Clubs emerged as elite meeting places in the nineteenth century along the male, upperclass and highly segregated lines of comparable British institutions. Some of these, ensconced in landmark buildings, continue to play a role in the social organization and business of cities like New York (Metropolitan Club), Philadelphia, PA (Union Club) and San Francisco, CA (Union Pacific Club). Other clubs also handle issues of elite reproduction, like debutante balls, although these declined after the 1960s; some specialized in athletic events like rowing, cricket and yachting. Professional associations (National Press Club or Army and Navy Club in Washington, DC) and alumni organizations represented similar prestige associations and edifices.

As automobiles moved people away from urban centers, country clubs emerged as complementary institutions, promoting social cohesion but adding on such features as more spacious clubhouses, golf, tennis and other recreational events, dining rooms and accommodations. In some cases, these clubs served to stimulate growth and define elite suburban districts. While these clubs tended to incorporate women and families (often around a male member or proprietor), they remained exclusive—not permitting African Americans, Jews or Catholic ethnics, depending on their locations. Some of these groups, in fact, organized alternative clubs delineating new suburban geographies.

After the Second World War and the Depression, many country clubs faced economic straits and pressures from development that engulfed them. This forced movements, consolidations, rebuilding and expanding membership to incorporate a broader middle class. Changing tastes in recreation meant crowding on golf courses and demands for pools, tennis and fitness facilities, as well as dining and dancing (while facilities were adapted for air-conditioned indoor spaces). Modernist clubhouses set the scene for many 1950s and 1960s depictions of suburban life and rites of passage such as weddings and anniversaries.

By the 1960s, social pressures also challenged exclusionary rules. Single women and businesswomen sued for access to both urban and country clubs, which they saw as locations for deal-making as well as recreation. Ethnic and racial barriers fell more slowly and bitterly—in 1990 the Professional Golf Association threatened Birmingham (Alabama)’s Shoals Country Club with loss of the PGA championship in order to open the club to blacks. Politicians also came under scrutiny for exclusive policies, forcing either changes in the clubs or loss of influential members.

While the economic expansion of the late twentieth century renewed many clubs, they remain exclusive because of entrance fees and annual payments as well as waiting lists for memberships. Hence, in many metropolitan areas, they still indicate gradations within the upper and middle classes based on heritage (old versus new money as well as lingering ethnic divisions).