The Niagara Lawn Tennis Club had no public land nor public facilities, so its operations were conducted on the courts at Queen’s Royal Hotel and on the courts located at private homes throughout the Town of Niagara-on-the-Lake.

One such private home was known as the Plumb House, located on King Street where today is Parliament Oak School.  The owner of the home was Josiah Plumb, who was at the time of his death in Niagara-on-the-Lake the Speaker of the Canadian Senate.  Learning about him helps us understand the overall setting for tennis in Niagara-on-the-Lake during the 1880s and 1890s, including the close connections across the Canada/USA border and the high social profile of many Niagara-on-the-Lake residents. The online publication Parliament of Canada, includes this brief biography:

Josiah Plumb immigrated to Canada from New York State in 1865 at the age of 49. His Canadian-born wife, Elizabeth, was the daughter of a United Empire Loyalist and sister of Thomas Clark Street, who was both a member of the House of Commons and one of the wealthiest men in Ontario. Plumb had been a successful banker and railway entrepreneur in the United States. After the American Civil War, he retired from business and settled in the Niagara Falls area.

Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald became aware of Plumb’s connections and business acumen, and encouraged him to run for a seat in the House of Commons. He was successful in by-elections in December 1874 and March 1879. Three years later he was defeated, however, and Macdonald nominated him for appointment to the Senate in 1883. A Cyclopaedia of Canadian Biography noted that, as a senator, Plumb was “distinguished by his urbanity and judicial rectitude.”

Prime Minister Macdonald appointed Plumb as Speaker in 1887 to replace William Miller. Less than a year later Plumb died suddenly.

Plumb’s New York Times obituary said that he “was popular because of his Parliamentary experience, his fluency in speech, his conceded ability, and his faculty as an entertainer in the social life of which he was so prominent a figure.”

Few tennis players today have ever played on a grass court.  Most have never seen a grass court.  Because they’re so uncommon, the tendency is to regard grass tennis courts as very special …. expensive …. reserved for the well-to-do … even ‘exclusive’.

But from the outset, Lawn Tennis was designed to be quite the opposite …. to be, in fact, as ‘inclusive’ as possible. The notion of playing on the lawn arose from the observation that many homes had one.  Cut the grass a little shorter than usual … run a heavy roller over it to smooth out some of the bumps …. and it was ready for a net and some lines.  What could be simpler?

Tennis played in a garden setting is serene.  There’s little sound from the ball as it bounces. There’s little sound from the footsteps of the players.  Smooth and alert movements are encouraged by the uncertainty associated with many of the bounces taken by the ball. The absence of fencing encourages courtside spectating, as does the coolness from nearby trees.  Stray balls tend not to roll far in the longer grass beyond the lines.  Taken all together, it’s a pretty picture indeed, and easy to understand how the playing of the game came to be associated with pleasant social times as well : gather friends and family in the garden for some afternoon games and conversation; continue into the evening with a shared meal and some music.  Life before the electronic age.

Similar types of home-garden gatherings continue to our day, though Lawn Tennis will seldom be part of the mix.  What does continue, however, is the tradition of combining ‘tennis’ with ‘social’.  Throughout the world, wherever tennis is played, it’s most enjoyed in the company of like-minded players who forge friendships around the game.  Although tennis isn’t perceived as a team sport, it’s best played in the company of a group that functions like a team …. with players providing support to one another, showing up because they know they’re needed, encouraging and stimulating each other to maintain or improve the level of play.

A Tennis Club, at its best, is designed to replicate the feel of the old-fashioned garden party … a place to gather informally, to meet others with whom to pair up for a game, and with sufficient amenities to provide reason to linger.

Lawn Tennis was designed to be inclusive, to be for ‘everyman’.  A modern Tennis Club today achieves the same desirable outcome.

This grass tennis court was constructed earlier in the summer at Hillary House in Aurora Ontario, as part of a celebration of the history of tennis in the area.  On the hottest afternoon of the season, it was a delightful place to play.

Two publications contain much of the documentation related to the historic tennis tournaments in Niagara-on-the-Lake : Spalding’s Annuals, and Wright & Ditson Annuals.  Here is a sample from the Spalding’s Annual of 1885 :

The game of tennis developed at an astonishing rate over its first 10 years, and the pace of development continued year over year.  But the attributes contributing to the rapid growth didn’t change, and they remain to this day.  Among those described in this article, and valued by players today : safe; active; strategic; for women as well as for men; outdoors; environmentally friendly; inexpensive …. and “one thing that makes it exceptional” : a reliance on sportsmanship and etiquette.

The game is one that ‘has come to stay’, as it fills a void which has existed a long while, and that is, the want of a game in which ladies and gentlemen can participate, while at the same time plenty of active and not too vigorous exercise can be afforded for both, and that, too, without any element of danger to mar the pleasure of its enjoyment.