Golf Links to be built Speedily - February 1917

Ferbuary 23, 1917 Portland's municipal links is already underway by summer of 1917.  As newspapers will report in the fall, the City would come up with the $4,000 to match the fundraising efforts of the original foundering committee for new municipal golf links

Victor A. Johnson -  Current President of Waverley C.C.

T. Morris Dunne - Multnomah Amatuer Athletic Club. (later the M.A.C.)

Dr. Millard C. Holbrook - Portland Golf Club

Rabbi Jonah B. Wise - Tualatin Golf Club

The 151 acres of land of was donated by the Ladd's Estate Company by the famed developer Paul C. Murphy - and the initial construction was being led by Portland Parks Superintendent  James T Conville and his protege Paul C. Keyser.   

The project as hinted in the newspapers and later retold by Paul Keyser himself, was that the construction was already underway well before the City COuncil agreed to fully back the project.  The initiative of pioneering spirit that can assume the mechanisms of city government will find favor in this endeavor.  After all it was only a few years earlier that T. Morris Dunne launched the successful campaign to secure the first Parks bond, to help ensure Portland could build playgrounds to keep up with the rival city of Seattle.

The recreational race was on in full steam, with Jefferson Park in Seattle already enjoying it's third year of great success and positive revenue.  The municipal golf course could hardly wait for the City politics, and so the committee led by Victor A. Johnson have publically announced their intention to get this project started with private funds. 

"Without much effort" they raised $1305 and now set out to raise the remaining $1800 to meet the $3,000 threshold set by the City for the matching $4,000 of funds. 

At this time Chandler Egan had already laid out a design for the full 18 holes.  The construction would be focused solely on the front 9 and the back 9 acres were still being used by Reed College for a raspberry farm.

J.O. Conville was also seeking donations for architectural drawings for a clubhouse, with the initial plans only for a small starter's shack.

NOTE: While WW1 rages on in Europe, with more than 5 million military deaths and almost as many civilians.  for America the war continues to be economic boon, with the Wool companies barely able to meet the demands for uniforms and coats in Europe.  Victor A. Johnson happens to manage one of these woolen mills that would eventually be rolled up into Pendleton Wool.

The U.S. will officially declare war on Germany on April 6, 1917 about five weeks from the date of this article.

James. O Conville would have likely been tracking the war's progress, and would be signing up as an officer to serve with enlisted men from Oregon. It was through his war commission that he turns the Portland Parks Superintendent role to Paul C. Keyser.

Reed College interestingly enough was known for it's pacifist stance, though when the war is declared they would turn all their efforts towards supporting the war effort through training of medical corps and operational support.  The college would become a training ground for new enlisted soldiers,and likely some of them would be found later this winter on the very acreage that would become our beloved Eastmoreland Golf Course.