TOUR link
The Mount Tom Golf Course was started in 1898. It is one of the best golf courses in New England. It was designed at first as 9 holes. Eventually it would extend to 18 holes.
The Franklin tennis courts were on Chestnut Street between Cabot and Essex.
Other old golf courses in the area are Oxford in Chicopee made in 1898, Springfield made in 1899, and Holyoke Country Club made in 1906.
12 Nov 1910,
19 Nov 1910 HTT
| holes at Mt Tom Golf 1911 to 1913 | yards | par |
| 1 | 175 | |
| 2 | 345 | 4 |
| 3 | 360 | 4 |
| 4 | 400 | |
| 5 | 210 | 3 |
| 6 | 350 | 4 |
| 7 | 430 | |
| 8 | 440 | |
| 9 | 425 |
In 1911 the new entrance was made on Northampton Street.
In the 1914 it was redesigned by Donald Ross. He lived in Holyoke just across the street from the entrance to the country club.
26 Feb 1914 HTT article
Joseph Lewis Wyckoff (FINDAGRAVE) seems to have had a conversation with Ross around that time and encouraged him to redesign the course.
24 Nov 1914 Boston Evening Transcript
The addition of more holes finally happened and in 1916 it became 18 holes.
8 Jan 1920 HTT
In 1922 the Wyckoff Park residential neighborhood was put into place. Mountain View Drive would go over the 1890s entry road. Mount Tom Drive would go over the 1911 entry road. Central Park Drive was an Olmsted Brothers design.
In the 1922 it was redesigned again by Donald Ross to fit the new layout of the streets since they would be placed right over the course.
In 1956 the course was sold to Marinello and renamed to Wyckoff.
In 1963 the golf course would have to change profoundly since Interstate 91 would be placed right over it. The land of Steiger had been donated to the Holyoke Water Works in 1929. In the mid-1960s, the Holyoke Water Works sold it at low cost to the Wyckoff Country Club. The Wyckoff over the land of Steiger.
The Holyoke Country Club had its 50th anniversary in 1956. This is a full page article in the Holyoke Transcript of July 28th about it.
Sanborn map analysis:
