In 1943, the building that currently houses the Lancaster Tennis and Yacht Club at 2615 Columbia Ave. was a barn on a working farm. That year a group of horsemen and women bought the twenty acre farm and formed the Lancaster Riding Club.

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The newly formed Riding Club built a bar downstairs below the present dining room while continuing to use the upstairs as stables for the horses. During the spring and fall of 1946, nationally sanctioned horse shows were held on the grounds. These shows became a very popular yearly event.

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In 1950, the bar, dining room, and kitchen moved upstairs to their present location.The rather modest size of the Riding Club membership made it difficult to support the dining room and bar.

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A few years earlier, in 1939, a group of tennis players formed the Lancaster Tennis Club, building six clay courts on a site near Boas Fruit Market on Columbia Avenue. The Tennis Club had no dining facilities. In 1965, the two clubs merged forming the Lancaster County Riding and Tennis Club and  constructed six Har-tru courts on the Riding Club grounds. The clay court property was sold.

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A devastating fire in 1968 destroyed the Club’s new cement block barn. Almost all of the horses were lost in this tragic fire. This may well have caused the gradual change in the make-up of the club as it transformed itself into primarily a tennis and social club.

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In 1986, a locally based Yacht Club, registered with Lloyds of London, merged with the Riding Club becoming the Lancaster Tennis and  Yacht Club. All club members, through reciprocity, are welcome as guests at over 800 Yacht Clubs nationwide.