THE ORIGIN OF MANORLU

The following briefly describes the origin of Manorlu Club.  It is based on the recollections of three members of Manorlu’s first board of directors;
Betty Pannepacker, Jack Hondros, and Bill Stickel. I thank them for sharing their memories with me.  I also thank them (and all those involved) for their time and efforts 40 years ago in creating Manorlu.

Phil Bur, July 1996

The Spark

One warm evening in the summer of 1955, Jack Hondros, his next door neighbor Patty Christie and their neighbor across the street, Vince Clauser began discussing why there was no swimming pool in the area that their young families could enjoy.  In 1955 the only swimming pools nearby were at country clubs (Manufacturers had one but Lu Lu did not).  Of the few public pools at the time, none were close.  In the 1950s few families could afford to join a country club and virtually no one could afford to build a pool in their back yard.  As the discussion continued, Jack, Patty and Vince resolved to build a swimming pool for their neighborhood. Vince immediately got started and together these three approached their neighbors on the street (Tee Road) and around the corner (Garden Road).  Almost every one they spoke with expressed considerable enthusiasm.  Soon a core group of people existed with the goal of building a neighborhood swimming pool.  Fortunately, in this small group of neighbors, there was the right mix of business skills needed to launch such a venture.                       

Vince Clauser     - Printing / Advertising                       

Jack Hondros     - Insurance / Sales                       

Guy Mechesney - Certified Public Accountant

Bill Stickel           - Architect / Engineer                       

Jack Burkhart     - Real Estate                       

Ray Jenkins        - Attorney / Township Commissioner

Perhaps even more important was the spirit and enthusiasm that everyone had toward working together in creating something which all of their families could enjoy. 

Winter 1955 - 1956

During the fall of 1955 the first order of business was to solicit enough people to join the group in order to be able to successfully finance a swim club.  In the beginning this solicitation required considerable creativity.  Imagine approaching people in the winter of 1955 -- 1956 and asking them to promise to pay $150 to join a non-existent swim club.  At first when asked the name of the club, the response was “we don’t know yet”.  When asked where it was to be located, the answer was “we don’t know yet”.  Fortunately, people still thought it was such a good idea that they did sign up. 

The Name

Vince Clauser printed up a brochure describing the swim club.  Marie Pierce is credited with creating the name MANORLU which was devised as follows:  

 “In Oreland between Manufacturers and Lu Lu”  

thus....MANufacturers -- OReland -- LU Lu....

MANORLU. 

At the time Manorlu’s location was considered Oreland since Dresher did not extend far enough south and Ardsley and North Hills did not extend far enough north.  At first, neighbors in Oreland were the only ones contacted.  However, soon there was interest in Glenside, Abington, Jenkintown and other neighboring communities. 

Site Selection

The three acres on which Manorlu is built was purchased for $1.00 in a deal arranged by Jack Burkhart (who’s real estate office was at the corner of Pennsylvania and Apel Avenues).  Mr. Wolfson was a local builder who owned the tract on Twining Road.  He realized that it would be difficult to build houses on this property because of the contour of the land.  At the time, he was building the houses which adjoin Queen of Peace Church (Chapel Road, Northview and Eastview Drives).  He felt that a swimming pool close by would add to the desirability of his houses.  However, he was concerned that the membership would be fully subscribed by the time he was ready to sell his homes.  Because Mr. Wolfson sold Manorlu the Twining Road property for $1.00, he was given 50 memberships, which he could offer to prospective buyers in his development. In 1956, the only buildings which existed in the area were the two old buildings adjoining Sandy Run creek on Limekiln Pike, the gas station (since re-built) at the corner of Twining Road and Limekiln Pike and a few new houses recently built on the west (far side) of Limekiln Pike up the hill.
Lu Lu Country Club was building its swimming pool on Limekiln Pike at the same time Manorlu was being constructed. 

Design & Construction

With membership well under way and a site selected it was time to design the swim club.  Once again a neighbor on Tee Road, Bill Stickel, offered his talents.  Bill was a registered architect with an office in Drexel Hill.  He proceeded to survey the lot, and draw up a complete set of plans for Manorlu, including the pools, plumbing and filtration systems, and the bath house.  His plans included extensive details and notes for the construction contractors.  He even included a landscaping plan that is not very different from what exists today.  Plans for swimming pools required approval by the State Department of Health and Bill remembers that he had to go before them three times before they finally approved the plans for Manorlu. Vince Clauser suggested looking into a firm called Neptune Pools.  He knew that they used a relatively new process (gunite) to spray concrete to form a pool and he was familiar with a pool that Neptune had built in the Reading area (where Vince was from).  Neptune Pools was the name used by Mike Giannone for his pool building business and he was contracted to build Manorlu.  Neptune provided a package consisting of the main and wading pools, the pump house, plumbing and the bathhouse.  The entire cost was approximately $50,000.  Guy Mechesney, a CPA who also lived on Tee Road, was responsible for arranging the financing of the construction.  With 300 initial members each providing $150 as a bond, $45,000 was available.  A mortgage was taken out for the remainder and to cover initial start up expenses.On a cold day in early March 1956, the new board of directors of Manorlu Club met with Mike Giannone, the builder, on the snow-covered property on Twining Road.  They turned the first shovel of earth to begin construction of what was to be Manorlu Club.  Soon, earth-moving equipment began to change the contour of the ground and dig the pool itself.  The only noteworthy difficulty in building Manorlu was the rock that is just under the surface of most of the property.  Digging into the hill to provide enough room for the pool was quite difficult and was done entirely by equipment.  No blasting was used at the time.  The writer remembers visiting the construction site as a child and standing in the hole straddling the steel reinforcing bars before the concrete was sprayed in In an effort to keep expenses down, members volunteered on weekends and evenings after work to pour the deck around the pool and to do the final grading, seeding, and landscaping of the grounds.  Many thought that nothing would ever grow on the hill since it was such solid rock.  Members were even asked to contribute any excess shrubs which they might have and a remarkable number of people did provide bushes and shrubs to help get Manorlu’s landscaping started. 

Opening Day

Manorlu opened for the first time on Saturday, July 7, 1956, (construction delays prevented the planned opening on Memorial Day weekend).  The bond certificates were all signed and given out with certificate #1 going to the president and the first numbers to the board of directors.  The president, Vince Clauser, was the first to enter the pool (he was thrown in by his fellow board members).  Thus started the first of many enjoyable summers at Manorlu.