Glen Dale Golf Course and "Cinderblock Cities" and an unknown shop??

Above a map of the 9 hole Glen Dale Golf Course at South Ave. and MacDade Blvd. and how it looked in 1928. Green #1 was right at South and MacDade and if you look hard today you can still see it!

NOTE: It is heard to imagine today that there was once a golf course at South Ave. and MacDade Blvd. aka Parker Ave. The course, Glen Dale, opened in 1928 and was named for Glenolden and Collingdale. It closed in 1940 and the course became a "cinderblock city". The Federal Government bought the property for war housing. Although we hadn't entered WW2 yet, housing for workers was at a premium. Places like Baldwins, Westinghouse, Sun Ship were already working 24/7. The Feds built two other "cinderblock cities" one in Woodlyn at MacDade and Bullens La. and the other in Tinicum at Rts. 291 and 420. The one in Glenolden was never torn down and the houses were sold individually. 

The former golf course about 1949. South Ave. is on the far left and MacDade Blvd. bottom right. The line of trees at the top is Academy Ave. At the top of the picture you can see the Tully Golf Course an 18 hole course in Darby Twp. It closed c.1950 and was developed as Briarcliffe.

OPEN NEW GOLF COURSE AT GLENOLDEN TODAY 

 Special Match to Feature Inauguration of Glendale Country Club on Parker Avenue

The Glendale Country Club’s attractive new golf course on Parker Avenue, Glenolden, is to be opened this afternoon, and several attractive features have been arranged for the occasion.  This star feature of the day will be an exhibition match by four of the leading golfers in the Philadelphia district.

The special exhibition is scheduled to begin at 2 o’clock.  Included in the all-star foursome will be Paul Tewkesbury of Sharon Hill, former medalist I the national amateur championship; J. Winston Kindt, former Pennsylvania junior amateur champion, and Andrew H. Kays and George M. Stevens, outstanding amateur participants in all of the leading tournaments in this section.  It is announced that the exhibition is to be free to the public.

Glendale is located along Parker Avenue, about one-half mile south of Collingdale.  The 3200 yard nine-hole course is a tricky one.  The distance from the tee to No. 2 green is 504 yards.  No. 2 green is an island entirely surrounded by a natural water course.  The next hole is a fairly straight drive of 190 yards, while the fifth hole is the toughest of them all.  It is a table top three feet above grade, entirely surrounded by wicked sand traps.

The course was constructed by James Bailey, pro for the Tully Memorial Course, which adjoins Glendale.

A clubhouse is now in the course of erection of the forty-eight acres and, when completed, will present every modern convenience.  There will be a large dining and banquet hall, showers, lockers and lounging rooms for both men and women and supplied with every modern convenience.  A veranda will entirely surround the structure, which is being built on a plot 40 by 130, and, when completed, the entire project will be free to the public.

 

 

 What reader recognizes this building? It is gone but all of you past it for many years