Ocean City had a different appearance 90 years ago. This photo, taken from the second-floor porch of the Atlantic Hotel in 1930, shows “rolling chairs” — the Boardwalk Tram of that era — prominently displayed in the foreground. The original bandstand, constructed in front of Dr. Francis Townsend, Sr. ‘s Washington Pharmacy, is the deck-style platform extending over the beach in the center of the picture. Free band concerts were the highlight of summer weekends throughout that decade and into the early 1950s.
The beach was narrow in those days and the wooden jetties stretching northward in the distance were an early attempt to combat erosion.
The Boardwalk was a popular place to promenade but the dress code was more formal than today. Men in suits and ties and ladies in dresses and high heels were a normal sight in the mid-afternoon. Nobody would have thought to stroll down the Boardwalk in just a bathing suit and no one would have ever worn an “off-color T-shirt” in the 1930s. It was a more gracious and courteous time.
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Photo courtesy of The Dispatch