Excerpts from a paper titled "Trafford Sportsmen's Club History" (author/authors unknown):
"The Trafford Sportsmen's Association was formed in October 1925 and incorporated in 1932 with 187 charter members. The first officers of the association as indicated on the charter were E. Sauser, president; V. Pepper, vice-president; and J. Briney, secretary.
The goal of the association was to promote and encourage non-partisan legislation and policies looking to the conservation of our natural resources of game, fish, forests, and streams; to promote good fellowship and higher ethics among sportsmen; to protect land owners from persons who willfully break the game laws, destroying both property and game; to affiliate with the Westmoreland County Sportsmen's Association and the Pennsylvania Federation of Sportsmen's Clubs which has an enrollment of approximately 200,000.
The club grounds were first located on the Harrison City Road in the area now known at Shadow Woods. The present 72 ½ acres on Winchester Road, North Huntingdon Township, were purchased April 23, 1946.
During construction on the present clubhouse, meetings were held in the 1.0.0.F Building at Fourth Street and Duquesne Avenue. The clubhouse was completed in 1950, and some changes have been made throughout the years to improve the facility.
In 1960 a rifle range having five shooting positions with pits was added. The pits were used for a few years until the ground around the roof settled. A bull dozer was hired to fill the low spots, but he pushed the walls in making the pits unsafe. The pits were filled in. In 1961 Frank Pascoe became a N.R.A. hunter safety certified instructor. A class was held in 1962 it was sponsored by the N.R.A. The safety course became mandatory when the Pa. game Commission took over. Trafford Sportsmen's Club joined with the White Oak Sportsmen's Club in a club trap shoot which later expanded, including clubs of Shaner, Pitcairn, and Irwin, forming the Westmoreland Trap League.
In 1960 the club contained an outdoor pistol range, a 100 yard and 200 yard rifle range, two trap ranges with lights, and an outdoor archery range. The club grounds are available for group outings during the summer weekends. A Junior Sportsmen's Club was organized in 1975 having 23 charter members. The Jr. members stayed at the Marion Brooks lumber camp at a northern county browse cutting.
In the 70's there were many activities to keep the members interested. A running deer was added to the rifle range, trap was holding their own in the league. A bowling league was started with six teams’ wives couldn't be on the same team as their husbands. The league lasted 3 years. A Photo club was added with trips up north to photograph Eagles and any wildlife around, it lasted 2 years.
A survey was sent to all the members asking in order of their interest, pistol was #1, archery was 2nd, rifle range 3rd, and trap was last. The money was furnished to get started by selling bonds to build our indoor Pistol and archery range. With the help from the N.R.A. blueprints, we took the best ideas and built the best automatic returns and water pits in the area. Later, a storage addition was added for the 3D targets. The waiting area got too crowded, so a new waiting room and furnace room was added as a meeting room to hold instruction classes. The archery outdoor range was made wider and longer with a 15ft platform to shoot up to 40yds, 2 tree stands and 26 targets. 8.O.W. added members to the club and money to finish some new program. With range finders getting cheaper, a few of our members had them. Complaints were heard that the 200-yard range was only 18S yards. The money from the sale of the trees was used to start work on the range. It became a bigger job than it sounded. All of the ranges had to be moved back 1S yards. The firing line was moved and made bigger with ten concrete benches and a new roof overhead was installed. The pistol range was also moved back to make it safe. The range has one more job to clean up all the work as started is to fill in the hole on the left side to see the new 200-yard line of sight. Our member that was on the committee died unexpected. The rifle range was dedicated as The Dexter Ross range. Trafford was accepted in the Monday All Sportsmen's trap league, now we are shooting league on Monday and Tuesday.
Land was sold to the Wilkinsburg Water co. They installed a water tower and fenced it in. They also installed a one-inch water line in the club house, and the pistol range. The club got rid of the well water. The pistol range got a new restroom installed. The water company owes us a third line for any future buildings installed free. The money from the sale of the land and trees was set up in the saving account for any new construction. Again, the club was at a stalemate, new wiring was installed for the traps. The garage was knocked down and a new larger garage was added to store the clay birds. A forklift was purchased to make unloading the trailer easier.
The tree behind the trap 27-yard line it was interfering with the overhead trap lights. The tree no longer gave any shade. A 24' by 24' open building with chairs and tables replaced the tree. The next big construction was replacing the old club house that started with a coal potbelly stove that was dirty and had no heat until the meeting was over. Next came an electric furnace, it was hard getting parts, we got a deal on an oil furnace. When a gas line was installed, we loved the convenience. The new building has doubled the square feet, complete insulation, new wiring, new lights, bigger handicap restrooms, new kitchen, tables and chairs, a gas fireplace and with windows to look over the trap range. All paid for from the money saved from all the wise investments."
TSC Flyer from the 1970's era
