By 1900 Ocean City had become home to a small but growing community. The population had risen to 365 year-round residents, partially due to its commercial fishing industry. Tourism had also grown and though the season was short – mid June to Labor Day – new properties stretched along the Boardwalk for nearly 12 blocks.
The railroad made daily trips into town and in the summer as many as six excursion trains would arrive each afternoon. In that era most of the visitors as well as the food supplies, retail merchandise, and even the lumber to build the hotels and cottages arrived by train.
The land once known as the “Lady’s Resort to the Ocean” was now the growing Town of Ocean City, Maryland. It had come a long way since the first hotel opened on July 4, 1875.
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Photo image courtesy Bob Jones