History Remembers Lost Swim Clubs – Now It’s Your Turn

For many families growing up in the Somerset Hills and surrounding communities, summer meant one thing: the local swim club. From the 1950s through the 1980s, private clubs, lakes, beaches, and municipal pools became summertime gathering places where generations of kids learned to swim, competed on swim teams, played tennis, worked their first summer jobs, and spent long days with friends.

This story is part of the Mr. Local History Project’s New Jersey Swim Club Series, exploring the neighborhood pools, freshwater ponds, and private clubs that shaped generations of summer memories. Part of the project’s mission is to encourage those who remember these clubs to submit their photographs, stories, and memorabilia. These materials can then be shared with local historical societies to help preserve the history of these great community watering holes. Noe Pond in Chatham Township stands apart as one of the region’s oldest and most distinctive swimming traditions, evolving from a historic farm pond into a beloved family recreation club.

We’ve started researching and documenting these nearly forgotten places, including Mill Ridge, Clover Hill, Copper Springs, Noe Pond, Mt. Kemble, Pleasant Valley Pool, and others, but we know there are more stories waiting to be rediscovered. That’s where you come in. Do you remember one of these clubs, or another one we haven’t found yet? Were you a member, lifeguard, coach, counselor, or part of a swim team? Post your memories in the comments, and please dig through those old photo albums and shoeboxes.

We’re especially looking for photographs, membership cards, patches, advertisements, postcards, swim team pictures, and other memorabilia from the 1950s through the 1980s. Help us identify the clubs, the people who made them special, and preserve another great piece of our local summer history before those memories disappear.

The Pool Baron of Jersey Swim Clubs

Bailey Brower Jr. was something of a North Jersey “pool baron” during the golden age of the suburban swim club. A Princeton graduate and longtime Chatham Township resident, Brower helped establish Noe Pond Club in Chatham in 1955, transforming an old farm pond into a private swimming and recreation club.

His interests soon expanded into other communities, and Brower became associated with the Clover Hill Swimming Club in Millington, the Millridge Swim Club in nearby Long Hill, and the Copper Springs Beach & Tennis Club in Meyersville. These sprawling family recreation clubs, built around swimming, tennis, and other summer activities, flourished as North Jersey’s suburbs expanded during the 1950s and 1960s.

Brower’s involvement in several of them made him an important figure in the development of the region’s private swim club culture. He later became active in Chatham Township government, serving on the Township Committee and as mayor. Brower died in 2022, leaving behind an unusual legacy tied not only to public service, but to a generation of North Jersey families who spent their summers at the clubs he helped create.

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Maybe we’re missing a club you belonged to?
Let us know below.

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Your submissions are coming in!!!!!!
Please come back as we begin uploading your submitted classic photos.

Have an Old Swim Club Pic to Share?

Have a Pic from the 50s-70s you can share to help preserve these great old swim clubs? Drop us a note now. Just name the club and the year. We’re creating a fun online photo album to save the history.

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