Francis A. Gross Golf Club

About Francis A. Gross Golf Club

The course was named for Francis A. Gross, a park commissioner for 32 years between 1910 and 1949 and president of the park board 1917-1919 and 1936-1948. He was so closely connected to the parks that he earned the nickname “Mr. Park Board.” The park board voted to name the golf course for Gross on November 5, 1947 in what came as a complete surprise to Gross. Until then the course was called the Armour Golf Course after the meat-packing business Armour & Company, which owned the land. For a few months in 1925 the board renamed the course St. Anthony Golf Course, but reverted to the original name.