Do You Know the Crazy Origin Story of the Poughkeepsie Tennis Club?

Better question, did you even know Poughkeepsie has a tennis club?

Recently, I've been doing some exploring throughout Poughkeepsie. One of the biggest things I discovered was the Poughkeepsie Tennis Club. Now, I always knew it was there, but I was never around it before. I went on a walk and saw the massive space that it takes up and saw there were multiple tennis courts and even a pool. It grabbed my interest, so I did some research online and learned there is a crazy origin story.

According to their website, the Poughkeepsie Tennis Club began in 1890 as a non-profit, member-run club. Before the club, tennis was played in Poughkeepsie at the homes of several wealthy city residents who had their own courts. There wasn't even a public place to play tennis. But a group of people who were passionate about tennis built their own court on what is now Eastman Park. Then, the publisher of the Poughkeepsie Daily Eagle, John I. Platt, created a tennis court for his children behind his townhome. It ended up becoming more than just Platt's children who played on his court. Eventually, people who used Platt's court approached the people who had a court at Eastman Park and merged the two courts to create the Poughkeepsie Tennis Club.

Beyond how the crazy story of how the club began, the even crazier story is why they created it. According to their website, the Poughkeepsie Tennis Club started as a place for "Victorian young men and women to meet, play tennis and eventually start families". On their website today, they said that many members "stay well beyond the child raising years". It's crazy to see that the club is even thought of as a place to meet people and begin families in modern times, and not just a place to enjoy tennis! The Poughkeepsie Tennis Club appears to be equal parts social and sports club.