History

The club actually began as the Gage Park Nautical Association when 15 to 20 members built National one design, class B dinghies: of 11 1/2 feet at the city’s Gage Park Field House. After building the boats, they needed a place to sail and moor them. Someone at the park district said they could anchor dinghies in the north end of Burnham Harbor. Meanwhile, members met at the Auditorium Hotel and held special parties or dances at area halls, such as at a Lithuanian hall at 71st Street and Western Avenue.

At the anchorage area, everyone cooked their own food outdoors by large piles of rocks directly next to where the club is now located, in the area that is a part of Meigs Field. Members would peel potatoes to get ready for a party. If someone brought in a lot of food, others would contribute the needed “extras”. Charlie Anderson, a charter member, often brought in steaks from the stockyards. He also designed a deep fryer with a charcoal flame for outside use.

In 1941, Nautical Association members learned of a discarded portable warming house in Burnham that the park district no longer needed. This building turned out to be in two squares which members made into a rectangle by connecting them at the corners. The one large room soon contained a heatilator fireplace, electricity was put in as well as doors and windows, but there was no plumbing. The inside was pretty well finished by Pearl Harbor Day. There was knotty pine dado around the walls, with booths and table tops also of knotty pine.

Anyone who had been an original member from Gage Park and helped form the building was given the designation of “plank owner”. By 1942, members believed they had reached milestone #1: their own building was finished off and livable. They even learned to live with “Old Faithful”, the club’s one-cylinder generator with its unpredictable moods and pleasures. Before each meeting members would sweat and perspire to get it going. Then about 10 p.m. the lights would begin to dim so everyone knew to get their coats and find the door right away.

In 1943, with Abe Jacobs, a well known racer as commodore, a new roof was put on the clubhouse. Wartime restrictions prohibited anything else in the way of building. The club also joined the LMYA Power Squadron because of the growing power boat fleet.

In 1945, the grounds received an intensive manicuring. Truckloads of black dirt were dumped, and the grounds leveled and graded. A major headache had been the landing dock, constructed by sinking piling in the ground and bolting a wooden frame onto it. Each winter ice would destroy the dock, so each summer club members would rebuild it.

Commodore Ed Krug learned that the park district would be using a pile driver on the lakefront and was able to negotiate for its use to drive permanent steel pilings that would withstand the winter’s ice. Once the pilings were in, they had to be cut off to the right height and steel beams welded across their tops to form a permanent dock, meaning a permanent gas pump could be put in.

In the spring of 1946, Socony Vacuum buried a 3,000 gallon tank, installed a pump on the docks and put in overhead lights. Members had reached milestone #2: acquisition of a permanent dock offering fresh water, gasoline and steward service. In between the modest beginning at Gage Park and today’s expanded facility, there have been triumphs as well as one tragedy.

In 1976, a fire totally destroyed the club’s second floor office, the women’s head and part of the galley. Commodore William Erickson was called at home at 2 a.m. and told the club was on fire. He arrived to find the place six inches deep in water. Because of Meigs Field, a permit was not issued to rebuild the second floor which had included a patio, so members took space from the men’s locker room to build an office on the first floor. The women’s head was completely redone with the help of the Women’s Auxiliary. The galley was redone and a walk-in cooler installed.

By the early ’90s the Lou Davini Cruise had become an annual event for mentally impaired adults from Lambs Farm who enjoyed a picnic after their power boat rides. Boys who lived at St. Joseph Carondolet Home got sailboat rides each year followed by a supper, and they were invited to the club for a party/dinner before Christmas. A cruise for the vision impaired and disabled was sponsored by the club and the Chicago Power Squadron. Nabisco partnered with the BPYC to sponsor a “Leadership Regatta” which was the culmination of a year-long outward bound experience, partnering “the best and brightest sophomore students from New Trier High School and Harper High School. A mini regatta included the students and some teachers, followed by hot dogs, commemorative hoodies and trophies, and became an annual early season event for a number of years.

Club members and their families continued to work on the clubhouse, docks and grounds as well as with programs, membership, financial procedures, the directory and the sail and power fleets. Women’s Auxiliary representatives continued to raise funds for club beautification and sit on BPYC standing committees. In the mid-nineties, Commodore Fred Poppe spearheaded a bond issue to fund the excavation of the Club’s fuel tanks, which had begun to leak. It was a costly project, including clean-up, but PC Poppe was successful in raising the necessary funds with the bonds, which were eventually paid off with interest.

Club facilities were made available for organizations associated with sailing such as the US Power Squadron classes on celestial navigation. Pilots from Meigs Field enjoyed the use of our dining room. Tender services were available for club members and masts stepped for any sailboats that could get under our crane.