The course was built by Joseph Mickle Fox. Fox was introduced to golf in 1884 while traveling in Great Britain to play in cricket matches, as a member of the Merion Cricket Club, also known as "The Gentlemen of Philadelphia." After participating in a cricket match in Edinburgh, Scotland, Fox visited St. Andrews to see the game of golf being played. Tom Morris Sr., the old bearded pro at St. Andrews took a liking to Fox and taught him the fundamentals of the game, sold him equipment and gutta percha balls to bring back to the United States. Fox was so intrigued by golf, that upon his arrival back to his summer estate in Clarion County, he made an eight-hole course on the nearby Fox Estate.