The Excursion House, Ocean City’s first amusement park
A Look Back at Ocean City All the amusement centers on the boardwalk trace their roots to the Excursion House. It was built in the spring of 1886 by Anderson Bourgeois for the Ocean City Excursion Company. The company was headed by Ezra B. Lake, S. Wesley Lake, Parker...
Ocean City Firsts
A Look Backat Ocean City 1880—First public sale of lots 1880—First hotel—The Brighton 1881—First postmaster—William H. Burrell 1881—First doctor—Gilbert E. Palen 1882—First school—built on Central Avenue 1883—First bridge to mainland opens 1884—First county freeholder...
Remembering the Park Theatre fire
A Look Back “Park Fire Loss Set at $75,000” was the headline on the Sept. 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,...
The first Miss America pageant
A Look Back at Ocean City One hundred and four years ago, September 8, 1921, the first Miss America pageant was won by Margaret Gorman of Washington, D.C. She was named “America’s Most Beautiful Bathing Girl” (a year later, her title was shortened to...
