Philadelphia Curling Club

About Philadelphia Curling Club

Philadelphia Curling Club: Paoli’s Do-It-Ourselves Ice Since 1957

Philadelphia Curling Club has been the home of curling in the Philadelphia region since 1957. The club was started by Dr. Dwight Coons, a dentist and former Canadian Army brigadier, who persuaded colleagues to invest in a set of curling stones. For its first years the club rented ice at the Villanova Ice Rink, and when a 1961 snowstorm collapsed the rink’s roof, members rescued the stones from the wreckage.

That setback led the curlers to build a place of their own. Their two-sheet clubhouse on Plank Avenue in Paoli, on Philadelphia’s Main Line, was completed in 1965 to a design by charter member and architect John Hayes. A kitchen and locker rooms followed in 1971, with further major upgrades in 1976, 2010 and 2017–2018. A do-it-ourselves spirit runs through the club’s history, with members doing much of the construction and maintenance themselves.

The season brings member leagues, Learn to Curl instruction, a youth curling program, open houses and group outings. The bonspiel calendar includes the Harvest Mixed Bonspiel, a Junior Bonspiel and the Cracked Bell Bonspiel, alongside member-only events and regional competitions within the Mid-Atlantic Curling Association.