A Look Back
By Fred Miller
“Park Fire Loss Set at $75,000” was the headline on the September 12, 1930, Ocean City Sentinel-Ledger. The article reported, “Less than 48 hours (after) it had closed for the season, the Park Theatre, at Park Place and the Boardwalk, was destroyed by fire, Monday afternoon, despite the attempts of firemen to extinguish the flames.”
The article continued, “No damage was done to the boardwalk, although the flames threatened to consume it several times as they crept along to the front wall of the structure. The nearest building to the Park was the Delaware Hotel 100 feet northwest from the rear of the Park, but the wind was from the northeast and the hostelry became a vantage point instead a place of danger.”
The Park Theatre Building, which opened in 1917, had much to offer visitors to America’s Greatest Family Resort. Besides the theatre, the building contained a large bath house, a candy shop, restaurant, delicatessen shop, soda fountain, and a novelty and fishing tackle store.
While the Park Theatre was a loss, Ocean City boasted it had four other movie theatres on the boardwalk: Showboat, Strand, Moorlyn, and Doughty.
