Old Colony Club RedivivusThe next chapter in the history of the Club begins in 1875. William T. Davis, Charles O. Churchill & Arthur Lord met at Pilgrim Hall on April 15, 1875, to draw up a constitution for a revival of the Old Colony Club. The constitution stated that "This organization shall be literary and social in character, and shall be known as the Old Colony Club of Plymouth." Admission was to be $5, with annual dues at $10. As a respectable club, there were to be no games during meetings. Gambling, intoxicating liquor, public demonstrations for political parties, partisan political discussion, and loud and boisterous talk were forbidden. Weekly meetings and dinners took place each Monday night. George P. Hayward of Boston (grandson of original member Pelham Winslow) offered to rent the Club three rooms on the lower floor on the southerly side of Haywood House [on the site of Station One Restaurant] for $75 per annum. William H. Whitman, John J. Russell and Arthur Lord acting as a committee nominated the first officers, who were duly voted in:
The new Executive Committee then voted to spend $100 to furnish the rooms. The first regular meeting was on the first Monday in May, 1875. Subscriptions to a number of magazines and newspapers were made, and books loaned by the members made up a library. Cigars were also provided for sale in 1876. The initial membership was 45 individuals; by the end of the year there were 58 members. On Wednesday, Dec. 22, 1875, the Club held the first of its modern Forefathers' Day celebrations and annual meetings with a dinner at the Samoset House. The traditional Plymouth Succotash was served as the soup course. At this meeting, Arthur Lord exhibited a bottle which had been made in Quincy by order of the Club in 1769, with the seal of the Club and the date 1620. The Club rooms provided the members a place to socialize and relax on a regular basis at a time when most of the members lived and worked in the downtown Plymouth area. In November, 1877, the Club moved their quarters across the street to another suite of three rooms in the Davis building. The annual Forefathers' Day at the Samoset house meeting that year included women guests and dancing as well as the usual dinner. A billiard table donated by some of the members was added in adjoining room in 1880, the same year that financial difficulties obliged the Club to temporarily suspend its daily newspapers. In February, 1883, the Club was reorganized. The old association was dissolved to allow the Old Colony Club to become incorporated as a legal restoration of the original 1769 organization. Washington's Birthday was added as a regular Club celebration. In 1887 the Club was on the move again, taking a more expensive suite of three rooms (which required an increase the annual subscription) in the new Bank Building at 36 Main St. in May, 1888. There was a reception there on August 1, 1889 for the dedication at the completion of Forefathers' Monument.
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