Our Story Through the Decades

Cambridge Tennis Club features five excellent Har-Tru courts on a picturesque property adjacent to Longfellow Park, just outside of Harvard Square. The clubhouse was designed by Cambridge architect, Allen W. Jackson, and built in 1930 when Cambridge Skating Club purchased the property. Designed in a Norwegian style, the clubhouse is equally charming inside and out.

The property once known as Mrs. Thorp’s Field was flooded during winters and neighborhood folks ice skated there. Annie Longfellow Thorp was a daughter of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. During summers, the field was used for community gardening, an arrangement that lasted until soon after World War II when people grew weary of growing and canning.
 In the early 1950s, members of CSC enlisted 27 members to contribute money to build tennis courts on the property.

The club was incorporated in May, 1954. Arthur Brooks was the first president of the new Cambridge Tennis Club from 1955 to 1957. The tennis club was originally free to neighbors but soon became so popular that it was organized as a private club, open to residents of Cambridge. The property now hosts a private skating club in the winter and a private tennis club in the summer. CTC is run by an elected Board of Governors with a manager, staff, and tennis professionals. The active, enthusiastic membership organizes a variety of activities such as round robins, holiday cookouts, tournaments, and ladders. A variety of popular tennis clinics and private lessons are also offered.
Much of this information came from Annette LaMond’s A History of the Cambridge Skating Club 1897-2001.
PHOTO CREDIT: Jack von Henneberg