Ocean City's Forgotten Landmarks

               Ocean City, NJ is not a forgotten town, but a bustling seashore town that is open all year round.  It has beaches, homes, grocery stores and charming bed and breakfasts.  All these things were made and established as time went past.  However, the charm of this island town has been around longer than any of its current residence can remember, and some of its history has been completely forgotten by most of its residents.

            The original purpose of the town lies with the foundings of towns such as: Ocean Grove, Sea Grove at Cape May Point, Island Heights and Seaside Park which were founded as Christian communities with two main purposes: to free those enslaved to the addictions of promiscuous sex and rampant drinking and help them get their lives back together, and to save the statewide community from being dominated by these unhealthy lifestyles.  A land surveyor named William Lake told his cousins, all three of them Reverends, about the open property known as Peck’s Beach.  The Reverends had been to Ocean Grove and were amazed by the success of the town and the way that it was run.  They felt called of God to do the same, but were unsure of where to locate their town.  The three brothers: James, Wesley and Ezra and their colleague and friend William Burrell rowed out to Peck’s Beach in 1879.

            The first lost landmark began when these four gentlemen examined the land at length from atop a high hill that overlooked much of the island.  After thought and discussion, they knelt near a cedar tree and prayed, seeking God’s guidance and direction in the matter.  Feeling sure that this is where God wanted them to be, they set about buying the land.  Today, the cedar tree they knelt under (though it is dead) can be seen standing at the corner of 6^th and Asbury Avenue with a plaque commemorating the founding of the company and the town inside the Ocean City Tabernacle Lobby.

The three brothers with William Burrell, and later two other ministers, named the town “New Brighton” only to change it one month later to “Ocean City” to associate it with Ocean Grove, the town which partially inspired them to seek out this project.  To ensure their town would be setting off on the right foot, the new town owners agreed to sell the owners back their land (who would be allowed to keep their land), provided they follow the terms of the new deed: temperance and Sunday observance, which would become the fundamental principles of Ocean City which still exist today.

            As homes, businesses and hotels moved into town, families began settling just as the founders had hoped they would.  With the coming families to Ocean City, the first school was built in 1881 between 8^th and 9^th street on Central Avenue.  The building no longer stands, another lost landmark, but was on the spot where the Public Safety headquarters is currently located.  In 1906, the elementary school was replaced with Ocean City’s first high school (which in now Public Safety HQ).  The island’s first bridge, built in 1883, brought more families to this resort that fell in love with it and made it their home.  The elementary school, previously held in the high school was relocated in 1913 to sit between 4^th and 5^th Street, but became a car park until 1988.

            People all over New Jersey became interested in this family-style resort.  In 1903 Steamboat Wharf was opened to shuttle people in from the mainland.  Steamboats ran from: Longport, Avalon, Wildwood and Somers Point.  In 1907, the flood of visitors to Ocean City created a necessity for the resort island’s first trolley line, Shore Fast Trolley Line that ran from Steamboat Wharf on 2^nd Street and Bay and could take you all over Ocean City.  Trolley Tracks ran down Atlantic Wesley and Central Avenue all the way to 59^th Street.  Passengers could even ride from Atlantic City all the way to the Ocean City Boardwalk (a one hour ride at that time).  With the invention of the automobile and the opening of bridges into Ocean City the trolley company dwindled in income going out of business in the early 1940s.  All trolley bridges were removed in 1946.

            Ocean City was growing rapidly and had stores and hotels going up, more and more every year.  One of the grandest hotels built was the Flanders Hotel.  A group of New Jersey businessmen got together with the intent of building a grand, first class hotel that could compete with the best hotels in the rest of the continental United States.  The Ocean Front Hotel Corporation met at the Atlantic Country Club in Northfield for its first meeting and hired famed designer and Ocean City native Vivian Smith to design the hotel.  Smith is also credited with the Ocean City Music Pier, Ocean City Hall and Ocean City High School.  The Flanders Hotel, though not completely finished, had its grand opening on July 28^th, 1923.  The hotel survived fires, terrible storms and the Stock Market crash of 1929, was purchased by James M. Dwyer in 1996 and still stands today.

            Ocean City has had its fair share of famous and noteworthy residents.  Some of particular note that had an impact on either the community and/or the world at large deserve special mention.  Some not-so-often-heard-of residents are: T. John Carey, a coach at OCHS and a pioneer of East Coast surfing, Marcia V. Smith who was the first female physician in Ocean City and has a memorial dedicated to her (1960) for her assistance in the creation of the nation of Israel, Hobo the town’s mascot, who has his own fountain erected to him in 1936 and is now located at the OC Historical Seashore Cottage at 12^th Avenue and Wesley Avenue, and of course, Ocean City’s most famous resident Grace Kelly, star of stage and screen.  Grace Kelly’s family had a summer home in Ocean City (which still stands), and which she even frequented after becoming Princess Grace of Monaco.

            Other landmarks, like the Revolutionary War Cannon taken off a sunken British ship in 1779, were stolen (the cannon in the 60s), never to be recovered.  Even the famous saltwater pools of the Flanders Hotel were removed back in the late 70s after having been around for decades. 

            By the 1940s, though much of Ocean City had changed, having gone from “a rugged sandy clump of earth jutting out into the Atlantic, overgrown with bayberry, Cedar trees and shrubs, and hosting wild cattle and hogs” to a bustling Ocean resort town founded on religious principles; some things stayed the same.  Ocean City and its citizens were survivors.  They hadn’t let anything ruin them.  Over the decades they’d survived floods, torrential downpours, hurricanes and fires, all of which laid waste to stores, the Boardwalk, homes, cars and bridges.  Still people were drawn to this small seaside town.  Not even two World Wars could keep away the tourists or chase off the residents.  During World War II, Ocean City took a very active part in the war effort.  Many of Ocean City’s women served with the Cape May County branch of the American Red Cross.  Local men collected paper and scrap metal to be used for various necessities of the military, a Ford truck was driven around town carrying a liberty bell and people on it were selling war bonds.  Even the historical buildings themselves were used in the war effort:  the Music Pier held a “spotter’s tower” atop its roof where regular watch was kept to warn of air and sea attacks.  And during the war, at the Music Pier, flag raising was a daily event attended by many.  Ocean City also became one of the first towns to raise a World War II memorial, which was done by 1944.

            The 1950s were a high time for Ocean City.  With World War II long over, large families in abundance and the economy being relatively stable, parents were looking for a solid family resort to spend the summer at with the kids.  Ocean City offered many family attractions by this time.  Playland Amusement Pier, located at 6^th Street and Boardwalk was popular with children and grownups alike, offering: a skating rink, bowling and other wonderful attractions.  Gillian’s Fun Deck had opened (c. 1950), but the popular attraction to top them all was Captain Chris’ Seafood Restaurant.  The restaurant, that was so much more, was owned by Christ Montagna, husband of Dr. Marcia V. Smith (who helped found the nation of Israel).  At the height of its popularity this restaurant and fish market developed into Ocean City’s most popular tourist attraction.  Chris Montagna was a modern day John Young.  Everyday at his restaurant you’d get the finest seafood, you could watch them cook big fish, crabs, shrimp and lobster.  There was a fish aquarium (by the 1960s) and Captain Chris built speedboats for people to ride on daily out into the Atlantic Ocean.  There were four boats to choose from:  The Flying Cloud, took 50 people out for fishing, but the ride to the fishing spot was a quick one clocked at 75 mph.  The Flying Cloud left at 10:30, returned at 3:30, and it only took fifteen minutes to get where you wanted to go.  The Flying Pony was a slower, smaller boat for those tourists not wanting a fast ride.  There was also Sweetheart, named for his wife: a 62-foot auxiliary sailboat that took tourists on a 2-hour ride around the Atlantic Ocean.  Captain Chris’ pride and joy, however, was a converted WW II patrol boat that he piloted personally.  Flying Saucer was clocked at 90 mph and could hold 125 passengers.

            Whereas the 50s were good to Ocean City, the 60s took their toll on the family seaside resort.  In 1961, one of the town’s biggest attractions Playland (where Wonderland Pier is now located on the Boardwalk) was completely destroyed by fire costing an estimated 3 million dollars in damage. 

Ocean City has adapted and changed over the years, but still remains a strong seaside resort geared toward families.  It still has a reminiscence of the religious principles upon which it was founded.  It’s still a big draw for sun-bathing tourists, but even more so than all of these, Ocean City holds a charm and quaint, not too outstanding historical past that gives it the feel of a good old fashioned American hometown.  To South Jersey residents enamored by Ocean City (of which I am one), not even the chills of February can keep them away.  This Christian resort, settled on one of the most beautiful stretches of land in New Jersey, is rich with memories, history, culture and an undying sense of self that is unique to it only. A community of which it can be truly said, as the saying goes about Ocean City, “Once you get sand in your shoes, you are destined to return”.