Cannon Club

Cannon Club, founded in 1895, is an eating club at Princeton University, in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. It is the sixth oldest of the Princeton eating clubs on "the Street". However, the club currently operates as the Cannon Dial Elm Club, having absorbed the Elm Club and Dial Lodge after their 1991 merger. It has historically also been known as "The Gun" with members known as "Gunners". Cannon reopened in the fall of 2011, after a decades-long hiatus. Members are selected through a selective process called bicker. The club's membership represents a diverse group of students, with a large percentage of varsity athletes among the membership.
History
Three members of the Class of 1896 founded Cannon Club in January 1895. It was the sixth eating club, preceded by Ivy, Cottage, Tiger Inn, Cap & Gown and Colonial. The official clubhouse opened in 1911 at 21 Prospect Avenue, where it stands today. The current building served as the home of Cannon Club through the early 1970s, until Cannon Club closed its doors in 1973. The clubhouse was repurchased by the Dial Elm Cannon Graduate Board in 2001 for the purposes of reopening the club. The club had an all-male membership until its reopening in 2011.
For the over 70 years the club was operational prior to its closing, it was known as home to the most athletic Club members on the Street. During this time, Cannon Club won more annual Inter-Club athletic championships than all the other clubs combined, including 17 straight years from the late 1940s through the early 1960s. Cannon Club was also known as a rowdy club - being named one of the top three “Jock Houses” in the country by Sports Illustrated in the late 1960's. Likewise during this time, a number of famous entertainers performed at parties in the Cannon building, including Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, Chubby Checker, the Isley Brothers, the Everly Brothers, Bobby Vee, and Troy Shondell.

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