Source : [HG003A][GDrive]

The Gibson Island development was the idea of Baltimore judge and businessman Stuart Symington. Tradition recalls Symington's principal motivation for developing a private summer community was his displeasure over the quality of and the long delays at Baltimore area golf courses.

Apparently, others shared the same frustration and Symington soon persuaded approximately forty-five friends and colleagues to join him in creating a new club. In 1921, after a year of inquiry, Symington purchased Gibson Island for $165,000. Here Symington was inspired to create what he called " a club within reasonable distance of the city, where attractive people of moderate means could enjoy summer events such as yachting, bathing, golf and tennis." The Gibson Island enterprise, to use Symington's words, was "not a stock company, not a land development scheme, not a business venture in any sense of the word. It [was] a purely social club, in which membership [could] be had only by invitation. ""

Gibson Island was promoted as a community designed to appeal to "attractive persons of moderate means." Initial membership was selected from an elite demographic and included.wealthy businessmen, socialites and politicians from Baltimore, and to a lesser degree, Wilmington, Philadelphia, and New York. Newspapers, with some degree of hyperbole, touted the new private resort community as "The Newport of the South." While the architecture of Gibson Island lacks the ostentation of the Newport homes built by the Vanderbilts, Rockefellers, an Dukes, Gibson Island's plan and architecture clearly displays the taste and social pursuits of the well-to-do in the 2nd quarter of the th 20 century.

Resorts and recreational communities such as Gibson Island, as well religious and intellectual counterparts such as camp meetings and later chatauquas, began to appear in earnest following the Civil War. The expanded network of railroads made such destinations physically and economically realizable to a larger number of people. Furthermore, the "back to the land" movement, spawned in reaction to the perceived degenerative qualities of life in the Industrial Revolution, provided philosophical underpinnings, and promoted nature's salubrious effect of on mind, body, and spirit.

This increased popularity of public resorts and private summer communities reflects the economic and social dynamics of the state and nation in the period between the Civil War and Great Depression. Locally Baltimore, like many industrial-based urban centers, experienced rapid economic expansion. Growth crescendoed in the 20th century. Baltimore entrepreneurs created 103 new businesses during the 1920s alone, and the steel industry and import-export trade flourished. This led to the observation that "There is no place in the United States so susceptible [as Baltimore]of successful industrial development."

Increased industrialization in combination with a continued influx of job-seeking immigrants exacerbated urban problems and fueled the wealthy and middle-class's demand for suburban housing and rural retreats. It is in this overarching socioeconomic context that Gibson Island (as well as other such Anne Arundel County resort communities as Sherwood Forest, Bay Ridge and Calvert County's North Beach and Chesapeake Beach) came into being.

Symington communicated frequently with the Olmsted Brothers, impressing upon them his ideas for the island. In one correspondence he relays his vision of "summer residences amid spacious, beautiful, restful surrounds, where refreshing breezes prevail, where the usual summer past times of the country are to be had, and at a distance from Baltimore, but not so great as to make it prohibitive for a business man to go back and forth daily when his affairs require daily attendance, and yet great enough to ensure that going out there will be going into the country and not merely moving to another part of the suburbs."

The social tenor of the club community, and its emphasis on family is captured in an undated brochure, titled Gibson Island Port of Homes. Following is an extended excerpt: "Two men were talking the other day about their families. "How well do you know your children one asked?" "I don 't know them at all " was the reply " ... it's a fanny age. Home life, as far as I can see it will soon be as extinct as Henry Ford's plan to get the bovs out of the trenches by Christmas. "

"Sway out! Had this man known about Gibson Island, had he observed even casually what is being done there to create the ideals of American home life that meet 20th century conditions, I believe he would have thought twice about making such a statement. Gibson Island is in no sense a "community" development. It does not tolerate for an instant any of the characteristics (such as the haphazard jumbling together of various groups, like as not antagonistic in type, custom and tradition) which makes that sort of thing unendurable, if not actually odious to discriminating people ... The list of people who may build on Gibson Island or become members is carefully supervised, though not with any gesture of snobbishness, nor with the establishment of false social values in mind. There is nothing to suggest in the slightest the more spectacular phase of modem life, for you would have to travel far indeed to discover such a complete lack of show. Unconventionality of the offensive sort and the laxity of conduct that passes sometimes even in exclusive circles these days is frowned upon. Yet there is a total absence of formality of anything like a feeling of constraint."

Lot purchase was controlled by the Symington family and was linked to membership in the club from which Jews and African Americans were excluded. This restriction did not extend to club employees, and while in law school Thoroughood Marshall, later the first African-American to be appointed a justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, worked as a busboy at the Gibson Island Club House. During the late 1920s, club membership and residence on the island was practically confined to those listed in the Baltimore Social Register. A 1925 Sunday American Newspaper article substantiates and suports this in the following observation. "Folk who have never been fortunate enough to have their names grace the Social Register or the Blue Book have been trying without success to purchase property on the Island. The Island's governors wisely have discouraged all such applications."

Initially Stuart Symington and his New York financier brother, Thomas, personally carried the financial burden of the project. To meet the expected $800,000 financial obligation the club's target membership was placed at 1000 and divided into three classes (a) house owners (b) seasonal tenants of club cottages or club rooms ( c) short-

term non-residents. By 1922 club membership was at 600 and "all of the very best social class and current receipts were inadequate to meet the already accumulated $627 ,628 financial commitment. The Symington brothers responded by forming the Gibson Island Land Company and moved forward with development using bank loans. This marked the beginning of what became the Symington's continuing financial woes.

The Olmsted plan called for 423 residential lots and two eighteen-hole golf courses, but financial constraint affected the plans execution. The idea of a second golf course was abandoned, and against the Olmsted's strenuous objections, additional trees were cut to increase the number of premium water-view lots. While the financial concern, the Gibson Island Land Company, continued to struggle, the social aspect, the Gibson Island Club, was the success its creators envisioned.

The Gibson Island Land Company undertook construction of the community club house, soon followed by the building of "summer cottages" by individual members. A large number of the Gibson Island Club's original members maintained a permanent residence in ·the Olmsted-designed, Baltimore neighborhood of Roland Park and a number of architects associated with Roland Park houses accepted commissions on Gibson Island, including Parker, Thomas & Rice; Edward Palmer, jr.; and Palmer, Willis & Lamdin. Gibson Island architecture, as well as membership, has always been regulated. Promotional material from the 1920s states that plans for every house and other improvement must be approved by the Company's architectural committee, which is composed of leading architects.

In his letters Stuart Symington promotes the Gibson Island Club and community as a place of relaxation for persons of moderate means, however many of the founding members had considerable wealth. Prosperity is relative and to those familiar with the ostentation of resort communities such as Newport, Rhode Island; Jeakell Island, Georgia; or Palm Beach, Florida, the life-style of Gibson Islanders was restrained. A more suiting comparison is the Yeamans Hall Club community located outside Charleston South Carolina.

The Olmsted Brothers designed Yeamans Hall Club two years after completing work at Gibson Island. In contrast to Gibson Island, Yeamans was winter golfing and sporting resort. However, like Gibson Island, the plan was laid out to preserve natural areas of bauty and featured a club house surrounded by private "cottages". Furthermore, Yeamans Hall Club displays the same size and type of architecture as that found at Gibson Island. Exploring further parallels between Gibson Island, Yeamans Hall Club, and other Olmsted Brothers' communities is a very worthy avenue of research.

The "cottage style" architecture of Gibson Island is representative of early 20th century taste. French Eclectic , Spanish Eclectic and Tudor Revival architecture were especially common in suburban communities during the period between the two World Wars. The popularity of these historically imprecise styles has been characterized by some a backlash against the then dominant Colonial Revival style, and also the result of a renewed interest in European-inspired architecture popularized by servicemen returning from abroad following World War I. With the approach of World War II these styles went out of favor as American taste began to reject foreign influences.

During the 1920s and 1930s, however buildings evocative of rural England, France, Italy, etc., were very much in vogue. A Gibson Island promotional package from the 1920s depicts a number of Gibson Island's oldest and finest homes that are representative of this genre. This promotional material is copied and included in the attachments.

Sally Symington Henderson, the granddaughter of Thomas Symington, recalls that the [XX]play of money was frowned upon and never discussed. The modem trend toward "mansionizing" and elaborate landscaping is definitely a trend among the new generation. Perhaps it is more accurate to describe Gibson Island as a private community aimed at the moderately wealthy. It seems founding members either did not view themselves as rich or, given the fact that membership included members of the DuPont family, refused to present it.

Despite conscious restraint, Gibson Island summer life was not without a certain [X}arefied air. When Mrs. Henderson was asked where residents took most of their meals, she replied that the popular conception that families usually ate at the club was incorrect. Most meals, she reports were taken at home-prepared by the family cook. Mrs. Henderson also recalls that many houses were originally equipped with servant quarters, most of which, in this post-servant society, have been removed.

Early advertisements and oral tradition emphasize the importance of family and organized activities and instruction for children were widely available. Golf, tennis and sailing were available for members, and instruction in these activities provided for their children. Golf may be the initial motivation behind the creation of the Gibson Island Club, but it is sailing for which it is renown. Throughout its history, the Gibson Island Yacht Squadron has been the sponsor of nationally-recognized regattas, most notably the Gibson Island to New London race, and many prominent sailors started their career at Gibson Island. 1 Members of the Gibson Island Garden Club for ladies also achieved national distinction.

As expected, the stock market crash of 1929 and the subsequent Great Depression adversely impacted members and significantly curtailed new construction. The Gibson Island project was also set back due to circumstances involving the Gibson Island project's principle backers, specifically the death of Stuart Symington and the bankruptcy of Thomas Symington. Sally Symington Henderson said economic hardship forced a number of families to relinquish their summer homes, and others including Thomas Symington, gave up their city homes and took up year-round residence on the island. Hardship, like wealth proved relative, and despite financial retrenchment, sailing, golf tournaments continued. Gibson Island society life persevered through World War II, however charity drives, fund-raisers and bandage wrapping parties were as much a part of the summer social calendar as swimming and sailing.

In the post-war era Gibson Island began an earnest transformation away from a summer resort to a year-round community. Long-time resident, Jimmy Wolfe, revealed in an interview that Gibson Island culture began a subtle shift at this time. The number of out of state members decreased and somewhat diminished the club's cosmopolitan reputation. In addition, during the early years members usually had business or personal associations with each other outside of Gibson Island, a situation that became less typical in the post-World War II era. The increased proportion of year-round residents precipitated renovations and expansions of what were once "summer cottages" as well as new construction. The increased number of year-round residents prompted the establishment of the Gibson Island Country School. This elementary school, located on the mainland near the gate house, first opened in 1956 and maintains a very solid reputation.

In the approximately seventy-five years since the Gibson Island Corporation and Gibson Island Club were inaugurated, significant changes have taken place in response to changing lifestyles. However, Stuart Symington's vision of a private, professional class community where members are able to enjoy a full variety of recreational activities, within close proximity of the city, remains fully intact.