The first golf course built in the Amsterdam area was the private Antlers Country Club, opened in 1901 on land in Fort Johnson and Tribes Hill off Route 5. Today, the facility is the Rolling Hills Golf Course.
According to historian Hugh P. Donlon, a 90-acre site for the course was selected in 1900 by a moneyed group of business and professional men. We know the area as Fort Johnson but in an era of anti-British sentiment, the community was called Akin, the name of a prominent local family.
Donlon said the land included part of the estate of Ethan Akin, the Lepper and Norton farms and other properties, all bought at first without indication that a golf course was the purpose of the land purchases.
Landscaping by Boston architect Frank M. Blaisdell began that year. Blaisdell also sketched the original clubhouse.
The clubhouse was built in 1901 and the first competition at the Antlers was on October 5 that year when the Antlers defeated the Cayaduttas of Gloversville. C.D. Stewart had the winning score of 87 for 18 holes.
The first full season at the country club was in 1902. At the opening reception in June, Minch’s Orchestra played for dancing and the 13th Brigade Band played on the lawn. The season ended with a ladies tournament in October. Laura Yund won the golf prize and Louise Taylor the ping-pong prize.
An annex to the clubhouse was opened in 1904. The Antlers clubhouse and annex had a large porch or veranda with a spectacular view of the Mohawk Valley.
According to Recorder news headline on the Web site www.mohawkvalleyweb.com , the Antlers quickly became a center for social activity for local movers and shakers.
Shakespeare’s “As You Like It” was performed at the Antlers in 1904. There were Fourth of July celebrations.
Amsterdam native and pioneer aviator Edward B. Heath flew his first airplane at the golf course in 1910. Heath founded a company in Chicago that sold airplane kits--he died while testing a new airplane in 1931. Company H of the National Guard camped at the Antlers in 1913.
New York Governor Al Smith visited in 1923 and 1925. In 1925, Governor Smith was the golf and dinner guest of Antlers president John Barnes.
Donlon wrote, “Family participation was encouraged for country club activities and the charter gave assurances of particular interest to those with marriageable daughters, that membership was open only to ‘eligible males of the county over 21 and of approved character.’” Minimum monthly expenditures for food and beverages were required of club members.
On May 6 1965, the Recorder reported that Antlers golf course neighbor Mrs. Ray Smith was putting out milk bottles at her home when she heard a strange sound, which she realized was the burglar alarm at the golf course. She then saw that the clubhouse was on fire and alerted the Fort Johnson fire department.
The beautiful old clubhouse burned to the ground. The club newsletter—edited by George Gill—reported that month, “It seems that for many years, talk around the club, at one time or another, has been about the possibility of a fire, and the pros and cons of what could and would be done if it ever happened. Well, it has happened, and I think that every person who went up the next day to see the ruins all felt that a little something had been taken away, something that will be hard to replace.”
Donlon wrote, “The replacement made a year later was smaller and lacked the spacious veranda that had contributed so much to summer social life of affluent Amsterdamians for 60 years.”
