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 5
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A Pleasant Round Trip
In considering the still unoccupied territory which will afford an opportunity to the Atlantic City of the future in which to grow, the beach upon Brigantine must be included. A great deal of work has
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been done here in the direction of development. The Brigantine Transit Company operates a ferry line from its pier near the Inlet and also a rail- . road along the beach to Little Egg Harbor Inlet seven miles away. The charge for the round trip is 25 cents.
Room to Spread
But eleven per cent. of the total area of Absecon Island is yet built upon, a fact which may serve to impress such people who have concluded that the day for making money in Atlantic City real estate has gone by. There are still plenty of fortunes awaiting the future operator along the Jersey coast beside those buried there by Captain Kidd.
In the winter and spring of 1897, and for a year or so anterior to this time, a vast amount of work was found for the army of carpenters, masons and other mechanics in the building trades, in the very general enlargement of the principal hotels, following a great tidal wave of summer prosperity. In the spring of 1898 these same busy workers were employed upon a great number of high class private cottages. These are being built in all parts of the city and its outer borders. A wonderful transformation is being wrought in the neighborhood of the Inlet. Upon long neglected territory beautiful streets are now projected down to the surf upon one hand and far out upon the meadow's to the thoroughfare and " basins " upon the other, and hand- some cottages, in the best style of seashore architecture, are springing up from the ground as it by magic. The endless variety of these homes is bewildering, and the confidence shown by those who thus elect this as a summer residence is one of the surest indications of the greatness which still awaits the "City by the Sea."
The permanent population of Atlantic City in 1898 may probably be safely put as high as 25,000. In the summer season it may, at times, be multiplied by five or six. The systematic, orderly, tranquil way in which this remarkable place absorbs an army of visitors exceeding 200,000 persons, all eager, hungry and importunate-finds subsistence and beds for all of them and keeps them amused and happy between meals-is
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one of the wonders of the time. Any other resort would get "rattled " by such prodigious patronage. Nothing disturbs the mental poise of the citizen here, whether he owns a hotel, a store or a bazaar. He knows that the people and their money will be along in due time and that " hard times " can't "down " the season to come.
In connection with Atlantic City the summer travel books issued by the railroad companies each season contain a list of about 400 hotels and boarding houses with location, terms of board, etc. Each of these, big and little, has its list of regular patrons, and thus, in a certain sense, the people upon the arrival of the long trains sort themselves out.
One of the most important lines of effort ever made by the authori- ties and hotel managers of Atlantic City has been its determined bid for convention business. There are held in the United States every year more than 1,000 regular conventions representing almost every possible human interest. The railroad companies all over the land from one ocean to the other are in constant correspondence in the interest of these gatherings, a large proportion of which are itinerant and thus, within a wide radius at least, open to the allurements of the seashore. The convention element is usually composed of intelligent and substantial people of the middle classes. They are well worth looking after as they are sure to go home and spread the fame of Atlantic City's greatness far and wide.
During the summer of 1897, the influential Trades' League of Phila- delphia, an organization of above two thousand firms, having for its object the development of the city's trade, was instrumental, in co-operation with the Railroad Companies, in bringing to Philadelphia a series of eleven large
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excursions of merchants and their families, from various sections of the United States. In the programme prepared for their pleasure, a liberal por- tion of the time was wisely given to Atlantic City. The public officials and hotel proprietors gladly seconded the efforts of the Trades' League in making these excursionists " at home." It was decidedly the most effective advertisement this resort has ever gained.
A Friendly Call
As a pleasant sequel, on December 2nd, 1897, a committee of Atlantic City's officials, business and hotel men presented to the Trades' League, at its beautiful rooms in the Bourse, a highly artistic copy of resolutions duly adopted at a meeting held for the purpose, thanking the Trades' League for its valued recognition as an essential in a summer visit to the Quaker City. In reply to the address of presentation made by Mayor Sooy, Mr. Thomas Martindale, the Chairman of the Special Committee upon Merchants' Excur- sions, made the following remarks, which embody so much of prophesy and suggestion, that by request they were afterwards printed and illustrated. By permission of Mr. Martindale, the pamphlet is reproduced that its con- tents may be more effectually preserved.
Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen :
As you are all busy men-even now there is hardly one of you but is occasionally taking hold of his watch-chain and nervously thinking of the time-1 will be brief. In the first place, Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, these Resolutions ought properly to be inscribed (in addition to the Trades' League) to the Passenger Railroads centering in our city, and also to the entire Press of Philadelphia, which accomplished so much in giving wide publicity to those excursions that have been the means of bringing us together in such a happy manner. I never knew the Philadelphia news- papers to be so united on any one topic ; but on this theme of theirs, and ours, of last summer-that of trying to help Philadelphia and Atlantic City by bringing great multitudes to both cities-every single one of them rolled
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up its sleeves and spread the printers' ink for all it was worth. And the railroad officials were equally liberal in granting many excursions, which were run upon the most generous plan, both as to the quick movement of the trains, and their sumptuous accommodations.
I am a great believer in advertising, not only in advertising the indi- vidual business but in advertising a city as well. Where a business is
About " run down at the heel " the first thing a business man should do is
Advertising to advertise. A community following one common purpose to ele- vate and improve the business of their city or town, can do it better by advertising their interests, as a city, than by any other method. Atlantic City shows a good example to all her sister cities, by being the foremost in advertising, and it is on that account, more perhaps than any other, that it has become the Brighton of Philadelphia, as Brighton is now the Atlantic City of London.
My first trip to Atlantic City was in 1875. On that occasion I reached the shore in three hours, but when I arrived there ) was covered from head to foot with dust and dirt and cinders. It took me four hours to get back home. The result was, that I was so tired and worn out I had a horror of Atlantic City for a long time afterward, and I did not revisit the place for several years.
JBygone
Discomforts
IN THE FARIY DAYS
As an idea of what the transportation facilities to Atlantic City may become in the next twenty-five years I would call your attention to the remarks of Mr. D. B. Martin, General Passenger Agent of the B. & O. R. R. in his speech made before the General Passenger Agents of the United States in St. Louis, October 19, 1897. Mr. Martin said : " The locomo- tive has reached its utmost development and will soon be overshadowed by the application of electricity. The inventive world is filled with the ghosts and shadows of inventions that are useful and accomplish the purpose of
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the inventors. The first stage of an improvement is the accomplishment of certain results ; the second, and equally as important, whether these results can be attained at a cost which will justify their use. In the adoption, therefore, of electricity to the steam railroad, we are in the second A Forecast
stage of its development. The problem yet to be determined is, assuming that the railroad system now operated by steam can obtain the same results with electricity, will the increased cost result in increased traffic ? Then, if the electric power should develop a speed greater than steam, the distance across the continent would be minimized, and the business man who takes his breakfast in New York could dine in St. Louis and sup in San Francisco, While the span of the continent would be as hours instead of days."
Thus, gentlemen, in twenty- five years from now, according to this General Passenger Agent's prediction it may be possible for a man to start from New York and land in San Fran- cisco in one day. If this can be ac- complished, or anything like it, why may we not expect that the distance between Philadelphia and Atlantic City can be covered in less than fifteen minutes, or say, in the same time it now takes us to go to our homes in West Philadelphia, from the centre of the city ?
In closing his address Mr. Martin said : "From horse-power through the city of Baltimore at the rate of one mile an hour to that of electricity at sixty miles an hour, in one generation, is such an advance that the possi- bilities of the future can hardly be conjectured, and the rapid progress that has been made in the application of this wonderful motor justifies the belief that the days of smoke, steam and fuel annoyances are numbered.
Within the last year a bicycle path between Philadelphia and your city has been built at considerable expense, which enables the cycler or
FIFTEEN MINUTES TO THE SHORE
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Cycling to the Sca
the "cyclist crank" that turns the crank, to pedal his way down to Atlantic City in from two hours and forty-seven minutes (which I think is the record) to ten hours. I believe that this bicycle path will in the future be supplemented by a broad highway on which we can ride our wheels down with comfort in wet days as well as in the sunshine -a grand road, with a broad and smooth surface-a modern Appian Way, upon which the rich and pleasure-loving people, blessed with fine horses, can drive down from Philadelphia in their car- riages, leaving here in the morning and reaching your luxurious hotels in the evening of the same day.
A TRANS- JERSEY DRIVE
The first stage in the develop- ment of the United States as far as buildings are concerned was the era of the log house or cabin. And the next was that of the frame structure. Atlantic City has reached this latter stage and amplified it to its greatest limit, as your modern frame palaces fully demonstrate; but the next twenty-five years will show your buildings to be, as they must be, of iron and stone and of brick, as a measure of economy, as well as safety.
A Port of
I have a dream that within the next twenty-five years Atlan- Entry
tic City will be made a port of entry, as well as a harbor of refuge, which should have been an accomplished fact years and years ago.
Last season an innovation in the method of conducting business between our city, on the waters of the Delaware, and yours on the sands of the great ocean, was made by some of our leading houses of trade, in can- vassing for orders in your city, and delivering the goods in their own wagons at your very doors. This innovation no doubt will broaden so that most of the large houses will conform to it in future seasons, and in addition there- to a number of houses will open branches of their business within your
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borders, equipping their stores in a manner befitting the character of their home concerns, and of your increased demands.
Your postal facilities will be largely bettered and increased. When 1 first went to Atlantic City you had but two mails a day and no free delivery. Now you have a free delivery four times a day, and I predict that it will be increased in the future to a delivery every sixty minutes. At the time I speak of we had no telephone. We now have it from Phila- delphia to Atlantic City, but have to pay fifty cents every time we use it to telephone to you or for you to telephone to us, and the telephone company takes care that the charges are surely paid. The time will come when, as a subscriber, you can talk to us in Philadelphia or we to you in Atlantic City, without extra charge, just as we do now to Germantown, West Phil- adelphia or Camden.
To you hotel men I want to say a few words, not in the line of criti- cism, but as a stimulus to the great work of improvement and progress that is in store for you in the years to come. You have done well in the past ; you must do equally well in the future. Here are some things that 1 think, and believe you will accomplish. I see, in the future, a grand museum erected in Atlantic City, not a catch-penny affair with a hand- organ playing at the door, with an admission fee of five, or ten, or twenty- five cents, but a noble museum in every sense of the word, projected and maintained upon a liberal scale and supported either by your Hotel Men's Association, or by your city, for the instruction and entertainment of the good people that come to you from out the world at large. I also see an aquarium established upon a generous plan. Why should you not have this aid to the education and amusement of the visitors that come from the dif- ferent parts of our great country ? You, that have the ocean filled with its living curiosities at your very feet -! say why shouldn't you have an aqua- rium for their display ? You should have had this attraction, at least years ago. I also see in the same future, a magnificent Concert Hall, not a little
An Aquarium
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hall with five or six musicians playing on stringed instruments, accompa- nied by a twanging harp, or an orchestrion grinding out a set of tunes each and all out of tune, but a massive hall with a large and efficient orchestra, which orchestra shall play for the benefit of the whole people. A Crystal Palace, too, will arise in Atlantic City, and become the talk of the nation. Your now famous Boardwalk will give way to a broad boulevard of stone
BOULEVARD, CITY OF DOUGLAS, ISLE OF MAN
and cement and iron. 'Twill be a boulevard wide enough and broad enough to accommodate lines of street cars, lines of carriages, lines of equestrian riders, lines of wheelmen, as well as the millions of pedestrians ; and moreover, a boulevard massive enough to withstand the ravages of old Father Ocean, and battle successfully with his most furious and destruc- tive moods.
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I have the pleasure of showing you here a picture of the City of Douglas in the Isle of Man. Just look at this grand boulevard built of iron
and stone fronting and encircling this magnificent array of hotels and
A Port of the Manr amusement places. It was built in 1875. At Douglas the ocean exerts ten times a greater power upon their stone walk than would be imposed on any board-walk or boulevard that you can build at Atlantic City, the currents, tides and storms being so much more severe over there than they are with you. Now I show you a picture of that same boulevard as assailed by the fiercest power of the ponderous waves which you see dashing over and above it. In spite of these severe storms, and of their
A STORM AT DOUGLAS, ISLE OF MAN
effects, this magnificent roadway and promenade is just as firm now as it was the day it was finished ; and let me say that this same City of Douglas in the last century was credited with a population of only 810 people who lived by the precarious industry of the herring fishery ; and that now it has a resident population of over 15,000, and that there is not a single frame structure in the whole city that I know of.
I also want to show you gentlemen this little picture of an ocean walk of stone and iron fronting the city of Scarborough, in the North of England. The scene shown here represents a storm severe enough to have washed a full rigged ship broadside up to, and upon this famed boulevard,
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yet the storm that you now see here and hundreds of others that have since spent their fury on its firm foundation, have had little or no effect En English upon it, and it stands as firm to-day as it did half a century ago. Resort In the City of Scarborough they not only have a grand museum, a great aquarium, and a " Spa," but they also have a very large and very fine Public Concert Hall, where on pleasant days the ladies bring their children, and with their knitting, their embroid- ery, or their favorite novel, remain for hours, while the gentlemen visit and chat, or flirt with them, and the chil- dren romp around or dance with childish abandon. Each and all are entranced by the grand music of the orchestra, which plays during the afternoon and evening the whole season long, and to the delight of visitors from all parts of the United Kingdom.
A STORM AT SCARBOROUGH, ENGLAND
One of your up-to-date hotel men has sent out a circular to his pat- rons, the closing sentence of which is the following: "There is more to say in favor of Atlantic City, much more to say that charms and fascinates, of this City of the Sea, but do not take our word for it ; come and see for yourselves." Now this too is my text ; but if you bring the people here, give them more than you do give, and are giving them at the present time. I know that there are no better hotel accommodations to be found in the whole world than in Atlantic City, (provided you pay for them), whether that be at the rate of $3.00 a day or $4.00 a day, but give your patrons something besides your hotels to talk about ; something to attract, some- thing to instruct the young people of the United States, as well as their elders. Have them go home and tell about your wonderful Music Hall and your attractive Aquarium, your magnificent Crystal Palace with its bewil-
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dering glories of electric lighting, living waterfalls, and its things of beauty and things of pleasure. Let them also tell of their walks and the sights they have seen, and the people they have met, upon your grand boulevard of stone, of iron, and cement. All these things must not be catch-penny affairs, but big civic enterprises, big civic accomplishments, worthy of Atlantic City and in very truth of any city. Let them talk of Atlantic City as if it were another White City, as the exhibition buildings and grounds in Chicago were called during the World's Fair. Let them talk of the wonders of Atlantic City as people will talk of the wonders of Paris in the year 1900. Then you will have the visitors pour in upon you by the tens of thousands where they now come by the hundreds.
Make People
Calk
In conclusion, gentlemen, if you will help yourselves in the future, as you have helped yourselves in the past, and live up to the full measure of progress that the pressure of the times will demand of you for the next 25 years, the business men of Philadelphia must and will extend to you a help- ing hand, and the government of the United States must and will help you, not only to make Atlantic City a harbor of refuge, and a port of entry, but the greatest and most attractive seaside resort of the world."
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Atlantic City. Chapter 0111.
The Pleasure fficet at the Inlet
YACHT PIER.
The most picturesque feature of the Island at all times is found at the yacht wharf alongside of the great pavilion at the Inlet. It is worth while to bestir one's self at dawn upon a Summer morning and ride or walk briskly up to the Inlet, just to have a glimpse of the lively stir among the brigade of popular and enterprising "cap'ns" who are busy with the preparations for the expected rush of customers.
It takes a lot of marine housekeeping to run an
Atlantic City sloop, or even a cat-boat. There's the regular morning swabbing down of the decks, the overhauling of cordage, looking after blocks, brass work, ballast, flag-halyards, reef-points, and all kinds of small but important nautical matters, not to mention the rugs and cushions
Upon a Summer Morn
which a capricious, exacting and effete civilization insists upon hav- ing. Very likely it's a dead calm and already insufferably hot out there upon the long wharf where the scores of craft poke their noses against the landing like so many mules at the crib, but the old salts don't mind it. They can tell you just to the minute and from what exact point of the compass the breeze will arrive; and so when the trolleys begin to bring the festive throngs from the hotels and cottages, dressed in every variation of nautical outfit, the whole scene takes on the look of a dress rehearsal of the "Pirates"; the " cracks " are already tacking to and fro in the jaws of the channel, and if you haven't a camera to catch the inspiring scene you are filled with vain regret. Then, some-
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1
SUMMER BREEZES.
times, there are gray days when the rollers pour heav- ily over the bars, or sunlit days, full of fresh breezes from the seaward, when the big main- sails are double-reefed down upon the creaking booms, with little corners of jibs raised above the tip of the bowsprits, and the skippers speed to and fro in their oilskins through the splash and gleam of the dancing waters, just to show the crowds how safe and jolly it is out there. This is the opportunity for the youth who pines for glory from the sea, and for the pretty girl who " just loves a gale," and so they cling to the shrouds, with mackintoshes, skirts and ribbons all a-flutter, and for a little brief while are the observed of all observers as the sloop heels and plunges and races through the tur- moil of waters. But, bless you ! there's nothing to be alarmed at, for the sloop-man who brought his party into any sort of danger would presently have to hunt other occupation. If your "cap'n" says he will take you outside when things are looking ticklish from a landsman's point of view you can go right along just the same as if you were going to church, for it's fully as safe, and sometimes more exhilarating.
Just who or when the first Absecon boatman set up in the business of sailing pleasure parties is not a matter of verified history. The supply has followed the demand, and the demand came along with the very first excursionists who discovered Atlantic City. Thirty years ago the Inlet was a lively place, and twenty years since the prowess of the Inlet sailors and their boats was known to the whole coast.
There was the Ocean Star. Capt. J. A. Rider ; the Nautilus, Capt. D. Chamberlain; the C. L. Mott, Capt. N. Sooy, and the C. L. Harmer, Capt. E. Endicott,
A CHAMPION.
all of the first-class. Then in the second-class were the W. G. Bartlett, Capt. Andy Snee ; the Neptune, Capt. S. Gale ; the Ranger, Capt. T. Conk- lin, who also ran the Cecilda. Among the smaller boats were the G. W.
Carpenter, Capt. A. Holdzkom ; Orion, Capt. H. Bowen ; Marshall,
Favorites Capt. G. Conover ; Regina Mary, Capt. H. Snee ; Aunt Emily, Capt. H. Smith; J. H. Cousty, Capt. Leeds Mills ; Katie. Capt. D. Somers ; Viola, Capt. J. Parker ; Champion, Capt. J. M. Leeds, and the Edwards, Capt. Walter Somers.
Over at Somers' Point in those days the Steelman boys had the American Eagle, the Wave, and the Hinkley, all well-known craft. Such things as " fin- keels " and " single-raters" and all that, were unheard of in those halcyon days, but those staunch old boats, full of the glory of red, white and blue paint, used to get over the salt water in a way that was inspiring and appetizing, and when there was a flutter of sea-gulls away out by the horizon, the race for the blue-fish was a beautiful thing to see.
The present fleet at the Inlet is large and still expanding. It includes the following craft and their captains :
Cat Yachts : - Tom Gardner, Con. Conover ; Carrie M., Walter Somers ; B. C. Pennington, Norris Cramer ; Stella, Henry Monroe ; Jennie J., Lem Conover ; Cameron, Frank Gifford ; Star, George Tomlinson ; Prin- cess Bonnie, Charles Gale ; Emma B., George Quinn ; Leira, Isaac Cono- ver ; Wm. Yewdall, John Showell ; Ethel, Ed Jones ; A. W. Beyer, Charles Huntey ; Ralston, Henry Endicott; Laura, A. Bowen ; William H., John Grahm ; Sallie, A. Hickman ; Marcella, Joh Monroe ; Frances G., George
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Gale : Trilby, Luke Conover ; Pert, William Andrews ; Caddie B., Lewis Barrett ; Sparkle, William Somers ; Nepaul, H. H. Parker ; Katie, William Lowder ; Harold, Wash Watson ; Uncle Benmy, John Conover ; Anna. Jas. Monroe ; Dart, Sam Monroe ; Orville, Captain Haunsley ; Carrie, Dolph Parker ; Defender, Abe Casto ; Albion, Francis Parker ; Della, of '98 Dan Showell; Lettie, Alfred Showell ; Prince Arthur, Frank Doughty ; Blue Bird, Fen Doughty ; L. S. Allen, Frank Ducase ; Kenderton, Ben Loveland; C. S. Haines, Ed Turner ; Mary, Wm. Hammel ; Glide, Ezra Somers ; Paterson, Ben Bowen ; Lizzie, Tom Bowen ; Katie Meher, Sam Mills ; Belle, Geo. W. Gale ; Kitty Clover, John Dutch ; Majestic, Andrew Monroe; Pastime, Ab Adams ; Snellenburg, James Miller ; Lady Eldridge, Charles Malhis ; Clara S., Mark Casto ; Sparta Fritz, Gideon Conover ; Volunteer, Nathan Parker ; Jennie, H. Frambes ; Seabright, Dan Giberson.
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