A check of the 1921 Social Register published by Kate Friend, longtime society page editor of the Waco Times-Herald, revealed that membership in the Waco Boating and Fishing Club was de rigueur for the city’s elite.

Virtually every family of note belonged to the country club of that era, one founded on the cusp of the 20th century. Friend dutifully reported its activities in her own social newsletter, Artesia.

Hack Branch, who now owns the acreage where the Waco Boating and Fishing Club once operated, is enamored of the place that was important to hundreds of Waco families for generations.

A view from above of the land once held by the Waco Boating and Fishing Club, which was founded in 1890 and ceased operations almost a century later.
Hack Branch photo

He is teaming with local history writer Mark E. Firmin to begin work on a coffee-table book about the establishment.

Firmin, author of last year’s “William Cameron Park: A Centennial History, 1910-2010,” was a natural choice for such a project, Branch said. Firmin is known for his exhaustive research and passion for his topics.

“And I am glad to meet people who are as excited about exploring the legacy of Fish Pond as I am,” Branch said.

The two men hope to find people who have pictures and can remember significant dates and names to help tell the story of the club and its members and guests.

In the beginning

On Jan. 10, 1890, a small group of McLennan County’s civic leaders and most gregarious residents met in a Waco-area courtroom to establish a boating and fishing club, the local press reported. It was the first formal attempt in the young city’s history to establish a broad-ranging social organization.

Chartered by the state on Feb. 28, 1890, “for the construction and maintenance of an establishment for preserving and canning fish,” the club opened to 50 members. Initial plans called for a “suitable site of not less than 50 acres” for recreational use.

Tom Padgitt, a well-known local business tycoon and manufacturer, was the president of the club, and his wife, Kate was a celebrated hostess in town.

The leadership the Padgitt family gave to the new institution would prove significant to its development as a social center.

The founding committee was made up of municipal movers and shakers: Otis W. David, secretary; and W. W. Seley, treasurer; George Clark, James B. Baker; R. G. Patton; T. M. Maddox; Rich Downs; Walter V. Fort; X. H. Jones; F. P. Maddin; and C. C. McCulloch.

The original charter called for the organization to exist for 25 years and be guided by five directors—Padgitt, David, McCulloch, Fort and William L. Prather, a longtime Waco attorney who later served as president of the University of Texas (1899-1904).

The club endured until 1988, when it ceased operations and sold its remaining acreage to Ridgewood Country Club.

Capital stock in 1890 was determined to be $10,000 (or almost $240,000 in today’s dollars) divided into 50 shares of $200 (nearly $4,800 in 2010 greenbacks) each, with the stipulation that “no member shall own more than one share of said stock.”

Does anyone recognize this girl, Miss Fish Pond 1946? Snapped by Jimmie Willis, she would be about 70 years old now. The Waco Boating and Fishing Club would name its annual “mascot” at the annual Independence Day picnic.
Hack Branch photo

Finding a location

The site committee was charged with finding a suitable location no more than six miles from the Waco city limits. On April 15, 1890, the task force reported the club had acquired a 50-acre plot about five miles west of Waco at a cost of $2,000 ($48,000 in today’s dollars).

With the lake stocked and a supply of fresh water secured, directors proposed for a membership vote a slate of three names by which the recreational site would be known — Fountain Lake, Idleside or Lake View.

On April 5, 1893, according to club minutes, results of the “name our campgrounds” competition were announced at the annual meeting of the Waco Boating and Fishing Club. “Fountain Lake” was the people’s choice.

But by the turn of the 20th century, the organization was more commonly known as the Fish Pond Club. The club’s facilities became a fashionable gathering spot and the road leading to the campgrounds was named Fish Pond Road.

Building a boat house

The club voted to build a boat house on the eastern shore of the lake, with the “carpenter work to cost $90 and lumber to build same to be purchased as cheap as possible.”

Branch said the only book of club minutes he has ends in 1917 and he is eager to find other club records.

The nearby Ridgewood Country Club, founded in 1947, had purchased parcels of Fish Pond since the 1950s as part of its golf course expansion. It purchased the remaining property in 1985 and the Waco Boating and Fishing Club officially dissolved in 1988.

When the economy took a dip in the early 1990s, Branch said, Ridgewood sold the Fish Pond parcel to him. He has planned to use some of the land for a residential development.

To contact history writer Mark E. Firmin about this project, call 744-7929, or send email to MarkEFirmin@gmail.com.