Mark Ross Program To Be Converted Into A Cemetery

The old New Rogell tennis coursea'designed by the legendary Donald Rossa'has been offered and the new owners plan to change it in to a cemetery. The program originally was developed underneath the authority of Max Fisher for Detroitas Jewish community, who were excluded from membership in other country groups. The original structure for the very first nine holes was completed by Tom Bendelow. Since the Phoenix Golf Club it opened in 1914. Phoenix Golf Club was sold to the town of Redford in 1921, having never quite caught on as a Jewish team. It was maybe not positioned close enough to the Detroit areaas Jewish communities. Redford employed Donald Ross to upgrade the first nine and complete the design. The Redford Golf and Country Club survived until 1945, when it was sold to the City of Detroit. In 1979, the course was renamed the Rogell, after former Tigers ballplayer and town councillor Bill Rogell. Rogell, a shortstop had led the Tigers to a 1935 World Seriew win on the Chicago Cubs. As it suffered considerably from neglect, it was by all accounts not a happy period for the program. When it had been purchased for $2.7 million by the mega-church Greater Grace Temple, a glimmer of hope for the Ross class appeared in 2007. Higher Grace put money in to repair and renamed it aNew Rogell.a The church has abandoned the concept, nevertheless and the Ross design seems headed for bulldozering. The program is planned to close May 31. It'd be considered a real pity because of this to go. I wonder if thereas a way that it might be selected as an old site to protect it.