1927

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Winter                    Maxwell draws plans for Melrose Country Club in Cheltenham, Pennsylvania.  [Evening Bulletin, March 22, 1927]

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January 1              “Work on the Melrose club links at Philadelphia was started about the first of the present year, and it is expected at least three years will be required to complete the building of the links and the improvements on the club property, the cost of which it is estimated will reach at least million dollars.”  [Daily Ardmoreite, July 12, 1927]

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March 6                 Maxwell “is in Philadelphia in the interest of business.”  [Daily Ardmoreite, March 6, 1927]  Editorial Note:  This is presumably in connection with work at Melrose.

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March 8                 Maxwell stops in Paducah on his way to Philadelphia to inspect his design at Lake View Country Club in Paducah.  Maxwell is “well pleased with the condition of the course, which will be ready for play by the early part of the summer.” [Paducah News-Democrat, March 8, 1927]    Editorial Note:  Lake View is now known as Rolling Hills Country Club.  This article also notes that Maxwell is headed to Philadelphia “where he has a contract to build a golf course on a very ambitious course.” We assume that course is Melrose.

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March 22              Mackenzie retained to make suggestions to Maxwell’s plans for Melrose Country Club.  Fairways cleared.  [Evening Bulletin, March 22, 1927]

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March 22              Maxwell and Mackenzie to spend several days going over the property at Melrose before deciding on a final plan, with construction by Dean Woods under the supervision of Maxwell to begin at once.  [Public Ledger, March 22, 1927]

 

March 24              Maxwell, “who really designed” the Melrose Country Club course, “is going to give the construction work his special attention from now on.”  [New York Sun, March 24, 1927]

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April 7                    Maxwell arrives in Fayetteville, Arkansas from Philadelphia, “where he has been in charge of construction of a course.”  [Fayetteville Daily Democrat, April 7, 1927]  Editorial Note:  We assume the Philadelphia course is Melrose.

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July 11                   Maxwell departs Ardmore for Philadelphia to continue work on Melrose Country Club.  [Daily Ardmoreite, July 12, 1927]

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September 28       Maxwell is “engaged in building two very pretentious golf courses, one in Philadelphia, Pa., the other at Louisville, Ky.”  [Daily Ardmoreite, September 28, 1927]  Editorial Note:  The Philadelphia course is almost certainly Melrose and the Louisville course is likely Jeffersonville Country Club in Prather, Indiana, a few miles northeast of Louisville.

 

1928

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February 18          Dr. Alister MacKenzie writes a letter to Maxwell praising his work at Melrose.  “When I originally asked you to come into partnership with me, I did so because I thought your work more closely harmonized with nature than any other American Golf Course Architect.  The design and construction of the Melrose Golf Course has confirmed my previous impression.  I feel that I cannot leave America without expressing my admiration for the excellence of your work and the extremely low cost compared with the results obtained.  As I stated to you verbally, the work is so good that you may not get the credit you deserve.  Few if any golfers will realize that Melrose has been constructed by the hand of man and not by nature.  This is the greatest tribute that can be paid to the work of a Golf Course Architect.”  [“The Life and Work of Dr. Alister MacKenzie”, by Tom Doak, James S. Scott and Raymund M. Haddock (2001), Pg. 128]

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March 28              Construction of Melrose largely completed except for sand in traps.  [Unknown Newspaper, March 28, 1928]  Editorial Note:  According to the March 20, 1928 Paducah News-Democrat, Maxwell “received the highest fee ever paid a golf architect in this country” for designing a course in Philadelphia last year.  We assume that course is Melrose.   

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Summer                 Melrose Country Club opens for play.  [Evening Bulletin, March 27, 1929]

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