The Matchcover Storyteller

The Arkwright Club of New York was a private business and social club founded in 1893, often described as an association of cotton merchants.   More broadly it was open to the leaders of all textile, manufacturing and dry goods industries.  I don’t think it exists today, active only into the 1950s.  It hosted business luncheons and civic group meetings at its home for 50 yhears at 320 Broadway.  It spawned the Traffic Club of New York in 1906, a body still operating today with leaders of rail, trucking and other transportation entities.

The club was named after textile pioneer Richard Arkwright, developer of the spinning frame and a pioneer in the combination of power, machinery, semi-skilled labor and cotton.

In 1954, the Arkwright Club of New York took the United States government to court on an argument that as a business organization, it should be exempt from the excise taxation rules that then governed social clubs memberships and initiation fees..  The court ruled – and an appeals court upheld the ruling  — that assembling, dining and drinking liquor at the club did indeed constitute social functions.  The tax remained, and the 1954 case is still frequently cited regarding various New York business and luncheon clubs qualify for exemption as commercial endeavors.

I have three Arkwright front-strike 20s; I’m not sure if there are more (you may know!)  There was also an Arkwright Club of Boston, but I’ve seen no matches.    I think these old clubs can be, should be a very nice collecting category!