Hartley Robins, a Toronto-area retired lawyer who has been a member of the city’s Island Yacht Club for the past 60 years, kept a meticulous collection of letters, invitations, newsletters, memos, circulars and other records about the predominantly Jewish club from the time of its founding until nearly the present.

Several years ago, Robins donated the entire collection to the Ontario Jewish Archives Blankenstein Family History Centre, which explains why the OJA has such an exceptionally thorough set of records on the Island Yacht Club.

Now regarded as one of the most cosmopolitan cities anywhere, Toronto had a long history of being WASPish, exclusionary and provincial. A newspaper clipping from 1911 reveals that the Queen City Yacht Club sought to exclude “all Jews, negroes, and people of other undesirable nationalities” from its membership rolls.

A similar attitude prevailed at the Royal Canadian Yacht Club and other clubs in Toronto in the 1950s, sparking the need for Jews to establish a club of their own.

The founders of the Island Yacht Club were a handful of local sailing enthusiasts who, in 1951, obtained a parcel of land on Muggs Island, just east of Hanlan’s Point in the Toronto Islands. The property then consisted of “a completely undeveloped maze of trees, bushes, swamp and sand.”

An article in the Toronto Star described how the early members organized an “axe party” one Sunday to begin clearing away the site. In short order, they had erected a small, pre-fab clubhouse. A swimming pool, tennis courts, dining room, docks and 250-boat marina came within a few years.

Ralph Wintrob, an early contributor to The Tell Tale, the club newsletter, described construction of the dock in the summer of 1955. “Just getting materials and equipment from the mainland was a major operation,” he wrote. “And we were all such good carpenters that we left a bayful of tools in the water under the dock.”

Early on, the executive recognized the club wouldn’t stay afloat if its appeal was to boat owners only. “The IYC is not just for individuals with boats,” its newsletter explained. “We have social members who come to our island to swim, play bridge or tennis, or eat in our 160-seat fine dining room. Others just like coming over to the club because our oasis, which is just 10 minutes away from downtown Toronto, feels like you’re on a Caribbean island.”

The club received an influx of social members, who attended Friday night dinners, Saturday night dances, Sunday afternoon cookouts and other events, all despite the necessity of having to hail a water taxi and paying 25 cents a head or $2 per crossing, whichever was greater. A Saturday night square dance might attract 100 members or more. “I let my hair down so much that it grew an inch by the end of the evening,” one of the “wives” recalled after one such hoedown.

Back in the 1950s, Ruth Speyer wrote a humorous Tell Tale article advising the “wives” just to go with the flow if their husbands wanted to join the club. “Your ancestors may not have been bluenoses, you may not even have blue blood in your veins, but when your husband comes home and asks ‘Dear, may I join the Yacht Club?’ (meaning: ‘I’ve already paid my dues and what are you going to do about it?’), you might just as well roll out your blue jeans and prepare for the worst.”

Over the years, members of the Island Yacht Club have represented Canada in the Olympics, Pan Am Games, Maccabiah Games, Canada Summer Games and other sporting events. In 1991, the club hosted the Lake Yacht Racing Association Regatta (LYRA). At one time, Toronto Harbour was the scene for one of North America’s largest regattas, with upward of 600 boats competing in various courses on a regular basis throughout the summer.

A fire at the Island Yacht Club in November 1986 caused $1.3 million in damages, but the club recovered. An even more destructive fire occurred on June 20, 2004, leading to the reconstruction of the main clubhouse and marking the beginning of a new era in the club’s history.

The OJA collection doesn’t reveal anything about the club’s recent status. Now that Jews and other minorities are welcomed with open arms into other clubs around the city, the Island Yacht Club is reportedly charting a new course for itself.

“The club recently has gone broke, and we don’t run it any more, as of two years ago,” Robins said. “We’ve been taken over by the Island Marina. They’re running it under our lease.

“It’s still known as the Island Yacht Club, but it’s no longer predominantly Jewish. It’s a real mixture now.”

Bill Gladstone is a Toronto-based writer and frequent contributor to these pages. This is the second in a series of seven articles about the Ontario Jewish Archives Blankenstein Family Heritage Centre to be published periodically, funded by the J.B. & Dora Salsberg Fund at the Jewish Foundation of Greater Toronto. This series is in partnership with the Ontario Jewish Archives, Blankenstein Family Heritage Centre, and draws on their collections: www.ontariojewisharchives.org.