Columbia Club history

With history and tradition as its birthright, the Columbia Club was formally organized on February 13, 1889.

Now over a century old, the Columbia University Club dates back to 1901 when a group of two hundred young graduates met at Sherry’s Restaurant to form a club.

The Club grew quickly and by 1910 had more than one thousand members and a clubhouse at the corner of Irving Place and Gramercy Park South.

By 1915, the Columbia University Club had outgrown its quarters on Gramercy Park and was looking for a larger clubhouse in Midtown, where many other clubs were settling.

Membership has expanded beyond the all-time highs of the 1920s.

The third home of the Columbia Club was completed in 1925.

My Great Grandfather, Henry Cabell, worked at the club until his death in 1935.

At the Columbia Club in 1959, Calvin Hamilton, Director of Marion County’s Metropolitan Planning Department, gathered community leaders, including Eli Lilly to discuss how to preserve what was left of the city’s built environment.

He retired and later died in 1965.

By 1973, the Club closed the clubhouse doors at 4 West 43rd Street.

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In 2012, the Columbia Club was selected as a Platinum Club of America, making it one of the 35 top-ranked city clubs in the nation and a premier club in the Midwest.

In 2014, the Club celebrated its 125th anniversary with special events throughout the year.

In February 2017, the Columbia University Club proudly announced a new affiliation with The Penn Club of New York.