HISTORY OF THE MIDDLETOWN ANGLERS AND HUNTERS CLUB

By Tim Barry

 

Our club began as a group of men from the Middletown area petitioned the court in December of 1936 to form a non-profit “Middletown Anglers Association” with the charter to “Promote and propagate fish, to assist in all lawful ways the conservation of forests and streams in the making and enforcement of fish laws.” There were 52 names listed on the petition. In February 1937 the members voted to add “Hunters” their name and petition to include the “propagation and protection of wild game”, which completed the charter our club holds today.

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Our founding members quickly got to work and by June of 1938 had cleared a parking area at Stine’s Landing along the river opening it to public access. Stine’s Landing is better known as the location for the Tri-County Boat Club today. Members also stocked state and federal donated fish into the nearby Swatara Creek and Susquehanna River. Membership grew to 267 that year and our founders raised enough good will among local farmers, that by 1939 several hundred of them granted 4000 acres of game reserves in Lancaster and lower Dauphin County for members of the association. That land was stocked with the PA Game Commission donated pheasants raised in pens on a leased plot of land at Spruce and Linden Streets in Middletown. Just 64 birds were released that first year, but the pheasant pens expanded to raise 150 birds in 1940. Those years also began the tradition of annual awards for the largest and best in local fishing and angling sports. Those names and awards were published often in local newspapers. Conservation and community service efforts continued into the 1940s with members partnering with the boy scouts to plant over 5000 red pine seedlings on selected lands to provide habitat for local game.

With the start of World War 2, members supported the effort by purchasing “war bonds”, a popular and patriotic investment to fund an expensive war. Some of our members paid a higher price by never returning home.

 

Founding members used to meet in the Community Building or the Majestic Theater in downtown Middletown, but by May of 1947 the club purchased 38 acres in Londonderry Township from the Farmer’s Trust Company of Middletown for the price of $1. The Middletown Anglers and Hunters finally had a home at the present location of 1350 Schoolhouse Road in Middletown. Members quickly got to work clearing land, building a clubhouse, and constructing trap and rifle ranges. The monthly meeting on Wednesday August 10th, 1948, was the first in the new clubhouse. Members celebrated with a baked ham supper and motion pictures of fishing and game were shown. By 1949 the membership grew to 566 members and in June that year MAH hosted it’s first block shoot awarding 25lb. hams as prizes, a tradition we continue today. The new clubhouse attracted a flood of new members and by September 1949 membership grew to 1002 and the annual dues were $2.

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The 1950s saw the addition of archery ranges to the property and MAH began hosting local and regional archery tournaments. Those years also saw beginning of the social hall appealing to families of members. Dances were held every Saturday night making MAH more than just a hunting and fishing club. We became a community for our members. Many of our senior members have fond memories attending club functions in their youth. During these years we be hosted events for 4H and the Kiwanis Club. MAH was the home for the Middletown High School Rifle Team that started in 1957 into the 1980s, a scholastic sport no longer offered to youth today. MAH continued to hold popular trap tournaments and block shoots into the next decades adding associations with the William Penn Pistol League, which the club still has today.

 

Changing times and changing sounds. MAH social hall hosted square and round dances in the 1950s that gave way to rock & roll and twist music of the 1960s. MAH hosted a “Record Hop” every Thursday night from 8pm-11pm where members could play and share their vinyl records on a phonograph. This was a popular activity with youth in this time, and likely the highlight their week. MAH’s outdoor activities like hunting, fishing, shooting, archery, and block shoots continued into the 60s. On Saturday January 8th, 1966, members gathered for their Annual Deer BBQ where they had a band to celebrate burning the mortgage on the property. It must have been quite a party since the music and dancing went on until 2am. Block shoots and weekly bands were advertised in the local papers from the 60s into the 70s.

 

In 1980 changes to Pennsylvania’s laws allowed private non-profit clubs like MAH that held a “club malt retailer dispenser license” to convert to a full liquor license creating the full-service pub and restaurant we have on the property today. Since the 1980s MAH has continued to be the home base of many kinds of outdoor sports for our members while providing a recreational and social atmosphere while keeping an environment that is family oriented. We even hosted paintball events in the 1990s when that sport was the popular fad. Over the decades the music, activities, and generations have changed, but our purpose has stayed the same. Through those years our membership has steadily grown to over 3000 members today. Many of our members had parents and grandparents that were members. With many thriving youth activities offered at our club we are set on a path moving our mission and core values into a bright future.