Eating Clubs
Curator's note: As part of the Evolution of the Campus exhibition, the material in this exhibit was compiled in the early 1990s by Professor Robert J. Clark and thus does not reflect updated and in-depth research, such as presented in Clifford Zink's book cited below. We are working to update it with the help of Mr. Zink.
This chapter in Evolution of the Campus illustrates the history of the eating clubs through their clubhouses. From 1879 - when Ivy Club began in tiny Ivy Hall on Mercer Street - into the 1920's, Princeton's Eating Clubs were in a near constant state of flux. Clubhouses were rented, purchased, renovated, moved, built, torn down, and rebuilt. No club remained in a single clubhouse; Tower had occupied five by 1917.
Updated and more detailed information, and many archival and current photographs not included in this exhibit (especially of clubhouse interiors), are contained in The Princeton Eating Clubs, by Clifford W. Zink. This book, published by Princeton Prospect Foundation in 2017, is available at the Princeton University Store and Labyrinth Books in Princeton, and on Amazon.
