A Storied Legacy: The University & Whist Club and the Tilton Mansion
The University & Whist Club, an institution steeped in history and tradition, has recently garnered attention due to the impending sale of its iconic Tilton Mansion clubhouse. This article delves into the rich history of the club and its headquarters, exploring the key facets that have shaped its identity and legacy.
From Bellevue to Federal Hill: A Historical Overview of the Tilton Mansion
The Tilton Mansion boasts a history that predates the Revolutionary War, bearing witness to significant moments in Wilmington's past. The land’s first known owner was Bancroft Woodcock, a silversmith. He constructed a house known as the Bellevue. Woodcock, the son of Irish immigrants, was a prominent Quaker silversmith who had moved to Wilmington from Pennsylvania in the 1750s. In 1760, Woodcock purchased the land on which the Tilton Mansion now stands. At the time, the population of Wilmington was nearing 1,000 persons and the site was considered rural. He liked to take long hikes in the countryside and discovered an elevated site with an impressive view: the spires of Philadelphia to the north, the Maryland countryside to the south, the small community of Wilmington directly below and, beyond that, the shoreline of New Jersey.
Later, Woodcock's acquaintance, Dr. James Tilton, a Dover doctor, Revolutionary War hero, and delegate to the Continental Congress in 1783, acquired the property. Tilton proposed Woodcock's Bellevue as a potential home for the nation's capital, citing its central location. Tilton was himself Delaware’s congressman. A hero of the Revolutionary War, he crossed the Delaware with George Washington and became the nation’s first Surgeon General. He pitched the property as a potential home for the nation’s capital. Spoiler alert: Washington was unimpressed. Washington’s fellow Virginians persuaded him that the Capitol should be sited close to home, on the Potomac River.
In 1792, Tilton persuaded Woodcock to sell the property to him and in 1789 Tilton was elected the first president of the Medical Society of Delaware. In 1802, Tilton began construction of the nucleus of the present day building. The granite slab he used for autopsies is still in the basement of the club’s headquarters, historically known as the Tilton Mansion. Although he lost his bid to make Wilmington the nation’s capital, Tilton named his home Federal Hill, building the foundation for the current structure in 1802. The new stone structure was two stories high, 38 feet square, and had an attic with dormer windows and a basement with a kitchen. The name of the site was changed to Federal Hill, because of its candidacy as a possible location for the Capital. He entertained on a grand scale, although the doctor never ordered coffee or tea, brews he thought were bad for his guests’ health. Instead, he served rum.
After Tilton's death in 1822, the house remained vacant for a time with the occasional family changing residences. Wilmington industrialist Charles W. Howland bought the land then known as Tilton Hill in 1852. Finding the house too small for his family, he hired renowned Philadelphia architect Robert Morris Smith to enlarge the building. According to a magazine article written by Smith in 1856 (the year the house was remodeled), the property had then become known as Tilton Hill. In 1852, Wilmington industrialist Charles Howland bought the house and immediately hired Roger Morris Smith, an architect from Philadelphia, to draw plans to make it bigger. Smith’s plans called for a stone tower topped with an observatory that would provide views of New Jersey on a clear day. The old stone house was replaced by a new structure built in what the architect called the "pure Italian style." The tower on the Ninth Street side, topped by an observatory, was built to house a spring water cistern with a power pump for running water in the house. A pump house provided the luxury of running water. Howland renamed the grand mansion Hilton.
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In the early years of the twentieth century, J. Danforth Bush, Delaware's sixth lieutenant governor, and his wife purchased the property from the Howland Estate. The next owner, Lt. Gov. Danforth Bush, tweaked the interior to add Tudor touches such as leaded stained glass windows that exist to this day. On August 7, 1935 Agostino Fortunato bought the Broom Street block to construct town houses. To preserve the property Francis V. du Pont, Jr., acting as Elafrel Company, purchased the home from the Bush Estate twelve days later. He subsequently leased it to the University Club of Wilmington. Elafrel Company sold the property to the University Club Holding Company in 1937.
The University & Whist Club: A Fusion of Intellectual Pursuits and Social Engagement
The University & Whist Club’s history is rooted in the merger of two distinct private memberships in 1958: the Wilmington Whist Club and the University Club of Wilmington.
The Wilmington Whist Club: A Hub for Card Game Enthusiasts
The older of the two, the Wilmington Whist Club, was first organized December 7, 1891, and incorporated in 1895 around what was then a popular English card game. The Club was organized December 7, 1891, and incorporated in 1895. The first clubhouse was located at 1103 Gilpin Avenue; it was rented for $37.50 per month. In March of 1892 the Club moved and rented 1305 West Thirteenth Street. Membership grew to 145 in 1906, 150 in 1907, and 175 in 1909.
Alternately known as trump, ruff or whisk, the rules were officially set out by Edmond Hoyle, whose name is still used as a standard for card games. Whist was a four-player game, cards were dealt one at a time with the last card to the dealer, being turned to determine trump. One point was scored for each trick in excess of six, and sometimes additional points were given for the ace, king, queen and jack of trumps. The era of whist was passing, however, as auction bridge captured the interest of increasing numbers of players and this led to the Wilmington Whist Club resigning from the American Whist League in 1906.
In 1927 a liaison of sorts was formed with the University Club of Wilmington when the Whist Club steward contracted scarlet fever. The clubhouse was closed and fumigated, and the Whist Club accepted the University Club's offer to use their meeting facilities. In 1929, the Wilmington Whist Club acquired a new clubhouse, the former residence of its first president, William H. Swift, at 1309 Delaware Avenue. This location had a billiard room and two bowling lanes along with facilities for a new game called contract bridge.
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In 1925, Harold S. Vanderbilt, American multi-millionaire and three-time America's Cup winner, changed the course of bridge while on a cruise. He suggested that only tricks bid and made count toward game, with extra tricks counted as bonuses. These revised rules turned auction bridge into contract bridge. He succeeded so well that his game of contract bridge became the staple diet of card players everywhere.
The University Club of Wilmington: Fostering Friendship and Intellectual Exchange
The University Club of Wilmington was incorporated on April 12, 1924 by a group of male college graduates who decided to join together "to promote friendship among college men, and to advance the interests of a liberal education." A clubhouse was established at 1311 Market Street, known as the Old Gibbons House, and was formally opened on July 1, 1924. At the outset, the Club comprised 250 members. When membership growth dictated larger quarters, the University Club moved to 1301 Market Street, holding an official house warming on September 13, 1927.
In the mid-1930s, Francis V. du Pont, Jr. acquired the 805 North Broom Street property from the estate of J. Danforth Bush and leased it to the University Club. The Club moved into its new quarters on November 30, 1935 with a formal opening on December 11. During the 1950s, the University Club was the center of activity for young singles of Wilmington. Anne Rudquist explained why: "We had lived through the depression and through the deprivations of war when everything was rationed. When World War II ended, the men went back to college and, in the late 1940s and early 1950s, were graduating. Finally things were back to normal, people had money again, and we just had fun."
Many residents of the Club were young professionals in Wilmington, men like the late William V. Roth, Jr., who became the senior United States Senator from Delaware. Another young professional at the time who frequented the Club was Charles Todderud. "One thing that impressed me was the intellectual level of the conversations at dinner," he recalled. "There would be Charles W. Todd, director of biochemical research at the du Pont Experimental Station, and Roger Horton, a patent attorney, and Joe Couglin, an engineer who had worked on the atomic bomb project when they developed the first radioactive pile. These guys had a wealth of information. They would talk about Einstein's Theory of Relativity and apparently understood what they were talking about.
The Merger: A Symbiotic Relationship
The Wilmington Whist Club and the University Club of Wilmington began as separate clubs who were friendly; when either one needed anything the other was always willing to help. In the late 1950s, as the population shifted to the suburbs, the lack of food service at the Whist Club made it difficult to attract members. The suburbanites were reluctant to go home for dinner and return to the city for socializing and games. In 1957, representatives of both boards met to discuss a closer liaison.
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On April 14, 1958 the two organizations formally decided to merge into a single, large, diversified body. It was agreed the University Club housed in the Tilton Mansion at 805 North Broom Street would be the headquarters of the combined membership. In 1959 it was decided to enlarge the building because of the increased membership and the need for banquet facilities. The Whist Club moved from their home in a large Victorian on Delaware Avenue into the club’s current location, then the headquarters of the University Club. It was a natural match. The Whist Club brought its card games and billiards to the club. The University Club offered its food service and clubby meeting rooms.
A Hub for Power and Influence
Anyone picturing a smoke-filled backroom where fat cats met in private are probably picturing a place like the University & Whist Club in the mid- to late-20th century. University & Whist soon established a reputation as a place to develop business and political contacts. There was a long waiting list for membership as the DuPont Co. and other prominent companies included dues as part of the package for their executives.
Executives from Chase Manhattan Bank first made their pitch to Delaware officials for a change state banking rules there. The bank's proposal later became the 1981 Financial Center Development Act, which established the state as the nation’s credit card capital. Even as late as 2007, private meetings there were making news. Seven of Delaware State University’s 15-member board of trustees met for dinner at the club with then-DSU President Allen Sessoms.
Evolving with the Times: Adapting to Changing Social Norms
Pressure to reverse the all-male membership rules for all private clubs in Delaware began to mount in the late 1970s. The General Assembly passed a law in 1983 banning state dealings with firms that discriminate on the basis of sex. Women were not permitted to join the club until 1988, a full five years after the General Assembly passed a law forbidding state business with entities that discriminated on the basis of gender. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor or U.N. Ambassador Jeanne Kirkpatrick would not have been allowed to become full members.
Legacy of the University and Whist Club
Today, the Tilton Mansion, home to the University and Whist Club, continues to fulfill its mission; to provide superior food, beverage and service to our members. The legacy of the University and Whist Club has been founded and shaped by Club presidents past and present.
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