Philadelphia Girls Rowing Club Untold story

1938

   I feel proud of myself to be the first in the Ivystyle/preppy blogosphere to introduce this story. The Philadelphia Girls Rowing Club was founded on May 4th, 1938 and is the oldest active women's club of its kind in the United States. The club was established because no other rowing club allowed women to join. The clubhouse, located at 14 Kelly Drive on historic Boathouse Row in Philadelphia, was built in 1861 as the home to the Philadelphia Skating Club and Humane Society. The Humane Society of Philadelphia was organized in 1770 and its responsibility was saving the citizens from drowning while skating. The Philadelphia Skating Club was the first club of its kind in America. Its members skated on frozen rivers and lakes in the Philadelphia area. The club's goals were to instruct the art of skating while also rescuing people who fell through the ice. When the Humane Society ceased to function, its organization and responsibilities were acquired by the Skaters Club of the City and County of Philadelphia. Many of the ice skaters that were in the humane society of Philadelphia made their own club, which was the Skater Club of the City and County of Philadelphia. 

The founding members 1947
(Back row L-R)  Stella Sokolowska Peters, Ruth Robinhold, Harriet Mongan, Ernestine Bayer
(Front row L-R)  Lucy Finnegan, Betty McDevitt, Edna Graff, Doris Warner

    The club was founded by Ruth Adams Robinhold, who placed an ad in a local newspaper seeking women to form a rowing club. Almost 100 women showed up at the first meeting; after a $5 monthly fee was charged, 17 stayed to form the club. The founding members were Ruth Adams Robinhold, Gladys Hauser Lux, Lovey Farrell, and Mrs. Ernestine Bayer, along with thirteen additional women that became the core founders.

The Club was established because none of the other boathouses on the Schuylkill would “allow members of the weaker sex” to join their clubs. In July 1939, the Schuylkill Navy agreed to host the first women's race on the Schuylkill River, known as an “exhibition race”, which continued through the late 1950s before the women were allowed to compete in other regattas. 

Independence Day Regatta 1st place, 1/2 mile, time 3:09, July 4th, 1940

1944

1944

   A group of eight girls aka Vitchy 8 from the Philadelphia Girls’ Rowing Club won the first National Women’s Rowing Championships in Seattle in 1966, and again in 1967 at Lake Merrit, California. They were the first American women’s rowing club to compete in the European Rowing Championships held in Vichy, France. This historic achievement was also the first time a women’s rowing club had represented the United States in any European race.

1960

1960

The Vitchy 8 team arrives at France.

Vitchy 8 1966 crew

(L-R) Marjorie Pollack Ballheim, Nancy Keeler Bocchino, Barbara DePena Hoe, Faye Bardman Donovan, Evelyn Bergman, Ernestine Bayer Jr., Carol Schuler Lachal, Anita Becker Sacco, Nancy Farrell

   I hope everyone enjoyed this post because these are the kind of articles that I like coming across to. The Philadelphia Girls Rowing club in my opinion needs the same recognition as the girls that attended the seven sisters colleges. These women face the same problems that were occurring in seven sister colleges. They learned the sport of rowing from their boyfriends just like the seven sisters obtained their masculine  style of Oxford shirts and raccoon coats from their brothers and fathers. Thank you Philadelphia Girls Rowing Club!