Henry & William Fownes

Henry C. Fownes

Henry Clay Fownes, the founder of Oakmont Country Club, was born on September 12, 1856 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Henry was born into the steel business. His father, Charles, owned a foundry at 14th and Etna Streets in Pittsburgh. After his father’s untimely death, Henry quit school and learned the steel industry from his maternal uncle, who owned Solar Iron Works in the Lawrenceville section of the city.

By his early 20s, Henry Fownes was becoming a titan in the local steel industry. Alongside his brothers, they created several prosperous businesses, none more so than the Carrie Furnace Company in Rankin, Pennsylvania. This blast furnace along the Monongahela River proved so prosperous, that in 1898 it was sold to Andrew Carnegie and incorporated into Carnegie Steel, making Henry incredibly wealthy by the age of 40.

It is believed that around 1898 that Henry began playing the game of golf. In fact, many believe it was the Scotland native Carnegie who introduced Henry to the game. He took to the game quickly, as did his sons William C. Fownes, Jr. and Charles B. Fownes. By 1900, the Fownes family were among the best players in Western Pennsylvania.

It was during this time that the seeds for what would become Oakmont were planted. The Fownes were members of Highland Country Club, located in the Highland Park section of Pittsburgh, but the course proved too easy for them. They looked for other clubs in the area, but nothing quite suited their eye. Henry wanted an 18 hole course and one that would test the skills of any player who partook in the game.

In 1903, the land for Henry’s course was finally found. Overlooking the borough of Oakmont, 191 acres of farmland became available. The Oakmont Land Company, headed by Henry and his associates, purchased the land for $78,500 ($2.5 million in 2022). Oakmont Country Club was officially established.

That fall, Henry set to work designing his fabled links. The only course he would ever design, Henry, a team of 150 men and two dozen horses hand-dug the golf course. The next spring, the seed was planted and the Club officially opened to membership on October 1, 1904. The course played at 6,406 yards and a par of 80.

While Henry was an accomplished player - he would play in five U.S. Amateurs - his biggest contributions to the game were the Club itself. He was instrumental in obtaining membership with the USGA and bringing national championships to Oakmont. He would also serve as the Club’s president for over three decades.

In 1935, just months after Oakmont hosted its second U.S. Open Championship, Henry Fownes came down with pneumonia. Five days later, he passed away from the illness. He had just turned 79 years old.

William C. Fownes, Jr.

William Clark Fownes, Jr. was born to Henry and Mary Fownes on October 22, 1877 in Chicago, Illinois. He was named after his father’s brother, William. Like his father and namesake, W.C. learned the steel business and graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1898 with a degree in chemical engineering. His career in iron and steel would be short, as heart issues forced him to retire by the age of 30.

While his steel career was cut short, W.C.’s golfing career was long and fruitful. He was introduced to golf around the same time as his father, and by 1900 was one of the best players in Western Pennsylvania.

In 1904, Fownes won his first of a record eight Western Pennsylvania Amateur Championships. He would win the event again in 1905, 1907, 1909-11, 1913 and 1916. That same year, he claimed his first Western Pennsylvania Open Championship. He would win another nearly twenty years later in 1921.

The 1910 season would prove to be a “grand slam” season for Fownes. He would claim the West Penn Amateur at Allegheny Country Club. He would also claim the annual Allegheny Men’s Invitational, which during this time was one of the premiere events in American amateur golf. He won the Pennsylvania Amateur for the first time (he would win four total), and in the fall won the U.S. Amateur at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts.

W.C. would be a mainstay on the national golf scene for the remainder of his life. He participated in 19 U.S. Amateur Championships, and was instrumental in the founding of the biennial Walker Cup Matches. In 1921, he led a group of America’s best amateurs to Great Britain for an unofficial match against their best amateurs. Proving to be a hit, the event was made official the following year, and W.C. served as the first American captain. The U.S. would claim the Walker Cup at the National Golf Links of America over Great Britain and Ireland 8 to 4.

In 1924, W.C. would find himself on the USGA’s Executive Committee, serving as the organization’s vice president. In 1926, he would begin a two-year reign as USGA President, which included presiding over Oakmont’s first U.S. Open in 1927. From 1924-1948, he served on the USGA’s Implements and Balls Committee, responsible for governing the tools of the game.

After his father’s passing in 1935, W.C. became Oakmont’s second club president. Since 1911, he had served as head of the Club’s grounds committee, taking charge of the golf course and making it a true “Darwinian” test. Like his father before him, he wanted Oakmont to be strictly a “golf” club, and not the prototypical “social” club other country clubs were. It was this belief that would see the end of the Fownes family at Oakmont for many years.

After years of struggle caused by the Great Depression and World War II, Oakmont looked to become a more “social” club to attract the new “nuclear” family of the age. Against the principles Henry founded the club, W.C. decided for the Club to survive, it would have to move away from Henry’s idea. However, William would not be part of it. In June 1946, William C. Fownes, Jr. resigned himself and his family from Oakmont Country Club.

On July 4, 1950, four years after his resignation, William Clark Fownes, Jr. died of heart disease two doors down from the Club that his family created. He was 72 years old.

Henry Fownes (right) poses with his son William C. Fownes, Jr. (right), date unknown.

Portrait of Henry C. Fownes, circa 1924.

Henry Fownes poses outside the OCC Clubhouse.

Portrait of William C. Fownes Jr.

W.C. Fownes, Jr. (right) hands Bobby Jones (left) the Havemeyer Trophy during the trophy presentation of the 1927 U.S. Amateur at the Minikahda Club.

W.C. Fownes, Jr. poses at the top of his follow through.

Testimonial dinner to W.C. Fownes, Jr. after winning the 1910 U.S. Amateur Championship.

The 1921 unofficial Walker Cup Team. Seated (L to R): J. Wood Platt, W.C. Fownes, Jr. (Capt.), Bobby Jones, P. Hunter. Standing (L to R): Francis Ouimet, F.J. Wright, Jesse Guilford, Chick Evans.

The 1922 U.S. Walker Cup Team. (L to R): Chick Evans, Bobby Jones, Francis Ouimet, Robert Gardner, W.C. Fownes Jr. (Capt.), Max Marston, Jesse Guilford, Jess Sweetser, R.C. Knepper Jr.