Without Lucy the Elephant’s current home in Margate, she wouldn’t be America’s oldest roadside tourist attraction.
Lucy was scheduled for demolition but was given a second chance by Margate residents Ed and Silvia Carpenter. The couple founded the Save Lucy Committee and attained rights to her home at her current location, two blocks south of her former spot.
Lucy – built in 1881 and named “Elephant Bazaar” – had fallen victim to a business deal where her original home was sold for land development. It was originally owned by Lucy’s designer James V. Lafferty Jr., who owned most of South Atlantic City’s land.
Lafferty originally developed Lucy as a method to increase tourism in South Atlantic City, now Margate City. With tourists piling into trains and headed to Atlantic City, Lafferty wanted a way to advertise real estate.
After spending roughly $36 thousand on construction, Lucy was a success.
She was eventually sold to the Gerston Family, who kept the elephant open to visitors. With the start of a new decade, Lucy had gotten into trouble.
Lucy had been deemed unsafe for tourism in 1962 because of her corroding structure. Atlantic City had also been experiencing a decline in tourism due to an increase in travel by airplane.
“They no longer had to come by car to Atlantic City,” said Executive Director Richard Helfant. “They could fly all over, and Atlantic City started on the decline. And along with it went everything else that depends on tourism.”
In 1969, the Gertsons decided to sell Lucy’s location to allow a developer to build a high-rise condominium. With the deal came Lucy’s scheduled demolition.
That’s when the Carpenters stepped in to save Margate’s world-famous icon. With the help of other residents, fundraising events such as bake sales raised enough money to keep Lucy at the Jersey Shore.
The organization earned status as a 501C3 non-profit organization, meaning it could collect money for fundraising without being taxed.
Going door to door, volunteers raised the amount of money needed to cover Lucy’s move. Helfant remembers participating in bake sales for Lucy as a middle-school student. His teacher Julius Woods had been a member of the Save Lucy Committee and encouraged him to participate in Lucy’s fundraisers.
With the funds, the Mullin & Renalli Moving Company from Mount Holly, NJ, decided to take on the risky task. The company was the only one in the Northeast willing to conduct the operation.
“They had an engineering study done to determine if Lucy would survive the move, and they actually didn’t think she would,” said Helfant. “They told the committee that once it went off the curb, it would just collapse to the ground.”
“They [volunteers] had to coordinate with the three utility companies to drop the power lines along Atlantic Ave because Lucy’s taller than them,” Helfant added.
On Jul 20, 1970, the mission was a success as Lucy made it safely to her new home on Atlantic Ave. Doubters in the community were stunned as they crowded the street as Margate’s famous skyscraper defied all odds.
