08/23/2005
San Francisco or Philadelphia? Which came first?
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by USCL Commissioner - Greg Shahade
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The Philadelphia Masterminds and the San
Francisco Mechanics are set to play an exhibition match on August 24th.
However both of the clubs that these cities call home claim to be the
oldest chess club in America. So what is the real answer? Is the Mechanics Chess Club the oldest
American Chess Club or is it the Franklin Mercantile? Can anyone settle
this debate once and for all?
Here
is a link claiming the Franklin Chess Club was the first Chess Club.
Skip down to the year 1826.
Here
is a link claiming the Mechanics Chess Club was the first Chess Club in
America
Here
is a link that mentions both the Mechanics and the Franklin Mercantile,
and claims that the Mechanics was first and the Franklin was second.
Both teams claim their club was first. Perhaps the Mechanics
Chess Club is the oldest chess club in continuous existance whereas the
Franklin Mercantile was the first club in America? (Although the
Mechanics was supposedly not open for 3 years after the great San
Francisco Earthquake.) All information on this topic would be welcome!
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Masterminds homepage
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Mechanics homepage