After the departure of the Myopians, clubs for individual sports were formed in Winchester. Reportedly, it was the boys of the Myopia Club who laid out the first lawn tennis court in town. During the 1870s, the boys used to play together around the Frederick O. Prince home on Wedge Pond (in the Wedge Pond Road area), where they could go boating and where they built their tennis court. When the club moved to Myopia Hill, they had tennis courts on their club grounds there.
Back on Wedge Pond, tennis continued. The Wedgemere Tennis Club, named after its location on Wedge Pond, was formed in 1886 and lasted at least eight years. This group had two cinder and four grass courts, a club house, and grounds. Membership was open to both men and women. Club members not only played one another but also others towns in the Middlesex County League, which held occasional tournaments in Winchester.
The club struggled with funding and, during the winters, put on shows to help raise money. Though the shows were reportedly very popular–in fact they inspired the canoe club also to put on fund-raising shows–in 1893 a snowstorm brought disaster when it fell on the night of the club’s most expensive production.
