The Tuxedo Club

The Tuxedo Club is one of the purest 'the club built the town' stories in American golf-residential history. Pierre Lorillard IV organized both The Tuxedo Club and the Tuxedo Park Association in 1885-86, and for decades the two operated as coordinated gatekeepers: the Association generally would not sell land in the Village of Tuxedo Park to anyone who was not a club member, membership numbers and admission were closely controlled (348 nonresident and 29 resident members by 1888), and the physical village -- more than 250 houses built in its first 30 years -- grew up specifically to serve and surround the club. This is genuine, historically documented residential integration, not a marketing story.

What has changed is the present-day mechanism. The Village of Tuxedo Park's own official FAQ states plainly that home buyers are not automatically members of The Tuxedo Club today -- prospective members still need an introduction through existing members or the club's own process, and specific current fees were not published. So while the club and the residential village remain historically and physically inseparable (the club today still offers golf, five racquet-sport venues, a boathouse, fitness facility, swimming complex, and an ice-skating rink across two architecturally notable clubhouses), a buyer should understand that purchasing a home in the Village of Tuxedo Park in 2026 does not, by itself, grant club access the way it effectively did in the community's founding era.