Detroit Yacht Club history

A small clubhouse and sailing shed were built at the foot of McDougall Street, just south of Jefferson Avenue in the late 1870's.

In the early 1880's, dissension tore the Club apart concerning the expansion of the Club's social activities.

A faction formed the Michigan Yacht Club in 1882.

The first clubhouse was erected on Belle Isle in 1891 at a cost of $10,000, with an additional $2,000 spent on furnishings.

Beginning in 1921, the DYC started sponsoring the hydroplane races.

The painting of Gar Wood is from 1922 and was painted by Fred Rypsam.

A concrete bridge to Belle Isle opened in 1923, the same year our present $1,000,000 Clubhouse was dedicated.

River Vista Bar: The River Vista Bar was originally an outside porch enclosed in 1925.

In 1932, Jane Caldwell, a DYC member, won the gold medal for the 100 meter breaststroke during the first Olympiad with a complete schedule of women’s swimming events.

By 1946 the Club became debt free and the women of the club formed the first women’s sailing organization in the country and raced the Club’s catboats.

The three arches were added in 1952 permitting a 35mm projection booth to shown current movie productions.

The tables were sold in 1960 and the room converted to a meeting room.

In 1962 the outdoor pool was installed and an addition was made to the ladies locker room on the end of the building.

When the current structure was built in 1985, it was named in his honor.

Clubhouse In 2011, the Detroit Yacht Club Foundation was established to support the preservation and restoration of the historic DYC clubhouse and facilitate educational opportunities that celebrate the historic nature of the Detroit Yacht Club.

As Belle Isle’s popularity waned in the late twentieth century, so did the DYC’s, leading to the creation of the non-profit Detroit Yacht Club Foundation in 2012.