Concord Country Club

Located on Route 202, near U.S. Route 1, in Delaware County, Concord Country Club traces its origins to the Brinton Lake Club, organized in 1918. The Old Mill, now a well-known restaurant on Brinton Lake Road, was the original clubhouse.

In 1927, the Brinton Lake Club became the Concord Country Club, and though situated in Concordville, Pa., was incorporated in Delaware. Its stated aim was "to establish, maintain, and conduct a club for the accommodation of its members and their friends and to provide a clubhouse, golf course, tennis courts, polo field, and other conveniences."

The years that followed were often difficult ones for Concord, as they were for virtually every club. The Great Depression, then World War II, each triggered a decline in membership and revenue. The financial burden grew to the point where a decision was made in 1946 to sell the club to Wilmington Country Club, which operated it as a satellite facility. Unusual in this circumstance was the parent club’s requirement, in the mid-1950s, for those seeking membership in the Wilmington organization to take an interim membership at Concord. It would appear to have been the only such arrangement in the history of the Golf Association of Philadelphia, and it gave a number of people on the Wilmington Country Club waiting list an opportunity to play golf in the meantime on a good course.

In 1958, Concord was sold to Deico Park, Inc., which envisioned the development of either an industrial park or a community of luxury homes. Neither project materialized, and two years later the club was on the market. This time the purchaser was Lammont du Pont Copeland, who felt strongly that the area could use a first-rate family country club.

In the years to come, Mr. Copeland would build a suitable clubhouse and an Olympic-length swimming pool. In 1974, part of the golf course adjacent to the intersection of Routes 1 and 202 would be sold. New England — based architect Geoffrey Cornish would be called in, and the club would get five new holes — 4, 6, 13,14, and 15 — several of which are surely the most beautiful and challenging on this testing course, which has a Slope of 128.