USA > New Jersey > Atlantic County > Atlantic City > The Daily union history of Atlantic City and County, New Jersey : containing sketches of the past and present of Atlantic City and County > Part 13
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The Atlantic City Sewerage Company, its name since the reorganization, in 1885, represents an investment of $400,000. It is paying interest on its bonds and dividends on its stock and is one of the most essential and important features of this resort.
SAILBOAT AMONG THE CLOUDS.
Our Cottage Tomes.
COTTAGE by the sea has furnished a commanding theme for poets and story tellers in the years agone, but we doubt if any song or story has ever been inspired by such delightful surroundings as make the beautiful cottages of Atlantic City the ideal homes by the shore.
Of the six thousand and five hundred buildings on this island two-thirds of them are cottages and the illustrations on this and other pages give the stranger an adequate idea of this striking feature of the town.
RESIDENCE OF SAMUEL H. KELLEY.
These cottages that breathe forth in every delicate detail and elegant orna- mentation the artistic spirit of the owner, become every season the temporary homes of a multitude of summer sojourners, who, while they may have no voice nor vote in the local government of the city, consider this wave-kissed island their home.
One may stroll for miles along the avenues and become bewildered by the many well kept lawns, the luxuriant shade trees, the inviting residences that harmonize delightfully with the tranquil feeling engendered by the dreamy cadence of the ocean swell that pulses soothingly through the bracing sea air.
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RESIDENCE .M. L. Yuva: 27
CARLTON GODDESS ESQ.
J.R.FLEMING M.D.
HON. LEWIS EVANS.
A. L.SWEIGARD.
GUICHET & MANNING PHN4
SOME COTTAGE HOMES.
COTTAGE HOMMES.
Men of influence and position in the learned professions, in filler il trade, escape the clattering noises of the great metropolis, come here, and anti
RESIDENCE OF FRED HEMSLEY.
our peaceful surroundings commune with nature and enjoy otium cum diguvate. Our well graded streets, fringed with handsome homes, make an indelible impression upon the mind. The infinite variety in the styles of architecture adds
RESIDENCE OF GEORGE F. CURRIE.
RESIDENCE OF HON. JOS. THOMPSON
RESIDENCE OF L. A. DOWN.
RESIDENCE OF JNO. L. YOUNG.
RESIDENCE OF JOHN B. CHAMPION.
1
to the general effect and relieves the drab uniform- ity that sometimes prevails.
The material prosperity of Atlantic City very largely depends upon the renting of cottages, as probably half of them in summer are not occupied by the owners. Some of them produce an income of $100 per month, or $500 to $1.500 or $2,000 for a summer season.
RESIDENCE OF THE FIRST MAYOR.
In July and August, when the sun-kissed waves invite a plunge in Old Neptune's bosom, city folk take possession of many of these cottages, and children in gay attire may be seen disporting themselves at play on the green sward, afterward forming merry parties that wander to the neighboring beach, guarded by attentive maids, and happy-hearted parents glad to bring an added lustre to the eyes of childhood by the unrestricted privilege of digging in the clean white sand.
Of late years the fame of Atlantic City as a cottage home for fashionables has been growing, and there is hardly a family of any prominence residing within a thousand miles of this favored region that has not at one time or another occu- pied, as host or guest, one of the beautiful homes which form the crowning glory of the town.
Fair as she is, Atlantic City would lose the richest gems in her diadem were she divorced from the pretty little homes that make her the magnet for beauty- loving cottagers.
RESIDENCE OF E. L. REED, M.D.
'231)
RESIDENCE OF CHAS. EVANS.
RESIDENCE OF WM. F. WAHL.
1
1
RESIDENCE OF GEO. W. CROSBY, M.D.
RESIDENCE OF B. C. GODFREY.
Atlantic City hotels.
N the amount of capital invested the hotel interests of the United States rank second only to those of the railroads, but in Atlantic City the combined hotel interests are by great odds in the lead. Perhaps in no other town on the Western Continent do the hotel interests so dominate as here. In the amount of money invested, the number of people employed and the volume of business transacted, this is preeminently a hotel town, with seklom, if ever. a failure.
The business of entertaining strangers or "keeping boarders" on this island dates from the time in 1830, when "Aunt Millie" Leeds, the year after her patriarch husband died, enlarged her home, secured a license and for a dozen or fifteen years conducted the only tavern on the beach. In those days a few city folk sojourned at the seashore during the gunning and bathing seasons. years before railroads were in fashion or had been projected. even on paper, in this direction.
When the railroad did come, fifteen years later, half a dozen larger houses than the old Leeds homestead came into existence, also the pretentious United States Hotel, the still larger Surf House, the Mansion and Congress Hall, which dispensed lavish hospitality to visiting thousands during the short seasons of those early years of the city's history.
From that time to this, as the country has prospered and the multitude from great cities have made pilgrimage to ocean resorts. the hotel interests of Atlantic City have led the van, catering with un- paralleled success to popular demands. till not less than ten million dollars are now represented in the five hundred hotels and boarding houses which line the well paved avenues and attractive beach front, which once were sandhills and the least desirable sections of the city.
The proximity of many of our hotels to the ocean where wrecked ves- sels of other days with valuable cargoes were driven ashore upon the sands, has robbed the stormy deep of some of its terrors and guaranteed to visiting
UNITED STATES HOTEL
233
HOTEL RUDOLF
thousands at all seasons all the benefits of an ocean voyage without going to sea, and secured all the luxuries of seawater bathing when winter winds are tossing the spray in full view of the guests' rooms.
While Atlantic City may not have palatial hotels to compare with the Waldorf-Astoria. New York; the Ponce de Leon, St. Augustine; the Palace Hotel, San Francisco; the Great Northern or the Auditorium, Chicago; Brown's Palace. Denver; the Del Monte of Monterey, or the Del Coronado, Santiago, California, the same may be said of Philadelphia.
SCHAUFFLER'S HOTEL.
Nowhere else on the habitable globe is so much wealth in proportion to other lines of trade, represented in hotels and boarding houses as right here in Atlantic City.
The story of this stupendous extension and expansion is the story of the last fifty years of the town. The illustrations on other pages indicate with what elegance and completeness our hotels are equipped for all seasons and all require- ments for moderate or the most fastidious tastes.
Our enterprising and progressive hotel proprietors exert a dominating in- fluence in the affairs of the city. In securing a suitable water supply and fire pro- tection, paved streets and perfect sanitary conditions, street lighting, an attractive beach front and popular local administration of affairs, our hotel men have always been active and prominent. A considerable portion of the population are in their employ as mechanics, artisans or servants, or dependent upon them largely for trade or auxiliary service.
Our hotel men spend thousands of dollars every year in giving Atlantic City favorable publicity in the leading publications of all the larger cities. They are first and foremost in welcoming State and National delegates to annual conven- tions and promoting the best interests of this resort.
Atlantic City during the open seasons is a vibrating heart of the world of fashion, culture, amusement and health. What a contrast do the hotels of the closing century present to those primitive stopping places of fifty years ago!
Now we have modern palace homes, including within their secure and hos- pitable walls, priceless paintings, exquisite furnishings and luxurious couches in cozy sun parlors, where a day is a veritable dream of delight. The ocean in
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HOTEL ST. CHARLES
K
HOTEL ST. CHARLES.
HOTEL RATES AND CAPACITY
miniature, with all its valuable properties, is placed at the disposal of lu gnest. and thus in curiously wrought, seductive tubs of limpid sea water one mas splash to his or her heart's content. absorbing energy and that peculiar buoyancy that lends such zest to every pleasure. Afterward, well wrapped up, a ride in a rolling chair is within the range of possibility, and after one has been wheeled for a stretch along the Boardwalk, dined at the celebrated tables for which our hotels are noted and afterward listened to a high-class concert, he or she is ready to smile a welcome to the sandman, knowing full well that nothing but beautiful dreams can follow in the wake of such a delightful day.
HOTEL RATES AND CAPACITY.
Hotel.
Rates per Day
Rates per Week
Capacity.
Hotel Traymore
$3.50 to $5.00
$20.00 to $35.00
500
St. Charles
3.50 to
5.00
20,00 to
35.00
300
Windsor
3.50 to
5.00
18.00 to
35.00 250
Rudolf
3.00 to
5.00
20.00 to
35.00 350
Waldorf-Astoria
3.00 to
5.00
20.00 to 30.00
500
Shelburne
3.00 to
5.00
20.00 to
35.00
300
Chalfonte
3.00 to
5.00
18.00 to
35.00 35.00
500
Haddon Hall
3.00 to
5.00
18.00 to
35.00
500
Luray
3.00 to
5.00
16.00 to
25.00
400
Iroquois
3.00 to
5.00
15.00 to
25.00
400
Seaside
3.00 to
5.00
18.00 to
20,00
300
Senate
3.00 to
5.00
15.00 to
18.00
250
Islesworth
3.00 to
5.00
20.00 to
25.00
450
Sandhurst
2.50 to
4.00
15.00 to
25.00
100
Wiltshire
2.50 to
4.00
15.00 to
20.00
300
Galen Hall
3.00 to
3.50
12.00 to
25.00
100
Pennhurst
2.50 to
3.50
18.00 to
30.0
200
Waverly
2.50 to
3.50
18.00 to
20.00
250
Grand Atlantic
2.50 to
3.50
15.00 to
20.00
500
Morton
2.00 to
3.50
12.00 to
25.00
200
Irvington
2.50 to
3.00
15.00 to
20.00
200
Glaslyn
2.50 10
3.00
12,00 to
20,0
125
Holmhurst
2.50 to
3.00
15.00 to
18.00
150
Berkeley
2.50 to
3.00
14.00 to
18.00
3 ( 0)
Kenilworth
2.50 to
3.00
12,09 to
15.00
175
De Ville
2.50 to
3.00
10.00 to
10,00
300
Little Brighton
2.00 to
3.00
12,00 10
1800
200
Lelande
2.00 to
3.00
12.00 10
150
Strand
2.00 to
3.00
-
250
200
Dennis
3.00 to
5.00
18.00 to
238
DAILY UNON HISTORY OF ATLANTIC COUNTY.
Hotel.
Rates per Day.
Rates per Week. Capacity.
Edison
$2.00 to $3.00
$10.00 to $16.00
150
New England
2.00 to
3.00
10.00 to
16.00
175
Runnymede
2.00 to
3.00
10.00 to
15.00
200
Kuehnle
2.50
200
Cedarcroft
2.00 to
2.50
12.50 to
18.00
200
Revere
2.00 to
2.50
12.00 to
15.00
100
Canfield
2.00 to
2.50
10.00 to
15.00
50
Ponce de Leon
2.00 to
2.50
10.00 to
15.00
125
Richmond
2.00 to
2.50
10.00 to
15.00
200
Chester Inn
2.00
10.00 to
12.00
150
La Belle Inn
1.50 to
2.50
8.00 to
15.00
125
Norwood
1.50 to
2.00
8.00 to
12.00
125
HOTEL SHELBURNE
ATLANTIC CITY HOTELS.
HISTORY OF HOTEL WINDSOR.
In the year of 1884. William Frank Waters purchased a small boarding house called The Mineola. for $16,000, from the late Capt. Barton Frink. At that time the house contained 18 rooms and had an extended view of the ocean, two years later Sophia Bew erected the boarding house called The Berkeley, which was conducted by the late B. W. Spence, who afterwards had the present Holmhurst on Pennsylvania avenue.
Mr. Waters died in 1888, and his son, who was at the University, left college and came down to assist his mother with The Mineola. The following summer he purchased The Berkeley and built a temporary connection. The capacity of the house at that time was 150 guests. Two years later Mr. G. Jason Waters rebuilt the two hotels and built the first modern hotel in Atlantic City with baths. electric lights and salt baths. Two years after this a number of other hotels started to improve to exceed the Windsor. In 1800 Mr. Waters bought out his mother's interests and has conducted the hotel ever since. In 1893 Mr. Waters made another large improvement, adding enough rooms to accommodate 400 guests; also making the ground floor the most attractive feature with Turkish room, ball room and reception hall of large dimensions. Also engaging the first hotel orchestra in Atlantic City for the diversion and entertainment of his guests.
In 1895 Mr. Waters conceived the idea of utilizing his basement for café and restaurant, erecting a room to represent a ship's cabin with port holes, mast tables, etc. This idea has been copied by other beach front hotels. In 1897 Mr. Waters built the first French courtyard in Atlantic City, making a most attractive place in the center of the hotel.
Since the original hotel was started, in 1884, of 18 rooms and lot 40x150. Mr. Waters has built on and added 140 rooms covering a space of 300x150, and purchasing four cottages on Illinois avenue, and now the entire ground owned and controlled by The Windsor is 680x150.
The Hotel Windsor to-day is the most modern hotel on the Atlantic Coast. It has cost $325,000, and is the only hotel conducted on American and European plans on the Jersey Coast.
HOTEL RUDOLPH.
Famous as Atlantic City is, as a resort and for its hotel accommodations, it may be said, that the Hotel Rudolf is unequalled in its location and unobstructed view of the ocean. Situated directly on the beach front-in the most aristocratic part of the city-with broad piazzas-balconies, bedrooms and diningroom over- looking the sea. The luxuriousness of furnishings and appointments, the service. its popularity, and liberal management have advertised it throughout the United States and Canada. Hotel Rudolf is heated with steam and open fires, when weather demands it. Lighted by its own electric plant, has elevator service. rooms
WINDSOR HOTEL.
ATLANTIC CITY HOTELS
large and ensuite with bath and toilet attached. The baths have a online Haben or service of hot and cold sea water and fresh water as desired.
A spacious ball-room, parlor and music room adjoins the office and dieloinger which is furnished with Holland and French designs and on the polished ilcours Oriental rugs of great beauty; are noticed.
To insure pure water an artesian well has been sunk on the premises.
In addition to the orchestra, and dances on Friday evenings, and music doing meal hours, none merits more special attention than the famous grotto and its cafe, where superb concerts are given by a large orchestra. At night when the grotto is illuminated by its many variegated colored incandescent lights, through- out the large cavern-like retreat, a scene of fairyland greets one and all.
The capacity of the Rudolf is four hundred guests. Booklets are furnished on application. The owner and proprietor is Chas. R. Myers, who is possessed of a cordial and kindly manner; generous in all his dealings and indefatigable in his efforts not only to maintain but enhance the high standard of excellence and popularity which has been associated with the Rudolf.
THE LURAY.
Hotel Luray, one of the largest and finest of our beach front hotels, has been under the ownership and management of Mr. Josiah White for eleven years. By gradual evolution and changes it has become a model all the year house, with first-class accommodations for four hundred guests.
An expenditure of more than fifty thousand dollars in 1898 brought the Luray to the front in appointments and prestige.
The property covers 150 feet front by 356 feet deep at the ocean end of Ken- tucky avenue.
Since January, 1807. the firm name has been Josiah White & Son, by the admission as a partner of Allen K. White. Esq .. son of the proprietor.
7
15
THE LURAY.
ATLANTIC CITY HORSE SHOW
Atlantic City horse Show.
Mr. G. Jason Waters, of Hotel Windsor, was the active spirit mike pago. tion of the Atlantic City Horse Show Association, which held its first aid mil Inlet Park, July 13. 14 and 15. 1899.
Ilis enterprise and energy enlisted the hearty co-operation of feeling hotel and business men, and the display of fine horses was highly satisfactory, as well as the financial results. A still more ambitious effort will be made the pre-my season for a four-day event, which has been marked down to open Wednesday July 11. 1900.
The Atlantic City Horse Show may now be considered a permanent instit- tion, and that it is not to be one of the least attractive features of the summer season is attested by its brilliant inauguration last year and the character of di men who are at its head. The following are the officers:
G. Jason Waters, President: Charles Evans, Vice-President : 11en. Men : Endicott, Treasurer: Walter J. Buzby. Secretary: William S. Blitz, Assistant Si- retary. The Directors are the above, and F. W. Hemsley, J. 11. Lippincott. H. W. Leeds. D. S. White, Jr .. A. O. Dayton, A. C. MeClellan. Dr. J. R. Fleming. Jacob Myers, W. H. Catlin, A. J. Nutling. Morton W. Smith. J. D. Southwick. Philip J. Leigh, Josiah White. J. H. Borton, Newlin Haines. W. E. Edge. Charles R. Myers. J. B. Reilly, M. D. Youngman, M. D .. Charles S. Lacky, John G. Shreve, and John M. Shaw.
ATLANTIC CITY HORSE SHOW.
CHALFONTE AND HADDON HALL, FROM THE BEACH IN 1874.
UNITED STATES HOTEL AND LIGHTHOUSE, FROM THE BEACH ABOUT 1874.
VIEW FROM LIGHTHOUSE, 1870.
VIEW FROM LIGHTHOUSE, 1870.
VIEWS OF LONG AGO.
Easter at the Shore.
TLANTIC CITY as a Winter Resort dates from April. 1876, when the late F. W. Hemsley opened Brighton Cottage as an all-the-year house. The Brighton then had fifty-three rooms, instead of two hundred as now, and speedily built up a profitable spring and winter trade. The late George F. Lee, the owner, encouraged the lessee by enlarging the house and providing up-to-date appointments. which were appreciated, and other hotels were not slow in catering to the same class of patrons. Physicians and railroad officials heartily co-operated with satisfactory results.
The advantages of this city as a place of retirement for society's devotees during the Lenten season are now widely appreciated, fashionables from New York. Philadelphia and more distant centers coming here to find the restful changes and relief that come from the peculiar advantages and characteristics of this resort.
Here it is that the fair women and brave men who grace the social circle at home, drink deep of the ocean air and diverting surroundings for which this sea- lashed island is noted. Thus in a few weeks is a reserve fund of energy gained that enables them to resume with fresh delight the routine of life and care in the great metropolises.
During the forty days which usually include parts of March and April. the shore is a veritable paradise, everything being conducive to a sense of peace and tranquil enjoyment. The tedium of travel to distant southern resorts is avoided by a trip to Atlantic City and the benefits of an ocean voyage secured without the risk and objections of being at sea.
As the great religious festival of Easter approaches, the arrivals become more numerous and the scenes, like those in the illustration, more frequent and striking. When the sun shines forth on that glad Sabbath morning. sackcloth and ashes are cast aside and Queen Fashion, arrayed in all the bewitching beauty of her gracious loveliness. is revealed to the crowd that promenades the Boardwalk.
Easter is the culmination of the spring season and the churches are usually largely attended. after which the procession along the Boardwalk is at its height. Such an array of fascinating women in
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1
GALEN HALL.
_17
EASTER AT THE SHORE
seasonably fashionable gowns and millinery are only seen nosuch bewillenig fre- fusion on Easter morning. For weeks afterwards the social world talks with ilo enthusiasm of youth abert the brilliant and varied scenes witnessed along Atlant; City's famous Boardwalk.
EASTER ON THE EOARDWALK.
The greatest Easter Sunday in the history of Atlantic City das on April 2. 1899. It was not an ideal one so far as the weather was concerned. The air was chilly and raw. The wind blew a gale at times and shortly after noon a shon squall passed over the city. But the weather conditions did not prevent the greater part of the estimated forty thousand visitors taking a stroll on the Board- walk.
Between the hours of eleven A. M. and one P. M., the number of promen aders on the Boardwalk was the largest of the day. There were two steady streams of people, one going up the walk and the other down, that reached from rail to rail.
There was a marvelous display of Easter garments and headgear by both old and young. There was an abundance of smart frocks and perfect dream- of hats and bonnets. The women that came forth in their light spring tailor-made suits also had use for light furs and capes. Many bright and chipper Easter girls and many fashionably attired young men scorned to wear over their natty suits
22200
HOTEL ISLESKOPTI
HOTEL ISLESWORTH.
249
EASTER AT THE SHORE
a wrap or an overcoat. They preferred to carry them on their arms and mais themselves believe it was a balmy day.
Between the hours of four and five o'clock in the afternoon the Boardwalk was for the second time filled with a double stream of strollers. Although nearly every roller chair was in use, there was very little interference to pedestrians. Since the order of the police, making the attendants wheel the chairs in single file, there is more comfort to promenaders than when the chairs were allowed to be wheeled two or three abreast.
The trains that arrived in this city on Saturday came in sections. the same as they did the two days previous. The Camden train on the Pennsylvania that arrived Sunday morning about 10.30 came in three sections, two of ten cars and
RESIDENCE OF A. M. JORDAN.
one of five, a total of twenty-five cars, of which five were parlor cars, eighteen coaches and two baggage. The bridge train that followed the Market street train into the depot brought thirteen cars in two sections, six parlor cars, six coaches and one baggage.
The 5.30 train from this city Sunday evening to Market street wharf was composed of twenty-four ears, in two sections of twelve cars each. As every seat was taken and railroad men estimate sixty persons to a car, more than fourteen hundred persons left on that train.
Both railroads report traffic ahead of all records for the week. The follow- ing figures of the last two years are of interest, showing a gratifying percentage of advance.
=
-
THE SEASIDE HOUSE.
251
EASTER AT THE SHORE
ROYAL READING.
1808
1900.
Thursday
50 Car-
S& cars
..
55
Saturday
05
108
Sunday
11
44
51
Total
272 Caf-
328 car-
245 C. 1.
WEST JERSEY AND SEASHORE.
1808.
1 800.
1900
Thursday
54 Cars
83 cars.
Friday
63
87
..
110
Saturday
103
125
Sunday
35
..
..
66
Total
223 Chf-
333 car-
397 car-
By this it appears that a total of 642 cars or 38,520 passengers were brought down in four days of 1900: 661 cars or 39.66 for the same period of 1800: and 495 cars or 29.700 passengers for 1808.
THE RUSH AT THE HOTELS.
An idea of the Easter business may be gained by the record of Sunday dinners at leading hotels compared with that of the past two years.
1000
Grand Atlantic
752
Hotel Dennis
528
( 10) )
Islesworth
355
525
500
Garden
300
500
300
Rudolf
385
500
000
St. Charles
450
4.35
450
Hotel Brighton
475
600
Hotel Traymore
250
400
525
Hotel Berkeley
355
300
Hotel Windsor
325
300
Hotel Senate
225
270
300
Hotel DeVille
241
250
Seaside House
240
250
Shelburne
2.20
250
3,0
Pennhurst
165
168
Luray
280
300
Iroquois
300
Victoria
50
Bleak House
Belmont
Galen Hall
Gladstone
300
Morton
300
Majestic
300
Ocean Queen
200
Friday
SO
..
Wiltshire
252
DAILY UNION HISTORY OF ATLANTIC COUNTY.
Verily is Easter at the seashore a time when wealth, fashion and culture form the three graces that sway the hearts of the multitude. The surroundings here seem especially designed for a proper celebration of the day. The sublime majesty of the deep teaches a silent lesson of the omnipotence of the Creator and the dependence of frail humanity.
Atlantic City as an appropriate place in which to observe and magnify the day has been recognized for years, and the hotels make it a point to cater par- ticularly to the rush that comes just prior to the great festival. Easter week, as a rule, is devoted to private card parties and dances which are toned down to meet the requirements of the season.
In the hotel world especially at this season our city is invested with a halo of romance that appeals to the sentimental natures of young people who admire the moon and see loved faces in the foam as they gaze at the surf and dream of the day when their happiness will be consummated. "You'll remember me" is the favorite melody at this time as the jingling cadence of the music chimes har- moniously with the throbbing hearts of the city lovers. For it must be borne in mind that the Goddess of Love is the divinity that presides at the seashore and the matches that are made within sight of the sea, while not as numerous as the sands on the beach, are of frequent occurrence.
The post Lenten season marks a disappearance of those who have added a touch of color to the resort during the preceding forty days, but many weeks do not elapse before the Boardwalk is once more crowded with strangers in search of health and pleasure.
The Boardwalk and Ocean Dicts.
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