Early American Racket Makers

Aug 20

First Published October, 2019

Last Updated August, 2022

This compilation represents twelve years of research into early American lawn tennis racket makers. I started in 2007 when I wrote a pair of articles in the TCA Journal that just scratched the surface on this topic. At that time, it was established that E. Clarke (August 23,1877), F. Clark (March 20,1879) and E.I. Horsman (1880) were the first documented lawn tennis racket makers in the U.S.

Additionally, I mentioned (though undocumented at the time) that Peck & Snyder may have been importing rackets for sale as early as 1878. As it turns out, Peck & Snyder did run an ad in the 1878 “The Archers Complete Guide” where they offered lawn tennis equipment that was made by the Jefferies Company of London.

However, further research has established that Peck & Snyder is by far and away the earliest documented tennis importer and dealer, as evidenced by their ad in the January 1, 1876, edition of “The American Bookseller”. Second place belongs to the New York City store C.F.A. Hinrichs who ran an ad in the September 7, 1876 issue of “The Independent” stating that they were importers of “Lawn Tennis (The New Game)”. E.I. Horsman can be documented as an 1877 importer and dealer of tennis sets from an attached ad in the 1877 Brooklyn Croquet Association rule book.

A.G. Spalding & Bros. opened in Chicago in March, 1876 as a baseball company, so I was quite surprised to find imported tennis “implements” for sale in a Spalding ad from the April 13,1878, “New York Clipper”, which makes Spalding one of the first American lawn tennis dealers. The first ad that I have found to date for Wright & Ditson is May 22,1880. Although I have read that George Wright claimed to be the first U.S. tennis importer on more than one occasion, Wright & Ditson was incorporated in 1878, so it is impossible for them to beat the 1876 Peck & Snyder date, the 1876 C.F.A. Hinrichs date or the 1877 Horsman date.

The realm of the first American lawn tennis racket maker and the ultimate goal of my twelve year quest belongs solely to the category of small “boutique makers” who manufacture and sell rackets out of a single location with perhaps just the owner and a couple apprentices making rackets. The previously mentioned E. Clarke and F. Clark, who were boutique makers in the Philadelphia area, have fallen to the second and third positions in my research respectively.

I have not only documented a craftsman who stamped his rackets “J. Cunningham, New York” as the first known American lawn tennis racket maker, I also have one of his early rackets, which has many characteristics in common with Walter Wingfield’s original 1874 Sphairistike rackets.

As you can see on a following page, there is a listing for John Cunningham whose trade is listed as “rackets” with a business address of 52 Wooster St. in the 1877 Trow’s New York City Directory. To confirm that Cunningham was indeed a sporting goods maker, I have also found a listing for him at 52 Wooster St. under “Base-Ball Goods” in the 1877 Rand’s New York Business Directory, along with E.I. Horsman and Peck & Snyder.

The 1877 Trow’s Directory contains a publication date of April 30,1877. When you consider that in the late 1800’s type was set by hand for printing and then add in the time required for printing, collating and binding the directory, it is quite possible that Cunningham’s “rackets” information was collected in 1876.

Previously, I had established that E.I. Horsman was the first American manufacturer of lawn tennis rackets for the mass market beginning in 1880. The attached Horsman ad documents that on June 15, 1878 Horsman was still only selling imported rackets. That leaves open the possibility that the earliest that they could have made their own rackets was 1879 and perhaps that will be documented in the future.

The new first American lawn tennis racket mass market manufacturer is D.W. Granbery who was a partner in the “fancy goods” business of Hall, Nicoll & Granbery located at 20 and 22 John Street in New York City.

In January of 1878, Granbery bought a controlling interest in the firm and kept the original name to continue to sell their established product lines, but began using “D.W. Granbery” to sell sporting goods from the same location. Granbery picked up on the archery trend and began selling French and English archery equipment and soon was selling English tennis equipment from makers Jefferies and Thomas Tate, as well.

A September 15,1879 Granbery ad in the New York Tribune states, “Our manufacture of racquets and the Newport nets will repay examination”. This is the earliest confirmed date of mass market tennis manufacturing in the United States. Another Granbery ad two weeks later in the October 1 “Puck Magazine” touts Granbery’s ability to offer different types of stringing and wood for racket construction, as well as rackets “by all the best makers”.

Joining E.I. Horsman as a known manufacturer of rackets for the mass market in 1880 is the Orange Judd Company whose attached April 1880 ad states that they were “manufacturing sets in this country”. Judd sold goods from a store at 245 Broadway in New York City and also owned the publication “American Agriculturist" where he direct marketed lawn tennis sets, archery equipment & other outdoor products, as well.

Finally, I would like to deal with the last two attached ads, which are from R. Bliss Manufacturing and the Fred J. Bancroft Company, both of whom have been very difficult to research over the years.

The Rhode Island Historical Society has a R. Bliss 1882 tennis catalog in their collection, but outside of that the only Bliss tennis ad that I could ever find is from the 1892 Pawtucket City Directory. Despite being a confirmed racket manufacturer for over ten years, there just aren’t many Bliss rackets to be found.

As you can see from the 1892 Bliss ad, they were never solely a lawn tennis company and by the late 1890’s their main product had become wooden toys. By 1900 they had abandoned tennis altogether and moved to a larger factory employing 350 workers to turn out wooden toys for the national market.

Then there is the Fred J. Bancroft Company that has always been a conundrum for tennis collectors. I and others have been aware of the attached 1888 Bancroft racket making ad for many years, but the earliest Bancroft marked racket that I have ever seen is an early 1900’s convex wedge model. This mystery was compounded by an 1892 business directory listing that states that Bancroft was producing 20,000 lawn tennis rackets annually.

The answer lies in a recently discovered 1905 Bancroft Tennis Catalog. In the catalog forward, Fred Bancroft reveals that while his company started making rackets in 1887, the first year that he put the Bancroft name on his products was 1905. He goes on to state that his company had been contract manufacturing rackets for Wright & Ditson, A.J. Reach and the Bridgeport Gun & Implement Company (BGI) during the previous 18 years. Mystery solved.

This booklet probably doesn’t have all the final answers to the question of who were the first American racket makers, importers and dealers. I think it is possible that both D.W. Granbery & E.I. Horsman may have begun making rackets one year earlier than has been documented to date. However, I feel that the January 1,1876 Peck & Snyder date for importing and selling rackets, as well as the John Cunningham April 30, 1877 date for making rackets are less likely to be eclipsed. In any case, this paper is another step that moves us closer to discovering the final chapter of the early American lawn tennis racket makers story.

Good Collecting.

Known American Tilt Top Racket Makers

Mass Market

R. Bliss

D.W. Granbery

E.I. Horsman

Orange Judd

Horace Partridge

Peck & Snyder

A.J. Reach

Wright & Ditson

The followng ads are in chronological order