BAY VIEW YACHT CLUB HISTORY

 

The history of Bay View Yacht Club began over one hundred years ago with the organization of the Toledo Power Boat Club. The impetus for the formation of this club was the desire of a group of power boaters to get away from what was then a predominately “sailing” Toledo Yacht Club.

The Toledo Power Boat Club was organized primarily as a power boat owners club; the social side was to be only incidental to the benefits received by its boating members. To set this purpose upon the policies of the club, it was provided in the constitution that only active members could vote and hold office. An active member was defined as a member owning a boat or a substantial interest in one; and this rule is still adhered to for Flag Officers. Another object was to keep the cost to members down to such a figure that any person owning a boat could afford to maintain a membership. Dues at that time were six dollars a year with a five dollar initiation fee.

The Toledo Power Boat Club, with the possible exception of a club in Buffalo, was the first exclusively powerboat club on the Great Lakes. The individuals who became the incorporators held their first meeting June 1, 1905, in F. M. Underwood's machine shop. Articles of incorporation were prepared and signed that same evening, and were filed with the secretary of state June 3, 1905. For several years most of the meetings were held in the attic of the Riverside Park pavilion. This was a fairly large structure built on pilings over the Maumee River.

In September 1907, a clubhouse site in Bay View Park was leased from the city. It is located upon a lagoon connected with Maumee Bay, and afforded a safe anchorage and what was then, a fine view of the bay and the mouth of the Maumee River. Originally Bay View Park was a combination of farm and marsh land. In the late 1890's the city of Toledo acquired this tract.  

Originally there were two entrances to our lagoon. One was just east of our clubhouse. Called “the cut”, it was a small channel, later bridged, that provided circulation for the lagoon. The main entrance connected with the river near the TYC clubhouse south of the Armory. When the Armory was built in 1935 that entrance was filled in and the present channel between the Armory and Coast Guard Station Toledo was dug.

In the early part of November 1907, the club constructed a marine railway for the use of its members, and a number of boats were hauled out and stored on the club's leased grounds. The winch was located in the garage along the fence where the oil tanks and lawn care shed are now located and the ramp was at the foot of the present guest dock.  Large steel beams were placed perpendicular to the rails and the boat cradles were rolled out onto the beams on pipes turned with pipe wrenches. This, so far as was known, was the first private club marine railway on the Great Lakes.

  As soon as the clubhouse site had been leased, the building of the clubhouse was considered, but nothing was accomplished until March 1911, when contracts were let and work actually began. The building was enclosed during the season but not finished on the inside. The annual meeting of November 3, 1911, was held in this new building.

In 1922 the name Bay View Yacht Club was adopted and proper changes made in the charter. Part of the reason for the name change concerned the sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages on the premises. At this time membership was also extended to sailors as well. The Associated Yacht Clubs was formed in 1925 and Bay View was one of its charter members.  

The early docks were along the shoreline only. Those on the north and south shores were accessed from wooden walkways near the unimproved shore line. A wooden long dock was constructed later about 50 feet north of our existing main dock which replaced it in the mid 1940’s.

The lands leased to the club have changed over the years. On the south shore, to which we originally had no land rights as our lease only went to the water's edge a strip of land was added. The north shore stopped near the present lift well, while the south shore was several hundred feet longer. TYC had the rights to what we now call “skid row”. A swap was arranged in the early 1960’s extending TYC westward on the south shore and giving BVYC the entire north shore.

The north shore of the lagoon near the club house, which before the war was stub piling, was improved by the members by sinking large blocks of slag to form a stable and usable shoreline.

It later became necessary to increase our winter storage capacity. This was accomplished through the use of an abandoned marine railway used by the Coast Guard during World War II, and which was then converted to our use with the building of a new set of runs and a new building housing the electric power for pulling the car.  The electric shed along the north fence is all that remains from that installation. After the war and until the early 1960’s the Komorny Brothers ran a commercial fishing operation with several boats and net handling docks located just east of the haul out shed. 

In 1957 the Club built the present lift well and purchased the first travelift trailer and truck. This provided much more flexibility for storing boats and freed up more space in the yard for parking. Over the years the truck cab was replaced and a second smaller travel lift was purchased that was operated with a Jeep. This unit was sold and moved outside the main gate where it sat for many years. The large lift was sold when the present Kleeco lift was purchased and is still in use at a marina off Summit St. in Erie Township, Michigan. The spar tower at the end of the guest dock was obtained and erected using the BVYC pile driver. When it was placed the bow of the barge was too low to get the tower on the base so members sitting at the bar were enlisted to stand at the stern and thereby raise the bow enough to get the tower on the base.

After the war the club held mid summer regattas with aquatic themes, food, beverages, amusements and sail boat races. Hundreds of small boats from all over the area were towed out into the bay for 2 days of racing. Doc Wherle’s corn roast and Faith Brady’s magic marker tattoos were highlights of these affairs. In 1967 regattas were abandoned in favor of the current homecoming party format.

Also during the sixties BVYC sponsored an annual boat trip for kids from the Miami Children’s Home and Sunshine Children’s Home. Members volunteered their boats for a trip up the river and the kids were treated to a cookout afterward.

In the early 1960’s the lagoon was dredged for the first time. In those days dredge disposal was not as well regulated and all the dredgings were pumped north of the road along the shore of the bay creating the wooded land we see today across from the main gate.

With the continued growth of the Club due to the popularity of boating, it became necessary to make an addition to the clubhouse. In the early 1950’s the first addition created space in the basement for a new bar and upstairs for meetings and dances which were very popular then. This area can be recognized by the casement windows on either side of the main deck entrance. The last addition gives us the club house we see today. It was completed in 1963, and gave us our present day galley and bar area.

  Many of the accomplishments that Bay View enjoys today have been made possible through the aid of the wives and families of the members of Bay View Yacht Club. The Bay View Ladies Auxiliary was organized in the fall of 1947 with 30 charter members.

Of all the capital improvements that have been made at Bay View, most were done with labor furnished by the members themselves. The materials and some skilled labor were purchased where needed.

It would not be possible to mention each individual project or to give    recognition to the numerous members who gave unselfishly of their time and of their money to build this facility. Both the Club and its present day members owe much to the men who guided our Club toward its present day stature, through good times and bad, through war and peace, through prosperity and depression. They held the Club firmly on its course.  As we begin our second century, we salute their remarkable efforts.

                                                                                         Jim Byrne

                                                                                         BVYC Historian