The law of the day was represented by such men as Mayor Hall, until he resigned as a result of the criticism of fellow-members growing out of the exposures of the Tammany frauds in the summer and autumn of 1871, W.M.Evarts, Judge Garvin, Judge Gunning S.Bedford, Eli P.Norton, and John E.Burrill.Of men prominent in political and municipal life were August Belmont, Samuel J.Tilden, Peter B.Sweeny, former Mayor George Opdyke, Isaac Bell, and Andrew H.Green, later to become the "Father of Greater New York." Among the dominant financial figures, in addition to August Belmont, were A.T.Stewart, John J.Cisco, Henry Clews, and John Jacob Astor.

From the Army were U.S.Grant, then the nation's President, John H.Coster, George W.Cullom, Samuel W.Crawford, Howard Stockton, Rufus Ingalls, J.L.Rathbone, I.U.D.Reeve, and Stewart Van Vliet.

From the Navy, James B.Breese, James Alden, Edward C.Gratton, Thomas M.
Potter, Henry O.Mayo, James Glynn, W.C.Leroy, L.M.Powell, and John H.
Wright.
By virtue of its descent from the Sketch and the Column, the Century Association might lay claim to seniority among the clubs of Fifth Avenue.

The Sketch Club was the result of the union of the literary and artistic elements of New York, which, in 1829, were producing an annual called "The Talisman." Among the writers in the Sketch were Bryant, Verplanck, and Sands, and later Washington Irving and J.K.

Paulding joined it.