History of Our Club - Rockaway River Country Club

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In 1915, the small town of Denville in Morris County was changing drastically. Nestled along the Rockaway River and Den Brook at the foothills of the Poconos, Denville officially formed as a township in 1913 from portions of Rockaway Township. Once inhabited by Lenape Native Americans, the area had been settled as early as the 1690s by Dutch and English settlers. Portions of the land had been owned by William Penn, the founder of Philadelphia, and throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the county grew as iron ore forges emerged in towns throughout the north Jersey highlands. Much like towns such as Whippany, Dover, and Morristown, Denville developed because of the iron ore industry, especially around the Job Allen Iron Works. By the turn of the twentieth century, the small town had become a “quiet country village” with a center of town that exuded “a certain charm.” Downtown Denville contained small stores that primarily offered groceries and other services for farmers and villagers. Most of these stores were located along Main Street and Diamond Spring Road, such as the old Denville Post Office. But during the second decade of the twentieth century, something began to change in Denville. The small country town began to experience a shift in its demographic and physical appearance, mostly due to its location. Not surprisingly, many people call Denville “the Hub of Morris County” to this day because of its proximity to so many transportation options. Its numerous lakes, which included Cedar Lake, Indian Lake, Rock Ridge, and Lake Arrowhead, attracted community lake clubs, and as the decade wore on the town shed its “country village appearance” and welcomed a multitude of vacationers. Many of these vacationers enjoyed the area so much that they decided to relocate to Denville, forcing the conversion of many summer cottages to year-round homes. They also encouraged relatives and friends to join them, leading to land developers creating homes for an influx of new residents. Better roads were needed to accommodate the arrival of these new inhabitants, so Highway 6 was widened and improved. New stores opened, commerce emerged, and Denville found itself transforming from an isolated country village into a provincial Morris County hub.

Early Clubs in New Jersey

Throughout the first two decades of the twentieth century, Morris County arose as an attractive escape for the nation's business and financial leaders living in the financial capital of the nation, New York City. These men of means and their families were attracted by the “isolation, ideal climate and unspoiled countryside” of Morris County. Some claim that during this time, more millionaires lived within a one mile radius of the Morristown Green than elsewhere in the world. These professionals and business leaders, both locals and seasonal vacationers, found themselves with a great deal of leisure time to pursue recreational activities. One such sport which grew in popularity during the early 1900s was golf. Originating in Scotland around the twelfth century, the modern game of golf crossed the Atlantic in the late 1800s and spread throughout the nation. By 1915, the popularity of golf had certainly grown in New Jersey, leading to the formation of dozens of country clubs in the state and hundreds more nationwide. Typically formed by a community’s wealthy individuals, these clubs provided a place of leisure and recreation that revolved around golf. In a small town in Morris County, a group of wealthy individuals had gathered to discuss the feasibility of forming a similar club.

Rockaway River Officially Incorporates

   In August 1915, the world found itself in the infancy of its first Great World War. Later in the month, a group of golf-enthusiast friends who lived or vacationed in the area of Denville, New Jersey joined together in the formation of a new golf club. On August 19, 1915, Rockaway River Country Club was officially incorporated. One of the chief proponents for the creation of the club was J. Henry Bacheller. A Newark resident, Bacheller was the president of the Ironbound Trust Company. He was described as rather heavy-set, slightly below medium height, black haired, clean shaven, and energetic. The banker and his friends wanted a place to play that was handy and convenient. So the Rockaway River Country Club was organized, with Bacheller as president, Claude H. Miller as secretary and August Merz as treasurer. The purpose of the club was “to operate a golf links, tennis courts, pool and billiard tables, bowling alleys and other athletic devices and to purchase or build a clubhouse or houses and other buildings for the accommodation and comfort of its members and to engage in games and sports which attend to physical development.”

   The papers were signed by nine trustees who included Bacheller, Merz, and Miller as well as Elliot Baldwin, Robert H. Illingworth, Mahlon L. Hoagland, Edward Jaeger, W. B. Littell and Gustave H. Koven. They were signed, sealed and delivered in the presence of Henry Ewald, a master in chancery of the State of New Jersey and a member of the club. The trustees represented a variety of professions and interests. In addition to his position as a banker, Bacheller took an interest in Essex County politics, serving for in the State Senate. Merz, another Newark resident, was an officer in Heller & Merz, a major company in the chemical and dye industry. Miller owned and operated the Diamond Spring Inn, the resort hotel which adjoined the golf course. For business purposes, Miller was understandably enthusiastic about the prospect of a golf course at the back door of his hotel. Hoagland lived and owned a rolling mill in Rockaway. Other trustees were businessmen, like Koven (who had a boiler works, L. O. Koven & Bro. in Jersey City) and Illingworth (who was a very wealthy man with a steel business in Newark, which he later sold to Crucible Steel Co. Ewald was a prominent lawyer, Jaeger was a New York stock broker, and Baldwin was a gentleman farmer who owned extensive land along what is now the front nine. Of course the original members needed land to make their club a reality. They first looked to Albert Sidney Aronstein, one of the original members, who lived with his wife, Leanore, in a big house on top of the hill where St. Clare’s Hospital now stands. On October 1, 1915, Leanore leased 60 acres of cleared land west of the river to the club for ten years, providing the club the option to buy the tract during the first three years of the lease for $6,000.

   To the east of the river (where the present clubhouse stands) was a big house owned by the Children’s Aid Society of New York. Founded in 1853, the organization was devoted to helping poor and homeless children, working women, needy families, and disabled boys and girls. Their big frame house in Denville, which was one story with an attic, was used as a summer camp for boys sent out from the city. “To accommodate the pitch of the ground the foundation was built up so that the west end of the house was ten to twelve feet above ground level and the east end about four or five feet, with flights of steps leading up at both ends.” The inside of the building consisted of one enormous room in the center, which had acted as a dining hall for the campers. It also included a huge fireplace on the north side and a porch running all around the north, west, and south sides of the building. While it was not the ideal clubhouse, some interior remodeling improved the building significantly, so the club purchased it and its adjoining 46.7 acres of land for $12,000. The club’s third purchase was easily arranged from Claude H. Miller. Completed on July 1, 1916, the deed gave 13 acres “more or less” to the club, which not only benefitted Rockaway River but also made Miller ecstatic, as the golf course would be close to his Diamond Spring Inn, near where the thirteenth tee now stands. The inn originated with Claude’s father, James M. Miller, who purchased the property for a summer home in the early portion of the twentieth century and began selling bottled water from the property’s spring. His son, an experimental farmer, writer and editor decided to expand his father’s homestead and build it into an inn. It was described at the time as being in a “most picturesque setting in the Rockaway River Valley, with the nearby Morris Canal and several lakes providing opportunities for walking and mountain climbing.” The 87-room building even sheltered some of the celebrities of the day, including President Warren G. Harding and the Duke of Windsor, traveling incognito. With enough land, nearly all of which was on the west side of the river, the club was able to lay out a nine-hole golf course. There is speculation regarding exactly who laid it out, but many believe it was done by Tom Gourlay, with aid from George Low.