Essex County Club history

Upon it being organized, the Club wasted no time getting into the tennis tournament swing of things. It hosted on its two new clay courts in 1894 a five-day round robin, according to the Wright and Ditson Tennis Guide of the same year, featuring six of the country’s leading players.

A nine-hole course was completed in 1895, laid out in Hutton Park by a young Scot named Alex Finlay, the club's first professional.

Originally established as a hunt club in the Hutton Park section of West Orange NJ, ECCC introduced golf in 1898.

In 1900, Essex County hosted a meeting which included representatives from 10 New Jersey clubs and resulted in the birth of the New Jersey State Golf Assocation.

In 1905, Essex County was an integral part of the MGA's establishment as one of the Association's charter members.

She became so accomplished with the racquet that in 1908 she partnered with Evelyn Sears to victory in the National Doubles championship in Philadelphia.

In 1916, A.W. Tillinghast was hired to build an 18-hole course, called the "Upper Course," on a 180-acre site atop First Mountain, a couple of miles away.

Today, ECC boasts an expanded Club House, a Donald Ross designed eighteen-hole golf course (1917), ten grass and ten clay tennis courts, three paddle tennis courts, and a full size swimming pool.

Enter the 1924 Tennis Committee which initiated a ladies’ tennis tournament in conjunction with the United States Lawn Tennis Association that ran for more than four decades.

Helen Wills won her first of four Essex Invitations in 1925.

The course was redesigned in 1928 by Seth Raynor and Charles Banks.

In 1942, Essex County opted for a change and demolished the Mansion House (left) and unveiled a new clubhouse, primarily becoming a golf club.

When the major tennis tournaments were opened to professionals in 1968, the Essex Tennis Committee tried keeping in step.

The West Course was sold to Essex County Park Commission in 1979, leaving Raynor's spectacular course as the only layout to this day.

As host venue for the 36th Curtis Cup Match, Essex County Club is all about golf in June 2012, and its illustrious place in American golf history.