Bulldog Club of
The distinguished history of the
Bulldog Club of Indiana Inc., begins in October 1935, at the Antlers Hotel in
A document in the club archives
prepared by Mrs. Claud A. Crum of
Lamenting the fact that only four
Bulldogs were entered, three of the eventual founders of the club – Mr. A.K.Mayer, Miss Marguerite Vance, and Mrs. Minnie Crum –
noted that there were several good Bulldogs in
A preliminary meeting was held October
18, 1935, to determine whether any other Bulldog owners felt it worthwhile to organize
No club meeting was held in November
1935 because of a scheduling conflict involving the Chicago Bulldog Club’s fall
specialty show to be held on November 24. However, four directors were elected at a
meeting on December 1, 1935: They were:
W.T. Morgan, Noble W. Hiatt, Marguerite Vance and Paul Maddux
of
Club membership was “
... limited to those really interested in the betterment of the breed,”
according to the club archives. There were 20 charter members. Ten associate
members also were added to the club roster. They included the publishers of two
popular, nationally circulated all-breed dog magazines, Miss Alice Rosenthal, a longtime
Bulldog admirer and publisher of Dog
News, and Mr. Will Judy, publisher of Dog World magazine.
An initiation fee of $1 and annual
dues of $1.50 were established. At least one benched show and sometimes two
specialties were held often in conjunction with the all-breed Hoosier Kennel
Club shows in the spring and fall at
The club’s first undertaking in the
spring of 1936 was to support the Bulldog entry at the all-breed Anderson
Kennel Club show at
The following September Miss Vance
served as show chairman for the club’s first fall specialty show in 1936 at
That specialty show was judged by Mr.
Anton Rost, a highly regarded all-breed judge who
drew an entry of 28 bulldogs, validating the founders' decision to form a new
Bulldog club here.
In 1937, the club refused to return to
the
The Bulldog Club of Indiana, Inc., received its charter also in 1937 from the Bulldog Club
of America, which was based in the state of
The BCI.’s
first puppy match was held March 7, 1937, in conjunction with the Cocker
Spaniel Club of Indiana and the Scottish Terrier Club of Indiana in the show
rooms of the Frank Hatfield Co., in downtown
Several July puppy matches and pitch-in
dinners during the 1940s were hosted on the lawn at Paul and Dorothy Maddux’s Maple Lodge Kennels near
Despite World War II gas rationing
during the 1940s, the new club was determined to sponsor its annual specialty
show in wartime. In 1942, the Hoosier Kennel Club was forced to cancel its May
31 all-breed show because the entire fairgrounds had been leased to the U.S.
Army. So BCI's specialty show was held instead in
conjunction with the Anderson Kennel.Club all-breed
show in September 1942. Defense Stamps were offered in every class, and
silver-plated trophies were awarded for Best of Breed, Best of Opposite Sex and
Best of Winners.
After the war, the 1947 fall specialty
show at the state fairgrounds drew an enviable record entry of 100 Bulldogs for
judge Frank Carolin,
president of the Bulldog Club of America. Dr. and Mrs. George W. Andree’s “Choo-Choo of White Hub”
finished her championship, going WB and BOS. Her breeder-owners Dr. Andree, a
The BCI., the
oldest of three BCA member clubs in
The club's largest independent
specialty show was in 1985, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the club's
founding. There were a record-breaking 199 dogs entered, including 45
champions. Mr. Dean Anderson of
G.
William Andree, former BCI historian.