The Knickerbocker Ferry passes through the Route 50 Bridge in February 1971. Planned as a floating shopping mall with two restaurants and a 200-seat movie theater, the former Staten Island, N.Y., Ferry met with nothing but disaster during her three-and-a-half year stint in Ocean City.Owned by the Washington-based company, Ferryboat Ltd., the boat got stuck… Read more »
The development of Ocean Pines by the Boise Cascade Corporation began in 1968 and continued at a rapid pace throughout the 1970s. In the early years, there was no Route 90 bridge and unique marketing strategies to sell lots “in the middle of nowhere” included Hawaiian Luaus, a private clubhouse and pool on the beach… Read more »
In the years before Atlantic General Hospital opened in Berlin, the nearest hospital was 30 miles away in Salisbury. The 10th Street Medical Center of Dr. Francis J. Townsend, right, and Dr. Hunter R. Mann, Jr., left, provided emergency medical care to both locals and tourists in Ocean City.Dr. Townsend’s father had been Ocean City’s… Read more »
The Delmarva Hotel was located on the west side of Baltimore Avenue between North Division and 1st streets. Originally known as The New Avalon, the hotel had been pieced together by its owner, Josephine Hastings, by combining cottages on either side of her boarding house in the early 1900s.The Delmarva, like most Ocean City hotels… Read more »
The Stephen Decatur Hotel was built on the north corner of 12th Street and the Boardwalk in 1930.One of Ocean City’s most upscale hotels, its clientele included many business and political figures from Baltimore. The lobby featured two large fireplaces and the four tall columns supporting the porch roof were one of the most recognizable… Read more »
The first miniature golf course in Ocean City opened in the 1930s, but the sport really became popular after Herb Schoellkopf designed and built two courses on the Pier in 1963. They were prefabricated and featured the themes of Western (cowboys) and Space (little green men and rocket ships, pictured). The cost to play was… Read more »
The Atlantic United Methodist Church dates its founding from April 25, 1915 when 65 local citizens signed a resolution to request the establishment of a Methodist Church in Ocean City. Land was purchased on the corner of 4th Street and Baltimore Avenue (on the northern edge of town in that era) and a church building… Read more »
From 1896 to 1933, the pound fishing industry was second only to tourism in Ocean City’s economy. The fishing season ran from the end of March to mid-November. Women ran the hotels and boarding houses and their husbands fished.The fish pounds were huge traps made of nets located half of a mile offshore. They featured… Read more »
The Plimhimmon Hotel fire on Nov. 21, 1962, was one of the biggest ever fought by the Ocean City Volunteer Fire Company.The Plimhimmon, a Victorian structure built in 1894, was the town’s largest hotel and at the time of the fire was being further enlarged. Although many confuse this blaze with the Boardwalk arsons that… Read more »
The Ocean City Mayor and Council implemented the evacuation of Ocean City for the second time in two years when Hurricane Sandy roared up the Atlantic coast on Oct. 29, 2012 (Hurricane Irene was the other on Aug. 25, 2011). Fortunately, for Ocean City the storm passed several miles offshore but it gave the town… Read more »