Rackham Golf Course

In 1923 philanthropists Horace and Mary Rackham acquired 150 acres of land from the Baker Land Company, which was developing subdivisions in the future Huntington Woods. The Rackhams donated twenty-two acres to the Detroit Zoo. On the remaining land the Detroit couple, both avid golfers, oversaw the building of a golf course. In 1924 they donated the completed course and clubhouse to the City of Detroit with the stipulation that the land be held "exclusively as a public golf course for the use of the public." Designed by Donald Ross, the course opened its fairways to the public on May 19, 1925. Local architect Niels Chester Sorenson designed the Arts and Crafts clubhouse. He incorporated earth-tone and turquoise tiles made by Detroit's Pewabic Pottery and decorative brick panels both in the interior and on the exterior of the building.

[Back]: Horace Rackham called this gift to Detroit "beautifully greened, smoothly fairwayed, cunningly roughed and expertly bunkered." Among the first public 18-hole courses in the state, it was for many years one of the few integrated golf courses in the nation. In 1936 the course hired Erellon Ben Davis (1912-2013) to instruct African American patrons. Among his students were Motown artists and Joe Louis, who began holding an invitational here in 1941. Davis became the course's head professional in 1968. He was the first African American in the nation to hold this position at a municipal golf course. In 1940 and 1961 the Rackham course hosted the United States Golf Association's Public Course National Championships. In the mid-1980s the construction of Interstate 696 removed ten acres from the course. The course was renovated in 2007.