As the name indicates, the club was formed by a group of young men of English ancestry[citation needed] who had played the game of cricket as students at the University of Pennsylvania.

With the wish to continue to play together after their graduation, they formed the club under the leadership of William Rotch Wister.

[2] Then, in 1883, the club “came home” to Chestnut Hill due to the generosity of a benefactor, Henry H. Houston.

Houston arranged for them to settle down at the club's present location on West Willow Grove Avenue in the St. Martins section of Chestnut Hill.

The old eighteen-hole course, known as St. Martins and now playing as a nine-hole layout, hosted the United States Open Championship in 1907 and 1910.

Also entered that year was Cricket Club's own professional, Scottish-born Willie Anderson, one of four golfers who have won the U.S. Open four times.

In 2015 the St Martins course was sold to the club by the Woodward Family as part of an open space initiative.

It was A. W. Tillinghast (Bethpage – Black, Baltusrol, Newport, San Francisco and Winged Foot) who recommended the Flourtown site and who designed the new course, which opened in 1922.

On June 18, 2013, construction was started on a complete restoration of the Wissahickon course, led by designer Keith Foster and Director of Grounds Dan Meersman.

After submissions by several top designers, the club selected Michael Hurdzan and Dana Fry, who had already designed a number of highly rated courses throughout the United States and Canada (Erin Hills, Calusa Pines, Hamilton Farms and Naples National).

In 2019 PCC won the Country Club Swim Association of Greater Philadelphia League Championship.

In 1881, the club was one of the founding members of the United States Lawn Tennis Association, today the USTA.