About Us :
The Bay Men's club is the oldest organized club still active in Bay Village. It was founded in the summer of 1917 when a handful of Bay Village men met on the steps of what is now known as Rose Hill Museum in Cahoon Park to create the Bay Village Community Club.

With an eye on the future, its platform from the start was sponsorship of civic, social and morally positive activities for the benefit of the village. At that time, Bay's population was only a few hundred consisting mostly of summer cottages and local farms. The new club began meeting in the old red brick schoolhouse located at Stop 30 on Lake Road. Members were assessed one dollar for annual dues.

In the old days of the red brick schoolhouse meeting place, the club became quite theatrical, and for a number of years, featured minstrels, vaudeville acts, and even a circus. A favored sport was burlesquing the town fathers on village council.

As the years rolled on, fewer theatricals were held and other methods for boosting the dwindling club treasury were tried. During the great Wall Street crash of 1929 the treasury all but faded into darkness. During the depression years, "Hard Times" dinner were served, a Monte Carlo party was held: turkey raffles and clambakes became traditional and the Bay Men's Club like America, survived.

In the 1936-37 season, the club moved its meeting to the newly completed Community House and the rickety old red brick schoolhouse had seen its last days of Bay Men's Club meetings. A transition in club activities also seemed to date from this time. The club was incorporated as a non-profit organization, and a new constitution was drawn up and enacted. Even after many amendments through the years, the Club's constitution and bylaws still serve the club today.

In 1953 the Bay Men's Club founded and established a summer baseball program, which to this date is still one of the largest summer activities in Bay. Most recently, the Club has supported the Huntington Playhouse, and the annual Bay Day's fair over the Fourth of July weekend by operating a community booth. Earnings from the Bay Day's booth help fund the club's operational expense. In addition, special contributions from the booth are provided to the Lake Erie Nature and Science Center in Huntington Reservation.

Over the years the Club has passed through several generations of Bay Village residents and through many changes. The founding principles of friendliness and the air of good fellowship to our neighbors remains the same today as it did in 1917.