(above) Postcard, postmarked 1918, shows the second Ilderan Clubhouse that was built in 1909. Much of it was destroyed by fire in 1923. The third clubhouse, the one that still stands, retains similar contours.
The Ilderan Club
Submitted by Al Shipley, City Historian and Rahway Public Library Research Consultant
“One of the oldest and best known of the athletic and social clubs of not only New Jersey but the entire nation” was the way the Ilderan Club was described in the 125th Anniversary Edition of the Rahway News Record, published in 1948. In the six decades between 1900 and the 1960s, social, civic, fraternal, and religious-based clubs were important parts of the fabric of every community. These organizations filled the social needs of the time and memberships boomed. In Rahway, over four dozen clubs were established during that span of years, but it was the Ilderan Club, an exclusive organization, that gave the city an air of sophistication.
Organized in 1881 as the Seminole Archery Club, meetings were held in the stately homes of members who were all part of Rahway’s social class. When open land on Milton Avenue (where the Case Senior Apartments now stand) became available, the group acquired it and set up archery ranges and croquet fields. In 1884, the club’s interest shifted to tennis and in July of 1885, two grass tennis courts were built. The first tennis tournament was held that fall, and by the next year, the club became a member of the New Jersey State Tennis Association.
By 1889, the archery club had reached ninety-four members, and it was proposed that a larger, incorporated club could be supported. With this end in mind, incorporation papers were filed in the County Clerk’s office on April 1, 1890, thus creating the Ilderan Outing Club. The name was adopted at the suggestion of a member who knew of a fine club in the Adirondacks that bore the same name. A primary objective of the group was “to encourage and participate in suitable outdoor exercises and amusements and to promote all things that may be conducive to social recreation and social intercourse among its members.” Within a year, the club purchased property on the corner of Emerson Avenue and Pierpont Street, constructed its first clubhouse, and laid out three clay tennis courts (the three courts were converted to fast drying green- surfaced hard courts in 1936, when a fourth court was added). The original clubhouse included a large dance floor and stage, dressing rooms, a comfortable lounge, and two bowling alleys. Ilderan teams would be a formidable force in state, county, and local bowling leagues throughout the years.
It was tennis, though, that brought state-wide and national attention to the club from the earliest days of the Ilderan. Several club players were achieving national prominence and many of the nation’s outstanding players came to Rahway to compete in tournaments and exhibitions. The courts were lighted in 1915, and on June 28 of the same year, the Ilderan hosted the first night tennis tournament ever held in New Jersey. A large, enthusiastic gallery of several hundred attended the competition to watch top players perform under the lights. In 1916, the Ilderan joined the United States Lawn Tennis Association and in the decades that followed, club teams and individual players would excel in N.J. Tennis League play.
Sports alone, however, did not define the mystique of the Ilderan. Since its inception as the Seminole Archery Club, it had remained a club whose membership included many of Rahway’s most prominent families. The names of lawyers, judges, prosecutors, doctors, business executives, architects, mayors, and freeholders were on the rolls. Several members reached national and state prominence including former United States Senator Clifford Case, and authors Carolyn Wells and Earl Reed Silvers. The club offered its members a full schedule of entertainment which included elaborate dance parties, banquets, holiday galas, formal luncheons, concerts, plays, lectures, wedding receptions and bridal parties. In addition, it was the scene of formal assemblies, cotillions, and debutante balls where the daughters of Rahway’s finest families would be introduced to society.
By the 1960s, change was in the air and the new generation of baby-boomers was losing interest in any form of organization and the rituals of society. The sixties were a time of individuality and non-conformity and the need to be part of a group was not in the DNA of many young adults. Memberships in all organizations would wane and by the 1970s the once active Ilderan was pretty much defunct. The tennis court property was sold in 1972 and replaced by four one-family homes. Entries for the club were no longer included in city directories after 1978, and the clubhouse was sold during the next decade.
Today, all that remains of the once prestigious Ilderan is the circa 1923 structure that served as their third clubhouse. The building was bought in 1990 and was eventually converted into a private residence with fourteen units. Fortunately, the beautiful renovation work done on the exterior retains the “look” of the former clubhouse, and stands as the sole reminder of what had been Rahway’s most elite club.
(above) Tennis action at the Ilderan Club, circa summer, 1941.
(above) Ilderan members enjoy a tennis match as they watch from the covered veranda of their clubhouse, circa 1940s.
