Fort Douglas Hidden Valley Country Club records, 1966-2008

The Fort Douglas Hidden Valley Country Club was started in 1923, when General McAlexander announced that he had the labor, horses, and water to build a golf course on the Fort Douglas Reservation. However, he needed money for other supplies such as seed, sprinklers, and hoses. Russell L. Tracy, a local businessman, started a committee that sold memberships for one hundred dollars each. With a ten thousand dollar fund, the General began building the golf course. It was not until the 1930s that all eighteen holes of the course were ready for play. One problem that arose during the period was water. This was solved with the damming of Red Butte Creek in 1934. Soon the golf course was a popular course, attracting even the PGA tour. Improvements were made to the social aspect of the country club with the expansion of the clubhouse in the 1930s to include a dinner/dancing room. In 1959, the golf course at Hidden Valley opened under the club's ownership. This new course was built because the Fort Douglas golf course was built on public land and now was being given to the University of Utah. The golf course today has nine holes, only one of them from the original design in the 1930s. Although the course was on public land, the clubhouse was not. The clubhouse was expanded to house more social activities. A grant of land adjacent to the clubhouse allowed for the construction of an Olympic-sized swimming pool and seven tennis courts. To this day, tennis and social activities are the main focus of the Fort Douglas part of the country club.