|
Solair Recreation League - |
|
|
Solair Recreation League - |
A Look back in time ...
Our beginnings...
THE HISTORY OF LAUREL RIDGE AND SOLAIR
Taken from SOLAIRAMA, published by Pat in 1957
The promotion of the Solair Recreation League began on June 14, 1934, with three individuals in active participation and ten or twelve prospects who had been contacted through the I.N.C.A small, but beautiful campsite was located within a week and it was on this where the few outings of the first season were held. This place could have been purchased for only $150, but before sufficient enthusiasm could be raised to produce this amount of cash, the property was purchased by another party, so the group was left to search elsewhere for a playground. The first season, there were only three paid members, but in all, twelve adults and one child attended the outings. The receipts for the first season were $30.00 with expenditures of $20.92.
The following spring, 1935, the group set out early and on July 20, after driving hundreds of miles in search of a camp, they secured a small farm of thirty-five acres. This they leased for the remainder of the season, only as temporary quarters, for it had no satisfactory facilities for bathing. At this camp, the first organization was formed with the election of officers: President, Vice-President, Secretary, and Treasurer. However, the President lasted but three weeks and then resigned the office and disappeared. The managerial work of the club then fell onto the Secretary and Treasurer. During the 1935 season, the paid membership mounted to twenty-one, but in all the season fifty-five adults visited the camp. The receipts for the season were one hundred eighty-five dollars with expenditures of eighty-seven dollars and nineteen cents.
Again, in the spring of 1936, the search for a camp-site was on and many miles were covered before a place was secured which seemed suited for the purpose. This was a forty-acre corner of a large farm which included a beautiful lake. In some respects, this place was ideal, but in other ways not so desirable, especially in its lack of privacy. It was not a place which could be continued with any degree of certainty. At this camp, the paid membership was raised to twenty-four, but there was a total of sixty-four adults and three children who visited camp that season. The visitors were mostly prospects, but due to unsettled condition as to the camp, the members did not succeed in enlisting many. The receipts for 1936 were one hundred ninety dollars and expenditures were one hundred seventy two dollars and fifty-nine cents.
As spring of 1937 rolled around, the group found itself again without a playground and so decided to make an effort to purchase a permanent camp, if a suitable place could be found. Their efforts were soon rewarded in finding the present camp site. This finding was reported to the group at a meeting in Worcester on April 10, 1937. So impressed were those present with the description given by Mr. Charles Alexander, Treasurer, that a committee was created to proceed with negotiations for the purchase. A survey of the property was made on May 2, 1937, from which a map was drawn and sent to all members of the club and to desirable prospects, along with a circular letter giving full description of the property and its possibilities. The response seemed to warrant going ahead with the purchase. By May 11, when the deed was drawn up, there were sufficient funds in the hands of the treasurer to meet all requirements. Each member and prospect had also received the proposed financing plan and all its details.
At the onset, it was planned to finance the new camp by selling shares and paying dividends. A co-op camp was intended and Solair members were asked to contribute. (On the first land payment of $1,000, $500 was raised and $500 was borrowed.) The place was to be called Laurel Ridge. The people who paid into these early beginnings were called Laurel Ridge Associates, as well as Class A members of Solair. They automatically became owners of Laurel Ridge. Those who did not contribute became tenants of Laurel Ridge and Class B members of Solair.
All newcomers were received as Class B members of Solair Recreation League and were not considered for Class A membership, or Laurel Ridge Associate membership until they had been in camp long enough to be judged congenial and truly interested in the camp. The Laurel Ridge Associates worked long and hard through the years to clear and build up the camp. They gave of their time and money, over and above their annual dues. Laurel Ridge Associates landlords made no personal gains. They loved the place, believed in the movement and wished for other congenial persons to join with them and, in time, to help make a truly co-op camp whereby the tenant and the landlord basis could be dropped as speedily as possible.
In October of 1952, the subscribers certified, “that we do hereby associate ourselves as a body politic and corporate under the statute laws of the State of Connecticut; and that the name of the corporation is LAUREL RIDGE INC.” and with these words, the management of Solair as we know it today, five years later, was born. Who were these people who saw the advancement of Solair under this new arrangement? The incorporators were three men, tried and true – Irvin, Bill (our present director) and Stephan.
The amount of capital stock, authorized, and subscribed for at the outset was thirty shares of Common Stock having a value of fifty dollars each and for all of which there was paid the full amount of sixteen hundred dollars – six hundred in cash and one thousand in property.
The first corps of officers included Al as President; Archie, Vice-President; Lydia, Secretary; Bill S., Treasurer; Jud, Assistant Treasurer; and the members of the first Board to serve the corporation were Al, Bill and Jud.
It is significant to look back on these humble beginnings and to realize that at this year’s (1957) annual meeting, there were one hundred and two shares of capital stock outstanding. In five years, the investment of the eleven original subscribers has more than tripled.
Our beginnings... formation (1934-1937 thru 1957)
Water, Lights, Power, Facilities (1967 text)
Return to Solair History Main Page
See how we relax and unwind at Solair today
Copyright 2006. LRI. All Rights Reserved.