A Short History of Princeton's Rowing Facilities

Syndicates and Associations: Purchasing Land for Lake Carnegie

The Gray Syndicate

The Butlers, the Pynes, Cleveland Dodge, and Cornelius C. Cuyler, as well as William S. Tod 1884, George P. Butler 1884, John Cadwalader 1856, and possibly two others formed the Gray Farm Syndicate in order to purchase the Gray farm in 1902 with the aid of a mortgage from the Butler brothers' mother. The farm was essential to creation of the lake because its owner declined to sell only the lowlands. After the lake was completed, the syndicate gave 89 acres of the farm to the University in 1912 when Mrs. Butler suggested she would forgive her mortgage if they would donate their syndicate shares.

The Lake Carnegie Association

A number of the South East Club members, led by the Butlers, were among the ten men who originally formed the Lake Carnegie Association on November 30, 1906, to take title to 33 parcels of land that comprised the lake and substantial tracts around it. The "unsightly swamp" was excavated, and the water filled the lake, which was completed in 1912.

[1906 Photo - Carnegie Lake Dedication]
[Seeley G. Mudd Library Archives]
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Despite some value engineering from Butler, the total cost of the lake to Carnegie had more than tripled to about $440,000. The University initially refused to take title to the land for liability reasons, and the Association held the 430 acres of land until the University accepted title in 1943.

Howard Russell Butler and Lake Carnegie

Howard Russell Butler wrote a first-person account of his successful effort to convince Andrew Carnegie to create Lake Carnegie for the Princeton crews. [See the Butler Papers for this account.] The papers were furnished in 1986 by H. Russell Butler, Jr. '20 who, it seems appropriate to note, continued the Butler family's munificence by providing in his will for a substantial endowment in honor of Howard Russell Butler 1876. Princeton rowing, through the Princeton University Rowing Association ("PURA"), will enjoy the income from the endowment in perpetuity.

Further information about Princeton real property growth can be found in Princeton University Land by Gerald Breese, Princeton University Press: 1986.

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