History of the Twelve-Thirty Club Table of The Union League

The Twelve-Thirty Club Table of The Union League is an outgrowth of a longstanding lunch meeting of gentlemen at the Bourse, during the mid-1800s (and perhaps even before that). This group of men would meet at Bourse under a large clock at 12:30 p.m. to share lunch and conversation and called themselves "The Twelve Thirty Club". When the Union League was formed many of these same gentlemen joined the League and wanted to continue this same tradition and formed the Twelve Thirty Club Table. As Tables will do, the Table grew and then disappeared until resserected in the early 1950s.

The Twelve Thirty Table as it exists in the twenty second century is a merger of this Twelve Thirty Table and another Table which took place in 1970.

One table was known as the Young Men's Table. It was formed in the mid-thirties by a group of younger members. This was a time before the Junior Member category had been established, and during the Depression, the number of younger members was especially small. Most of them knew who the others were, and many were avid bridge players. This common interest led them to form a club table. Being younger, they seemed to take special pleasure in the lively antics. Their Christmas parties manifested this. One such gathering ended up with a basket-shooting contest. The old, round chandeliers in the South Marble Room were the baskets and the hard luncheon rolls the missiles! An electric train chugged its way around the table annually. And, bets were placed - roulette style - in front of each member awaiting a waitress or captain to trip over the wire thus stopping the train before the winner. Two members each owned racehorses at one time, and an annual trip to the track was an activity not to be missed. Once, a member arranged to have his own horse run at this outing and assured all that it was a sure winner. Not only did it finish well, but also it was claimed and then went to win its share of races but too late for the table to benefit. The next Christmas the owner was given a bale of hay - delivered at noon to the party in the Grant Room.

As time went on, the name became somewhat less appropriate, but the members continually maintained a young, in-spirit attitude that permeated its activities from golf outings to softball games to social parties with violins and other accompaniment provided by the members.

In the meantime, in the early fifties, the Twelve-Thirty Club Table was formed. It originally decided on the "modest" name - "Captains of the Industry Table," which was shortened to "The Captain's Table" for a brief period, when the designation "Twelve-Thirty Club Table was permanently selected. The name was suggested by one of the founding members and has an interesting history. A luncheon group had been formed in 1910 that met in a private dining room of the Bourse Restaurant. Many of the men were members of The Union League. The business center was then in that area; therefore, it was more convenient to lunch in that vicinity. The group was known as the "Twelve-Thirty Club" and its individual members were business leaders in that era. Over the years, death took its inevitable toll as well as ordinary attrition, and the club died out about the mid-1930s. It was a good name and members of the Captain's Table believed it was worthwhile to foster the name used for so many years. Seemingly, it described a time when most of the men were free to break bread together and, traditionally, it fit in well with the concepts of the group.

Both of the young men's table and the "new" Twelve-Thirty Club Table were adjoining each other in the South Marble Room where many members knew each other. The League wanted more large tables in the Marble Rooms. It, therefore, seemed a natural thing for these tables to combine not only to help the league but also to add to their own strength and conviviality. Inasmuch as the Junior Members were easily confused with the name "Young Men" (which was frankly a misnomer at this stage anyway), the combined tables adopted the Twelve-Thirty designation. Thus, combined, the Table has grown in membership, in perspective, in maturity, and in its contribution to life at The League.

We have representatives in such varied fields as armed services, clergy, accounting, advertising, architecture, insurance, law, medicine, stock brokerage, and business executives. We have come of age to the extent that we have among us those who were leaders in some of the aforementioned areas but are now retired. Regretfully, others have died but are memorialized on the silver bowl, which centers the Table at lunchtime.

The Table is informally organized with a president, a secretary, a treasurer to handle modest dues, an admissions chairman, and an entertainment chairman. The Table has produced six presidents of The League (Hal Bemis, Nelson Harris, Stanley Root, Jim Straw, Tom Lynch, and Frank Giordano), several vice presidents and directors, and numerous members have consistently served on various important League committees.

It may be of interest to know little, personal tidbits of our history --

Marie G. Hayash was our first waitress, beginning with the organization of the Table. She served us faithfully up through our Christmas party of 1950.

Then came short-term girls - Laura Reed in 19951 and Katherine Howley in 1952.

Sarah McGuiness (known to us as "Sally") came on in 1953 and stayed through 1959.

Alice Mallaghan took good care of our food wants garnished with pleasantness from 1960-1981.

Patricia West ("Patty") has been serving food, warmth, and humor from 1981-1993.

Respectfully presented,

Stanley W. Root, Jr., Esq.
Past Union League and Table President