Detroit Boat Club

The 10-oared barge Henrietta from the Teutonia Boat Club passes the Detroit Boat Club at the foot of Jos. Campau in 1878. The DBC had not yet moved to Belle Isle.

club blade

The Detroit Boat Club, established in 1839, is the oldest sport rowing club in the United States. It is also the second oldest continuous rowing club in the world.^[1] It was first created on the Detroit River during a time in which Detroit, Michigan was just starting to grow.^[2][3]

E. A. Brush, Alpheus S. Williams, S.H. Sibley, Alfred Brush, J.H. Farnsworth, James A. Armstrong and John Chester were among the founding members, prominent men in Detroit's society. The first building that housed the club was at Hasting street, in an old clubhouse with one boat, the "Georgiana".

In 1840 the Detroit Boat Club bought a second boat, the E.A. Brush, and began to hold two mile (3 km) races from Hog Island (Belle Isle) and the clubhouse. It was around this time that the famous University Boat Race between Cambridge vs. Oxford races began on the River Thames in England.

In 1848 the clubhouse burned, destroying all boats except the "Wolverine". The club was then moved to a carpentry shop, and it continued to grow.

By 1873 the club was ensconced in plush quarters at the foot of Joseph Campau, the easternmost end of Detroit, and had become the center of all water sports. A half-dozen new clubs formed nearby, and most displayed their sailing and rowing trophies at Bidigaire's saloon up Joseph Campau. The Biddle House on East Jefferson and the Russell House, also attracted a thirsty boating set.

When its Joseph Campau lease expired in 1889 the City of Detroit invited the DBC to move to Belle Isle. The Detroit Yacht Club, which had been on the landward side of the Belle Isle Bridge, also went over to the island at that time when informed that the city needed their old site for its new bridge approach.

A new clubhouse was built on Belle Isle in 1891, but was burned in 1893. Another boathouse lasted until 1901 when it also burned. In an attempt to save the structure, club member and fire commissioner Fred Moran ordered all available firefighting apparatus to the scene. Horses thundered over the old wooden bridge, dragging heavy engines and trucks behind them. The fire tug James Battle became grounded in the shallow water and remained stuck fast until the following noon. Fire equipment failed to get close enough to the burning building due to mud and the distance of the old clubhouse from the shore. Helpless, they stood and watched it burn. The next morning, club members vowed once again to rebuild their clubhouse.

In the 20th Century

On August 4, 1902, the current boathouse (the first concrete structure in the US) was dedicated.

Detroit continued to grow. Horse-drawn trolleys were being replaced by electric streetcars, planked sidewalks were paved and gas lamps were replaced by electric lights. On the river, sleek racing sculls became standard equipment, and canoeing became popular. The Detroit Boat Club became even a greater force in the social and sporting fabric of Detroit.

The Detroit Boat Club was quick to adopt the sleek new racing sculls developed around the turn of the century. This 1904 team helped keep the club a major force in rowing. The old Belle Isle Bridge can be seen in the background.

DBC legends are plentiful, but one epitomizes the club's sporting tradition. During a 1923 regatta in Detroit two middle-aged Grand Rapids Canoe Club oarsmen issued a challenge to any pair whose total ages equaled or exceeded their own --114 years -- to a match race in double sculls at a mile straightaway.

DBC members W.A. (Pop) Warner, 74, and Capt. Fred Standish, 70, --144 years between them -- saw the challenge on the club's bulletin board and vowed to take them on.

It was a tight race until the stretch, where Warner and Standish began to pull away. They beat their younger Grand Rapids rivals by a full three lengths.

In 1956 the Detroit Boat Club put seven members on the U.S. Olympic team coached by Walter Hoover and brought home two silver medals. Rowers Jimmy Gardiner and Pat Costello placed second to the Russians in double sculls while Art and John McKinlay, John Welchi and Jim McIntosh, were runner-up to Canada in the four without coxswain event.

Since 1873, the DBC blue and white colors have flown at every national rowing regatta, and DBC oarsmen have won 54 events and eight national team championships.

In 1960, under coach Ken Blue, DBC crews were invited for the first time to take part in the classic Henley Royal Regatta on the Thames River in England. A team made up of Doug Latimer, Jim Plath, Bob Walker, Bill Thorpe, Roger Taylor, Joe Callanan, Al Arbury, Mike Ernesman, and coxswain Bob Kroll placed second to Harvard in the final. Any account of DBC rowing must include Divie Duffield, the greatest oarsmen in the club's history, who came to DBC from Harvard. He won the national singles titles in 1904 and 1905 and also rowed in doubles, pairs, fours and eights that took major championships. His greatest triumph came in the 1904 Olympic singles in St. Louis. He quit rowing in 1915 and coached for the next 10 years.

While rowing remained the cornerstone of the club's activities, other forms of boating became popular. Sailing arrived in 1899 and the DBC regatta is the oldest sailing race in Michigan.

Few know that member commodore Dr. Charles Godwin Jennings and his 65-foot (20 m) schooner, Agawa, won the first Mackinac Race held in 1904.

The old Belle Isle Bridge, which burned in April 1915, had a swing section which opened at midnight, preventing anyone on the island from reaching the mainline until the next morning. To be trapped on the island was tantamount to disgrace and social ostracism. All club dances ended promptly at 11:30. Long after the present bridge opened in 1923, dances at the Boat Club and Detroit Yacht Club continued to end at 11:30. In 1992 rent on the Detroit Boat Club property jumped from $1 to $100,000. Utility payments fell behind and membership continued to drop. The club filed for bankruptcy citing a $1million debt. The city announced plans to take over operation of the building. In 1996, the boat club members voted to move out of the city.

"It was certainly difficult for us to come to the decision that if we were going to be economically viable we had to move", club President Larry Breskin said. "If we could have found a way to stay in Detroit, we would have."

A modern day image of the Detroit Boat Club, It has fallen into disrepair, however many Eagle Scout projects and community service acts are helping to restore it to its original state.

However a strong rowing organization still exists in Detroit independent of the boat club. Said rowing enthusiast Denne Osgood in an interview with the News, "I just don't want to see the tradition of the Detroit Boat Club go out of business. We can row as Joe Blow. It's the tradition that's important."

Current programs

Today the Junior program is starting to grow. It is becoming a very strong team through the support of several Detroit area high schools. They have become increasingly successful in recent years. In 2005, the Detroit Boat Club had the largest presence at the USRowing Youth Invitational in Cincinnati, OH. They made an impact on the regatta even though they did not bring home any medals.

The team consists of Girls Varsity and Boys Varsity, which make entries in both lightweight and open categories. A novice program teaches new male and female rowers. The boys' head coach, Dr. Richard H. Bell, has been coaching in Detroit for over thirty years, and has been successful in many national and international regattas. Other coaches include alumni that have competed at the collegiate level.

The boys lightweight team has been taking great strides in the past several years, placing second in the Men's lightweight 4+ at the USRowing Youth Invitational in 2004. Spring of 2005 was also a successful year for the lightweights. They had entries in the men's light 8+ and light 4+.

The Varsity Boys lightweight 8+ from the spring of 2004

The girls team is also very strong with respectable finishes at the Canadian Henley in both 2004 and 2005. The girls varsity 8+ looks very promising for the Detroit Boat Club. They recently won the 2005 Head of the Schulkyll regatta and look for a national championship in the spring of 2006.

The boys heavyweight team has had a recent revival after a recent slump due mainly to attrition. After qualifying for the 2005 Youth Invitational, the Heavyweight 4+ placed the best out of all of Detroit's boats in 2005 with a respectable 4th place.

Scullers at the Detroit Boat Club have grown in number in recent years. A new young talent has surprised the club by placing third at the USRowing National Championships and first at the Head of the Schulkyill Regatta. A 2005 entry in the Men's 2x event at the USRowing Youth Invitational placed fifth. The team also finished strong in 2004 with an entry placing fourth in both the Women's 1x and Women's 2x races.

In the spring of 2009 at the US Rowing Jr. National Championships, the Detroit Boat Club was very well represented with boats qualifying in four categories(men's 1x, men's Ltwt. 2x, women's 2x and the women's Ltwt. 8+. The women's double scull won a silver medal. Both girls were invited to a national selection camp with the opportunity to make the United States Junior World Team. One of the girls made it and represented the DBC and the USA in Europe. The women's 2x followed up by winning a Gold medal at the prestigious 2009 Head of the Charles regatta in Boston.

One of the most successful programs, and biggest recruiting draw, is the summer Learn to Row program. It teaches teens and young adults from the area the basics of rowing during the summer. It is run by Brian Benz and Pete Rosberg. The program has grown in recent years and is considered highly successful by the club members.

Detroit's Junior program mainly uses boats manufactured by Vespoli, but house boats from several different manufacturers in each boat bay. The club has three boat bays divided into eights, fours, and sculling boats. The 8+ bay can hold ten eights and two fours, the sculling bay can hold over thirty sculling boats (singles and doubles), and the 4+ bay can hold ten fours and four singles.

Alumni

Detroit's Junior Rowing program has a high rate of success when it comes to developing rowers for rowing and academic programs beyond high school. Of the graduates of the class of 2005 from the Detroit Boat Club, 100% of them went on to college, and 90% are on intercollegiate rowing teams. Of the 2004 graduates, 100% went on to college, 80% are rowing on intercollegiate teams or are involved in rowing. Detroit Boat Club graduates end up at top universities in the nation every year, and several alumni are currently involved in undergraduate studies at Ivy League universities and the United States Naval Academy, as well as Northeastern University, Rutgers University, Boston University, University of Notre Dame, University of Delaware, University of Michigan, Michigan State University, Rollins College, Wayne State University, University of Virginia, University of Minnesota, University of Dayton, Yale University and many others.

Several members have gone on to compete in the Olympic games, while others have been alternates, and still more have gone to compete for USRowing at several different levels of competition (Junior world championships, U-23 world championships, Pan American Games, etc.) Many Detroit Boat Club alumni end up finding their way back to Belle Isle and into rowing shells. Others never really leave. John Welchli can be considered one of the greatest, and most seasoned, rowers of all time. He was a part of the 1956 US Olympic contingent, a silver medalist in the Men's 4+ fielded by Detroit. He can still be found rowing his Empacher single on clear mornings.

Saving the club

Since the social club left Belle Isle in 1996, the historic building has fallen into disrepair. Current assessments put the needed repairs over $20 million. The club has around 200 members who pay $400 in dues a year. This pay along with few other forms of income, have led to many business proposals for renovation of the site. The City of Detroit currently has no plans for the building, however continues to be open for any feasible ideas. The organization that runs the rowing program, Friends of Detroit Rowing, are currently looking into building a better boathouse and structure for competitive rowing. This leaves the historic Detroit Boat Club behind. There are no projects to restore the boat club, as time and weather further the deterioration of the building. .^[4]

References

1. ^ Mink, Randy, and Karen Mink (July 2001).Detroit Turns 300 - Detroit 300 Festival. Travel America, World Publishing Co., Gale Group.
2. ^ "USRowing" (aspx). http://www.usrowing.org/NewToRowing/RowingQuickFacts/index.aspx. Retrieved 2007-01-17. 
3. ^ "detroit Boat Club" (html). http://www.detroitboatclub.com/. Retrieved 2007-01-17. 
4. ^ "Detroit News" (aspx). http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070920/METRO/709200381&theme=Metro-Detroit-Belle-Isle&imw=Y. Retrieved 2007-09-20. 

External links

• the Detroit Boat Club
• Rowing in Detroit for Adults including learn to Row
• DBC information at Detroit Junior Rowing
• DBC information at DetroitYES
• DBC Juniors
• The Detroit News
• The Metro Times
• Future uncertain for Detroit Boat Club