Sixty-four-year-old swim club in Cherry Hill faces foreclosure, falling to demographics, social change and a declining membership.

When Bob Mangels' family moved into the Kingston neighborhood of Cherry Hill off Route 70 in 1959, he applied to the Kingston Estates Swim Club in June and was put on a waiting list. It took until August to join.

That was a time in Cherry Hill's blurring growth — fueled by the Baby Boom and suburban sprawl — when you could hear joyful screaming of children from a swim club's parking lot, when you could find reason to drop by every summer day and when clubs in the new developments across the town provided social lives for neighbors.

"Weekends, the place was jammed," the long-time member recalled. Mangels, 89, stood in the parking lot on Sunday, pointing to the empty spaces and recalling some Fourth of July celebrations when swim club members' cars quickly filled the lot and had to park blocks away. 

"I'd hate to see the place go down the tubes," said Mangels, who was a board member and club president years ago and has been recruited to lead again during the most trying time in the club's 64-year history.

This club, the first in Cherry Hill and home to the Seals swim team and a glass case full of swim meet trophies, could be permanently closed by foreclosure proceedings by lender TD Bank. For several years, Kingston Estates hasn't been able to make its monthly $2,200 payments on its 14-year-old clubhouse, built to replace the crumbling cinder block original. Now they're paying interest on interest, Mangels said.

Not that the members aren't struggling to survive.

On Sunday afternoon, several board members stood around the club's parking lot discussing their fund-raising campaign. They'd reached $84,000 of their $100,000 goal — money they intend to use to demonstrate to TD Bank a desire to get out from under the default before the bank shuts down the club. By late in the day, the club had reached $90,000 in pledges.

"We've struggled financially for a number of years with our declining membership," said George Muench, club treasurer.

When Mangels joined in 1959, membership was at its 365-member maximum. In recent years, 275 was considered good. Membership stood at that total in 2006 when members voted to build the new clubhouse. 

Today, the club has about 100 members.

"People don't want to join a club if they think it's going to go under," treasurer Muench said. Annual dues for a family of four is about $700. New members also need to provide a $300 bond.

A litany of reasons can be cited for the decline of swim clubs and the suburban culture they represent. Their heyday came when mothers stayed home with the children during the summer months, often without a second car but within a short walk from the club.

Demographics also plays a role: Many suburban homes today hold only aging couples whose children left years ago. And the suburban population has diversified racially and culturally — far different from the homogeneity of past decades. At the same time, the competition has stiffened. The Jewish Community Center in Cherry Hill, for example, has a busy summer swim club, offered at both the Cherry Hill campus and in Medford.

For Kingston Estates, the fight for survival has been made even more difficult by carrying a $400,000 loan. The clubhouse had to be replaced, members said, and the construction became far more expensive when it was discovered wet soil just under the surface had to be reinforced to hold the heavy building.

Mangels, who worked at RCA and raised two children in Kingston, also explained handling finances isn't like the old days when his father was a local banker. Club leadership found they couldn't just drop in on TD Bank to discuss their problems. Reaching out to the giant financial organization sent them through several offices, finally landing with the bank employee who oversaw their loan — from TD offices in Jacksonville, Florida.

But they hope TD Bank sees the club's leadership is earnest in trying to get back on track.

"My concern is the younger couples, that they have a place like this," Mangels, who still swims laps at the pool, said. 

Without the club and members joining other developments' clubs, Kingston would surrender part of its local identify. "We'll have lost the neighborhood," Mangels said.