Joshua Coffin Chase to Sydney Octavius Chase (March 15, 1922)
Alternative Title
Chase Correspondence (March 15, 1922)
Subject
Chase, Sydney Octavius, 1860-1941
Chase, Joshua Coffin, 1858-1948
Country clubs--Florida
Golf courses--Florida--Orlando Region
Golf--Florida
Chase and Company (Sanford, Fla.)
Sanford (Fla.)
Description
An original letter of correspondence between brothers and business partners Joshua Coffin Chase and Sydney Octavius Chase. Topics discussed in the letter include the expected arrival of a golf expert to lay out the course of the new country club.
The Sanford Country Club and Golf Course, which is now named the Mayfair Country Club, was originally purchased as a portion of a 20,000-acre tract by General Joseph Finegan for $40. In 1870, Henry Shelton Sanford purchased the tract and sold some of it in 1878 to Charles Amory.In 1922, the City of Sanford bought 152-acres to design and construct a municipal 18-hole golf course. The course opened in October of 1922 with only four holes available for playing. The remainder of the golf course was opened in September of 1924. From the year 1927-1939, the golf course and country club experienced once of its most successful periods as it saw some of golfs greatest athletes, such as Gene Sarazen and Walter Hagen.
However, he club, for a time, saw a state of disrepair and depression. For a short time, the club became the Seminole County Club after renovation in 1945. Then, in the late 1940s, the New York Giants received the Mayfair Inn for Spring training, which allowed them to take control of the golf course. This led to the most prosperous period of the golf course and country club becoming a part of the PGA tour between 1955 to 1957, seeing players like Arnold Palmer tee-off on the course. In 2007, Maece Taylor, Inc. signed a 20-year lease with the City of Sanford for the golf course. In 2011, Maece Taylor filed a lawsuit against Sanford, claiming that the lease is invalid due to a clause in the contract that states that Donald Ross, a critically-acclaimed designer in the 1920s and 1930s, designed the golf course. The Chase papers contain letters that suggest that Cameron Trent designed the golf course, not Ross.
The Sanford Country Club and Golf Course, which is now named the Mayfair Country Club, was originally purchased as a portion of a 20,000-acre tract by General Joseph Finegan for $40. In 1870, Henry Shelton Sanford purchased the tract and sold some of it in 1878 to Charles Amory.In 1922, the City of Sanford bought 152-acres to design and construct a municipal 18-hole golf course. The course opened in October of 1922 with only four holes available for playing. The remainder of the golf course was opened in September of 1924. From the year 1927-1939, the golf course and country club experienced once of its most successful periods as it saw some of golfs greatest athletes, such as Gene Sarazen and Walter Hagen.
However, he club, for a time, saw a state of disrepair and depression. For a short time, the club became the Seminole County Club after renovation in 1945. Then, in the late 1940s, the New York Giants received the Mayfair Inn for Spring training, which allowed them to take control of the golf course. This led to the most prosperous period of the golf course and country club becoming a part of the PGA tour between 1955 to 1957, seeing players like Arnold Palmer tee-off on the course. In 2007, Maece Taylor, Inc. signed a 20-year lease with the City of Sanford for the golf course. In 2011, Maece Taylor filed a lawsuit against Sanford, claiming that the lease is invalid due to a clause in the contract that states that Donald Ross, a critically-acclaimed designer in the 1920s and 1930s, designed the golf course. The Chase papers contain letters that suggest that Cameron Trent designed the golf course, not Ross.
Creator
Chase, Joshua Coffin
Source
Original letter from Joshua Coffin Chase to Sydney Octavius Chase, March 15, 1922: Chase Collection (MS 14), box 50, folder 20.111, Special and Area Studies Collections, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.
Date Created
1922-03-15
Is Format Of
Digital reproduction of original letter from Joshua Coffin Chase to Sydney Octavius Chase, March 15, 1922.
Is Part Of
Chase Collection (MS 14), box 50, folder 20.111, Special and Area Studies Collections, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.
Sanford Country Club and Golf Course Collection, Sanford Collection, Chase Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
Is Referenced By
Folder referenced in Chase Collection finding guide, http://web.uflib.ufl.edu/spec/pkyonge/chase.htm.
Format
image/jpg
Extent
132 KB
Medium
1-page typewritten letter
Language
eng
Type
Text
Coverage
Sanford Country Club and Golf Course, Sanford, Florida
Accrual Method
Donation
Mediator
History Teacher
Provenance
Entire Chase Collection is comprised of four separate accessions from various donors, including Cecilia Johnson, the granddaughter of Joshua Coffin Chase and the children of Randall Chase.
Rights Holder
The displayed collection item is housed at Special and Area Studies Collections at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida. Rights to this item belong to the said institution, and therefore inquiries about the item should be directed there. RICHES of Central Florida has obtained permission from Special and Area Studies Collections at the University of Florida to display this item for educational purposes only.
Contributing Project
Special and Area Studies Collections, University of Florida
Digital Collections (UFDC), University of Florida
Curator
Cepero, Laura
Digital Collection
Source Repository
University of Florida, Special and Area Studies Collections
External Reference
"Sydney Chase Sr. (1860-1941)." Florida Citrus Hall of Fame. Copyright 2012. http://floridacitrushalloffame.com/index.php/inductees/inductee-name/?ref_cID=89&bID=0&dd_asId=600.
Moorhead, Richard, and Nick Wynne. Golf in Florida: 1886-1950. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Pub, 2008.
Sanford Historical Society (Fla.). Sanford. Charleston, SC: Arcadia, 2003.
External Reference Title
<a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/551659706" target="_blank"> </a>
Transcript
March 15 1922
Mr. S.O. Chase,
Sanford, Florida.
Dear Syd:
The golf expert who is laying out the course at the new Country Club is due here in the next few days. Will see him about taking on the Sanford job. Mr. John Roe, the President of the new Club, considers him the best golf course engineer in the country and thinks that by spending a day with you he could map out the work to be done on a nine-hole course and also map out the additional nine holes which could be worked on later, and would do this at a very moderate charge. Will find out and let you know.
Yours very truly,
Mr. S.O. Chase,
Sanford, Florida.
Dear Syd:
The golf expert who is laying out the course at the new Country Club is due here in the next few days. Will see him about taking on the Sanford job. Mr. John Roe, the President of the new Club, considers him the best golf course engineer in the country and thinks that by spending a day with you he could map out the work to be done on a nine-hole course and also map out the additional nine holes which could be worked on later, and would do this at a very moderate charge. Will find out and let you know.
Yours very truly,
Document Item Type Metadata
Original Format
1 -page typewritten letter
Citation
Chase, Joshua Coffin, “Letter from Joshua Coffin Chase to Sydney Octavius Chase (March 15, 1922),” RICHES, accessed December 26, 2024, https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/items/show/1625.