Country Club closes


Thursday, January 4, 2007
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Country Club closes

By SUE WATSON
Staff Writer

From 1964
The above photo is from a Valentine Party at the Holly Springs Country Club in 1964. From left are Carlisle and Nyla Moore and Frances and Jim Buchanan.

Holly Springs Country Club, opened in 1960, has closed. Stockholders voted to dissolve the Holly Springs Development Corp. July 17, 2006, according to Bill York, president of the Country Club.

He cited declining membership as the reason for dissolving the corporation. Stockholders also wanted to sell the properties to recover some of their investment, York said.

The Holly Springs Development Corp., chartered by six people, purchased the land in 1959, according to York. One year later in August, three people - Ed Rather, Egbert Jones and Glenn Fant - incorporated the Holly Springs Country Club.

Frances Buchanan, whose husband Jim, was one of the six founders of the development corporation, said the club was formed to meet the recreational and cultural needs of families.

“One of the main things was these men wanted it to be a family club, not just a golf club,” Buchanan said.

In order to have a legal bar, the club paid a “black market tax” to the state, she said.

She regrets the demise of the club.

“When we found it had to close, we said it was a shame with new people moving in (to Holly Springs),” she said.

At one time membership in the club was over 200, York said. Activities at the club were built around the needs and interests of the times.

During the early years, the club’s 9-hole golf course provided recreation and a venue for yearly golf tournaments for adults and for youth.

Before home swimming pools became popular and available, the club pool was a great gathering spot for children and adults.

In the 1970s, tennis was going big in Holly Springs, York said.

“Fourth of July tennis tournaments kept the courts occupied until mid-night,” he said. “Tennis is a sport that comes and goes. There were Christmas dances and celebrations of all the holidays.”

Buchanan said the July 4 and Labor Day picnics were popular events. And the club held Ladies Day once a month, where women gathered for lunch or to play cards.

York and Buchanan said the new 18-hole golf course at Kirkwood attracted some of the younger members away from the club. And York said membership dwindled due to the death of many of the original active membership or due to members moving away.

With a declining active membership, the Country Club could no longer afford to lease the property for use, York said.

Charter members of the Holly Springs Development Corp. were Glenn Fant, L.A. Smith Jr., Robert L. Smith, Jim B. Buchanan, Jackson H. Wittjen and Sidney Hurdle.

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