USA > New Jersey > Atlantic County > Atlantic City > Atlantic City and County, New Jersey, biographically illustrated : a short biography : illustrated by protraits, of prominent residents of Atlantic County and the famous summer and winter resort, celebrated throughout America - Atlantic City. > Part 4
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An interesting phenom- enon of the ocean front, which has, by the way, been worth millions of dollars to Atlantic City, is seen the Deep in the gradual "making" of the beach, which, by the piling of the sands, has grad- ually forced the surf-line out- ward and safeguarded the city from inundation, adding at the same time a vast area of most valuable property to the city's plan. In the winter of 1866-7 the storms were unusually severe, and the tide swept in almost to the line of Atlantic avenue. There were many,
The Border of
" MAKING " OF THE BEACH
in those days, who predicted that the time would come when the sea would swallow up the whole property of the community, and that Atlantic City would be but a costly and extravagant memory. This prediction has long ago been shown to be fallacious, and has been dismissed from the minds of even the most nervous citizen. Last autumn the town was cut off, for several days, from the world-at-large by remarkably high water, which covered the meadows and railroad tracks, but at no time did the sea, which swayed about the iron pillars of the Boardwalk, threaten more than tem- porary damage upon the immediate ocean front. The regrading of the tracks across the meadows promises to safeguard the city from any similar experience in the future.
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Atlantic City.
Chapter U.
"Oh weel I mind, oh weel I mind, Tho' now my locks are snow, How oft langsyne I sought to find What made the bellows blow ! How, cuddling on my grannie's knee, I questioned night and day, And still the thing that puzzled me Was, where the wind came frae."
The Restless Sea
The man who told his little boy that the ocean was salt because the codfish were so numerous, was a type of the large class of people who are never disposed to take the sea seriously. It is associated in their minds with daily romps in the surf, pleasant little cruises off shore, and gleaming moon- light touching the tips of sleepy rollers, which break with tranquilizing monotony all through the summer night. And yet, what is this vast, implacable, treacherous, beautiful thing which spreads away from our very feet, thousands of level but storm-swept miles, to lands we have never seen ; which hides, far down in its sunless depths, such unknown wonders, such myriad victims of its wrath, such strange creatures and shapes ?
ALONG THE OLD BOARDWALK
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From the north to the south it spreads some 8000 miles. Between Greenland and Norway it is but 800 miles wide. Between the peninsula of Florida and the coast of Morocco, upon the parallel of 30° north latitude, it expands to a breadth of 3600 miles. While a line drawn from Cape St. Roque, Brazil, at 5° south latitude, to the coast of Sierra Leone, would be but 1500 miles long. The ocean voyage from Philadelphia to the British Isles is practically 3000 miles long. Ships going eastward are helped by the Gulf Stream, and in coming west, by keeping well up over the Grand Banks, are speeded by the Polar Current, which sweeps around the southern end of Newfoundland.
IRivers of the Sca
The ocean is full of vast rivers-broad ribbons of water hund- reds of miles in width, distinct in color and action. The strange, beneficent phenomenon which we call the " Gulf Stream," sweeps across the Southern Ocean, flows along the South and Central American coasts, curving in con- formity to the shore lines, makes the circuit of the Gulf of Mexico and rushing through the narrow outlet between Key West and Cuba, swings northward in a current of about fifty miles per diem ; spreading out with the resistance of the cold under streams from the Polar regions, and endow- ing our latitude with a climate which, without this great natural warm-water heater, would be so unendurable as to probably preclude the occupation of this part of the world by human beings. Even with this moderating agency, ours is a comparatively cold coast, for Atlantic City is about one hundred miles further south than Naples; while Nice, the beautiful semi-tropical winter resort of Southern France, where palm trees nod and thrive in the warm atmosphere, is upon the latitude of Portland, Maine. Let us he thankful for the wonderful blue Gulf Stream, over the western margin of which, far down upon the horizon, we may often see the pearly rampart of clouds.
The temperature of the Gulf Stream opposite the New Jersey coast, in the warmest of its three bands, that nearest the coast, is in winter 70
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degrees, in spring 71 degrees, in summer 80 degrees, and in autumn 74 degrees.
The average elevation of the land of this globe is less than one-fifth of a mile, while the average depth of the sea is about two miles. The bulk of all the dry land in the world, when considered in its proportions with the sea, is but one in thirty.
The greatest depth found in the Atlantic Ocean is at a point about one hundred miles north of St. Thomas, W. 1., where soundings were made to four and four-tenths miles.
From the interesting pages of Heston's Hand Book of Atlantic City, we are permitted to add to this chapter of ocean lore some further interesting facts.
The curvature of the sea level in one mile is eight inches, in three miles it is six feet, and in five miles about sixteen feet. There-
ffacts ffrom Meston's Hand=JBOOK
fore, a person of six feet in height, standing upon the Boardwalk, could see an object upon the water at the latter distance.
Water more than sixty fathoms deep appears blue ; shallow waters show green. The waves move forward but the water does not. As the top of the wave moves faster than its base, due to the lesser friction, it presently topples over or breaks ; this generally occurring as soon as any shallow or submerged obstruction is encountered.
Sea breezes are caused by the action of the sun upon the air above the land. During the day time, the inland air, receiving more heat than that upon the water, rises, and the cooler sea air rushes in to fill the vacuum. In making arrangements to this effect, nature has placed the residents of Atlantic City under a sense of great obligation.
The action of the sea in its perpetual pounding and scouring of the New Jersey sands, is full of interest. Shores recede and advance. To the
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south of Barnegat all of the beaches wear away at their northeastern ends, and the inlets work southward; above Barnegat the inlets work to the northward. Old Cranberry and Shrewsbury Inlets, for instance, have worked a mile or more to the northward; while important changes have taken place in the openings and shores to the southward. Long Beach "made" outside of Nickus Beach, and closed up old Little Egg Harbor Inlet so completely, that people could walk across at low tide. New Little Egg Harbor Inlet was formed about 1800, and soon afterward ships drawing twelve feet of water could safely pass in or out.
The northeast end of Absecon Beach is much older than the shore further south. In front of the present city it has changed greatly since the town was founded. Mention has been made of the cutting away toward the lighthouse, but between New Jersey and Florida avenues it has advanced many hundreds of feet. Half a century ago, the surf line was about where Haddon Hall, The Chalfonte, Arlington and Brighton Hotels stand, not more than a block from Pacific avenue.
The relative fineness of the sand upon a beach has much to do with its character for stability or change. When the tides recede, the surface of the sand dries, and, being picked up by the sea-breeze, is whirled landward, sinking into little heaps around every bit of drift or herbage. These form small "leas," which catch still further sand, and soon the coarse salt grass springs up to hold it, and thus the ridges grow. Along the Virginia coast, upon such islands as Broadwater, the ridges, due to the lightness of the sand, have become very high, and are covered with dense thickets. Still further south, at Currituck, North Carolina, the sand-hills reach the greatest height upon the Atlantic seaboard, completely engulfing, upon the landward side, miles of forest and even farm houses.
Hardly less interesting than the sands are the broad marshes formed behind them, plentifully threaded with creeks and "thoroughfares," which connect with the wide reaches of bays. These meadows give excellent
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grazing to many cattle and teem with wild fowl. A curious phenomenon is seen in the fresh water springs which come to their surface, where the kine and the birds may drink.
The sandy area of Atlantic County is about 4000 acres, and the marsh area 38,000 acres.
A list of the various birds found along the coast, including both those of the forest and aquatic species, gives the names of more than one hundred kinds. The varieties of fish are still more numerous. While the hunting and fishing is not, of course, what it was in the early days, the sportsman of the present and future need never go hungry in the neighborhood of these waters.
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A DAY WITH THE BIRDS
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Atlantic City.
Chapter 01.
The spacious permanent Boardwalk extending along the immediate sea-front for a distance of some twenty-five blocks, and continued many blocks to the westward by a narrow structure, is the glory of the city, JBoardwalk and in many respects, its most profitable investment. it is the rialto of the masses, the great social exchange for the multitudes from the scores of large hotels, and the hundreds of lesser establishments and cottages so
THE BATHING HOUR
closely packed upon the costly space stretching shoreward, square upon square. It is a pleasant and astonishing " Vanity Fair," the favorite parade for the young and gay, and the delightful out-of-door sanitarium for the tired and age-worn. It always carries the aspect of festivity, suggesting a pano- rama of life in all its phases. With every hour of the day, and in every season, every condition of weather its aspects change. From this sun-lit
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gallery, one may watch the sparkle of the glorious sea in its tender moods, or face the tempest when the billows break and war incessantly beneath the foot. Along its iron rail in the bathing hour of a summer's morning, the people cluster like bees, to watch the other multitudes gathered upon the warm gray sands or splashing in the rollers with all the abandon of children. Upon the outward side all is majesty, breadth and mystery. It is the edge of the world. Upon the other is ranged the thousand and one devices of the trader, a far- stretching chain of temptations,
AVENUE VISTAS
every link of which has its own particular form and attraction. It is a gaunt- let which few run from end to end, without stopping to pay tribute. Per- haps it would be impossible to accurately estimate the volume of the traffic enjoyed by the owners of these gay pavilions and shops upon Atlantic City's "Midway," but it must run into the hundreds of thousands every year, and the total of rentals when considered might make one dizzy. It is a great
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object-lesson upon the potency of success. Nearly every human want has its ministers here. Its multitude of signs and banners catch and confuse the eye, the dazzle of the scene banishes every prudent resolve at economy, and so the holiday crowds surge to and fro, in and out of the portals of temples, theatres, casinos, piers and bazaars, scattering the currency of the realm with a reckless prodigality, truly American, and those who spread their wares in the sight of the visitor are rejoiced with prosperity. How barren would be the Boardwalk without its shows and shops, and after all, how much the visitor can get there for the money spent ! Many of the stores, notably those dealing in foreign wares, carry superb and costly stocks, for- tunes in bric-a-brac. The theatres present excellent entertainments, the merry-go-rounds, the razzle-dazzle, Ferris wheels and temples of mystery, all afford startling sensations, at the smallest possible price of admission, while it is well known that the oriental giants and fat women are quite as ponderous as they are depicted upon the canvas in front of their abiding places, and the anacondas are as ferocious as the most captious could wish. Handsome pavilions, reserved for the guests of the principal hotels, are fre- quent along the promenade, together with many extensive bathing-houses, enclosing large swimming-tanks, some of which are in use throughout the year.
Che Pleasure Piers
Projected from this hurly-burly of pleasure, far out into the surf, are three vast piers upon which are built expansive concert halls, restaurants and pavilions. The most costly and elaborate of these struc- tures, thus daringly built above the restless surge of old ocean, is the one constructed by the Atlantic City Steel Pier Company, at a cost of $200,000. All day long, and far into the night the piers are crowded, the military bands play on, while the summer rolls merrily along.
Boardwalk Glimpscs
A tramp along the Boardwalk from the breezy Inlet away down to the old Excursion House is a constitutional. It would more than satisfy the inveterate old sea-dog one always finds among the passengers of
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the big Transatlantic liners who makes his regular mileage along the lee-side of the deck every day of the voyage. Indeed, such a walk as this is not unlike the appetizer one likes to take at sea.
Up around the Inlet at the eastern extreme of the island, where the white fleets of sloops are always speeding up and down, and where the rollers used to sweep in so perilously close to the big shapely lighthouse, there are acres upon acres of made land, now being rapidly covered by stylish modern cottages. In this section, one of the finest improvements is seen at Gramercy Place, an extension of Arctic avenue. Here the centre of the roadway is occupied by raised intervals of grass, along which, as well as upon the curbs, are ranged pedestals of Pompeian brick, similar to those guarding the entrance to St. Charles Place, and surmounted by handsome lanterns.
The greater hotels are nearly all between Pacific avenue and the ocean front, most of them in touch with the Boardwalk. Proceeding south and west from the Inlet along the Boardwalk, these, and the other principal features of the fashionable side of town, come into view in the following order :
Rhode Island Avenue: The Senate.
Massachusetts Avenue: The Lelande. The Iron Pier.
The Japanese Tea Garden occupies most of the next block.
New Jersey Avenue: The Rudolf.
St. Charles Place: The St. Charles.
States Avenue, a very broad highway, is bordered almost entirely by cottages.
Maryland Avenue: The Imperial, Hotel Portland and the Scarborough.
Several extensive bathing-houses front on the Boardwalk.
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Virginia Avenue: The Islesworth, Ponce de Leon, Majestic, Berkshire Inn, Brookehurst, Grand Atlantic, Irvington, Wiltshire, Ardmore, Monterey, Linden Hall, Clarendon and Albemarle.
At the foot of this avenue, opposite the Jackson Bath House, is the new Atlantic City Steel Pier.
Pennsylvania Avenue : The Seaside, Hotel Hoffman and the Lehman.
North Carolina Avenue : Haddon Hall and Chalfonte.
South Carolina Avenue : Somers Casino, Hotel Warwick, Tudor Hall, Manhattan, Stanley and Mentone.
Ocean Avenue : The Toboggan Slide, The Crystal Maze. This is a cottage avenue.
Tennessee Avenue : The west side is occupied by a range of twenty hotels, the Rossmore, near Pacific Avenue, being the largest.
In the succeeding block, which was the scene of the great fire of
ALONG THE SEA FRONT. LOOKING WEST
last season, preparations are being made to build a number of costly hotels and other structures.
surf.
In front of this block is Young's Pier, extending 2000 feet into the This has been largely rebuilt and greatly improved this season.
New York Avenue : Academy of Music, The Bryn Mawr Hotel,
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Metropole, Hotel Koopman, The Maryland, Berkshire Inn, Chester Inn and several other medium hotels.
Kentucky Avenue: The Stratford, Berkely, Evard, Kenilworth, Hotel de Ville, Wellington, Runnymede, Boscobel, Westminster, Willard,
ALONG THE SEA FRONT, LOOKING EAST
Luray, Norwood, Wetherill, Hotel Richmond and other lesser establishments. Bew's Hotel is one of the few fronting immediately upon the Board- walk.
Illinois Avenue : The Windsor and the Traymore occupy opposite sides of this street. Just beyond is the handsome Casino building with its elaborate baths, parlors, ballroom and gardens.
Indiana Avenue : The Hotel Brighton, and opposite is the large costly cottage of Mr. Fred. Hemsley, owner of the Brighton and the Casino. Between this cottage and the sea is handsome Brighton Park.
Park Place : The grounds and building of the Convent of the Sacred Heart face Brighton Park, and beyond, toward Pacific Avenue, are the Chatham, the Revere and some other houses. The Mercer Memorial House being at the corner of Pacific Avenue.
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Ohio Avenue : A large space is occupied by the buildings of the admirable Seashore House for Invalid Children. (See chapter devoted to this charity.)
Michigan Avenue : Hotel Dennis, The Shelbourne, Pennhurst, Arlington and Edison.
Arkansas Avenue : The Fortescue, and many other moderate-sized hotels, crowd this avenue, and along this section the Boardwalk is lined with restaurants, bath and amuse- ment pavilions, etc., the same being true of Missouri Avenue.
The Boardwalk extends in its full width several blocks fur- ther, merging at Texas Avenue, into the remaining portion of the old walk. This marks the limits of the closely built portion of the city, which, however, is rapidly spreading toward pleasant and mod- ern Chelsea just beyond.
It is expected that the per- manent Boardwalk will soon be extended west from Texas Avenue through Chelsea, as this progressive suburb has appropriated the money to replace the old wooden walk which at present exists upon its sea front.
It has been well said that the Boardwalk and its miles of clustered structures, form but the frame for the real picture seen in the vast cosmo- politan. The true interest is in the cosmopolitans who are there to serve and to be served. The surging throngs that pass and repass, hour after hour, upon a summer's day find abundant diversion in the orientals who border their pathway, displaying strange and beautiful wares filled with the
AT LOW TIDE
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rich colorings of eastern dyes, and fashioned with the fantastic designs of far- away lands : they are beguiled by the comic mountebank, and enthralled by the promise of a glimpse into the future by the shrewd devotees of astrology.
The Summer Multitudes
The life of the world is arrayed here in all its varied panoply to amuse and divert, but, after all, the greatest, most impressive, most interest- ing sight is the vast, well-dressed, well-mannered, happy faced crowd of Americans, bent solely upon enjoyment, thousands and thousands of them, a marching army of men and women, with half a dozen policemen to keep them in order. In any other country it would take regiments of armed troops, and at such a sight reigning monarchs would tremble in their palaces. There are days in summer when the population of Atlantic City is reinforced by scores of excursion trains, until the avenues, the Boardwalk and the beach are black with masses of pleasure seekers who aggregate a hundred and fifty thousand. Such a scene as this, familiar enough in the metropolis of the sea, would carry confusion, turmoil, perhaps anarchy in its wake, in any other land. It is a most inspiring object-lesson to the student, of the characteristics of a free people.
That this modern phenomenon is possible, is due to the orderly instincts of the people who come here; to the railroads which provide such unequalled excursion facilities, and to the government of the city which, tolerating much, still enforces respect for the rights of all.
To the wonders of America, as known to travelers from other parts of the world, must soon be added the new sub- ject, " A Sunday Crowd at Atlantic City in July."
A SUNDAY CROWD
1
Atlantic City. Chapter 011.
Atlantic avenue, which as surveyed extends some nine miles, was in the long-ago days of local history the principal hotel street from which more or less precarious board footways wandered across the sand dunes Atlantic Avenue to the little coops of bathing houses that dotted the high water mark.
ATLANTIC AVENUE LOOKING EAST
A local regulation requires that all new buildings through the heart of the city upon Atlantic avenue shall be fireproof, and many substantial public and business buildings are the result. Among the most striking buildings of a permanent character upon Atlantic avenue are those of the Union National, Second National and Atlantic City National Banks. The Real Estate and Law Building is one of the largest in the city. The "Elks" Building at Maryland avenue and the Neptune Hose House are handsome structures.
A Great JBusiness Choronabarc
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Banks are the most positive evidence of general prosperity. The institutions mentioned above should have more than passing notice.
The Union National Bank was organized August 14th, 1890, with Mr. Allen B. Endicott, President; Mr. E. P. Williams, Vice-President and Mr. J. G. Hammer, Cashier.
UNION NATIONAL BANK.
The Bank opened for business October 11th, 1890, at their temporary office, No. 1726 Atlantic avenue. On the 23d of February, 1892, the Bank moved to its present building at the corner of Atlantic and Kentucky aves. Mr. J. M. Aikman was elected Cashier, April 14th, 1892, and in 1894 Mr. Smith Conover was appointed Vice-President, on resignation of Doctor Williams. The present Board of Directors consists of A. B. Endicott, Smith Conover, C. J. Adams, F. A. Souder, Thomp- son Irvin, F. J. Dickerson, A. H. Bailey, J. H. Lippincott, Lewis P. Scott, J. D. Southwick and George H. Jackson. A. B. Endicott, President ; Smith Conover, Vice-President, and J. M. Aikman, Cashier.
Their deposits aggregate $400,000, and surplus and undivided profits, $45,000.
From their central location and their courteous and liberal treatment of depositors their prospects for a large and rapid increase of business are very bright.
The Second National Bank has won a reputation as one of the fore- most financial institutions of Atlantic City, being noted for its fairness and ample accommodations to the public. Its building is one of the most artistic and striking objects upon this busy avenue.
The capital of the bank is $100,000 ; undivided profit, $75,000 ; aver- age deposits, $750,000. President, George F. Currie; Cashier, L. A. Down.
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Ample banking accommodations like those afforded by such institutions as the Second National Bank, have far more than local significance, as they often determine the visit and length of stay of families of wealth, resident in the large cities, whose heads must keep in touch with the financial world. No single influence has contributed more to the growth of Atlantic City than its group of banks.
Among the business houses of Atlantic City, the important branch concern of the Bergner & Engel Brewing Co., of Philadelphia, occupies an important place. The long established popularity of the Bergner & Engel beers at the shore has been greatly increased by the facilities offered to the Atlantic City dealers, who have been uniformly loyal and apprecia- tive of the progressive spirit shown in erecting the handsome building de- voted by the company to its large business at this point.
SECOND NATIONAL BANK, ATLANTIC AVENUE
The relative importance of good beer in satisfying the multitudes who resort to this great pleasure city, and in affording at all times a reliable and healthful summer, beverage cannot be over-estimated. There is something especially felicitous in the union of a bottle of B. & E. and the cooling breezes of old ocean in their soothing effect upon tired and over-heated humanity, which has just poured down from the crowded and stifling city for a blessed smell of the salt air and a ramble along the Boardwalk.
BREWING C
Pacific avenue will probably always remain, as now, the leading cottage street. Many Pacific Avenue of the finest private homes in the city are ranged along its length. Most of the churches
THE BERGNER & ENGEL
BREWING CO.'S BUILDING
are also upon this avenue, and at the corner of Illinois avenue is the costly Garden Hotel, seven floors in height. Among the churches are the First Presbyterian at Pennsylvania avenue, the First Baptist and St. James (Episcopal), North Carolina avenue, the Central Methodist and Friends' Meeting House at South Carolina avenue, German Presby- terian at Ocean avenue, St. Nicholas (Catholic) at Tennessee avenue, Church of the Ascension (Episcopal) at Kentucky avenue, St. Paul's (Methodist) at Ohio avenue, St. Andrew's (Lutheran) at Michigan avenue, and St. Monica (Catholic) at California avenue.
In the Suburbs
The latest map of Atlantic City and its suburbs, as the growing set- tlements down the beach may be termed, is full of suggestion. The whole shore front, extending from the Inlet to Longport, has been plotted into ave- nues, those parallel with the sea being continuations of Atlantic, Pacific and the other principal avenues. About 130 blocks are located in these nine miles. In Chelsea, Chelsea Heights, Leonard, Ventnor, South Atlantic City, and in Longport, miles of grading have been done, and fine avenues now extend where not long since there existed nothing but a waste of sand hills, reminders of the site of Atlantic City in its original state. In all of these places many attractive hotels, private cottages and other permanent structures have been built. The electric railway binds the whole group by a rapid transit schedule in very comfortable cars, its termini being at the Inlet and at the steamboat wharf in Longport, where it connects with the ferry steamers for Ocean City and Somers' Point. The fare for the eight miles is ten cents. In summer the cars are open. The boats plying from Longport are large, handsome craft, regular pleasure yachts in fact, and form a part of a beautiful round trip, costing thirty cents, the return from Somers' Point being upon the dummy train via Pleasantville.
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