The Beckley, W. Va. club was created in 1929 but shuttered in 2016 and then acquired by the city, which wants to include a reference to the club’s history in the name of a new park that is being built on the former grounds of the property. But a member of the founder’s family Is now behind a movement to avoid any reference to the club, because of its past practices and policies.
The great-grandson of the man who incorporated Black Knight Country Club would like for the Beckley (W.Va.) Common Council to remove “Black Knight” from the name of a new municipal park that is being created on the former Black Knight grounds, reported The Register-Herald.
As C&RB reported in March 2018, the shuttered club was acquired by the city of Beckley, W. Va. for an amount not to exceed $3.5 million, reported The Register-Herald.
Tom Patterson, a local attorney, is a descendent of Col. Ernest Chilson, the Raleigh Coal and Coke baron who founded the club in 1929 and designed its clubhouse. Patterson joined local businessman Brian Brown in asking Mayor Rob Rappold and Council members to find another name for what was, at one time, his family’s club, reported The Register-Herald.
Brown is collecting signatures on petitions—now located in local businesses—to ask Council to vote for a name change that does not celebrate the new park as a private club that once excluded blacks, white people who were unable to afford stock in the club and wealthier people who did not “fit” with the image the club wanted to project, he said Wednesday, reported The Register-Herald.
Patterson, a golfer, said he is thrilled that the city recently purchased Black Knight from Gov. Jim Justice for $3 million. He said he had initially supported a decision by city officials to market the park as “Historic Black Knight Municipal Park,” but after hearing from Brown and others, he’s asking Council to start a new era by giving the park a totally new name, reported The Register-Herald.
“I do understand the reasons for wanting to keep the old name,” he said. “I just think they’re outweighed by a sizeable population of the city that doesn’t appreciate the heritage or the name.”
Mayor Rappold told Brown on July 24th that he would like to hear more from him, but asked Brown not to force the name change for a year to 18 months, due to money that has already been spent on marketing under the “Black Knight” brand, reported The Register-Herald.
Brown did not agree to those terms and said the following day that he is attempting to collect 3,000 to 5,000 signatures in favor of the name change, reported The Register-Herald.
“My stance is not because of the words ‘Black Knight,’ but it’s the country club represented that I have issue with,” Brown said. “It wouldn’t matter if it was called ‘Purple Passion Country Club.’
“The idea that country clubs were exclusionary for people who couldn’t afford to go there and they were discriminatory for people racially and religiously, that’s what this place represents, and ‘Black Knight’ happens to be the name of the place,” Brown added.
“It’s all these years of discrimination and elitism and separatism and this idea of saying, ‘You’re not good enough to be here and walk amongst us,’ and that’s what I have a problem with,” Brown continued. “Why would we want to preserve the history of a place to say, ‘You aren’t good enough to be here because you are too black or you are too poor, or you are too Jewish, or whatever?”
Patterson said he talked to Brown on July 25th and realized that Brown had valid points about the negative association many in the city may have with “Black Knight.”
“I would say [Council] was kind of tone deaf to the issue of inclusivity,” Patterson told The Register-Herald. “It’s got a negative connotation to those folks for a reason.
“It was a racially segregated club until sometime in the mid-1980s,” he added, “At that time, it was such a private club. You had to afford to get stock or be the guest of a member, or you couldn’t go, black or white.
“It is in an area that has a lot of black neighborhoods, and it’s fenced in, and they wouldn’t have been allowed on the property unless they were caddies, servers or dishwashers.
“I get where this [opposition] is coming from, and I sought [Brown] out to tell him that.”
Patterson said he learned to swim at Black Knight as a child and recalled there were strict rules, even for children whose parents where members, reported The Register-Herald.
“When we were little kids, we were not allowed to use the bathroom that’s in the pool facility, when we were swimming,” he recalled. “We had to go across the street to a dilapidated building.”
Patterson said the building was the changing room and restroom for club caddies, most of whom were African-American, reported The Register-Herald.
“If you saw black folks, they were more likely to be caddies,” he added. “You did not see blacks [eating] in the dining room or [playing] on the golf course, for sure.”
“I do think there was a positive affiliation with [the Black Knight name] for a certain segment of the community, but I don’t think it’s worth having a sizable portion of the community alienated by it,” he added,
Mayor Rappold’s vision of opening the park was one of offering the entire community, including the African-American population in the racially diverse Ward V where the park is situated, to enjoy grounds that were once only for the few, reported The Register-Herald.
Rappold has said he looks forward to hosting programs that will teach city kids to swim and golf at the new park, and that “Black Knight” is a marketing term to attract those who had used the club in the past. He wants children and adults of all races to now enjoy the facilities that only a few were able to enjoy in the past, reported The Register-Herald.
Regarding the exclusivity associated with the name by some, Rappold said city officials didn’t intend for “Historic Black Knight” to imply that anyone would be excluded—the exact opposite of his original intention for the grounds, reported The Register-Herald.
“This is a different time,” he said. “Nobody’s happy about the way things were in the 1940s or 1950s and 1960s, and even the 1970s.
“We can’t go back,” the mayor added. “Let’s rejoice in the fact that we are part of the change. We’re making change [and] opening things up to everybody.”
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