The contributions of Dr. Jonathan Pitney
By Mari D’Albora Dattolo
The mid to late nineteenth century was a period of immense development for South Jersey, most notably in Atlantic City. Much of the development is thanks to a local physician, Dr. Jonathan Pitney, who had an idea to promote the island of Absegami (meaning “little water”).
Born in Mendham, New Jersey in October 1797, the doctor studied medicine at Columbia University. He practiced for two years at the Staten Island Hospital before moving one hundred miles south to Absecon, NJ in 1820. During his career as a physician, Dr. Pitney would often travel by horseback through the sand dunes of Absecon Island to visit his patients. In doing so, he imagined Atlantic City as a premier health resort. He was convinced that the island offered the perfect climate with its restorative healing properties of sea air and saltwater. He shared his idea with General Enoch Doughty, a successful merchant and landowner. Meeting in Doughty’s store on Shore Road in Absecon, they wrote the first draft of a railroad company charter. Working with businessman Richard Summers by his side, history would rightly recognize Dr. Pitney as the visionary behind the development of the seaside retreat. Richard Osborne, an Irish-born civil engineer, would design a grid system following the example of Philadelphia to make the streets easier to navigate. Avenues would be named after the world’s oceans, intersecting with streets named after America’s states and numbered up to twenty-seven in the latter part of the century. In 1852, Richard Osborne’s designs for the envisioned city were submitted to Philadelphia’s railroad investors. With the approval of The Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) board, Dr. Pitney coined the name “Atlantic City” for his 11.92 square mile city by the sea. Many skeptics labeled this concept the “Railroad to Nowhere”. Unconcerned with the public’s perception, the doctor was determined to build Atlantic City into a destination location. The shorebound railways would be vital to the success of both the city and state’s future tourism industry.
In the progression of Atlantic City’s development, Dr. Pitney became the designated postmaster and recorder of shipwrecks. He led the fight to have Atlantic County divorced from Gloucester County in 1837, then advanced to a position as Atlantic County’s delegate to the State Constitutional Convention in 1844. Another of his contributions was his successful attainment of a Congressional grant in the sum of $52,436 ($1,870,000 by 2020 standards). It was his intention to have a 171 feet tall lighthouse constructed where the Atlantic Ocean met the back bays at the Absecon Inlet. His motivation came by way of a deadly storm off the Jersey coastline in April 1854.
The shipwreck of “Powhattan” was north of Absecon Island, resulting in the loss of over 300 European passengers and crew. Victims’ remains were scattered on the beaches of both Ocean and Atlantic counties. Of the more than one hundred lost that washed ashore in Atlantic City, half were buried in Smithville Methodist’s churchyard and the other half were buried in a mass grave directly across from Dr. Pitney’s House. Both locations are still accessible. Today, the historic Absecon Lighthouse in Atlantic City retains its position as the tallest maritime navigational structure in the state of New Jersey.
In March 1853, New Jersey granted the Camden and Atlantic Railroad Company, a subsidiary of PRR, a charter to build and operate a rail line between the Delaware River and (the renamed) Absecon Island. The unveiling would commence on July 4, 1854, welcoming eager travelers from cities all along the eastern seaboard, including U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant in 1874.
Fifteen rail stations were constructed between Camden, Philadelphia and Atlantic City. The railroad, true to the promise made by Dr. Pitney, created a land boom. Several hotels opened within two years of the inaugural train, including the Surf House, Congress Hall, and the Mansion House. The greatest benefit of the railroad was the attainability for all Philadelphians, who would no longer have to endure a day-long ride in an open stagecoach to reach the seaside.
The final spike on the second city-to-shore railroad, Philadelphia and Atlantic City, was driven in July 1877. By the time the West Jersey and Atlantic Railroad launched in the summer of 1880, the boardwalk had already been part of the landscape for ten years. 20,000 Philadelphians were traveling to Atlantic City each weekend during the high season with a year-round population of 14,000.
On June 16, 1880, with fanfare only a few in South Jersey had ever witnessed, the “Queen of Resorts” was officially opened. The first West Jersey and Atlantic Railroad (WJA) excursion carried stockholders, members of the press and VIPs including George Wood, President of the WJA. They arrived in four new passenger coaches at the intersection of the beach and Florida Avenue. Thanks to visionary Dr. Jonathan Pitney, Atlantic City was quickly becoming America’s favorite seaside resort and playground, as well as the nation’s first vacation destination.
Tragically, just weeks later on Aug. 11, 1880, the WJA Excursion would experience a deadly collision in Mays Landing, NJ on the return from Atlantic City. Thirty lives would be lost from Philadelphia’s Irish neighborhoods, primarily as a result of scalding injuries sustained from the locomotive’s steam engine. Dr. Pitney did not live to hear of this tragedy. However, the railroad’s overall legacy remained positive despite this.
Although Dr. Pitney wouldn’t live to see all that developed as a result of his ingenuity, history remembers him fondly as the “Father of Atlantic City”. The doctor was able to see his vision become a reality by bringing in the railroads that built a city. He would die in his Absecon home four months following the close of the Civil War, on Aug. 7, 1869.
For more information on Atlantic City’s early years, check out “Between the Shore and the City: Tragedy in Mays Landing” by Mari D’Albora Dattolo. For more information on Dr. Jonathan Pitney, visit his home, beautifully restored as a Bed & Breakfast at Jonathan Pitney House 57 N Shore Rd, Absecon, NJ. You can contact the Bed & Breakfast at this phone number: 609-748-0536. You can also email them at the following address: info@jonathanpitneyhouse.com.
