Type Athletic club | ||
 | ||
Formation November 7, 1877; 139 years ago (1877-11-07) Key people Lon Myers, member and world-record-holding runner | ||
The Manhattan Athletic Club was an athletic club in Manhattan, New York.
The Manhattan Athletic Club was organized on November 7, 1877, and legally incorporated on April 1, 1878. Its emblem was a "cherry diamond".
It established an athletic cinder ash track at Eighth Avenue, between West 56th and West 57th Streets, in Manhattan, which opened in 1878. In 1883, it secured grounds at the block between Eighth Avenue and Ninth Avenue, between West 86th Street and West 87th Street. In November 1886, it secured a clubhouse at 594 Fifth Avenue. The club established a new clubhouse at the southeast corner of Madison Avenue and East 45th Street in 1890, with one of the largest gymnasiums in the world, at 100 feet by 110 feet. Through 1917, boxing matches were hosted at the club.
American runner and world record holder Lon Myers was a notable member of the club. Other notable members included speed skater Joe Donoghue, runner Thomas Conneff, and Elliott Fitch Shepard.
In 1893, with significant debts, its directors decided to dissolve the club. Andrew Freedman became receiver of the Manhattan Athletic Club when it fell into receivership. A new Manhattan Athletic Club was opened the following year.