Our History
FOUNDING OF THE INTERNATIONAL TENNIS HALL OF FAME
Following a visit to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in the early 1950s, Jimmy Van Alen, then-President of the Newport Casino, and his wife Candy, decided that tennis also needed a place to honor its great figures. The Newport Casino was in danger of demolition, and with its rich tennis history, it was the perfect spot to establish a hall of fame. Jimmy Van Alen successfully lobbied the leadership of the United States Lawn Tennis Association to sanction the establishment of a National Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport. The venerable Newport Casino became the National Lawn Tennis Hall of Fame and Museum and was officially recognized by the International Tennis Federation in 1986.
Timeline
Fall 1879 - Newport summer resident and publisher of the New York Herald, James Gordon Bennett, Jr., retains the architectural firm of McKim, Mead and White to design and build a new social club on the land across the street from his home Stone Villa (located where Bellevue Gardens now resides).
January 6, 1880 - Construction on the Newport Casino breaks ground.
July 1880 - Newport Casino opens to the public.
Summer 1881 - The first U.S. Nationals (precursor to the US Open) are played on the courts of the Newport Casino.
1914 - The U.S. National Championships (men's singles and doubles) are played for the last time at teh Newport Casino as the tournament is slated to move to the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills, New York.
1915 - The Newport Casino Invitation Tournament begins.
1953 - Fire in the North Wing of the Newport Casino leaves significant damage and Providence-based realtors consider buying the property to raze the buildings.
1953 - Following a visit to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in the early 1950s, Jimmy Van Alen, then-President of the Newport Casino, and his wife Candy, decided that tennis also needed a place to honor its great figures. The Newport Casino was in danger of demolition, and with its rich tennis history, it was the perfect spot to establish a hall of fame. Jimmy Van Alen successfully lobbied the leadership of the United States Lawn Tennis Association to sanction the establishment of a National Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport.
1954 - The National Tennis Hall of Fame is founded.
1955 - The first class of inductees are enshrined into the Hall of Fame.
1975 - The National Tennis Hall of Fame becomes the International Tennis Hall of Fame with the induction of England's Fred Perry.
1986 - ITF officially sanctions the ITHF
1987 - The Newport Casino is declared a National Historic Landmark by the United States Department of Interior.
