Midlothian Country Club

In 1898, a group of wealthy industrialists, bankers and merchants decided to construct the Midlothian Country Club in the southwest outskirts of the City of Chicago.

When the club opened in 1898, its members were compelled to make the two mile journey from the Rock Island's Rexfords Corners railroad station over dirt roads that would become impassable during and after a rainstorm.

Turner[6]) chose to construct a railroad for a passenger train that would eventually travel 2.3 miles (3.7 km) up to fourteen times a day, providing transportation for its members and sometimes the caddies, except during the winter season.

These tracks also had sidings which were sometimes used to "park" the private rail cars of members who would then stay the weekend for a golf event at the country club.

Tony Holquin - tour player and teaching professional[9] Brandon Adair - PGA Head Golf Professional 2013–Present Just as the country club wanted to stay a controlled secret at first as a business strategy, one of the founding members, E. C. Potter composed a book in which select ownership of the book was determined to be that of a narrow list of individuals and no one else as it included the statement "For Private Circulation Only 1900" on one of the first few pages.

Entitled Midlothian melodies: Mnemonic Maunderings of the Merry Muse, it was composed with intent on passages having been read at various events and then compiled into a book form.

One "musing" was for the farewell party on September 30, 1899, for the soon to be former President George R. Thorne, one of the key players in the entire development process while others are passages contemplating the intricacies of the game of golf.

Site of the founding of the Midlothian Country Club Initial meetings which led to the formation of the Midlothian Country club were held in the living room of the residence of Harlow Niles Higinbotham at 2934 S. Michigan Avenue in Chicago. [ 3 ] Higinbotham was the president of the World's Columbian Exposition and a director of The Northern Trust Bank and a director and partner of Marshall Field & Co . The house was demolished in 1920 and replaced by a service station. [ 4 ]
A Midlothian club rider with foxhounds, 1904
The Midlothian Country Club was in the national spotlight in 1916 when this cartoon appeared in the October 7th issue of Judge magazine. In January of that year the club had won the rights to sponsor the Western Amateur Golf Championship tournament, an honor which it had wrested away from the Omaha Country Club and the Del Monte Club of southern California . [ 10 ] It was for this event that the Western Golf Association took the controversial step of abolishing the stymie , thus "eliminating one of the most discussed penalties of golf...for three-fourths of the United States and all of Canada." [ 11 ]