The Atlantic City Race Course lifted the curtain on its first season of racing in July of 1946. An all-star cast of original stockholders were in attendance including Bob Hope and Frank Sinatra. They believed in the new racetrack being built in the South Jersey pines. Developed by former Olympian rower and politico John B. Kelly, they eagerly invested in his project. Little did they know that it would be a box-office smash for several decades.
Constructed by a Philadelphia brickwork company, it was built at a cost of more than $3.5 million. It was a unique mile-and-an- eighth track, no less than 100 feet in width at any point and made up of soil collected from local farms within a 10-mile radius. That soil was finely sifted and treated with white alba and, when laid over the circumference of the track, was very bright. The property also featured a half-mile training track.
But eventually Atlantic City fell victim to a combination of factors, limping to an ignominious death after the 2014 season under different – and largely indifferent – ownership. Credit: Real Brigantine
