The Philadelphia Gun Club Home Photos Members Only             Established in 1877                                                                                                                                                    A Brief History In 1875 a number of Philadelphia gentlemen gathered at the home of Mr. Rudolph Ellis and formed the Holiday Shooting Club.  Their intent was to organize shooting competitions on public holidays in the area.  Such was the success of their new venture, on January 16th, 1877, at a meeting at the Spruce Street home of Mr. Geo. Potts, the Club was re-organized into the Philadelphia Gun Club. It incorporated in October of 1894 and in this form it continues in existence today. One of the earliest governors of the Club was Mr. Howell Bickley whose family had a property near the Biddle estate, "Andalusia" north of the City along the Delaware River. The Club acquired the use of the "Bickley Mansion" as a clubhouse and shooting venue. The last shoot was held there on December 8th, 1894. On February 22nd, 1895, the Club, recalling their earlier traditions, held a Washington's Birthday Shoot at their newly acquired premises in Eddington, just a few miles up river from the Bickley Mansion. The Club remains there to this day. The property was purchased from the Austin family and had previously been known as "Brander."  With a new shoothouse, kennels, dock and a magnificent river walk, the Club prospered as membership expanded to 125. The pleasant surroundings and fierce competition brought men and their ladies from as far afield as New York and Newport to the Club and it soon became a fixture among the socially prominent shooters of the Gilded Age. Under the leadership of Mr. Wm. White, the Club attracted such notable American sportsman as William K. Vanderbilt, Jr. and Harry Payne Whitney, as well as top class gentlemen shooters like Geo. McAlpin, H. Yale Dolan and Fred Hoey. Both Annie Oakley and her then employer, "Buffalo Bill" Cody were guests at the Club. While the times and sporting fashions changed, the Club remained and it retained its focus as a mecca for shooting gentlemen interested in serious competitive shooting in a genteel atmosphere. In 1928, Nash Buckingham shot his famous Fox gun, "Bo Whoop", built in Philadelphia by Burt Becker, at the Club, as a guest of Eltinge Warner, the publisher of "Field & Stream." In the 1930s and 1940s, the Club attracted members and guests such as Ernest Hemingway, Charles Biddle, Van Campen Heiler, Paul Whiteman, Bror Blixen and Lynn Bogue Hunt. The two thick guest books that reside in the Clubhouse foyer contain their names and those of countless others and the old walls of the house remain littered with mementos and trophies of the members and their honored guests. The clink of many glasses and the whiff of not a few Havanas linger there too. After World War II, the Club, while still holding major competitions, became more of a private affair which it remains today. There are currently 61 members who hold dear the Club and its many traditions. Perhaps a dozen times a year they brave the morning glare of the mighty Delaware and they do what sportsmen have done there for over 130 years.  .