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The Longfellow History
Longfellow opened for business in 1972 under the name of the Sudbury Racquet Club and was shortly changed to the Longfellow Racquet Club. It was an immediate hit and grew rapidly during the tennis boom of the 1970”s. However, because of increased competition coupled with a decreased demand for tennis, by 1980 the membership had fallen to around 200 members and the club was close to bankruptcy.
On August 26, 1980, Laury Hammel and Myke Farricker purchased Longfellow, which at the time consisted of six indoor tennis courts and four outdoor tennis courts with a small lobby and locker rooms. Since 1980, Longfellow has experienced consistent growth and has expanded its programs, facilities, and locations. It is currently the fourth largest independent health club organization in New England and the fifty-sixth largest in the US.
We are now called The Longfellow Clubs, and include businesses at four locations in Sudbury, Wayland, and Natick as well as an affiliated business in Franklin, MA—the Adirondack Club. The Longfellow Clubs are a group of health and sports clubs, holistic health centers, children’s centers, and camps that serve 12,000 members and an additional 10,000 clients every year. Longfellow has become a recognized industry leader in innovative business practices, social responsibility, and community service.
Longfellow is always looking to respond to needs of our community, and we have been in an almost continual construction at one location or another since 1980. Some of the highlights of Longfellow’s growth have been:
- 1980 Laury Hammel and Myke Farricker purchase the Longfellow Racquet Club and build the largest tennis program in New England
- 1984 Longfellow builds an indoor/outdoor pool and converts one indoor court into a fitness area and group exercise studio and multipurpose wood floor.
- 1985 Longfellow purchases the Natick Racquet Club and converts six of the indoor courts into a fitness, recreation facility,and indoor soccer center and re-names it the Longfellow Sports Club. The remaining five courts continue business under the Natick Racquet Club name.
- 1987 The Longfellow Sports Club in Natick converts indoor soccer area to new locker rooms and a new and expanded fitness facility.
- 1994 The Longfellow Sports Club constructs an indoor/outdoor aquatics center.
- 1998 The Longfellow Children’s Center, located across the parking lot from The Longfellow Club in Wayland, opens for business.
- 2000 The Longfellow Clubs partner with Bob and Suzanne Hinrichs to construct a new multipurpose recreation, fitness, and tennis facility in Franklin, MA called the Adirondack Club.
- 2001 The Natick Racquet Club constructs four new indoor/outdoor courts with an air structure and now has nine indoor courts.
- 2001 The Longfellow Club takes out one indoor tennis court and adds another indoor court under the air structure. A new fitness is built and two new squash courts are constructed.
- 2005 Located adjacent to the Longfellow Children’s Center in Wayland, Lumina at Longfellow opens and offers yoga, Stott Pilates, Living in Balance and Weight-Loss Programs, and a Women’s Exercise area.
- 2007 Lumina doubles the size by constructing a lobby and a second and larger yoga studio. In the same building as Lumina and the Children’s Center, the Zip Zone opens for business and is the first indoor tennis facility designed specifically for teaching tennis to young children ages four to ten. Zip Tennis is the most effective and easy way for young children to learn and enjoy tennis in a space that is appropriate in size, withlow-compression balls, and with size-appropriate tennis rackets. The Zip Zone includes four indoor courts and eight outdoor courts.
- 2008 The Adirondack constructs a second bubble over its four outdoor courts bringing its total of indoor tennis courts to eight and the total of indoor tennis courts at The Longfellow Clubs to 24.
- 2009 The Longfellow Club constructs one of the largest solar hot water heating systems in New England.
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