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TUALATIN CENTENNIAL
January 3, 2013
Nellie Wesch,
shown in 1915,
caddied at the
club before
going on to
become a well-
respected
teacher.
SUBMITTED PHOTO
By SAUNDRA SORENSON
Pamplin Media Group
T
ualatin had its own country
club before it had elected offi-
cials.
In 1912, a group of Portland-
area professionals purchased 100 acres
from the Sweek family in order to estab-
lish a golf course and weekend getaway.
A few of the founders’ names are still
easily recognizable today: Julius Meier
of Meier & Frank, as well as members of
the Tonkin family, famed for their chain
of car dealerships, were largely respon-
sible for founding a club for Jewish
members barred from other such golf
and leisure organizations.
The Tualatin Country Club celebrat-
ed its own centennial this past year. Its
membership has been all-inclusive since
the mid-1960s, and has had many local
luminaries pass through. Former golf
caddie Nellie Wesch went on to become
a well-loved teacher at Tigard High
School, educating many current mem-
bers of the Tualatin Historical Society.
The hard-working farmer’s daughter
might not have made it to college had it
not been for her involvement with the
country club, however: Future governor
of Oregon Meier “passed the hat” to en-
sure Nellie, a farmer’s daughter, could
attend what was then known as Oregon
Agricultural College.
The centennial celebrations stack up
when you consider that another former
caddie, Curtis Tigard, hit his own centu-
ry mark in 2009. Tigard was welcomed
as one of the first five non-Jewish mem-
bers of the club, and for nearly 50 years,
Tualatin Country Club
celebrated its own
centennial this past year
A club
ahead
of its
time