ENTERTAINING
A NATION
Career of /Long 'branch
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ENTERTAINING A NATION
'^he Career of Long 'branch
ENTERTAINING
A NATION
Qareer of Long 'branch
Written and Illustrated by the Writers' Project,
Work Projects Administration, State of New Jersey
AMERICAN GUIDE SERIES
Sponsored by
The City of Long Branch
MCMXL
Copyright 1940 by
The City of Long Branch
This book may be purchased from the City Clerk,
Long Branch, N. J.
PRINTED IN THE U. S, A.
BY THE JERSEY PRINTING COMPANY
BAYONNE, N. J.
18
PREFACE
Entertaining a Nation: The Career of Long Branch is the
New Jersey Writers' Project's response to the highly interesting
challenge of writing the history of a city which is both a resort and
a resident community. As completed, it embraces the joint efforts
of the Project and the citizens of Long Branch, who took a lively
interest in its progress and contributed generously of their historical
materials and personal reminiscences.
Representative of this spirit of cooperation was the advisory
committee appointed by Mayor Alton V. Evans: William M. Smith,
superintendent of schools, chairman; Mrs. Harry Heldt, Miss Eva
Howard, Mrs. Harold C. Morford, A. Lawrence Plager, Miss Ethel
Pultz and Francis Rosenfeld. They read the entire manuscript and
offered many constructive suggestions. To them, and to many
others, far too numerous to name individually, the Project ex-
presses its gratitude.
The book was written by Reynolds A. Sweetland and Joseph
Sugarman, Jr., supervising editor, from research material collected
by Benjamin L. Haisser, Julius F. Heine, Virginia Hyndsman and
Caroline Metsgar of the Monmouth and Ocean Counties unit of
the Project. Unless otherwise credited, all photographs were taken
by Samuel Epstein, assistant state supervisor, who also designed
the book.
FEDERAL WORKS AGENCY
WORK PROJECTS ADMINISTRATION
F. C. Harrington
Commissioner
Florence S. Kerr
Assistant Commissioner
John D. Newsom
Director, Writers' Program
Robert W. Allan
Netu Jersey State Administrator
Elizabeth C. Denny Vann
Director, Professional and Service Projects
Viola L. Hutchinson
State Supervisor, Writers' Project
FOREWORD
This, the first full-length history of our community, emphasizes
two basic elements in the pattern of Long Branch. The book sets
forth first a comprehensive picture of the rise, fall and re-birth of
the city as a National resort. Plotted against this curve is a straight
rising line of municipal growth. The city's desire to develop its
recreational and civic potentialities has never before been more
forcefully expressed than at present.
The colorful and romantic resort tradition becomes exceedingly
live, considered in terms of today's municipal beaches, an improved
boardwalk, attractive bathing casinos and marine construction for
the protection of the shorefront. These are modern manifestations
of an enterprising spirit responsible for the city's most prized
memory, its three decades as the Republic's summer capital and as
the gathering place of the elite of the Nation. President Grant once
said that in all his journeyings he had never seen a spot better
suited for a summer residence than Long Branch. The progressive
attitude of the citizenry has kept faith with the community of
seventy years ago which merited that high compliment.
In the second respect Long Branch has also maintained a
rendezvous with the promise of the future. When the golden haze
of the Nineties drifted away from our shores, it left starkly visible
problems of education, roads, public utility supply systems and
municipal government. The challenge has been met over the years
by successive groups of public-spirited citizens and energetic
leaders, who insisted upon re-creating a Long Branch that could
stand on its own, irrespective of the favor of vacationers.
This book, tracing as it does the career of the city from the
days of the first settler to the present, furnishes its readers with
many opportunities for serious consideration of the problems that
yet lie ahead and with many reasons for pride in the solution of
similar issues, present and past.
Alton V. Evans
Mayor of Long Branch
May 1, 1940
Long Branch, N. J.
vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface v
Foreword vii
List of Illustrations xi
I. "The Branch" 1
II. The First Century 9
III. Birth of a Resort 19
IV. America's Foremost Watering Place 43
V. The Gilded Strand 71
VI. The Town Behind the Bluff 99
VII. A Modern City Emerges 113
VIII. The Last Twenty Years 131
IX. How the City is Governed 141
X. The Progress of Education 159
XL Churches 169
XII. Civic and Social Organizations 184
Chronology 195
Bibliography 198
Index 201
IX
(
1
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Pacing Page
Norwood Avenue ^
Broadway ^
Courtesy the City of Long Branch
Joel Wardell House 12
Michael Maps Homestead 12
MoRFORD House 20
Chadwick House 20
The New Era 34
From a painting reproduced in The Wreck of the Ship,
New Era, by Juh'us F. Sachse
Maggie Mitchell 38
From the colleaion of Reynolds A. Sweetland
Edwin Booth 38
From the collection of Reynolds A. Sweetland
J. Lester Wallack 38
From the colleaion of Reynolds A. Sweetland
General Winfield Scott 38
From Old Puss and Peathers, by A. D. Howden Smith
President Ulysses S. Grant 46
Courtesy Free Public Library, Newark, N. J.
Steeplechase at Monmouth Park 52
Harper's Weekly, 1870. From the collection of Francis Rosenfeld
Grand Ball for President Grant 52
Harper's Weekly, 1869. From the collection of Francis Rosenfeld
President Grant's Cottage 52
Harper's Weekly, 1870. From the collection of Francis Rosenfeld
"A Day at the Summer Capital" 56
Harper's Weekly, 1874. From the colleaion of Francis Rosenfeld
Arriving at Long Branch 60
Harper's Weekly, 1865. From the collection of Francis Rosenfeld
The Bluff and the Beach 60
Prank Leslie's Illustrated Weekly, 1872. From the colleaion of
Francis Rosenfeld
xi
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS— ((3o»/m«e^)
Facing Page
"On the Bluff at Long Branch" 60
Harper's Weekly, 1870. From the collection of Francis Rosenfeld
The Continental Hotel 66
The Daily News, Long Branch, 1 867
George W. Childs 66
From Recollections, by George W, Childs
Jim Fisk 66
From Jubilee Jim, by Robert W. Fuller
The Mansion House 70
Daily Graphic, 1874. From the collection of Francis Rosenfeld
Hotel Office 70
Daily Graphic, 1872. From the collection of Francis Rosenfeld
In the Stands at Monmouth Park 70
Harper's Weekly, 1884, From the collection of Francis Rosenfeld
Ocean Avenue in West End 74
Harper's Weekly, 1883. From the coUertion of Francis Rosenfeld
Gambling Casino 74
Frank Leslie's Newspaper, 1889. From the collection of
Francis Rosenfeld
Iron Pier 74
Harper's Weekly, 1879. From the collection of Francis Rosenfeld
Caring for the Wounded Garfield 80
From Our Martyred President, by James D. McCabe
Laying the Track to the Francklyn Cottage 80
Statue of President James A. Garfield 80
Hoey's Gardens 92
Courtesy Mrs. W. A. Kelley
The Elberon Hotel 86
"Diamond Jim" Brady 92
From Diamond Jim, by Parker Morell
Lillian Russell 92
Courtesy Free Public Library, Newark, N. J.
Lily Langtry 92
From the colleaion of Reynolds A. Sweetland
Xll
LIST OF ILUJSTRAriONS—iConfinued)
Facing Page
Oliver Byron 92
From the collertion of Reynolds A. Sweetland
President Rutherford B. Hayes 96
From Rutherford B. Hayes, by Charles Richard Williams
President James A. Garfield 96
Courtesy Free Public Library, Newark, N. J.
President Chester A. Arthur 96
Courtesy Free Public Library, Newark, N. J.
President William McKinley 96
Courtesy Free Public Library, Newark, N. J.
"Upper Village," About 1850 102
Courtesy Mrs. H. Heldt
Police Force, 1880 102
William Russell Maps 108
From The History of Monmouth County, by Franklin Ellis
Dr. Thomas G. Chattle 108
Ocean Avenue, 1907 116
Open Air Theatre, Pleasure Bay Park 116
ScARBORO Hotel 122
Garfield Hut 122
President Woodrow Wilson at Shadow Lawn 126
Courtesy International News Photos
'The Breakers" 130
"Aladdin's Palace" 130
Nathaniel Rubel
The Hearn Estate 136
Pleasure Bay 136
Bath Avenue 140
City Hall 144
Fire Department 148
Courtesy the City of Long Branch
Radio Police 148
Xlll
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS— (Co«/m«^^)
Facing Page
Lake Takanassee 152
Courtesy the City of Long Branch
Colony Surf Club 152
Public Library 156
United States Post Office 156
Nathaniel Rubel
The Gregory Primary School 162
The Star of the Sea Academy 162
Long Branch Senior High School 168
Simpson Memorial M. E. Church 172
First Baptist Church 172
Elberon Memorial Church 172
St. Luke's M. E. Church 172
St. James' Episcopal Church 176
St. Mary's, Our Lady Star of the Sea 176
Brothers of Israel Synagogue 176
Church of the Presidents 180
Dutch Reformed Church 180
St. Michael's R. C. Church 180
Holy Trinity R. C. Church 182
AsBURY M. E. Church 182
Second Baptist Church ^ 182
First Presbyterian Church 182
Masonic Temple 186
Branchport Yacht Basin 190
Sunday on the Beach 190
Courtesy the City of Long Branch
West End Casino 194
Courtesy the City of Long Branch
Sailing on the Shrewsbury 194
Courtesy the City of Long Branch
Map of the City of Long Branch
xiv
ENTERTAINING A NATION
'■Qhe Qareer of Long 'branch
CHAPTER I
''The Branch''
"TTONG Branch has broadened considerably since Harper's
I Magazine in 1876 pronounced it "like the lady's foot of
Punch's shoemaker — remarkably long and narrer." Its claim
to the title of America's oldest seashore resort has brought forth a
re-birth that makes the distinction more than an empty historical
accident. It has expanded from a pleasure spot for the rich to a
recreation center for the great middle class, from a tiny town
struggling to preserve its identity against a giant resort to a mature
American city, conscious of its year-round responsibilities to its
citizenry.
It has also grown physically. Long Branch is now longer — ^but
not much less "narrer" than it was 60 years ago. Absorptions of
neighboring communities have extended the shorefront to almost
five miles, but the breadth remains at its original two miles. The
old fishing town of North Long Branch, the picnic grounds of
Pleasure Bay and the shipping center of Branchport were added to
the city, which at first ran from an inland crossroads to the shore-
front settlement at the foot of Broadway, known as East Long
Branch. Later, the purely resort communities of West End and
Elberon were included to form the present boundaries.
Gathering to itself Monmouth County industries and ways of
life, on the one hand, and the latest in luxurious and sophisticated
vacationing, on the other, the old city has increased the striking
contrasts that have always been a major part of its charm. A short
distance from the lively boardwalk are rural river-front meadows
with sailboats tied to low docks. Fishing fleets put out to sea at
about the time night shifts knock off in garment factories. Not far
from modern Broadway with its shiny store-fronts, and neon lights
2 Entertaining a Nation
a few families live in ancestral houses, old a century ago. More
modern frame dwellings house many of the newcomers who have
increased the city's working population. Along the shorefront
stand the enormous residences of the elegant eighties and gay nine-
ties, when even a thirty-room house was known as a cottage. Faded
but resolute in their often grotesque architecture, they memorialize
the resort's past popularity with the "400." As lovely as when they
were first laid out are the lawns and gardens of these estates where
stately trees and richly-colored flower beds brighten the grimness of
yesterday. And before all this stretches the vast Atlantic, whose
alternate calm and fury seem to symbolize its history of friend and
foe of Long Branch.
The sea has been the determining factor in the community's
development. The discovery in 1918 of the heel bone of a giant
ground sloth on the beach has led geologists to believe that these
creatures may have first sought local waters two hundred thousand
years ago. Slate artifacts indicate the presence of Neolithic and
Paleolithic man. When the Lenni Lenape Indians settled the region
they established a large camp at Port-au-Peck on the Shrewsbury
but came down to the ocean front in summer. In the spring they
were joined by Iroquois and tribes from the Great Lakes and Canada
who made Long Branch a celebrated summer resort long before the
arrival of Columbus. The visitors, who frequently frightened the
natives away, remained until fall, when they left laden with large
quantities of sun-dried oysters, clams and fish.
The sea continued to pound away on the Long Branch shore,
but for more than a century white settlers concentrated on their
farms inland. Once visitors discovered the old Indian knowledge of
the healthy air and water, Long Branch was launched on its career
as a watering place. While the ocean ate away at the beach and
caused homes to be moved farther and farther back, the resort rose
steadily in eminence until it reached a peak with the arrival of
President Ulysses S. Grant. For almost three decades Long Branch
was synonymous with the gayest, the sportiest and the most fashion-
able company in the United States.
The gaily-colored bubble burst in 1893 when the race track at
Monmouth Park closed down. Stunned at first by its loss of prestige
"The Branch" 3
and patronage, Long Branch rebuilt slowly. In its distress it turned
to the sea, the one asset that had remained constant through the
years. By developing its beaches and constructing a boardwalk, the
resort was able to win back much of its trade. In recent years,
through the construction of jetties, it has succeeded in protecting
itself to some extent from further encroachment by the ocean.
Two large city-owned beaches are today the principal recrea-
tion centers in Long Branch. For the bathing privilege residents
pay |1 a year and non-residents $3. In addition to many privately-
owned beaches, there are several semi-public beach clubs, the West
End Casino, the Colony Surf Club, the Takanassee Beach Club,
and the Ocean Beach Club. Rows of gay cabanas, indoor swimming
pools and popular dance orchestras make some of these clubs the
focal point of fashionable life in Long Branch during the summer
time.
The amusement center on the boardwalk is a melange of eating
places, frozen custard stands, fortune-tellers' booths, shooting
galleries and other recreation spots dominated by a long fishing
pier. The boardwalk is lined with benches that are seldom vacant,
day or night. South of the amusement area are the largest of the
present-day shorefront hotels, a few weather-beaten ruins of ornate
cottages and an occasional empty lot.
What the wealth of the brown decades of the last century
wrought in Long Branch survives chiefly in the West End and
Elberon sections. Both sides of Ocean Avenue for about a mile
south are an almost forgotten chapter in American architectural
history. Large, rambling frame houses with sweeping driveways and
broad lawns recall at a glance the period when a house, like a
fashionable woman, simply could not be overdecorated. In addition
to windows, doors and steps, these structures display a staggering
array of turrets, cupolas, balconies, indiscriminate lattice work, tier
upon tier of porches and gargoyles, cherubs and other adornment
at random points. Possibly fifty in number, they are typified by the
greenish yellow house owned by Solomon R. Guggenheim, which,
with a full appreciation of its Moslem characteristics, is called
"Aladdin's Palace."
Many of these vast buildings are no longer occupied, or are
4 Entertaining a Nation
visited for only a short time during the season. Yet most are kept
in surprisingly good repair, and even those with paint peeling and
broken fences enjoy a certain dignity from the impeccable appear-
ance of the surrounding grounds. One local estate requires no less
than a dozen men hard at work for several weeks to be in readiness
for a week-end stay by the owner.
Beyond, on Ocean Avenue and down several side streets, are
more modest and more modern summer homes, evidence of a later
development. Conforming more closely to the present notion of a
cottage, these dwellings are inhabited chiefly by the upper middle
class, many of whom are year-round residents. The row is oc-
casionally broken by a recently-built estate that rivals the old-time
ones in size and usually surpasses them in architectural and land-
scape beauty.
Long Branch goes shopping along Broadway, its main thorough-
fare from the ocean to the western boundary. Wide and treeless,
the street telescopes the story of local growth. Onyx and chromium
store fronts are topped by the remains of frame dwellings that are
reached by long, rambling flights of steps. Old Long Branch names,
such as Morford, Maps and Slocum, appear on many store signs,
and for the size of the city there are few chain stores. Local business
men preserve the deep-seated habit of conducting nearly as much
of their trade on the narrow, crowded sidewalk as over their
counters. Also on Broadway, the two motion picture houses almost
face each other in a rivalry conducted by one management. Near
one of the few cross streets stands Steinbach's, the city's sole
department store.
The upper section of Broadway runs through the oldest part of
Long Branch, the Upper Village. Still the main residential area
of the city, its population is housed in old, but smartly-renovated
buildings on the north side of Broadway and newer, smaller homes
on the south side. In the southeastern corner of this section is a
thickly populated Italian region.
Southwest of the old village houses are in less urban arrange-
ment, with many of the inhabitants clinging to the vestiges of the
city's agricultural tradition by truck farming in the back yards. On
the west shore of the long branch of the Shrewsbury River, from
'^ 'ii
W^'
Homes on Norwood Avenue
Broadivay, shopping center of the city
^l^%^hi§h
'A^
■^feli
"The Branch" 5
which the city derives its name, lies Pleasure Bay, once a favorite
outing-spot for the ocean front society, and now hopeful of being
restored to favor by the construaion of the proposed $85,000 yacht
basin at Buxton's Creek.
Scattered as is its population, the city, which remains small
enough to have a single telephone exchange, has achieved a note-
worthy degree of community spirit. Green and white are the official
Long Branch colors, and they bloom on the windshields of auto-
mobiles, the shingles of tea shoppes and sweaters worn by city
officials. The Green and White Association, consisting of parents
of high school students, whips up an elaborate program of volun-
tary and enthusiastic rooting for the school teams. Watches from
North Long Branch to Elberon are checked in unison at noon by
three shrill toots from a fire siren. Citizens respond in the same
neighborly way to annual campaigns for public welfare, community
concerts and drives for beach cleanliness.
Proud though they may be of their rich and colorful past, Long
Branch citizens turn their thoughts to the future. Present plans call
for an improvement of the boardwalk, the beaches and the inland
traffic system by continuing several streets across Broadway. A new
railroad station, located nearer Broadway, and the electrification of
the lines to New York are among the changes under consideration
by the companies serving Long Branch. The most ambitious pro-
gram, however, would involve the construction of a new wide street
between Ocean and Second Avenues, allowing Ocean Avenue to be
converted into an 80-foot wide boardwalk that would greatly
benefit the shorefront and the entire city.
Plans such as these bespeak the transformation of Long Branch.
Regrets for the blaring days of President Grant and the diamond-
studded days of Jim Brady would be in vain. The Drexels and
Biddies will doubtless come no more to the Branch. Presidents will
establish summer White Houses elsewhere. The Jim Fisks of to-
morrow will parade down some other boardwalk, and the Lillian
Russells will dazzle audiences in other casinos.
What that florid age gave to Long Branch will never be
forgotten. The resort has learned to put not its trust in kings and
princes. Nor, despite the present interest in the possibility of a
6 Entertaining a Nation
revival of horseracing, in the sport of kings. It has fashioned its
appeal now to all the population. Mass pleasure is the objective
today, the development of a resort that can accommodate a great
variety of purses and tastes. And integrated with it is a city that
stands foursquare.
CHAPTER II
The First Century
THE search for the beginnings of American history along the
northern coast of New Jersey leads inevitably back to the
earliest European mariners in American waters. Each sea-
shore section or town is pleased to believe that possibly a Frobisher,
a Vespucci or a Champlain espied its particular location in his
cruising of long ago. Although no such claims can be categorically
refuted and dismissed, neither can they be accepted without reason-
able doubt.
In the case of the five miles along the shore that constitute
Long Branch an exceedingly varied and distinguished gallery of
explorers has been summoned to make history for the region before
actual records existed. There is some reason to believe that John
Cabot and his son, Sebastian, first viewed the Long Branch coast
in 1498, for in that year they sailed south on the Atlantic to the
38th parallel, far below the site of Long Branch. Whether they
sighted Long Branch or not, it was included in their claim of the
North American continent for the King of England. In 1524
Giovanni da Verrazano, an Italian navigating for the French crown,
noted highlands along the coast that have been thought to be the
Navesink Hills near Long Branch. The next year Estevan Gomez,
a Portuguese in the service of Emperor Charles the Fifth of the
Holy Roman Empire, sailed a course in the North Atlantic that
leads historians to believe he may have come close to Long Branch.
Almost a century later Henry Hudson, an Englishman in the
employ of the Dutch East India Company, claimed this territory
for Holland. Although the Dutch settled some of the land, in 1664
they were thrust from it by the threat of English force, and the
territory known as New Netherland passed to Charles II of
8 Entertaining a Nation
England. He gave the region to his brother James, Duke of York,
who in turn handed over the section between the Delaware and
Hudson Rivers to two friends, John, Lord Berkeley and Sir George
Carteret, calling it New Jersey.
Before the Duke of York had accomplished this transfer. Col.
Richard Nicolls, commander of the English fleet that had captured
New Amsterdam (New York), permitted a group from Long
Island to purchase a large tract lying on Raritan Bay and the
Atlantic coast. In April 1665 he confirmed the transaction in the
so-called Monmouth Patent. Shrewsbury and Middletown were
founded by the patentees, the Rhode Island Monmouth Society, a
group of New Englanders who had migrated to Long Island in
search of religious freedom.
This was the stock of the original Long Branch settlers. In
1668 five associates of the Monmouth patentees, John Slocum,
Joseph and Peter Parker, Eliakim Wardell and a man named
Hulett opened negotiations with the Indians for land on the present
location of the Port-au-Peck section of Long Branch. Popamora,
the chieftain, invited the white men to a tribal feast to discuss the
particulars. The Indians entertained them much as present-day
salesmen pave the way to a sale by providing buyers with a round
of pleasure. The main attraction was a series of bouts between
Vow-a-vapon, the favorite wrestler of the tribe, and other youths
of the settlement. The white men then exchanged trinkets for
Indian pelts and a general spirit of good fellowship augured well
for the business dealings to come.
Unfortunately this spirit of friendship vanished quickly in a
bitter dispute over the interpretation of the unit of measurement
to be used in determining the size of the purchase. The white men
had talked of a "hide," meaning the amount of land that one ox
could plow in a year, or approximately one hundred and twenty
acres. The Indians, however, literally took a "hide of land" to mean
just what it said, as much as could be covered by a single animal
hide. Hot words were exchanged, and when the contestants ran
out of arguments they decided to settle the dispute by combat.
Instead, however, of the unequal forces pitching into each other,
they each agreed to name a champion.
The First Century 9
The contestants would wrestle the best two out of three rounds.
If the white man won his followers would be permitted to pur-
chase all the land he could walk around in one day. If he lost, his
followers would demand no land and would leave peacefully. The
terms of the encounter thus agreed upon, each side retired to select
its representative.
The white men decided upon John Slocum, a strong, power-
fully-built young man. For the Indians there could be only one
choice, the redoubtable Vow-a-vapon. They expected him to dispose
of his opponent easily and prepared a great feast in anticipation of
the triumph.
The firm sand beach at the Indians' Fish Landing ( now the foot
of North Broadway) was the arena. Here the rival parties gathered
and the Indians formed a large circle into which stepped Vow-a-
vapon. When Slocum saw that the Indian champion was clad only
in his all-enveloping confidence and a thick coat of goose grease, he
coolly ran both his hands in the damp sand and strode forth for
the battle.
The first round was fiercely fought, but Slocum finally threw
the Indian who was on his feet instantly. Again they clashed and
this time both fell to the ground. Anxious murmurs swept the
circle. The last round began. Each contestant strained every muscle
to force his opponent to the sand; neither seemed to gain any
advantage, neither seemed to tire. Around and around the circle
they fought, each watching for the opening that would mean
victory. Their breath came hard and their chests heaved as they
drew their last reserves of energy. Finally, with a Herculean effort,
Slocum hurled Vow-a-vapon to the sand and stood over him, pant-
ing and exhausted, but the victor. The Indians could not conceal
their disappointment and astonishment, but they sportingly invited
the white man to what they had hoped would be their own victory
feast. The following day they completed the bargain by permitting
Slocum to "walk off" the land as agreed.
To this tale, which has some of the aspects of a manufaaured
legend, has been added a yarn about the actual "walking off."
According to this story, told with tongue in cheek by old residents,
yet even recorded in print, the white champion who downed Vow-
10 Entertaining a Nation
a-vapon was named John Fastcum. In pacing out the claim, he
walked too slowly to please his companions and one shouted irri-
tably, "You ought to be called Slocum, not Fastcum." The name is
reputed to have clung to him, his family and their descendants —
all of which would make a pleasant scrap of folklore, except for
the fact that Slocum's name appears among the associates of the
Monmouth Patentees two years before the wrestling bout occurred.
How much land Slocum "walked off" would be difficult to
estimate but he apparently covered a good deal of ground. The
holdings of the original settlers extended roughly from the present
location of Broadway in Long Branch north to Sea Bright and as
far inland as Eatontown and Little Silver. The only indication of
the sum paid for this tract is the contention of local historians that
Slocum gave the Indians four pounds or its equivalent for his lands.
Joined by two brothers, Slocum took the region from the sea-
shore to Turtle Mill Brook, embracing all the land lying north of
Fish Path (Broadway) from the sea to Eatontown and between
these two points to the south of Shrewsbury, excepting Fresh Pond
and Snag Swamp. John Slocum's original homestead is known to
have been near the junction of Cooper and Ocean Avenues; his
holdings ran back as far as Pleasure Bay and Slocum's Island.
In charting the tracts of the five associates, it must be remem-
bered that Slocum alone settled on land that is included within the
present-day boundaries of Long Branch. Despite this fact, the five
men have long been considered as a group the original settlers of
the city. Eliakim Wardell obtained the long shore front of Sea
Bright, Fresh Pond (Monmouth Beach) and Snag Swamp. The
Parkers, Joseph and Peter, settled on Town Neck (Little Silver),
and Hulett established himself at Horse Neck.
With the exception of Hulett, who moved away from the region
shortly afterward, the original settlers remained on their land and
founded families that formed the nucleus of the small town that
Long Branch was to remain for more than a century. The early
history of the community depends, of course, in a real sense upon
the activities of these original settlers, irrespective of their inclusion
within Long Branch boundaries. Wardell and his wife, Lydia, built
their home on Monmouth Beach, filling the walls with stone
The First Century 11
brought from England as ballast. His lands, which were mostly
sandy beaches, covered approximately four hundred and fifty acres
in 1670. Both Wardell and his wife had been publicly whipped
and driven from Boston for their religious beliefs and for harboring
other Quakers in their house. Here on the Jersey shore they
followed their faith and raised a family in peace.
In 1674 Middletown and Shrewsbury, known as the "two
townes of the Navysinks," were designated as one of the four
counties into which the Province of East Jersey was divided. At a
later date, Peter Parker was elected constable of Shrewsbury, and
in 1683 Eliakim Wardell was appointed the first high sheriff of
the county. In the same year John Slocum was made foreman of
the Grand Jury in Shrewsbury Towne. He also became chief ranger
of the county and commenced the work that, in 1715, thirteen
years after his death, converted the Fish Path of the Indians into a
wagon road to Monmouth Court House ( Freehold ) .
In his old age Slocum married Meribah Parker, his house-
keeper, who was a widow of one of the earliest settlers, possibly a
cousin of Peter Parker. Slocum became deeply attached to his
wife's son, Peter, and upon his death in 1702 left him his entire
estate with the exception of Slocum's Island, which he willed to his
brothers.
Settlement after the arrival of the original five families pro-
ceeded slowly. No figures survive on the population increase
throughout the first century of Long Branch's history, but it has
been estimated by the Asbury Park Press that the total price paid the
Indians for the land comprising Long Branch was about $170,000.
Settlers are believed to have paid about 20 shillings an acre, which
would mean that in all they purchased approximately thirty- four
thousand acres from the Indians.
The sea held little attraaion for these early settlers; in fact, the
shorefront, to become the deciding factor in Long Branch's develop-
ment, was regarded as practically worthless by the pioneers. They
sought protection from the wintry gales and heavy storms by
settling about a mile-and-a-half inland. Their cluster of farms
that was to grow into a village was probably located a little south
of the so-called long branch of the Shrewsbury River.
12 Entertaining a Nation
The only record of growth in the early eighteenth century is a
few scattered deeds to houses that have become historic sites in
Long Branch. The Chadwick House, 250 Park Avenue, which was
torn down in the fall of 1939, is dated 1704 by a registered deed
in Freehold, but the original owner is unknown. Three years later
Joel Wardell, son of Eliakim Wardell, obtained a deed for his
home at 122 Myrtle Avenue, and in 1711 the Rowland family is
known to have built a home in West Long Branch. Although the
date of his arrival in Long Branch is uncertain, John Chamberlain
sold three hundred and fifty acres of local real estate to a Henry
Green of Rhode Island at the comparatively early date of 1743.
In the succeeding years, before the outbreak of the Revolution,
several families that in later generations were to become prominent
in the affairs of the community settled in or near Long Branch. Of
these only the date of James Cook's arrival is definitely known. In
1767 he built a homestead on Broadway just west of Norwood
Avenue, which now stands on Conover Place as the Morford House.
Cook owned the land between Solomon Maps' Brook and Turtle
Mill Brook. The present Stewart Cook, now in his 94th year, is a
direct descendant of James Cook.
Other families that settled during this period include the
Lanes, the Coopers, the Wests and the WooUeys. In Shrewsbury
were the Morfords and Lippincotts, while the Edwards family
settled on the site of Oceanport, and the Conovers, a Dutch family,
lived in nearby Pleasant Valley (Marlboro) and Monmouth Court
House.
The Maps family, which played a large part in the development
of Long Branch, was founded by a young Hollander, named
Michael Mapes, who landed in New York in 1754, ambitious and
strong, but penniless. Since he was too old to apprentice himself
to learn a trade, he did the next best thing by indenturing himself
as a servant. The document of his indenture is still cherished by
his descendants. It reads:
This Indenture witnesseth that Michael Mapes doth bind
^ and put himself as a servant to George Smith for and during
the full term of seven years. And that during the said term
the said George Smith shall find and provide for the said
'^^mrr^x
:i^^ i
nfflffliri
iSHHjnill
ti^^
The Joel Wardell House, erected in 1707
The Michael Maps Homestead
The First Century ' 13
Michael Mapes sufficient meat, drink, apparel, washing and
lodging. And the expiration of said term shall give unto him
one new suit of clothes and 50 shillings of current money.
This Indenture was sealed and delivered in the presence of
the Mayor of New York on the sixteenth day of December,
in the 28th year of his Majesty's reign, Annoque Domini,
1754.
Mapes accompanied his master, George Smith, to West Long
Branch, where at the end of a year he had married Smith's daughter,
Barbara, and had had a son, Frederick. When his term of inden-
ture expired, Mapes accepted the agreed fifty shillings from Smith
and promptly paid it as a first installment on his former master's
house. He was shrewder and more diligent than Smith, and his
farm soon became a prosperous one. Mapes, however, was less
fortunate with his ancestral name. His English neighbors insisted
on pronouncing it to rhyme with "chaps" and he finally changed
the spelling to conform with the pronunciation, so that family
name became Maps.
Although the farms of later settlers were smaller than the huge
estates of Wardell and Slocum, they were of considerable size and
far enough apart to guarantee the essentially rural character of the
region. Cooperation rather than competition governed the life of
the little settlement. Too isolated to depend upon any other com-
munity, the Long Branch area early had to work out a self-sufl[i-
cient economy. Cuttings, seeds and plants were brought from New
England and old England. The soil was found especially adaptable
to peach and strawberry cultivation.
Hunting and fishing supplemented agriculture. From the
Indians the settlers learned to make willow whistles to imitate bird
calls that would attract ducks and geese. One of the earliest hunt-
ing grounds was in the swamp around Mannhassit Creek (at
Chelsea and Second Avenues). In addition to serving as food for
the local population, fish, clams, crabs and oysters were sold for
sugar, tea, hardware and other household necessities in Shrewsbury.
No general store existed in Long Branch until many years after the
Revolution.
The surplus catch was shipped to New York by boat from
14 Entertaining a Nation
Warden's Landing on the present site of Branchport. The shipping
post was later known as Shell Dock because it had been made from
shell dumpings. At first only small packet boats navigated the
Shrewsbury, but after a channel was dredged, two-masted schooners
carried on considerable trade with New York. In exchange for
luxuries and necessities from the large city. Long Branch sent
produce, fish and an occasional resident on a visit to his banker, or
a woman taking her tea kettle to be repaired by a tinker on Broad-
way or bent upon buying the latest pattern for a dress or her
husband's Sunday shirt.
Sheep-raising was widespread and in shearing time the animals
were driven to a large pen at Pleasure Bay, then known as "Sheep
Pen," where they were washed in the river and their clean wool
stripped. In slaughtering each owner parcelled out meat for his
neighbors, which they returned when they killed their sheep.
Early industry appears to have been limited to tanning and
milling. The first tannery was located on Wolf Hill, where settlers
took their animal skins to be tanned. Shoes and boots were manu-
factured by itinerant cobblers who remained in each household until
they had made shoes for the entire family. Gristmills were erected
at Whale Brook Pond by William Brinley, north of the present
site of Oakhurst and on Turtle Mill Brook on land now included in
Woodbine Cemetery. The owner of the second mill is unknown,
but the mill was in operation during the Revolution. The site of
the Whale Brook Pond was deeded by Brinley in 1791 for the
Oceanville Cemetery; the mill stood about two hundred yards south
of the cemetery and part of the foundation can be seen today.
Because there was no church in the vicinity until after the
Revolution, the social life of the community must have been even
simpler than that of most colonial settlements. Quilting-bees, corn-
huskings, an occasional wedding and frequent parties were the main
diversions. Before the Revolution there was at least one tavern
where the men could gather, the Fish Tavern, the site of which
is now offshore at Cooper Avenue. This is believed to be the tavern
taken over by Herbert and Chandler in 1792 as the "Shrewsbury,"
which in 1806 became Bennett's boarding house. Women visited
as much as their spinning, weaving and baking at home permitted.
The First Century 15
They shared household necessities in the same manner that the men
handled the meat problem; each housewife, for example took her
turn at making yeast, which everyone borrowed when hers had
grown "dead."
Nothing illustrates better the cooperative spirit of the settle-
ment than its construction of roads. Each man contributed his share
of labor and horses, and the women turned out with food and drink
for the workers. One early road (now Locust Avenue from West
Long Branch to Oakhurst) was long known as Pot Pie Road be-
cause the women along this particular stretch served the men with
great pots of chicken stew covered with pie crust.
The Minisink Trail, a main road, extending from Minisink Island
in the Delaware River almost to Red Bank ran to Long Branch by
virtue of an extension from Tinton Falls that cut down through
Eatontown and is believed to have reached the ocean at the end
of North Broadway. This branch was known as the Burlington
Path, because it joined the Navesink Trail that went westward
across the State to Burlington. It was later called Fish Path, and
the fish wagons from Long Branch traveled over it to the markets
in Philadelphia.
In 1759 there was a regular coach line from Cooper's Ferry
(Camden) to Mount Holly, Shrewsbury, Middletown, Chapel Hill,
out onto Sandy Hook, where sailing boats completed the trip to
New York. Travelers from Long Branch could take this coach in
either direction at Shrewsbury, the nearest stop. Prior to 1793 a
line of stages connected with Philadelphia by a sailboat was cover-
ing the 48 miles between Bordentown and Long Branch. The stage
stopped at Smithburg, the half-way mark for a midday dinner, and
arrived in Long Branch late in the afternoon.
Roads out of Long Branch were few, and the village was far
away from most of the great post roads that crossed the colony.
For news of the outside world citizens depended chiefly upon the
sailors who navigated to and from New York or upon itinerant
artisans and peddlers. These men brought not only news of the
large cities, but gossip as well from places not more than twenty
miles distant. Their arrival was eagerly awaited by every household
and their departure was a source of genuine regret, a reminder that
16 Entertaining a Nation
the little collection of farms lacked many comforts and pleasures
that folks in larger towns took for granted.
In its isolated position Long Branch was little disturbed by the
political changes in New Jersey throughout the eighteenth century.
To the fishermen and farmers it was not a matter of great im-
portance in 1702 when Queen Anne joined the colony to New
York and made Lord Cornbury Governor. Nor were their sons
any more stirred by the separation of New Jersey from New York
in 1738 and the appointment of Lewis Morris as the Colony's first
Governor. Shrewsbury was the seat of government for the town-
ship of which Long Branch was a part, and it is doubtful that the
people of Long Branch took their government to mean much more
than the payment of taxes to Shrewsbury and the maintenance of
loyalty to the sovereign in London.
The Stamp Act crisis in 1765 and the growing tension between
the colonies and England in the succeeding years seem to have
caused no trouble in Long Branch. Thus, the outbreak of the Revo-
lution in 1775 caught the village virtually unaware. Once the
conflict came, however, feelings ran high, for in Shrewsbury Town-
ship dwelt a large number of pacifist Quakers whose refusal to fight
identified them with the dominant Tories in the mind of the
revolutionists. It required considerable pressure from the patriots of
Freehold, the county seat, to win Shrewsbury Township as a whole
over to the cause of independence. At a township meeting on May
27, 1775 resolutions were passed in support of the Continental
Congress and a Committee of Observation and Safety was ap-
pointed. In 1775 and 1776 Shrewsbury raised its full quota for the
Monmouth Militia, and soldiers from the township served in the
battles on Long Island in 1776 and the Battle of Monmouth in
1778.
Long Branch itself was not the scene of any important Revolu-
tionary encounter, but the division between Tories and revolution-
ists in the region led to several incidents in which Long Branch
men figured prominently. Possibly the most noteworthy of these
was a fight at Shrewsbury Township on May 24, 1781 between
Torry refugees and a company of militia commanded by Thomas
Chadwick, of Long Branch. The town figured in a trick played on
I The First Century 17
the British by Anthony Hope of Rumson Neck. He hid a military
dispatch between the soles of his boot and slung over his saddle
two bags of grain that he convinced the enemy were destined for
a Long Branch gristmill. When the British were out of sight, he
threw off the bags and rode furiously to the American forces at
Jamesburg with the news that the British had landed at Sandy
Hook. Raccoon Island (Monmouth Beach) and Town Neck
(Little Silver) were important lookout posts from which news
that the enemy was approaching was relayed to Telegraph Hill just
west of Middletown Village. From this point a chain of bonfires
across the State carried the warning to Philadelphia.
The War dell family of Long Branch had remained Quakers
since Eliakim Wardell had helped to found the community. Their
refusal to participate in the war so angered the local patriots that
almost as soon as hostilities began they confiscated the home of
Ebenezer Wardell. A more serious charge against the family was
the raiding activity of Captain Philip White, a Tory officer, who
was said to be related to the Wardells by marriage. Although he
lived in New York, White spent his summers in Long Branch,
where it was believed he had acquired considerable Wardell prop-
erty by inheritance. It was even thought that he had been the right-
ful owner of the Ebenezer Wardell house when it was seized.
The revolutionists searched for White on all the various War-
dell properties and finally captured him on March 30, 1782 in
the old Samuel Wardell house that still stands on McClellan Street.
He was marched off under guard to Freehold for trial, but between
Tinton Falls and Colt's Neck he attempted to escape and was
killed by the guards. In retaliation for this Tory's death Captain
Joshua Huddy, the hero of the Toms River Block House fight, was
hanged by Tories a few weeks later at the Highlands.
The Edwards family, whose estate included much of what is
now Oceanport, were also Tories who paid heavily for their re-
sistance to the patriots. In the latter part of 1778 young Stephen
Edwards, who had fled the territory for Tory activity, was sent home
by the British to spy out the Long Branch region. Suddenly on a
Saturday night the household was warned that troops from Mata-
wan were marching toward the house. Edwards tore off his clothes,
18 Entertaining a Nation
wedged them under a bed, jumped into the bed and pulled a
woman's nightcap over his head. His ruse failed and when the
soldiers pulled his clothes from under the bed, they found the
written instructions that proved him guilty. His protestation that
the clothes were not on him when he was caught only increased
the rage of his captors, who took him to Freehold early the next
morning.
His mother and father reached Freehold at noon on Monday,
still hopeful that they might secure leniency for their son. They
arrived, however, only in time to claim their son's body, for he had
been hanged at ten o'clock that morning.
CHAPTER III
Birth of a Resort
THE Revolutionary War and the crucial years thereafter
witnessed the first substantial growth of Long Branch since
its founding. In the decade 1790-1800 several families,
which were to become prominent and influential in Long Branch
affairs, first settled in the town. Even after they arrived. Long
Branch remained a tiny collection of dwellings, but the increase was
sufficient to warrant the establishment of many ciwic institutions.
The increase began in 1790 when George Morford, the first of
a long line of Long Branch Morfords, moved down from Shrews-
bury. A year later from the same town came the Lippincott family,
which had been Torys during the war. Shortly after there followed
James Joline, a Hugenot colonel in the French army, the Blaisdell
family from far away Norwich, Vermont, and a branch of the Wool-
ley family from nearby Poplar. In 1799 Cornelius Van Brunt built a
home on Shell Dock Road that was typical of the period. It was
constructed in the salt-box style with a wide lean-to in the rear that
caused the back half of the roof to sweep nearly to the ground.
Although the conmiunity continued to be administered as part
of Shrewsbury Township, it began to develop its own social and
economic life. The need for a local church had been felt ever since
the days when the original settlers had been forced to make labor-
ious trips to Shrewsbury. About 1791 a Methodist Protestant
church was erected in the west end of the old village, the seaion
now known as West Long Branch. It eliminated the hard journeys
to Shrewsbury, but not all the discomforts of churchgoing. The
road to the local church was not so long, but nonetheless rough,
and villagers continued to trudge to worship barefoot in order to
save their precious shoeleather. Although the church had no
20 Entertaining a Nation
regular pastor for many years and depended upon circuit riders,
it was used by Presbyterians and Methodist Episcopalians as well
as the sect that built it. West Long Branch was also the scene of
the community's first school, opened in 1780. It was not until 1812
that there was a school within the present limits of Long Branch.
Despite the fact that the War of 1812 brought business nearly
to a standstill, in that year Michael Maps, son of the original Long
Branch Maps, and Richard Wyckoff opened the first general store
in the town. After three years of business they sold out to Elisha
Lippincott who continued the business for more than half
a century at Lippincott's Corners, Locust Avenue and upper
Broadway.
Other stores followed quickly. At the close of the war, Jacob
Croxson and Thomas Chandler each opened establishments, and
in 1821 Michael Chasey set up a business in the center of Long
Branch Village. These continued successfully for many years, but
George West, who began business in 1822, had a less fortunate
experience. His store at the corner of Bath and Norwood Avenues
finally had to close, West "having lost much money trusting every-
body." The scarcity of money necessitated much barter, and store-
keepers took a large amount of wood in exchange for groceries and
other household articles.
If such modest growth characterized the settlement inland, it
must be remembered that what amounted to another community
was growing up along the seashore. Taken together, they consti-
tuted a fairly impressive sized town in the early decades of the nine-
teenth century. The region's natural attractions were not long
undiscovered. They had been known to the Indians and the English
in Colonial times, but they were not seriously exploited until the
close of the eighteenth century.
The distinction of actually launching Long Branch upon its
celebrated career as a resort cannot properly be conferred upon any
individual. Fish Tavern, a pre-Revolutionary establishment, pro-
vided lodgings and may have housed the first white men who came
to Long Branch to enjoy the seashore. On the other hand, many
farmhouses rented out rooms to visitors, who sat at the host's
family table; the host's wife was the cook and his daughter the
£l''J^*
]m ^
The Morford House, where Robert M. Stults composed "The Sweetest
Story Ever Told"
The Chadvjick House, erected 1704
Bi'rth of a Resort 21
waitress. One of the earliest-known boarders in Long Branch was
Elliston Perot, of Philadelphia, who rented rooms in 1788 at the
farmhouse said to have been owned by Captain Philip White.
Perot was so pleased by the ocean, high bluffs, and the landscape
that he asked if he might return with his wife. His host showed
clearly his amateur status by requesting Perot to bring back with
his family additional beds and bedding. He continued to visit the
house for three years.
In 1791, according to Salter's History of Ocean and Monmouth
Counties, Lewis McKnight of Monmouth, "noticing the liking
shown for the place, bought the whole premises, containing one
hundred acres, for £700 and then got Mr. Perot and others to loan
him $2,000 for improvements. He opened it as a watering place,
and before his death was supposed to have made $40,000 by his
investment. The estate was sold to William Renshaw for $13,000."
The reference to the Renshaw sale tends to establish the site of
McKnight's boarding house at Bath and Ocean Avenues, for here
William Renshaw is known to have bought an old boarding house
in 1820, which he renamed Renshaw's Bath House.
Fish Tavern appears first in records as the property of two men,
named Herbert and Chandler, who are believed to have taken over
the building in 1792, enlarged it and re-named it "The Shrews-
bury." In an issue of Dunlap's Advertiser, published in Philadel-
phia in 1793, the proprietors announced that they had provided
themselves with good waiters, had a large supply of liquors and
spacious stables. They also erected houses under the bank for bath-
ing. By this time a regular line of stages was running from Phila-
delphia to Long Branch.
When this property passed to Joshua Bennett in 1806, Long
Branch had become such a popular watering place that he enlarged
the house to accommodate two hundred and fifty guests. An anony-
mous letter, written to the New York Herald in 1809, ably sum-
marized the benefits and pleasures that the public sought at the
watering place in its earliest days. The writer would qualify as one
of the resort's earliest boosters:
22 Entertaining a Nation
"Sir: Four years ago I took a trip to Long Branch, a bath-
ing place on the shore of the Atlantic sea, chiefly resorted to
by the opulent citizens of Philadelphia, etc. I was then much
pleased with the charming situation and conveniency of the
place for bathing — the salubrity of the sea air — the magnifi-
cent view of the ocean, and shipping, almost constantly in
sight, sailing from or making their way to this and other
Eastern Ports; — the respectability and sobriety of the com-
pany resorting thither; the majority of whom, I was per-
suaded, came for the improvement of their health, and
relaxation from the cares of business, at the most leisure
season of the year, rather than to spend their money and time
in dissipation — falsely called pleasure!
"I could not then help thinking it a pity that this inviting
place was not more known and resorted to by the New
Yorkers, being a little more than fifty miles from our city,
whilst the Philadelphians have to travel nearly eighty miles
to it.
"On the beach are three large frame buildings, or boarding
houses, each capable of entertaining one hundred boarders,
which are continually fluctuating — some going; others com-
ing; and considering that the season, on an average, lasts but
three months in a year,, the terms of board, eight dollars per
week, appear to me to be very reasonable. The tables are
excellent, plentifully covered with the delicacies of the season;
variety of the fish, fresh from the sea — the wines, etc., good
and genuine — the proprietors and waiters very attentive —
but, the lodging, at all of them, capable of improvement.
Among other changes they should substitute Windsor Chairs
for the straight backed rush bottom ones in use.
"I also suggest a steamboat be started from this city to
Long Branch; or, one or two packets built for the purpose,
something similar to the Hudson 'Experiments' furnished
with sweeps to row if becalmed in the creek. The price of
passage, in the present homely packets, is three shillings. They
stop at Red Bank, six miles from Long Branch, but might
easily get within a mile of it, where there is a good landing.
"I am an utter enemy to gaming — ^the ruinous pursuit of
the idle and vicious, also to resorts at watering places to trap
the unwary, but am a friend to innocent and reasonable
amusements, many of which the visitors to Long Branch
already have: viz: the sedentary, or serious, enjoy riding,
walking, reading, social converse — a cheerful cigar and a half
pint of wine after dinner; — the young and gay have dancing
Birth of a Resort 23
and tea parties, — excursions to the neighboring villages; and
lately horse racing has been introduced which, by the by, I
don't like much, but hope it will be hereafter on the Brighton
Hotel plan, where there is to be no gaming! — which would
tend to keep off that corroding disease of the mind, ennui,'
and send the visitors and bathers back to their homes and fire-
sides, with improved health, and fresh relish for the solid
comforts of domestic happiness. AMICUS."
Whatever real estate boom might have been expected to de-
velop from the growing interest in Long Branch was suddenly and
effectively deflated by the War of 1812. Land was offered at as
low as $25 an acre. After the war the community gradually re-
covered its economic equilibrium, but only after considerable
suffering and sacrifice by its citizens.
With the war behind them, the people of Long Branch began
to look forward again to developing an important watering place
on the bluff by the sea, which had already demonstrated its appeal
to New Yorkers and Philadelphians. There was not a great deal
that could be done for the landscape at this time, but plans were
laid for building up the inland town to make it attractive to visitors,
which in turn would benefit the small cluster of boarding houses
"down at the front."
With stores, a physician and other signs of a growing com-
munity, in 1835 Long Branch was becoming something more than
a settlement. It was at this time actually divided into two sections,
known as the Lower and Upper Villages. The former centered
around the present-day business section of Long Branch, while the
latter, the original settlement, was almost a mile to the west. In
1835 the upper village decided to erect a civic flagpole. The pole
was purchased on July 4, 1835 and erected three days later. For
some unaccountable reason, however, it was not dedicated until
three years later.
The ceremonies constituted the first gala celebration in the
town's history. On July 4th, 1838 at sunrise thirteen shots were
fired as a salute from Taber's Hill. As early as six in the morning
a procession assembled in Peter Slocum's woods (in the rear of
the present St. Luke's Church) and marched to the First Methodist
24 Entertaining a Nation
Church. After an address by Rev. James H. Dandy, the Declara-
tion of Independence was read and an oration was delivered by
William H. Slocum. When the speechmaking was completed, the
procession marched to Samuel Cooper's boarding house at the sea-
shore, where dinner was served at four in the afternoon.
Among the leading personages of the day was Samuel Britton,
the Marshal, Captain James Green, who commanded the first
division of distinguished guests, and Captain James Joline in charge
of the Sea Rangers. The second division, including almost the
entire male population, was under the command of Captain John
A. Morford. The celebration ended with a magnificent display of
fireworks. William Russell Maps, the diarist of this period, with
his usual restraint commended the day as "a very respectable
celebration."
The name "Long Branch" was apparently not a particularly
dear possession of the citizenry at this time, for the dedication of
the pole almost instantly resulted in the town's being known as
"The Pole." Later, when a second pole was erected in the lower
village, first at Broadway and Third Avenue, and later moved
down to Second Avenue, the settlements were known as. the Upper
and Lower Poles.
The suggestion of the anonymous writer to the New York
Herald in 1 809 that a steamboat service be instituted between Long
Branch and New York was acted upon in 1828. In that year a
company was formed by Thaddeus W. Whirl ick, Alexander, Mac-
Gregor and John P. Lewis for the construction of the ocean pier at
which the New York boats docked. As "Amicus" had irritably
pointed out, previous to this improvement the ships had tied up at
Red Bank on the North Shrewsbury. Two years later the Mon-
mouth Steamboat Company inaugurated service between New York
and Sandy Hook. This enterprise was fed largely by stage lines on
the New York-Philadelphia route. The stages that made the slow
hot drive from Long Branch to the Hook were odd, wide-wheeled
"beach wagons."
The attraction of Long Branch rested on its healthful climate,
and in the 1820's people came there with the same expectations of
visitors to Baden-Baden or Carlsbad, French Lick or Poland Spring.
Birth of a Resort ' 25
The water was the magnet. "Dr. " would prescribe a few
weeks in the sunshine and on the beach at Long Branch, and the
boarding houses had another customer. "Mixed" bathing was
strictly forbidden. On the bluff just south of Broadway, where
stairs now descend to the beach, a flag was raised to announce
which sex had then the privilege of using the strand. A white flag
was the signal for the women. Husbands, however, could ac-
company their wives at this time. A red flag brought the men down
the bluif and into the water. An unwritten law forbade women
from appearing on the beach before six in the morning. Prior to
that hour, according to Schenck's Guide to Long Branch, "the
gentlemen had the only privilege of disporting themselves in
natural abandon." Apparently the women were early risers them-
selves, for an undated issue of the Ntles Register reassures the
reader that the ladies were so far back in the hotels that the bluffs
adequately concealed the early morning bathers.
There was nothing frivolous in the people who came to Long
Branch in 1820's; they were there for the serious business of im-
proving their physical condition. In The American Hotel, Jefferson
Williamson describes the resort as "a sedate watering place with
grace at each meal, hymn singing in the evening and regular prayer
meetings. . . . Philadelphians were the sole clients and it was a
saintly place with strict blue laws." Henry Wikoff, in Remini-
scences of an Idler, says that Long Branch was "a resort of some
half dozen Philadelphia families with an equal number from New
York." Investigation of reliable sources of the period shows that
Philadelphians heavily outnumbered New Yorkers.
The Methodists from the City of Brotherly Love devised
simple pleasures. They promenaded on Ocean Avenue, which
was then a narrow wagon track with only six buildings along it.
They made souvenirs, collected shells and vari-colored pebbles.
Ladies went in heavily for drying starfish, which they wore sus-
pended from satin ribbons. Amateur art flourished; round cheese-
box covers, wooden coal shovels and even rolling pins were deco-
rated with colorful seascapes. These articles were packed into the
portmanteau at the close of the visit and removed to adorn parlor
walls "back in the city." Yards and yards of dark green seaweed
26 Entertaining a Nation
were draped over curtain poles to serve as portieres and fishnets
were used for the same exotic purpose.
Excitement was provided occasionally by the catching of a
whale in Whale Pond (Lake Takanasse), Ocean House Cove,
Spermaceti Cove on Sandy Hook and the beach just north of Long
Branch. Misdirected whales would become stranded in these bodies
of water and remain to give off an odor sometimes strong enough
to threaten the comfort of the visitors.
What Long Branch the village was like at this time of genteel
vacationing can best be determined from the record left by the late
Robert Potter, whose account appeared in the Long Branch Record,
December 26, 1907. He recalled it as a small fishing hamlet with
but five houses on Broadway between its westerly town limit and
the ocean to the east. South of Broadway a few scattered houses
appeared in the fields and woodlands, and a thick hedge of cedars
skirted Broadway to the north. The shore resort was limited to half
a dozen or so boarding houses along the bluff.
Progress down by the sea seems to have had only a slight in-
fluence up in the village. William Russell Maps purchased Alexander
MacGregor's store in 1829. He made a down payment of $200
and in five years had bought the store in full. The ledger of his
store has recently been found in the Maps homestead and the pur-
chases recorded therein reveal the preferences of some of his
customers. Sample entries that appeared in the Long Branch
Record of October 10, 1930, were:
One charge appearing on the ledger was for 1 lb. of
crackers, 1 lb. of butter and 1 qt. of rum, all for 45^. Three
quarts of whiskey were sold as low as 47^. Another combina-
tion charge was for Va lb. of powder, 1 lb. of shot and Vz pt.
of whiskey, all for 31^.
A charge appearing under July 26, 1832 is for 3 pts. of
rum for 24^. Eggs sold at a cent a piece, brown sugar at 10^
a pound, cheese at 8^, butter at 18^, and codfish cost
2^ a pound. Pork was 9^ a J^ pound and wheat flour 4^.
Gin sold at 75^ a gallon and molasses, 31^. 'Cider spirits'
was a popular charge at 63^ a gallon.
There was also a board charge for nine months against one
customer and the grand total was $48.75 or $5.25 a month,
$1.36 a week or less than 15^ a day.
Birth of a Resort 27
The women bought calicoes, silk and ribbons. Muslin sold
for 1414^ a yard. Trimmings for a bonnet were 75^, a pair
of summer gloves could be had for 38^ and sidecombs were
as low as 6^. Lace sold at two yards for 15^ and cambric
muslin 15}^^ a yard.
The excerpts quoted show that Maps undoubtedly maintained
a profitable liquor trade. Whiskey he sold for 2^ a glass. Profit-
able or not, liquor selling was against his principles, and not long
after he was in business he posted a notice reading, "No more Rum
bought or sold." His was the first and, for many years, the only
temperance store in this section of the country.
Maps' adoption of temperance principles coincided rather
strangely with a changing spirit in the Long Branch that continued
to grow as a resort. As early as 1830 it began to assume a gayer
air. Jefferson Williamson comments on the change, "Card-playing,
billiards, bowling, dancing and fast driving on the beach were in-
troduced. One suspects that it was the passion for fast driving
that made Long Branch the mecca of the worldly crowd."
This departure from the austere vacationing of earlier genera-
tions quickly drew fire from the traditionalists. In a sketch of
American watering places John F. Watson asked pointedly, "Do
we not often meet with families forsaking the shades and coolness
of home for the dense and heated mass of still-boards, worrying
and distressing themselves 'to be in the fashion?" He laid the
blame for the new spirit of restlessness on the wives and had noth-
ing but pity for the husbands, who "stalk gloomily about catching
one meal here and another there." In listing places where the new
spirit most prevailed, Watson traced its rise from Rockaway on
Long Island, through Brighton near Perth Amboy, to the "last but
greatest in fame and company. Long Branch."
No less impressed with the resort's reputation was Mrs. Francis
Trollope, mother of the English novelist, Anthony Trollope. Al-
though she did not visit Long Branch in her snoopy peregrinations
over America in 1830, when she arrived in Philadelphia in the
summer she discovered that many of the best families had left for
the watering place on the Jersey shore. She was amazed to learn
that ladies there did not follow the English praaice of being
28 Entertaining a Nation
wheeled into the water in bathing machines, a kind of portable
bathroom, in which they undressed, bathed and dressed again.
"The shore," she guessed, was "too bold to admit" of these.
Instead ladies observed their American conception of propriety by
asking married gentlemen at their boarding houses to accompany
them "to taste the briny wave." Mrs. Trollope's sensibilities were
somewhat relieved to learn that two ladies always selected the same
male companion, "as custom does not authorize a tete a tete
immersion."
That Long Branch the resort and Long Branch the village were
still quite distinct places is evident from the statement in Gordon's
Gazeteer of 1834: "Long Branch is a small village of twelve or
fifteen houses, one tavern and two stores. On the Atlantic is the
well-known and much frequented sea bathing place which takes
its name from the tributary stream of the Shrewsbury River and
from the hamlet above mentioned." Obviously Gordon clearly had
in mind two separate Long Branches. On his map "Long Branch"
designates the inland settlement, while the shore front is marked
simply, "boarding houses."
The account offers further evidence that Long Branch was no
longer exclusively a health retreat: "The inducements to the in-
valid, the idle and the hunters of pleasure to spend a portion of the
hot season here are many." Enumerated they included good ac-
commodations, obliging hosts, a clean and high shore, with a gently
shelving beach, a fine prospect seaward enlivened by the countless
vessels passing to and from New York, and good gunning. In the
opinion of the writer, however, the greatest attraction of all was
"much and fashionable company."
Another oblique reference to the frivolous developments of
recent years was the suggestion that, in addition to boarding houses,
such as Warden's, Renshaw's and Sairs', "farmers also receive
boarders who, in the quiet of rural life, enjoy in comfort and ease
their season of relaxation, perhaps more fully than those in the
public hotels." The reference to bucolic retreats leads to the sus-
picion that possibly those desirous of rest and quiet in Long Branch
went to the farmhouses up in the village and left the shorefront
to the pleasure-seekers.
Birth of a Resort 29
On the waterfront, the author became positively enthusiastic:
"Along the beach at Long Branch is a strip of fertile black sand
several miles in length and exceeding more than a mile within.
The land adjacent to the ocean rises perpendicularly from the beach
nearly twenty feet. The boarding houses are several rods from the
water with lawns in the immediate space."
The journeys to Long Branch from New York and Philadelphia
were such that the visitors often required a few days rest even if
they had come exclusively for enjoyment. Philadelphians made the
trip entirely by stage across the state. They became so dusty along
the highway that innkeepers are said to have attempted to rub the
dirt off their faces to see whether they were not serving Negroes by
mistake. The boat trip from New York to the Shrewsbury inlet
was, weather permitting, likely to be easier, but the road to the
beach was so sandy that salt meadow grass had to be spread over the
ruts to prevent the 8-inch wide wheels from sinking almost to
their hubs.
For those who went there for their health a substantial but
plain bill of fare was provided. Colored cooks from the South pre-
pared steaming dishes of hard-shelled crabs and lobsters. Beef,
mutton and vegetables were cooked as simply as on the farms from
which they were obtained. An essential part of every lady's diet
was the rich cream and milk yielded by Monmouth County cows.
After the evening meal it was customary to repair to the beach
where everyone stayed until 10 o'clock unless a pair of fiddlers
provided music for the young people to dance in the parlors.
As a storekeeper Maps was naturally quite interested in the
prosperity of the summer boarding houses. His diary follows their
progress with its customary laconic quality:
July 5, 1834 — Visitors from the city are plentiful in the
neighborhood. Boarding houses filled.
July 1, 1836 — Not over 20 boarders on the coast.
July 15, 1837 — Boarders scarce on the shore; Mrs. Renshaw
has no guests. July 31 — Boarders still scarce
on the shore, houses averaging only about
30 each. Aug. 12 — But few boarders out.
July 13, 1839 — But few boarders at the shore. July 28 —
Boarding houses most filled up.
30 Entertaining a Nation
The merchant's scrupulous recording of the minutiae of daily
events gives amusing and revealing sidelights on how the people
up around the two Poles lived in the middle of the last century.
On December 1, 1832 Maps and his family went to a wood-carting
bee at J. M. Woolley's and later on to many spinning bees. With
pride the teetotaler recorded that on January 8, 1834, his sister,
Elizabeth was married at the "first temperance wedding ever known
in this section of the country." Six weeks later Maps was piously
observing the eleventh anniversary of the day he joined the church.
A religious note persisted on the following day when "Leah
Tucker obtained religion at Father's." On which the young moral-
ist commented, "Good time." And like a virtuous churchman he
confesses that once he, "Milked Mrs. Foster's cow by mistake."
The panic of 1837 struck the little village hard. The firm of
Wardcll and Morford, which had just opened a general store, felt
the effects as severely as Maps, who states that he sold some "specie
at a premium of 874% " on August 2, 1837. Conditions had not
improved appreciably by March of the following year; he wrote
lugubriously, "Some talk of the banks resuming specie payments in
May though some are opposed to it. Shin plasters are the principal
money in circulation at present."
Thereafter Long Branch began to regain some of its pre-
depression prosperity, for methodically Maps records the status of
the several boarding houses on the shore:
July 13, 1839 — But few boarders at the shore.
July 29 — Boarding houses most filled up.
July 30, 1840 — Boarding houses well filled.
July 16, 1841 — Boarders very scarce on the shore.
July 31 — Boarders quite plentiful at this date.
July 19, 1842 — Boarding houses about half filled.
July 31 — Cleared up cold this afternoon.
Aug. 1 — ^Boarders frightened by cold.
Aug. 15 — ^Warm weather but few boarders.
Aug. 4, 1843 — Boarding houses at the Branch well filled.
Aug. 14 — Boarding houses filled to over-
flowing.
When Barber and Howe surveyed the New Jersey scene in
1844, they characterized Long Branch as "the popular watering
Birth of a Resort 3 1
place." After describing the bluflF, they continue, "The boarding-
houses are a short distance back from the water, in front of which
are pleasant lawns. In summer, a line of stages run between here
and Philadelphia, and a communication is had with New York."
Apparently overcome with the power of the ocean, they conclude,
"Its inhabitants truly swell at the noise of the sounding surge
'when the dark rolling wave is near with its back of foam.' "
By this time the modest farmhouses and small frame dwellings
had been replaced by more imposing structures. Visitors to Long
Branch in the 1840's had the choice of Renshaw's, which after
James Green bought and improved it in 1837, became the Bath
House; Wardell's at the foot of Lane's End, which had been in
business since 1816 and was operated by Richard Wardell's wife,
known familiarly as "Aunt Peggy"; the Rowland House, a 60-
room building taken over in 1844 by Henry Howland after it had
been run since 1827 by Obadiah Sair; and the Conover House,
which accommodated one hundred and seventy-five guests and far
surpassed the simple buildings that had previously been operated
up to 1839 on the same site by Cornelius Lane and his daughter.
In 1846 Joseph D. Wardell opened the Allegheny House, the
largest, yet the most exclusive hotel at that time. Like most of its
predecessors, it was remodeled from a farmhouse. It was situated
on a tract that had once belonged to John Slocum, who sold it to
Sylvester Brindley in 1828, who in turn disposed of it to Dr.
Elisha Perkins. Its present location would be the northeast corner
of Broadway and Liberty Street. In the same year Jacob W.
Morris opened the Morris House at Ocean Avenue and Laird
Street, which was also built on land owned once by Dr. Elisha
Perkins. After seven successful years, Morris sold out to Samuel
Laird, who renamed the place the Mansion House.
This was the first step toward the accomplishment of luxury
hotels at Long Branch. Its capacity was doubled by the addition
of a south wing and by the erection of three cottages on the
Chelsea Avenue side. The hotel probably reached the peak of its
purveying of "elegant hospitalities" when Mrs. Abraham Lincoln
stayed there just prior to the Civil War.
By 1851 Long Branch was a town of suflicient size to warrant
32 Entertaining a Nation
the drawing of its first map. J. B. Shields of Middletown Point
(Matawan) published the work of Jesse Lightfoot from his original
surveys of Monmouth County. It provides an especially definite
account of the Long Branch shorefront.
At the northern extremity of the shoreline stood the Ocean
House, at the end of the road on Shrewsbury Inlet. North of this,
only the wreck of the 5*. S. North America interrupted the sandy
waste. The remainder shows that Long Branch was still a collection
of small settlements, and reveals that the name Long Branch was
still reserved for the inland village.
Along the road that led past Wardell's Beach through Raccoon
Island (Monmouth Beach) were only nine farms: J. Wardell, D.
Woolley, J. Lippincott, J. West, H. Manahan, J. Wooley, J. West
( a second farm ) , John West and Jesse Cook.
In Fishtown, which has since become known as North Long
Branch, there were ten houses. The property owners included: J.
Cook, S. Cook, W. H. Wardell, E. Lippincott, C. H. Valentine, J.
Potter, B. White, E. West, W. Throckmorton, and J. W. Parker.
West, toward the South Shrewsbury River, was N. Woolley's home.
South of Fishtown a road ran westward to meet another road
at the long branch of the Shrewsbury River. This road extended up
from the village and close by the intersection lived D. Van Brunt,
E. Van Dike, W. De Vise, J. Lane and a few other families.
Along the road running from Fishtown to Main Street ( Broad-
way) were only five houses. They belonged to A. Jackson, N. W.
Troutman, B. C. and H. W. Parker, and at the southwest corner of
the junction was the hotel operated by J. Chasey, in 1851 the most
northerly of the summer boarding places. Not far to the south
were the boarding houses of Sam Cooper and J. W. Morris.
This pair was separated by an empty field from the Morris and
Levy boarding house just above North Bath Avenue. At the lower
corner of South Bath Avenue stood J. Green's boarding house, later
to become the Bath House, while Mrs. D. Sair's boarding house
was at the north side of the inland junction of North and South
Bath Avenues.
South on the shore road were two more well-known boarding
houses, those of J. V. Conover and H. Howland. Nearby was the
Birth of a Resort 33
P. A. Stockton residence. Rowland's was the farthest south that the
Shore Road (Ocean Avenue) had then been extended. The Alle-
gheny House was on Broadway at this time.
Although the sea was literally making Long Branch's fortune in
these days, the town was not unaware that those breakers that
normally afforded so much pleasure to so many might be the cause
of widespread destruction. In 1821 a memorable September gale,
as it came to be known, had created considerable damage, up-
rooting trees, overturning houses and rendering the beach, as stated
by J. H. Schenck, "a commingled mass of sand and water driven
wildly by the general confusion."
But shipwrecks were perhaps the most dramatic demonstration
of man's struggle against nature, a battle that a coastal town such
as Long Branch seldom forgot. Between 1831 and 1853 Long
Branch life savers participated in the rescue work on nine ships in
distress on the Long Branch shore or on nearby beaches. Wrecks
persisted long in the memory of those who experienced even the
aftermath. For example, the North America was wrecked on the
old Shrewsbury Inlet in 1843, but it was still shown on the maps as
late as 1851, after the inlet had been closed. The villagers un-
doubtedly had a pleasanter memory of the wreck of a coal brig
at Ocean Grove in February, 1846. William R. Maps bought the
entire cargo and that spring coal was, for once, exceedingly cheap
in the village.
The most tragic shipwreck on the Long Branch coast was that
of the New Era in 1854. Rarely has a disaster offered more horrible
and gruesome details and rarely have officers been more guilty of
showing heartless cowardice. The ill-fated ship was a 1,340-ton
packet built at Kennebec, Maine and launched in April, 1854. She
was rated A-1, insured for $60,000, and sailed from Bremen on
September 19, 1854 with 374 persons in the steerage and eleven
first and second-cabin passengers. Her crew of 30 was commanded
by Captain Hardy and in her hull was a cargo of German goods.
The steerage passengers were mostly sturdy German emigrants,
who had sold their little farms, stowed their money in belts or into
the lining of their clothing, and confidently looked forward to a new
life in the New World. Among the other passengers was a dia-
34 Entertaining a Nation
mond dealer with a large quantity of uncut stones and another
traveler who carried with him a strong box containing 6,000 gold
florins.
After the Ne'W Era left Liverpool, trouble beset the ship. She
was lashed by gale after gale. Cholera attacked the emigrants.
While the epidemic raged, the waves from a terrific storm swept
the ship fore and aft, smashing the cookhouse, killing three persons
and injuring five. Then the vessel's seams opened, necessitating the
constant use of pumps.
When the ship was within one hundred miles of Sandy Hook,
racing desperately for medical aid, the corpses of forty men, women
and children were flung overboard. Bad weather continued to blow
the ship off its course. A hurried sounding in the early morning of
November 13 revealed only four fathoms (about twenty-four feet)
of water. Even while Captain Hardy ordered the yards backed in an
effort to crawl off the sand, the New Era grounded its bulk into the
bar off Deal Beach. Sails were furled, guns fired and a tar barrel
set ablaze. It was the ship's bell, however, that informed Life Sav-
ing Station No. 3, where Abner Allen summoned his crew of
volunteers. At the same time he passed word along the beach to
Station No. 2 and No. 4.
Although the scene was a desolate one, with only a line of
bleak, bare dunes and the swamp of Great Pond (Deal Lake)
stretching before them, the passengers did not lose heart. But when
the swamp, which was little better than a quicksand, began to suck
the ship down lower and lower, panic ensued.
Then a giant wave broke on the deck and filled the hold with
water. About 80 or 100 passengers who had previously been afraid
to come up on deck were washed into the sea and drowned. The
water around the boat was black with the heads of the victims.
The wreckage from this wave at last showed those aboard the
deserted craft that they were doomed. Frantically the struggling
emigrants climbed out on the spars; some lashed themselves to
masts or bowsprit in an attempt to escape the full force of the sea.
Many who were not drowned were dashed to pieces against the
side of the ship or disappeared in the trough of the turbulent
waves.
w
X
H
-Si
Birth of a Resort 35
After assuring the passengers that there was nothing to fear,
the first and second mates took a yawl and went ashore with three
of the crew. They were instructed to get a line ashore, but they
cast off the line and abandoned the ship. Immediately the third
mate and more of the crew followed in another boat, but when
their line became entangled on board, they cut it and saved them-
selves. Those left behind began to mutter ominously, for the wind
and sea were rising steadily and danger lurked in the waves that
hit the ship. Others of the crew took to the long boat, but before
they could get a line they were carried away by the rising tide.
This left but five of the crew and the captain aboard.
Meanwhile Captain Allen and the crew of Life Saving Station
No. 3 had their mortar planted and shot a line. The first missed;
the second was caught and secured, and Captain Hardy eagerly
entered the life car with a few of the passengers. The line broke
as it was being pulled for the shore, and once again the crew was
saved at the expense of the passengers. Only Hardy and two other
crew members escaped from the boiling undertow. Again and again
the crews of Stations No. 2 and 4 hurled line after line to the
boat, but there was no one left on board who knew how to fasten
them. Of the crew only one member had stayed by the ship, John
Stacy, a lad from Maine. He lashed many people fast to the rigg-
ing and gave what aid he could. People were being washed off the
wreck, some dead, some injured. Chains of men pulled them out
of the surf, but no boat from shore could get near the ship.
Mrs. Dunce, a passenger who was about to become a mother,
had seen her husband and child washed overboard and drowned.
The next wave carried her o£F, and as she rose, she grasped a floating
spar. The swift current carried her north, and twenty helpless men
followed her course up the beach. When she was within saving
distance, a chain was formed that rescued her. That night she gave
birth to a son; both lived.
The crew of a tug anchored just outside the breakers heard
the cries from the wreck and made a desperate effort to reach the
ship. The waves broke over the boat so violently, however, that
the rescuers were forced to turn back. Throughout the voyage the
singing of a 1 4-year old boy had cheered the passengers from one
36 Entertaining a Nation
disaster to another. During the night of the wreck it was his voice
crying anguish that spurred the lifesavers on. The next morning
Captain Wardell of the volunteers brought him down from the
mast where he had been lashed, half dead from exposure and half-
crazed with fear. Below him on the mast hung arms and legs
lashed fast from which the bodies had been torn away by the
violence of the surf.
Two days after the wreck a resident heard a woman's voice
calling from inside the ship. An aged woman was found up to her
neck in water on a lower deck, where she had clung for forty-
eight hours.
Of the 415 who sailed from Bremen, 132 survived, 240 were
drowned and 43 died of cholera or injury before the ship reached
America.
The unidentified dead were buried in a long trench in the Old
First Methodist Episcopal Church graveyard in West Long Branch.
When the diamond dealer's body floated ashore at Monmouth
Beach, a 16-year-old farm boy found the uncut diamonds in his
pockets. He brought them to Captain Wardell, asking why that
German had had pebbles in his pockets. Days later more bodies
were washed up or were found in the wreck. These were weighted
down with gold in money belts, gold in the shoes and gold sewed in
the hems of dresses. The money was confiscated by the finders, as the
emigrants were without identification. Hearing of this, unknown
men, very likely Long Branch residents, went to the graveyard at
night, dug up all the bodies and stripped them of jewelry and
valuables.
A crude wooden monument marked the multiple graves of the
victims until 1891, when the New Era Association was organized
mainly through the efforts of Justice Harry Schoenlein, of Long
Branch. This society of survivors and prominent Germans of Long
Branch erected in the old cemetery in West Long Branch a tall
granite monument that was dedicated on November 20, 1892 to
the memory of "the 240 German passengers on the ship 'New Era'
taken off Deal Beach on November 13, 1854." Services are held
at the monument every Memorial Day.
The two decades 1840-60 saw progress on several fronts
Birth of a Resort ' 37
achieved by the still small village of Long Branch. By the end of
the period two public schools and three private institutions were in
operation and there was a corresponding development in ecclesiasti-
cal affairs. After the several denominations had split in 1809 over
the use of the town's only church building, the Methodist Episcopal
Society erected a new church that was for many years served by
Samuel Budd and John Woolson, circuit riders from Freehold. The
location of this church in West Long Branch, however, proved less
and less convenient for the citizens of Long Branch.
In 1850 they determined to erect their own church in Long
Branch itself. By 1859 they had completed a new building on a
lot opposite the present St. Luke's Church and had secured the
services of the Reverend H. G. Williams who was instructed to
reorganize the church. The following year it was incorporated as
the Centenary Methodist Episcopal Church.
In this same period other denominations began their activity in
Long Branch. The first Dutch Reformed Church was opened in
1849, and three years later the earliest Catholic Church was built
on the south side of Chelsea Avenue, east of the Seaside Railroad
tracks. The first Protestant Episcopal Church was incorporated in
1854.
The period was also marked by considerable transportation
growth. The first railroad that even remotely affected the develop-
ment of Long Branch was the state's oldest line, the Camden and
Amboy Railroad. In 1848 it made a stop at Hightstown, whence
the trip was made to Long Branch by stage coaches.
When the Raritan Bay and Delaware River Railroad was in-
corporated in 1854 Long Branch saw for the first time the possi-
bility of becoming a regular railroad stop. The road was planned
to run from Raritan Bay to Cape Island (now Cape May), but
was built only from Port Monmouth to Atsion in Burlington
County. Boats carried the traveler from New York to a long frail
pier at Port Monmouth, from which trains passed through Eaton-
town, the closest stop to Long Branch.
A long forgotten Long Branch and Sandy Hook Railroad,
organized by Samuel Cooper and eight others, was chartered on
February 25, 1856. It was never built, however, for it could not
38 Entertaining a Nation
be finance4 to start construction within three years, as required
by the Act of Incorporation. In I860 a spur line of the Raritan
and Delaware was built from Eatontown to Long Branch. Robert
Wardell donated a tract of land behind his Allegheny House for
a station. This passenger depot remained for years until it was
moved to North Long Branch. When the railroad finally arrived
at Long Branch, the town celebrated in grand style. Maps' diary
for June 18, I860 reads: "The cars came to Long Branch for the
first time. A public dinner at Stokes' hotel at the expense of the
boarding house proprietors." In the mammoth ballroom of this
huge old building the diners listened to speech after speech by the
Hon. George Bancroft and other distinguished guests. For years
afterward celebrations marked the day.
The late 1840's and early '50's had witnessed another burst of
hotel and boarding house construction. By I860 accommodations
on the shorefront were reckoned to be adequate for 4,125 persons.
This figure did not include the facilities for guests afforded by a
number of small hotels and boarding houses. In 1848 Abner H.
Reed built the 28-room Monmouth House on the east side of
Ocean Avenue opposite the Clarendon and just north of the old
Surf House. Due to erosion of the beach, the site would now be
hundreds of yards into the ocean. Three years later the Pavilion
Hotel was added to the growing number by the New Jersey politi-
cian, Samuel Morris. Located on the southwest corner of Pavilion
and Ocean Avenues, the hotel derived its name from its chief
attraction for the public: a large open pavilion for refreshments on
the east side of Ocean Avenue opposite the hotel.
Two more hotels were founded in 1852: McCormick's, one
door north of North Bath Avenue on Ocean Avenue, and the
Pitman House, one door south of Chelsea Avenue on Ocean Ave-
nue. The hotel was originally built by F. Kennedy, but he leased
it to a man named Pitman, who called the building after himself.
Shortly afterward it passed into other hands and was renamed the
United States.
In 1853 Samuel and Joseph N. Cooper, operators of Cooper
Cottage and other boarding houses, began to erect a large hotel at
the northwest corner of Cooper and Ocean Avenues. Twice the
r-j:-^-,.^ - r
Maggie Mitchell
o^A^^y^ Z^
Edwin Booth
4.
(A
]. Lester Wallack General Win field Scott
Four distinguished visitors in the forties
Birth of a Resort 39
frame was blown down, but in 1854, a huge L-shaped building was
completed and formally opened as the Metropolitan.
When Parisian dress designers appeared in Long Branch in
I860 to copy the fashions acceptable to American society, the
resort had definitely arrived. It made no difference that the copies
were returned to the United States bearing Paris labels; the fact
remained that Long Branch styles had been officially recognized as
those of the entire Nation. That particular season favored grey in
army capes matched with military three-cornered hats.
The years of growth, however, contained many anxious months
for the village. William Maps' diary records the prevalence of
cholera and dysentery throughout July and August of 1854. Two
years later he was gravely noting the beginning of a serious de-
pression. September 8, 1856 he characterized as a day of "a great
panic among the banks, several failures. Money scarce. Banks and
merchants failing daily." By September 30 the "money market is
very tight." On October 10th "currency is much disarranged" and
by the l4th, "New York banks have suspended specie payments."
November 5 th saw the loss of general confidence and the observa-
tion that "sugar and molasses have fallen nearly 50%."
Although there was a slight upturn the following year much
of the regained ground was lost by a severe fire. On March 4,
when President Buchanan was being inaugurated, the Market House
and two dwellings were destroyed. A barn and some outhouses
were destroyed the following day.
The outbreak of the Civil War unnerved Long Branch, but it
quickly regained its equilibrium in order to play proper host to
Mrs. Abraham Lincoln, whose visit placed the stamp of official
approval on the resort. Her stay in Long Branch almost coincided
with the first Battle of Bull Run, but the First Lady swept every-
thing before her as an attraction even greater than the progress of
the war.
Mrs. Lincoln chose to stay at the Mansion House, then Long
Branch's finest hotel. A picture of her arrival has been preserved
by the Monmouth Herald and Inquirer of Freehold, which com-
mented on August 22, 1861: "Mrs. Lincoln's arrival caused great
excitement. All along the beach, from every hotel, and in every
40 Entertaining a Nation
dooryard for miles around, the American flag floated on the breeze.
A number of Httle girls, dressed in white, lined the path from Mrs.
Lincoln's car to the carriage and an, immense procession of people
followed her from the depot to the hotel."
The paper observed that although the President's wife had given
voice to "her expressed desire to be quiet and secluded," there were
rumors of all sorts of festivities in honor of the First Lady. The
program, according to the journal, was as follows: "On Saturday
she will witness the cricket match. On Wednesday or Thursday
a grand ball will be given at the Mansion House. As Mrs. Lincoln
is a great admirer of music, for she never misses an opportunity to
visit the opera and has already delighted the habitues of the White
House by a few recherche private concerts at Washington, it is
designed to secure Carlotta Patti, the only rival of Adelina, for a
grand concert in Mrs. Lincoln's honor, to be given some time next
week."
In addition to this round of social pleasures, Long Branch
proudly exhibited to Mrs. Lincoln its latest technique in rescue work.
Fully informed, no doubt, of the long history of shipwrecks along
the local coast, the First Lady watched ex-governor Newell's ap-
paratus that facilitated lifesaving by firing a mortar with a light
line attached to it to the vessel in distress. The entire countryside
came to see the President's wife, if not the mortars.
Mrs. Lincoln stayed about ten days. By the time she had left,
Long Branch troops, who had volunteered in response to the Presi-
dent's call in April, were seeing active service in covering the re-
treat from Bull Run. The local soldiers had drilled on a training
ground at the corner of Broadway and Myrtle Avenue.
While it is not known how many men from Long Branch
itself were actually involved in the Civil War, the exploits of the
Monmouth County troops with whom they were grouped are well
known. Three-month volunteers from Monmouth, who were com-
manded by Brigadier-General Theodore Runyon, had the task of
guarding railroad tracks and telegraph connections between Wash-
ington and Annapolis. Monmouth men were later involved in the
battles at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, in addition to
numerous small skirmishes. As the war neared its close, a company
Birth of a Resort 41
of young men volunteered for service in Long Branch. They
drilled hard and set out for Washington to oflfer their services to
the Union commanders. When they reached Freehold, however,
they learned that Lee had surrendered.
Long Branch also made its contribution to war on the sea. In
the winter of 1859 Walter Seaman built an extremely light and
easily handled skiff. Two years later, when Newberry Havens col-
lected men in the Long Branch area for a naval expedition to New
Orleans under General Banks, Seaman and a number of fishermen
were pressed into service and the new type skiif was taken along.
The boats were used to land soldiers and, unlike the keel boats, they
skidded out on the beach in an upright position and deposited their
men dry footed and ready for action. The contrast with the keel
boats, which had capsized, was so striking that the skiffs readily
became popular. Despite their origin with a Long Branch man, the
boats were generally referred to as "Sea Bright Skiffs," because they
were first made in Sea Bright.
During the Civil War there occurred one of the grimmest
murders in the history of Long Branch, the Slocum killing of July
3, 1863. On that night, Abigail, wife of Pete Slocum was murdered
by a shot gun while nursing her youngest baby in her home on Wall
Street, west of Monmouth Road. Interspersed with the condolences
to Pete were murmurs that his lot was not as sad as might be
supposed, for he had always preferred his wife's sister, Alcine
Chasey.
Despite the coroner's inquest. Sheriff John Woolley was at a
loss for clues until his relative, Sam Woolley, a veterinary, told him
that at daybreak on the night of the murder he had seen Pete
Slocum riding down toward the shore. This news unloosed the
tongues of the gossips and in the public mind the rumors of Pete's
romance with Miss Chasey quickly became involved with the crime.
At the trial on September 5 th, which quickly followed Pete's
arrest, Samuel Woolley's testimony was enough to convict the
accused man of murder in the first degree. Sheriff Woolley hanged
him on November 27th. Peter Slocum was not permitted burial in
the churchyard but was interred on William B. Slocum's property,
near that of William Chamberlain. His burial spot has been de-
42 Entertaining a Nation
termined as the northwest corner of Oakwood Avenue and Wall
Street. As for Alcine Chasey, she lived to be more than ninety years
old, and died only recently. She had married after the tragedy but
spent her last years with a niece, said to be one of Pete Slocum's
children.
In March, 1864, an epidemic of spotted fever broke out in
Long Branch. Mass funerals were held every Sunday in all the
churches, and Maps' diary at this time is devoted almost exclusively
to entries of sickness and deaths from the disease. An odd story
of this epidemic is told by James W. Wood, who says, "The year
before the spotted fever epidemic a peddler came to town and when
he was leaving he pointed to William Martin's house, 627 Broad-
way, and predicted a great plague would break out in a year and
that it would start in that house. Edwin Martin, son of William
Martin, was the first victim to be stricken and the first to die."
Despite the war, or perhaps because of it. Long Branch began to
prosper as never before. As late as I860 land toward the lower vil-
lage was offered free to anyone who would build on it. Three years
later, however, the picture had changed sharply. Plots at the
western outskirts had increased in value to $250 an acre. The Laird
family, for example, bought property at that price and three years
later sold it for $2,000 an acre. The days of throwing in the barren
shorefront along with the sale of land south of Long Branch were
gone forever. The town was beginning to feel the evidence of its
success as a resort.
CHAPTER IV
America's Foremost Watering Place
BY THE TIME of the Civil War, Long Branch had acquired
a reputation as a favorite resort of the fashionable and
theatrical world. Even before Mrs. Lincoln's visit accorded
it national prominence, it had been attracting many celebrities. In
addition to figures such as General Winfield Scott, hero of the
Mexican War, who summered there regularly for almost twenty
years, it became a summer rendezvous of many great stage players.
Edwin Booth, Edwin Forrest, Maggie Mitchell and the three Wal-
lacks, James W., Lester, and Lester, Jr., were among the most
notable visitors from Broadway. Booth was married at Long Branch
in his own cottage; and for a time part of Lake Takanassee was
known as Wallack's Pond in honor of that family.
Such clientele, however, was not sufficient to make Long
Branch the undisputed leader among American resorts. The enter-
prising business men who thought of the future were keenly aware
of competition from Saratoga to the north and from Cape May,
only a hundred miles south on the Jersey coast. Saratoga's famous
horse racing and its healthful waters made a strong appeal to both
the society and sporting crowds, while Cape May had been estab-
lished as a favorite spot for Philadelphians almost as long as
Long Branch itself. When news of the project to build a railroad
directly from Philadelphia to the Cape was received in Long Branch,
it was realized that "The Branch" would encounter even stiffer
rivalry than before.
There is no indication that the residents of Long Branch itself
rose to meet the challenge. According to Harper's Magazine, 1876,
the transformation was accomplished by a few capitalists who had
purchased farms in Monmouth County at $30 or $40 an acre and
44 Entertaining a Nation
saw the possibility of obtaining huge returns if the resort were to
become nationally popular. "A scheme of advertising was adopted,"
says the writer, "brave, expensive and perilous, by which the place
was persistently brought before the public attention, summer after
summer."
With the liberal sarcasm, characteristic of the period, the article
continues, "The ubiquitous correspondent of the daily Press was
sent down to report. It was not a very fascinating spot in those
early days, but the reporter who cannot write an attractive letter
because there is nothing attractive to write about, has mistaken his
vocation." Other appraisals of Long Branch before its hey-day,
already cited, give the impression that much could have been
written of the spot's quiet charm and gracious air, had a reporter
been so inclined.
The public responded so well that within a decade not a single
vacant lot was left between North Long Branch and West End.
To see ten or more houses under construction at the same time was
a common sight. Oliver Dowd Byron, the actor, built 14 cottages
within 15 years; Jay Gould and John McKesson, built four each.
George F. Baker erected two, and Garret A. Hobart, Col. William
Barbour and Frederick Douglass each built a home. No one in
Long Branch profited more from the building boom than the
Cloughly Brothers, who used two trainloads of dirt a day on the
grading jobs alone.
Perhaps the most successful promoter of the period was Lewis
B. Brown, whose energy and ingenuity developed Elberon and
whose initials and last name gave the section its name. In 1866 he
acquired a mile and a quarter of ocean front property south of
West End; then the following year with two other large landowners
he laid out and constructed Ocean Avenue in the deserted section
and landscaped a park in the same region. The first sale of land
there was to Howard Wright at $1,250 per acre. Property rose
from that figure, and Brown quickly disposed of his holdings at a
huge profit.
A land boom was soon in full swing. Outsiders came in to
make huge profits on the quick sale of plots of land. Divisions
that sold for $500 one summer brought as much as $5,000 a year
America's Foremost Watering Place 45
later. Prosperity was in the air, and everyone eagerly anticipated
the crowds that were sure to flock to the shore in response to the
elaborate pressure methods of the promoters. Further details of
the campaign have not survived, but its importance is unquestioned,
for it culminated in the establishment of Long Branch as a vacation
resort that brought an undreamed-of wealth to the town for almost
three decades.
Although it became a summer capital and boasted of a bluff
that so strongly suggested the cliffs around England's popular resort,
Brighton, that it became known as the American Brighton, Long
Branch never quite achieved a reputation as an aristocratic watering
place. Despite the smartness and wealth of its visitors, it remained
essentially as Harper's characterized it, "the great marine suburb
of the great metropolis." Its rambling hotels and muddy streets
lacked the solidity and the feeling of age that were to be found at
Saratoga and Newport.
In the seventies Long Branch was undoubtedly more popular
than either of its competitors, but its very popularity with all kinds
and classes precluded the exclusiveness at which it aimed. Brass
bands on the lawns of hotels, tents where pop and gingerbread were
sold, shooting galleries, and hundreds of red, white and blue flags
and pennons waving from the hotel, carriages swirling in the dust
along Ocean Avenue — such a scene along the ocean front surely
bespoke Broadway rather than Fifth Avenue. It was a brave and
showy effort in the direction of Newport that never quite managed
to lose sight of Coney Island.
It was George W. Childs, wealthy publisher of the Philadelphia
Public Ledger, who induced President Ulysses S. Grant to come to
Long Branch, a step which crowned promoters' efforts to make the
town America's premier resort. Childs, who owned much property
at the shore, recalled that Grant had told him that "he had never seen
a place in all his travels which was better suited for a summer
residence." In deciding upon Long Branch as a refuge from the
heat and the hordes of office-seekers in summertime Washington,
Grant was undoubtedly attracted as much by the place's reputation
for gaming and for gaiety as by its healthful pleasures, the sea, the
beach and the opportunties for vigorous riding and driving.
46 Entertaining a Nation
His arrival in the summer of 1869 brought with it anything
but the atmosphere conducive to a quiet vacation. When Grant
changed his slouchy headgear for a white plug hat, donned a linen
duster and lit another cigar, he set in motion the gayest social whirl
even seen on the Atlantic seaboard. Long Branch, which had been
merely fashionable, now became spectacular.
Everybody flocked there to see the President and the parade of
celebrities that his presence inspired. Society leaders, men of wealth
and power, and more theatrical stars than ever poured into the
hotels. Along with them came thousands of John and Mary Does
eager to catch a glimpse of some celebrity, hopeful of at least
being able to return to the provinces with the news that "so-and-so
looks exactly like his picture in Harper's Weekly."
Although Grant was the excuse for a furious social life in Long
Branch, he himself took little part in it. Adulation as the National
hero had little altered the President's habits of a lifetime. Much as
he liked good times in the society of rich men, Grant remained
essentially a provincial and unusually trusting person. At first he
stopped at two of the most fashionable hotels, the Mansion House
and the Stetson, but their formality and ceremony bored and then
irked him. He soon took advantage of the offer of Thomas Mur-
phy's cottage. Murphy had worked in the procurement division of
the army during the war, and Grant was glad to resume his asso-
ciation with him.
When the President decided to come to Long Branch regularly,
a group of Elberon residents, among them George W. Childs,
George Pullman and Moses Taylor, the New York financier, pur-
chased a cottage which had been built in 1866 by Howard Potter
of New York and presented it to Grant. He moved into it in the
summer of 1869 and for a dozen years the house at 991 Ocean
Avenue was inaccurately referred to as "the Summer Capitol." Con-
siderably altered from its original state, it now belongs to James A.
Goldsmith of New York.
In The Tragic Era Claude Bowers has fashioned a sympathetic
portrait of the predicament the bluff soldier found himself in at
Long Branch: "It was observed that first season, when he was living
at the Stetson House, that he was not entirely happy. In the
President Ulysses S. Grant as he appeared when he first visited
Long Branch, 1869
America's Foremost Watering Place 47
mornings he dressed in broadcloth and stood on the piazza bowing
to smiling ladies who passed, and without lifting his hat. The
glamour of the social life was a bit too glaring, and he was not the
most self-possessed of the visitors. Dashing Phil Sheridan was there
cutting quite a swath with his dancing, and even Grant was in-
veigled into the lancers at one big dance, to cut a sorry figure."
To lead the grand march at the gala balls that were frequently
given in his honor was an ordeal that Grant would gladly have
spared himself. He found even an ordinary waltz or polka too
much for him, and at the end of one such attempt on a Long
Branch floor, he turned to his partner and confessed, "Madam, I
had rather storm a fort than attempt another dance."
Aside from swimming and the beach, driving was Grant's chief
source of pleasure at Long Branch. He liked to race over the
muddy roads in his little buckboard behind two lively bays. After
the first season he brought his own horses with him and soon be-
came familiar with the details of the countryside, driving constantly
behind his favorite team of Egypt and Cincinnati. It was a harmless
kind of diversion, but the President's enemies seized on the faintly
disreputable air that clung to horses and horsemen. His turnouts
were reported to be the grandest at the resort, and the simple
trappings became in the mouths of his defamers worthy of an
Eastern potentate. His lifelong habit of drinking was likewise
seized upon by his enemies and his powers of consumption were
magnified into those of a Greek god.
Not only such attacks, which were to plague him for the rest
of his life, but also the press of oflicial business pursued Grant to
Long Branch. His unfailing habit of making himself available to
anyone who wished to see him quickly cost him the privacy he had
sought at the shore. Government oflficials streamed up from Wash-
ington to keep him informed on the affairs of the Nation, and in
their wake followed hundreds upon hundreds, still hopeful of ob-
taining government jobs. Admirers, old acquaintances and out-
right celebrity-hunters combined to make Grant's life at Long
Branch one long reception — but, thanks to the character of the
man, an informal reception.
Grant's democratic attitude won him the friendship of a num-
48 Entertaining a Nation
ber of humble men in Long Branch, men with whom he was far
more at ease than with the fashionable world that constantly
courted him. He would spend hours swapping yarns with Lem Van
Dyke, the special policeman on duty at his cottage, or with Henry
Van Brunt, who owned the bathing pavilion directly opposite the
Mansion House. It delighted the local residents to see Grant pull
up at the pavilion with his high stepping horse and smart buggy
and wait for Henry. Presently he would appear with his pants
rolled high above bare and blistered feet and would get in the
carriage and ride up and down the boulevard in the afternoon
parade.
When Grant stayed at the Mansion House, he insisted that only
Henry mix his drinks and carve his meat. At meal time Henry
would drop his work with the bathers and hurry over to the hotel.
In addition to the glory of serving the President of the United
States, Henry had the pleasure of testing all drinks before he served
them.
Another crony was the one-legged tollkeeper at Morris Avenue
and Main Street (Broadway). Grant's first meeting with him,
however, was hardly auspicious. He was driving down Broadway
in his victoria with all the trappings he so thoroughly hated. Think-
ing no toll would be asked, the coachman drove straight past the
toll house. Out hobbled the old gatekeeper demanding his fee.
Grant was in a testy mood and exploded, "Maybe you don't know
who I am? I'm President of the United States!"
Nothing daunted, the old man shot back, "I don't care who you
are. If you're President of Hell, it's your business to pay two cents
toll and my business to collect it" The two coppers were promptly
placed in the old man's hand, and many times thereafter Grant was
seen sitting and chatting with the old man.
The place where Grant could meet all classes of visitors to
Long Branch with ease and equaniminity was the racetrack. He
understood horses and he liked racing. When the first Monmouth
Park was opened. Grant immediately took a box, and was seen at
all the races.
Aside from the driving on the beach little had been done toward
establishing regular racing until the middle of the 1850's, when
America's Foremost Watering Place 49
Cornelius Vanderveer built a circular racetrack on his estate at the
northwest corner of Joline Avenue and Liberty Street. Later known
as Wheeler's Trotting Park, it sponsored modest events, as is evi-
denced by the record of a match for a $25 purse on June 27, 1866.
Monmouth Park, about three miles from Long Branch, be-
tween Oceanport and Eatontown, was a far different affair. In 1 869
J. McB. Davison and Colonel John Chamberlain, the gambler,
purchased a 128-acre tract for $32,500, fenced in the grounds and
laid out a half-mile trotting track. The partners* plans failed to
materialize, but the following year they sold the property to the
Long Branch and Seashore Improvement Company. This company
had been incorporated under a legislative act of 1865 to encourage
agricultural, horticultural and mechanical manufacturing and
scientific arts and the production of blooded stock. Interpreting
the authorization of their functions broadly, they formed a stock
company and raised funds to build sheds, outbuildings, stables,
grandstands and a clubhouse. The charter members of the company
were Charles Haight, Henry S. Little, William D. Davies, Samuel
Laird and Francis Corlies. When Davies died he was succeeded by
Charles S. Lloyd.
The first race in the new park was held July 4, 1870. As the
date neared the promoters grew anxious over the completion of the
track and grandstand, but a crew of two hundred men working
full blast brought everything into readiness at the appointed time.
An article in Turf, Field and Farm, July 1, 1870 described the
grandstand as one of the most magnificent of its kind in the country,
"capable of seating several thousand people and so situated that the
horse racing can be seen all the way without rising from one's
seat."
A New York paper described the inaugural races:
"A more glorious and delightful day could not have been
desired for the opening event. The floating palaces, Plymouth
Rock and Jessie Hoyt, leaving pier 28, Murray Street, New
York carried thousands of people as far as Sandy Hook thence
they came by rail. The grandstand was magnificent with the
wonderful show of beauty and fashion. The opening day
purses and stakes were $31,000, an unusually large sum. The
50 Entertaining a Nation
first race was won by Lobelia, owned by John Morris, a
prizefighter living at the northwest corner of Cedar and
Ocean Avenues."
There appeared in the papers of that time an interesting de-
scription of both second and third races. It seems that Bacon and
Holland's Lynchburg won the first heat in the Continental hotel
stakes (second race) and soon after starting in the second heat
(third race) met with an accident and broke its shoulder blade.
The horse, one of the most sensational 3 -year-olds in the country,
had to be shot. A popular subscription of $5,000, begun with a
$1,000 donation from the association, was raised and sent to Major
Bacon with the request that he "buy another worthy horse to re-
place the best on the track."
The season was scheduled to last five days, with a total of 16
races, and the second day, with an attendance of about 6,000, was
even more successful than the first. Many new faces appeared in the
grandstand, and local clubs and organizations joined to make the
occasion a gala community event. Nearly 100 members of the
Americus Club and Companies A and B of the 22 nd regiment
donned their dress uniforms, and paraded around the grandstand
behind blaring brass bands. The social success of the racing was
attested by a noticeable increase of ladies in attendance. "Each
seemed endeavoring to excel the other in beauty and exquisiteness
of toilet," the paper observed. When the races were over, the
gambler John Chamberlain acted as a host to a large number of
the crowd at a clambake, where a news writer of the day reported,
"There was a generous flow of wine, reason and soul."
The first series of races ended with an event known as the
Tweed Compliment, a mile and a half run for a $1,000 purse, open
only to beaten horses. This consolation prize was offered by "Boss"
William Tweed, then at the height of his power as the political
master of New York City.
The racetrack scene was a keen disappointment to Olive Logan
when she came down to describe Long Branch for Harper's. In-
stead of the joyous holiday spirit that prevailed at Epsom Downs in
England, she found that "the American generally goes to the races
in a grave manner — ^he might be going to a Methodist camp meet-
America's Foremost Watering Place 51
ing so far as hilarity indicates his destination." The same attitude
persisted at the track. He laid his bets "with the serious air of a
man investing his money in grain or real estate." He then strolled
quietly around the grounds that were completely free of the jugg-
lers, tumblers, and fortune tellers that made the English track so
much like a carnival. Miss Logan heard no loud talking or quarrel-
ing and saw a minimum of drunkenness. Instead of sports and
diversions in the long intervals between the heats, there was noth-
ing but "inane dullness." "All this," concluded the writer, "is
characteristic American."
Also "characteristic American" was the admission of ladies on
specially designated days. Aside from their elegant dress, they added
little to the gaiety of the scene. They rode over primly in their own
carriages or more often in the hotel omnibus, paying a 25^ fare.
Although they would have been scandalized at the thought of going
to a gambling house, they were easily reconciled to the morality of
wagering on the horses. And, as Miss Logan observed, they did not
"confine themselves to betting such trifles as gloves and bonbons,
but boldly join in the ticket-buying of the pools' to win or lose
hundreds of dollars." The mutuel pools, which had been imported
from France, ran the odds up and increased the number of betters
enormously.
Monmouth Park completed the triumph of Long Branch as a
resort, begun so ably by the arrival of President Grant. While the
president lent an air of sanction to the place, the racing, and the
gambling that quickly followed provided the most exhilarating
amusement to be found by the sporting crowd of the large cities.
The hotels and gamblers realized keenly the value of the race track
and contributed purses and stakes. The Continental and the Stetson
House were among the most frequent donors, while Colonel Jim
Fisk and John Hoey, president of Adams Express, both put up large
sums. The most important annual race was the Jersey Derby, which
was later transferred to Louisville and run as the Kentucky Derby.
According to an old newspaper clipping in the possession of
Haight West, "In 1873 an unfortunate decision allowed the horse
Tom Bowling to win the Jersey Derby after an unfair start. The
public began to lose confidence in the track due to many an
52 Entertaining a Nation
arbitrary decision and for five years the races were run to a steadily
declining patronage." In 1877 the Monmouth Park Company went
into default, but the business men who had made Long Branch
their summer home were too astute to let a property that had
previously proved its worth lie idle. A new group, consisting of
August Belmont, David D. Withers and Pierre Lorillard of New
York; George Peabody Wetmore of Newport and George Lorillard
of Islip, New York acquired the grounds in 1878 and improved
the facilities. In the same year, the Monmouth Park Railroad
Association completed a spur from the park to the main line of the
Central Railroad of New Jersey. Larger crowds than ever before
thronged the park, and racing was quickly restored to its old
popularity at Long Branch.
The success of horse racing swept away the last vestiges of the
old watering place. The new clientele demanded the finest in
accommodations and service as well as entertainment. Long Branch
rose to their needs by enlarging and improving many old-estab-
lished hotels and by building several new ones. Even before the
advent of racing many had gained considerable reputation. In his
Book of Summer Resorts, published in 1868, Charles H. Sweetster,
rated the local hotels accordingly; "Rowland's is the most exclusive,
Stetson's the most elegant, the Continental the largest and gayest,
the Mansion House the finest situated for the water and the Metro-
politan the nearest to the cars and the most reasonable in price."
Each of the hotels strove to build a reputation on a distinctive
characteristic. The Continental, advertising itself as "The Largest
Hotel in the United States," commanded 700 feet of ocean front-
age, varied between 75 and 250 feet in depth, and with its galleries
had a piazza extending over half a mile in length. It contained six
hundred rooms and could accommodate twelve hundred guests.
Special features were an extra long bar, a dining room that could
be converted into the largest ballroom at the resort, a billiard
salon, bowling alleys and "the only shooting gallery on the shore
attached to the house." It also advertised that "Congress Water, in
artificial fountains, is transported daily from the famous Congress
Springs at Saratoga, New York."
Congress Water aroused bad feeling between Long Branch and
Cottage owned by
President Grant on
Ocean Avenue
Grand Ball given at the Stetson House in honor of President Grant,
Steeplechase at Monmouth Park
America's Foremost Watering Place 53
Saratoga. When the shore resort promoters found that Saratoga's
waters were attracting people away from Long Branch, they ordered
large quantities to be shipped to the coast for local distribution.
Saratoga soon realized that this was undermining its business and
refused further shipments.
Thereupon the Continental Hotel recalled that one of its wings
had once been known as the Congress Hall. Why should not that
section of the hotel have spring water and why should it not be
known as "Congress Hall Water"? Wells were dug. Philadelphia
doctors were able to find great medicinal qualities in the water and
within a few years another well was dug, coincidentally called
"Saratoga Spring." The Continental then advertised, "Saratoga and
Congress Water Springs of the shore are located on the lawn."
The redeeming irony in this sham was that the wells actually
tapped old springs that the Indians had recommended to the first
settlers because of their curative powers.
The Stetson House, which opened in 1867, was a smaller but
socially more desirable hotel. With only three hundred rooms, it
achieved a distinct success with the elite, but did not make money
until after 1873 when a new management enlarged it and renamed
it the West End. The old Howland House, which had been a
leader in the quieter days, was remodeled to acconmiodate nearly
four hundred people in 1872. Among the features that the New
Howland House emphasized were a gentleman's driving track in
the rear of the hotel, an electric signal bell in every room and a
bathroom on each floor, or three baths for nearly four hundred
guests. What had been McCormick's Hotel was taken over some-
time between 1868 and 1870 by A. lauch and renamed for him.
lauch's Hotel became the exceedingly smart place for distinguished
foreigners, diplomats and fashionable adventurers. A less exclusive
hotel was the United States, which had previously been the Pitman
House. Between 1868 and 1875 it was operated by Samuel Laird,
who was the proprietor of the Mansion House, but never succeeded
in bringing the United States up to its social level.
The buildings followed a general pattern — large plain barracks
with flat roofs and narrow porches, often in several tiers and in-
evitably fitted out with the gingerbread fretwork trimmings of the
54 Entertaining a Nation
day. Long Branch hotels were described by a correspondent of the
New York Daily Tribune on August 13, 1868, as "not high, but
very long. The hotel proprietors meet their guests with the assur-
ance that there is always room, though at the same time they say
their hotels are full. In the city a guest is shown up' to his room,
in Long Branch he is shown out' to his quarters."
Hotel rates averaged $4 a day at the best hotels. This was on
the American plan, which included a room and four enormous
meals, breakfast at 8, dinner at 2, tea at 6 and supper at 9- It is im-
possible to reckon the amount of food served at the long narrow
tables that ran the length of the dining rooms. Those were calorie-
less days and heavy feeding was a pastime unlimited by sex or
station. The comparatively simple shore dishes that delighted the
earlier generation remained for those who cared to sample them,
but there were added all the delicacies and tempting dishes that
could be fashioned by the expert chefs brought from New York,
and, in some cases, even Europe.
Every big hotel maintained a brass band not only for entertain-
ment but also to drown out the noise of the large trays of number-
less small dishes, at least 8 or 9 of which surrounded each person's
plate. The bands also gave concerts on the lawn at train time and
during the afternoon promenade at 4 o'clock. In the evening they
played for the "hops" and balls. The Mansion House introduced
the first band, and it was quickly imitated by the Metropolitan, the
Continental and Stetson's. In 1867 Gilmore's Band from Boston
divided its time between Stetson's and the Continental. Another
favorite band was that of the New York Seventh Regiment.
Dances were the most important evening entertainment. They
were divided into hops, relatively informal affairs, and balls,
elaborately planned events. Hops, which were given every Satur-
day night by the principal hotels, required no dance cards. Two
publications of the early 1870's show the popular differentiation.
The Tattle Tale, a local gossip sheet, explained: "Hops happen at
hotels or may occur anywhere outside the city limits. The perfect
ball is essentially grand; the complete hop is very gay. The ball
insists on the sombre magnificence of full dress, but the hop can
put up at a pinch with high necked robes. Between the two festivi-
America's Foremost Watering Place 55
ties there is the same deep but astute difference which ladies
instinaively recognize between a plain dress and one with
trimmings."
The Round Table, a competing paper, made a distinction ob-
viously inspired by something more than the degree of formal
dress, commenting, "Even a hop is a high ball at Long Branch,
because it deals only with the best class. It may be arranged at
short notice but is always sufficiently grand to be approved by
the 400."
Such affairs, the paper observed, developed at the Mansion
House, the Continental or the other large hotels, quite informally —
"sort of spontaneous outbursts of the new life and freedom which
sojourners catch from the snappy salt air." The hops were probably
not quite so impromptu as might be supposed, for the Round Table
records that, "On the days of these hops the tea was served earlier
than usual, the dining halls were swept and garnished, the band
mounted their platform, the doors were thrown open and the dance
was on."
Scattered throughout the season were the "Grand Hops," Com-
plimentary Balls, and always a "Benefit Ball" for the band leader.
For these stately affairs elaborately printed dance programs were
given out at the door. The competition between the hotels even in
the appointments at a ball was amazingly energetic. The Contin-
ental devised an innovation of attaching the ladies' cards to
bouquets. Thereupon the Mansion House felt obliged at its next
ball to design its dance cards in the form of a flower and to print
full menus of the lavish supper on the usual dance orders. The
Continental quickly met the challenge by having little girls dressed
as fairies distribute real bouquets at their closing Grand Hop.
Saturday was the day that the large crowds arrived and that
night was the chief dance night. Other nights dances concluded at
10:30 but on Saturday they would frequently last until midnight.
In the opinion of Harper's Magazine, the onlookers had the best
of the evening, "for dancing in the midsummer ball rooms is hot
work, and the sterner sex invariably maintain that they thus make
martyrs of themselves only to please the fair." For those who did
not care to dance there were always card-games or concerts. Like
56 Entertaining a Nation
any other resort, of course, Long Branch was a mecca for match-
makers. This practice was discreetly recognized and fostered by
the managements of most of the hotels by the provision of "pro-
posal sofas," placed in the sequestered corners of the lobbies.
Even in its heyday as a fashionable resort Long Branch attrac-
ted large numbers of people who never even thought of making
reservations at the Continental, Rowland's or the Mansion House,
but went to small, inexpensive hotels off the oceanfront or to
boarding houses where they could enjoy the same natural advan-
tages of the resort. Every hot Sunday brought trainloads of ex-
cursionists, whole families who spent the day at Long Branch in
the same way that they went to Coney Island. Between those who
insisted upon the best and those who sought a cheap vacation were
the impecunious dandies who floated from one world to another.
Dressed in the latest fashion, eyeglass carefully set and moustache
rigidly waxed, they would appear in the hotel ballrooms, and take
their place in the round of pleasure enjoyed by society. But when
the time came for dining or sleeping, they would mysteriously
disappear — into the background of boarding houses and simple
hotels.
The beach was the spot where all social classes met, if they did
not mingle. Although the hotels advertised beaches for the exclusive
use of their guests, they were actually open to all who wanted to use
them. Bathing itself had strayed so far from its original healthful
designs, that in 1868 the New York Daily Tribune characterized it
as a social event, "for no other purpose than to exhibit oneself."
The restrictions against mixed bathing had long ago disappeared
and the use of flags was converted to the hoisting of a white banner
when the water was calm. The popular bathing time was in the
morning on the incoming tide when, according to Schenck's Guide,
"the full force of the sea is shoreward and if taken off your feet
you are thrown on the beach — a frolic in which many indulge. On
the other hand when the tide recedes a miniature malestrom is
formed, termed the 'sea-puss,' which, being a sort of under-tow,
is dangerous, sometimes taking a person out to sea."
Schenck's Guide also laid down "Rules which are in Order
for Sea Bathers." Sure evidence that the beach was a far greater
Around the clock at Long Branch with the staff artist of
Harper's Weekly, 1874
America's Foremost Watering Place 57
lure than the water was the instruction that, "three to five minutes
is sufficient time in the water to receive the full benefit of a bath."
Entering the sea less than three hours after a meal was con-
sidered dangerous, and women were admonished to have their
skirts below the knee and give regard to the bathing master, an
early version of the present-day life guard. Because these bathing
masters operated the bath houses and rented suits in addition to
their lifesaving work, a rush of customers would frequently find
the beach unguarded. Swimmers apparently had no aversion to
using wet suits. Although no figures exist for this period, in Sep-
tember, 1869 the Long Branch News editorialized on the frequent
drownings at the resort. The writer suggested that each bather equip
himself with a small, light sash cord with a leather strap and buckle.
He was to attach one end of the rope to a stake on the beach and
strap the other around his body under the arms. No solution was
offered, however, for the maze and tangle of cords that would have
been created by a beachful of these leashed human beings.
A crowd of two or three thousand people on the average used
the beach at this time. The bathing shacks were thrown together
anew every spring from old weathered boards, unplaned and un-
painted. The rented suits were ugly, but at least less ornate than
those recommended by fashion. The ideal bathing costume for a
lady was "delicate rose flannel with pleatings of white, pink hose,
straw shoes and a broad brimmed hat of chipped straw tied with a
pink flannel bow under the chin." The fashionable man wore "a
tight fitting blue shirt with a white star on the breast or a loose
sailor's shirt and trousers handsomely braided."
In The Tragic Era Claude G. Bowers observes that Long Branch
was "strangely enough, not so much given to bathing; albeit the
ladies daily dressed with elaborate care to stand demurely, or flirta-
tiously, on the sands of the beach and look on discreetly. When a
heavier wave than usual rose and broke on the beach, the timid
screamed and were reassured and consoled by some strong man."
The few bathers who still took their dips for medicinal purposes
complained that the bath houses did not supply hot water foot
baths to equalize the circulation after the surf bath was over. To
accommodate the demand Wills and Horton opened the Sea Cliff
58 Entertaining a Nation
Bathing Establishment of Within Doors Sea Baths on the west side
of Ocean Avenue in East Long Branch between the Clarendon and
Brighton Hotels. The establishment provided private rooms where
patrons could bathe in a zinc bathtub filled with hot water made
"curative and invigorating by the addition of a small amount of
salt water brought from the sea in a pail."
The 5 -mile bluff along the ocean was Long Branch's special
pride. But even at this period erosion was estimated at a rate of four
feet in ten years, with greater inundations occurring periodically
When a seawall was suggested to save the property, the hotel
keepers argued that it would destroy the bathing beach, without
which Long Branch would lose its summer clientele. The plan was
abandoned, and the residents fatalistically moved back their build-
ings and the avenue itself, watching their property vanish into the
sea. Not everyone lamented this destruaive work of nature, as is
shown by a quotation from an old record in the Long Branch
Daily Record, January 10, 1937: "The country back of the present
coast line can furnish as fine a bluff as the present one, for many
centuries to come, and while the encroachments upon this are so
gradual as to derogate almost imperceptibly from the present
value, it is a matter of congratulation that this very action of nature
(erosion) affords the highest guarantee that this magnificent surf
bathing beach will remain pre-eminent in excellence, enhancing
the value of the land for miles around."
Combining the functions of Riverside Drive, Fifth Avenue and
the boardwalk at Coney Island was Ocean Avenue, the main social
artery. Although little more than a dirt road with gravel sidewalks,
it was the place to be seen. Every afternoon about 4 o'clock vic-
torias and landaus rolled along slowly, crowding the avenue from
curb to curb, the occupants gaily chattering bits of gossip and care-
fully observing each other's dress and appointments. Many more
people strolled along the sidewalk, where the few who were out for
exercise had a little better chance to realize their purpose. At train
time in the late morning and at dinner time in the evening the
avenue took on the aspect of a race track. With a real destination,
the fine horses pranced along carrying their passengers either to the
train or to the boarding houses, cottages and hotels. The scene was
America's Foremost Watering Place 59
enlivened considerably by the livery of the drivers, which often
equalled that of the horses in gaudiness. On Saturday afternoons
Ocean Avenue really became a racetrack, for it was cleared for
amateur trotting races. All the swells, dandies and sports entered
the competition in fancy turnouts cheered on by spectators who
lined the improvised track in their own smart carriages and
tally-hos.
When the walkers and riders tired of the parade, they could
stop and refresh themselves at summer houses or listen to the band
music that blared from the hotel lawns. On damp days children
forsook everything else to slide down the clay bank that ran from
the bluff to the beach below. And there was always the pastime
of sitting on the hollow tubing open fence on the ocean side of
the avenue and gazing far out across the sea.
If the visitors did not care to join the afternoon promenade
along Ocean Avenue, they could drive to nearby Pleasure Bay
for a clambake or occasionally a regatta. Located on the inlet of
the Shrewsbury where the wealthy kept their yachts. Pleasure Bay
developed several excellent eating places for their benefit. The
Pleasure Bay House, 255 Pleasure Bay Street, was a favorite gather-
ing place. Patrons departed from there to catch their own fish
and crabs in the stream and returned later to eat them under the
trees. The proprietor, Elisha West, enjoyed a considerable reputa-
tion for clambakes consisting of green corn, clams, crabs, potatoes
and whole young chickens. These were said to be "served with
rustic simplicity."
Price's Hotel on Portaupeck Avenue and Seven Bridges Road,
opened in 1857, was another famous hostelry. Among its patrons
were the Vanderbilts, Goulds, Drexels and Astors. President Grant,
George Pullman, Jim Fisk and Hugh Hastings became personal
friends of the proprietor, Ed Price. He charged $4 a plate for a
shore dinner.
Parties would also journey over to Ocean Grove, especially on
Sunday for the Vespers-by-the Sea. To witness these services one
had to be smuggled over to the Grove in a rowboat for a l(/f fare.
The gates, of course, were closed on the Sabbath. Those who re-
mained behind in Long Branch listened to the instrumental con-
60 Entertaining a Nation
certs, given by the hotels' brass bands and called sacred mostly by
courtesy.
From time to time it was possible to vary the Long Branch
routine with a stroll on one of the piers. On the whole, however,
piers were not a success at the Branch. The Bath House Pier,
erected in 1828, had been wrecked on the night of the Netv Era
disaster, and with the exception of a flimsy affair built in 1872 by
Jim Fisk and Jay Gould, which collapsed in a week, no new pier
was built until 1878. In that year on November 1 the Long
Branch Pier Association was formed at the Ocean Hotel ( formerly
the Continental) for the purpose of building a pier opposite that
hotel. Completed by the following summer, the Ocean Pier was
six hundred feet long and was made of tubular iron, except at the
ocean end where wood was used. It was ten pilings wide. Under-
neath were six hundred bathing cabins and the promenade deck
above was covered with gay-colored awnings and illuminated by
large gas fixtures on tall ornamental posts. Many benches and
several refreshment booths lined the pier. In October, 1879 its
wide promenade was used for the first of many walking contests.
Regular excursion boats from New York used the pier as a landing
place until it was washed away in 1881. Previous to the construction
of the Ocean Pier, steamers from New York docked either at Sandy
Hook or Red Bank and passengers completed the journey by
omnibus.
The congregation of so much wealth in Long Branch led to
big-time gambling. Men who spent their days making and losing
fortunes in Wall Street said that they came down to the Branch
in the evening for relaxation and a change. Yet they probably
spent more time around the green cloth than anywhere else at the
resort. Part of the urge to gamble was, of course, satisfied by the
races, but that was a limited opportunity. In the late sixties Col.
John Chamberlain led an invasion of out-of-town gamblers, who
set up elaborate, expensive clubs for the wealthy summer visitors.
Gaming was legalized, with a certain percentage reserved for the
public treasury.
Chamberlain's place was known as the Pennsylvania Club and
was located on the southwest corner of Brighton and Ocean Ave-
The middle class arrives
for a Sunday on the
beach. Drawn by
Thomas Nast
Panoramic view of Long Branch's chief attractions,
the beach, the bluff and the sea
Winsloiv Homer's famous, "On the Bluff at Long Branch,'
drawn originally for Harper's Weekly, 1870
America's Foremost Watering Place 61
nues, where a playground has recently been opened. It was a large
frame house with wide porches and a mansard roof surmounted by
a thin iron balustrade. In the rear, over the gaming room were
two large domes, topped by gold weathervanes, characteristic
features of all the gambling places. The porches were hung with
rows of large fern baskets, and the front lawn was carefully laid
out in the stiff circular beds popular in that period.
The interior was decorated in the sumptuous style of the mid-
Victorians. Large paintings, mantles crowded with vases, massive
horsehair furniture, thick carpets and marble topped tables gave an
effect of rich crowding. Chamberlain kept a skillful French chef
who prepared magnificent dinners which he served free to all his
patrons. He could well afford such generosity for he is reputed to
have won several large fortunes under the gas-lit domes of the
gaming room.
In addition to all kinds of cards, the house offered roulette,
rouge et noir, birdcage and many other games. Everything was
carried on with utmost politeness and decorum, for Chamberlain
was always proud of the fact that he operated a club for gentle-
men. Ladies were not permitted, nor were the local residents.
Chamberlain was a native of Pittsfield, Massachusetts. In the
1850's he ran up enough funds on the saloon privileges of a boat
plying between St. Louis and New Orleans to open his first ex-
clusive gambling club in St. Louis. After a prosperous run,
Chamberlain took another gambler, Price McGrath, to New York
and there opened an elaborate house behind the brownstone front
of 8 West 25 th Street. When he discovered that summer business
was falling off because his clientele went to Long Branch, he
decided to follow his trade to the seashore.
He wanted more than the money his club could win for him.
He wanted to rise to the social level of his New York patrons.
Having learned from his experiences as a gambling club proprietor
that the road to social equality was paved with something more
than gold, he decided to build a race track at Long Branch where
he thought that the free comradeship of the turf would smooth
his way toward acceptance. He became host to one of the richest
aggregations of men imaginable, but he never achieved his goal.
62 Entertaining a Nation
Chamberlain had already antagonized his competitors at Sara-
toga when he began the manoeuvres that led to the successful
operation of Monmouth Park. Then his club at Long Branch re-
mained open every day of the week including Sunday, which was
not allowed at the New York spa. This advantage earned Chamber-
lain the bitter enmity of John Morrissey and other Saratoga
gamblers. They were doubtless glad when ill-fortune finally caught
up with Chamberlain. He lost heavily on a stud of horses and
became so involved that he soon sold the Pennsylvania Club to
Phil Daly and left the state. He later opened a restaurant in Wash-
ington that became the best-known eating place in the capital.
Senators and representatives liked his hostelry so much that they
voted him land on the government reservation at Fortress Monroe,
Virginia upon which to erect a hotel. Wealthy Washingtonians
subscribed to a $1,500,000 fund with which he erected a huge
rambling structure called the Chamberlain, a landmark at Old
Point Comfort until it burned down shortly after the World War.
Chamberlain was typical of the host of colorful characters who
peopled Long Branch in its first flush of national prominence. The
Astors and Fishes, Biddies and Drexels gave the place tone, but it
was actually the social climbers who provided the high- jinks that
made Harper's observe that Long Branch was "very suggestive of a
circus." Perhaps the most circus-like of all the men who strove to
impress their importance upon the place was Col. James Fisk, Jr.,
or "Jubilee Jim," as he was popularly known. He was gifted with
a flair for the dramatic and spectacular that often left the resort
breathless. In many senses Fisk represented the spirit of much of
the new wealth in America after the Civil War — flashy, courageous,
spendthrift, a little bewildered by the rapidity of his rise to a place
he was not sure of.
Studded with important people, Long Branch in the late sixties
was an inevitable stage for Jim. With the right people all around
him he could hope, as Chamberlain did, to be taken into their
favor, to be served a cup of tea by an aristocratic hand. The showy
promenade, the informal beach, the sporting race track, and the
grand hotels offered a magnificent background for Fisk's showman-
ship. He probably came first to Long Branch in the summer of
America's Foremost Watering Place 63
1865, and from the very beginning he was a topic of conversation.
The crowd was always with Fisk, so much so that after he had been
shot by Ed. Stokes in their quarrel over the adventuress Josie
Mansfield, a popular song eulogized him with the words, "He may
have done wrong, but he thought he done right; and he was always
good to the poor."
Such an estimate sentimentally overlooks Fisk's unscrupulous
business methods. With his partner Jay Gould, he tried to corner
the gold market in 1869 and precipitated the "Black Friday" panic.
In the tangle of the financial disaster suspicion arose over the in-
vestments of President Grant's wife, and an investigating com-
mittee was required to clear the President himself of charges of
complicity in the effort to advance the price of gold. By an odd
coincidence, the chairman of this committee was a man who was
also to play an important part in the history of Long Branch —
Representative James A. Garfield.
Other men might have fled the limelight after such adverse
publicity, but it only made Fisk bolder. When he drove down
Ocean Avenue in his flashy turnout, many smiled but others
frowned. He didn't particularly care what impression he made, as
long as he made one. And the style in which he traveled made an
impression inevitable. His horse blankets were elegantly em-
broidered at the corners. All metal work on his harnesses was of
gold plate; the bits were silver; solid gold monograms adorned the
blinders. His pairs were harnessed, a black horse and a white horse
together, with two black coachmen in white livery in front and
two white boys in black livery in the rear.
Fisk's love of strutting never had fuller play than when he
brought the Ninth Regiment of the New York Guards to summer
camp in Long Branch. The regiment had sagged to a membership
of three hundred when Jim Fisk with his love of gold lace and his
bankroll was suggested as a fine colonel, that is, an "angel." He
was elected April 7, 1870. Colonel Braine, a Civil War veteran,
understandingly stepped aside for a rich man who could get the
organization out of debt. Jim applied all his renowned showman-
ship toward reviving the company. By offering prizes for enlist-
ments, he ran the membership up to seven hundred on July 1. By
64 Entertaining a Nation
August he was ready to parade his expensive hobby before the
people he was so eager to impress.
The regiment arrived and went into camp at Long Branch on
August 20. As a gesture to his friend and partner, Jay Gould, who
was living his own tight-fisted vacation in a small house on the
bluff north of the city limits, Jim called the camp. Camp Gould.
It was pitched on the east side of Ocean Avenue, between North
Broadway and Cooper Avenue; the parade grounds were to the
south of it opposite Chelsea Avenue. The New Jersey State Guards
were holding their annual encampment near Pleasure Bay at the
same time, but the splendor of Fisk's regiment quite eclipsed them.
President Grant, who was always willing to overlook the faults of
his friends, showed his approval of the carryings-on by his frequent
visits. He would drive up wearing his linen duster, step snappily
from his buckboard and take his stand by the Colonel to review
the troupe manoeuvres.
It was a festive time while it lasted, and all enjoyed themselves.
On Saturday, August 27, Fisk marched his men over to Monmouth
Park for the last meet of the trotting season. They were a far
greater attraction to the crowd than the horseflesh or even the
gowns. When the afternoon heats ended, the guardsmen picked up
their stacked rifles, the band began to blare and the men cere-
moniously marched back to Camp Gould. The day ended with a
grand ball in honor of the entire regiment at the Continental Hotel.
On the following day the soldiers took over Ocean Avenue for
a magnificent parade. After passing in review, the men rested,
while Long Branch put on a show for their benefit. This took the
curious form of a combined religious and farewell program in
which the regiment was doubtless eulogized far more as providers
for the common defense than as providers for the common enter-
tainment. Three days later they all sailed home aboard "Admiral
Jim's" Plymouth Rock. The nautical title was of Fisk's choosing, for
when he stepped upon the bridge of one of his Fall River Line
boats, the colonel in him yielded to an equally fine figure clad in
the full uniform of an admiral.
Although they went to Long Branch for a vacation, Fisk and his
partner Gould were far too much the financiers to resist the oppor-
America's Foremost Watering Place 65
tunity of combining a little business with pleasure. They recognized
that Long Branch was growing fast and needed additional facilities
for its guests. In 1872 they erected the Grand Excursion House in
East Long Branch with a pier in front and train tracks running
into a court at the rear. It was elaborately built, in the only way
Fisk could do anything, with an unpaid-for cellar of wines, vases
and urns from France, and other extravagant fittings. In financial
straits even before it opened, the hotel was renamed the East End
and struggled along for four years until it was taken over by the
Long Branch Banking Company, which had held a mortgage on it.
The pier, grandly called the East End Excursion Pavilion, had
an even briefer and more disastrous career. Within a week the
flimsy wooden structure was washed away in a typical Long Branch
storm. More than a pleasure spot was lost, for Fisk and Gould had
intended to have their steamers from New York dock there. The
Plymouth Rock did land at the pier the first Sunday it was in use,
but a week later it was forced to return to its old dock at Sandy
Hook.
Fisk took especial pride in the Plymouth Rock because it was
the most magnificent ship in his fleet. In fact, nothing so grand
had ever been seen in local waters. To begin with, Fisk's Celtic
physiognomy appeared in rich colors on each side of the ship's
boiler. Built at a cost of $94,000, the boat was 345 feet long, with
thirty-two suites that matched New York hotels for luxury and
comfort. It was really a hotel afloat, catering to the most expensive
tastes in the country. Huge mirrors set off the white marble in the
barroom, and the furniture was extravagantly gilded and covered
with plush, velvet, and silk. People who were leaving Long Branch
could board the boat in the afternoon, dress there, ride off for an
evening's pleasure, sleep in their stateroom and arrive in New York
in the morning. The Sabbath usually found Fisk resplendent in his
admiral's uniform, jovially combining the roles of admiral and
host.
A brass band with a leader, weighed down by gold braid, blar-
ing in the salon was a feature of all of Fisk's boats. In the dining
salons two hundred and fifty canaries, named after his friends,
warbled in gilt cages. Among the friends so honored were Colonel
66 Entertaining a Nation
Braine of the Ninth Regiment, Jay Gould, Commodore Cornelius
Vanderbilt, August Belmont, President Grant and the patent-
medicine king, Dr. H. T. Helmbold.
Fisk's strenuous exhibitionism won him much popularity, but
not acceptance with the socially elect whom he courted. His bio-
grapher, Robert W. Fuller, comments, "Jim wasn't a social success.
He wasn't invited to dinners, receptions, and dances by the hosts
and hostesses of Washington Square and Fifth Avenue. They looked
upon him as a crude person to be avoided when possible."
Society not only snubbed Jim; it treated him as a pariah. When
Jim established himself at the Continental Hotel, many of the
guests checked out or did not return for another visit. Fisk noticed
it, regretted it, and finally decided to do something about it. He
went to the manager, Borrowes, and told him that he knew his
presence had been causing him a loss of his best trade. While it
was likely that a showman like Fisk attracted far more people than
he kept away, he nevertheless felt he owed Borrowes something and
insisted on taking over the mortgage on the building to ease his
mind.
Among the many Stokeses living in Long Branch was Edward
S. Stokes, the worthless son of a prominent and wealthy hotel
family. He became Fisk's rival for the attention of the adventuress
Josie Mansfield, and it was over him that she broke with Fisk.
There were reconciliations and more angry quarrels, and within
three years Stokes had murdered Fisk and Josie soon had become
an outcast in Boston.
Second only to Fisk was colorful "Doc" H. T. Helmbold,
another flamboyant millionaire. He was a swarthy little Philadel-
phia druggist who made a fortune from Helmbold's Buchu Tea,
which he made more saleable by claiming that it was a secret brew
from Africa. It was made from the smooth leathery leaves of the
buchu, a native shrub of the Cape of Good Hope. The oil extracted
from the glands on the margins and underside of the leaves was
used for kidney troubles. It is now practically obsolete.
Helmbold made his money by shrewdly cornering the supply
and by pioneering in large-scale advertising. He is reputed to be one
of the first men to have spent a million dollars publicizing his
^ A
An advertise^nent for the Continental Hotel appearing in the
Long Branch Daily Record, August, 1867
George W. Childs, tuho brought Jim Fisk, who brought the spirit
President Grant to Long Branch of Broadway to the bluff
America's Foremost Watering Place 67
wares. He maintained two lavishly fitted drugstores, one at 594
Broadway in New York City and the other at 104 10th Street in
Philadelphia.
He had the same love of florid living that Fisk had. Like Fisk,
again, he delighted in color schemes. A four-in-hand of black
horses always drove him around New York, but in Philadelphia he
insisted on a four-in-hand of white horses. At Long Branch he out-
did himself with a six-in-hand drag seating ten persons and said to
be the smartest in America.
Helmbold detested the ugly old hotels that lined Ocean Ave-
nue and he was rich enough to buy and destroy some of them. It was
said that he tore down the buildings to make the drive more
becoming to his flashy tornouts. At any rate, he did away with the
Monmouth Hotel and tore off parts of the Clarendon and moved
it back on a side street. He had demolished an entire row of build-
ings on Depot Avenue (South Broadway) and in its place erected
Helmbold Block, a row of sixteen stores. Helmbold lived on the
north side of Chelsea Avenue, beside the Seaside Chapel about
three doors from Ocean Avenue.
When Helmbold's Buchu Tea was a household expression and
he was making far more money than even he could spend, a series
of misfortunes overtook the little wizard. He lost a huge sum in
1872 on a celebrated match race at Monmouth Park. Two years
later his block of stores burned down, and then, according to local
historians, his wife left him and ran away with James Gordon
Bennett, owner of the New York Tribune. Such a succession of ill
fortune was too much for the man and he began to crack.
He announced that he had bought four thousand newspapers
throughout the United States "to mould public opinion." Then he
decided to hire a sailboat to cross the Atlantic each year and paint
on the Rock of Gibraltar, "Helmbold's, We have it; Helmbold's I
have it." He is supposed to have brought a dozen chorus girls down
to Long Branch for a dinner party at which he sat like a little king
at the head of the table while twelve giant negroes served the feast.
No scheme was too wild to interest him, and every bogus stock
promoter found Helmbold an eager investor. When friends, who
were beginning to question his sanity, protested to him, he con-
68 Entertaining a Nation
firmed their suspicions by telling quietly how he had just escaped
from six asylums after being murdered in each.
He did not go to an asylum, although he was quickly judged
insane. When his affairs were investigated, it was found that the
Buchu Tea wealth had been shared almost entirely with the leading
confidence men of the country; Helmbold was practically a pauper.
His wife added her own touch to this riches-to-rags story by return-
ing to nurse him in his illness. The little man spent his last years in
obscurity, trying for hours at a time to sweep the front porch of
his cottage clean of the sunshine.
Long Branch seems to have had a special attraction for patent
medicine millionaires, none of whom, except Helmbold, were
eccentric. Dr. F. Humphreys, originator of the famous "Specifics"
and John McKesson, Jr., of McKesson and Robbins, both lived in
North Long Branch. Dr. H. P. Lee of Philadelphia, who became
rich on a blood purifier called Lithontropic, had a house near the
southeast corner of Brighton and Ocean Avenues. On Morris Ave-
nue lived Brent Good, owner of Carter's Little Liver Pills, and in
West End, George Curtis and his brother, makers of "Mother
Winslow's Soothing Syrup," owned two large cottages now joined
together as the San Alfonso Retreat.
It was frequently said that "everybody who was anybody sooner
or later comes to Long Branch." To list the summer colony in detail
would be to lift practically page after page from the social registers
of New York and Philadelphia. Celebrities were usually so thick
that it took an exhibitionist like Fisk or Helmbold to earn a reputa-
tion definitely associated with Long Branch. Horace Greeley, James
Gordon Bennett, William Cullen Bryant represented the editors
of the day and Henry Ward Beecher came down frequently from
his embattled pulpit in Brooklyn. President Grant's presence
naturally attracted many army men, such as Major General Phil
Sheridan, General Van Vliet, and Major General George Meade.
While these military leaders were fighting again the battles of the
Civil War, there was always a crowd ready to hail the naval hero,
Admiral David Farragut. The nobility of Europe usually stopped
for a visit between seeing New York and Washington. Among the
titled personages of the period of the seventies were Count Armin,
America's Foremost Watering Place 69
Countess Englehart, Prince de Jainville of France and Prince
Ytibide, a grandson of the former Emperor of Mexico.
No matter how many celebrities or unknown people came to
Long Branch for a simple vacation the atmosphere of showy
opulence was always dominant. When John Lester Wallack, the
actor, returned to his Long Branch home in 1869, the Long Branch
Neu^s found the space to report that on full dress occasions he wore
"a blue swallow-tail coat, with velvet collar and gilt buttons, a
white vest, with rich fancy buttons, black knee breeches, and black
silk stockings and pumps with delicate silver buckles." The paper
concluded, "This is now the correct thing for full dress, and as
worn by Mr. Wallack, it is a very elegant costume."
The arrival of summer visitors was recorded in terms of their
transportation equipment. The nature of a man's team and carriage
was generally accepted as a reliable index of his fortune, if not his
social status. Thus on July 20, 1872, the Long Branch News ob-
served in its social notes:
William P. Ward of New York with his pair of trotters is
at the Mansion House. Mr. T. F. Gilligan is now at the Ocean
House with his dog cart. Mr. Rich has a pair of blacks and a
laundolette with him at the West End. C. W. Chapin of New
York has with him at the Pavilion a stylish phaeton. Daniel
Drew of the Ocean House drives a fast pair of light horses
Mr. J. M. Atwater of Cooper Cottage drives a pair of South
American pigmy ponies to a miniature wagon. Mrs. O'Gilly
of the Clarendon drives a large bay horse.
It was a day of big spending. When John Hoey decided to give
a birthday party for his daughter and a hundred of her guests, he
had Gilmore's band of 32 musicians down from Boston, several
opera singers to entertain the chaperoning mothers, catering by
Delmonico's of New York and fireworks that surpassed anything
ever seen at the resort. George E. West, who ran the cigar counters
at the Metropolitan, Ocean and Howland hotels, would sell 10,000
cigars in less than three months during the races, and no customer
would try to save by ordering a box. Often, however, when the
races were on, money meant almost nothing, for it could not buy
a room at any kind of hotel. Clubmen were frequently glad to have
70 Entertaining a Nation
a mattress on a pool table or a cot in a bar or hallway during the
racing season. Many of them would simply fall asleep in the chairs
of the large lobbies. No matter how much the sporting crowd
might ruin its health, it was willing to pay large sums for restora-
tion. Fashionable New York doctors called twice a week at the
resort to visit their patients.
By the 15 th of September the hotel crowd had departed,
officially closing the fashionable season. The hotels were boarded
up for the winter; the beaches were deserted except for three or
four hardy bathers; and the cottage owners settled down to enjoy
what they considered the finest time of the year at Long Branch.
Although not year-round residents, they nevertheless felt a sense of
closeness to the resort that transcended the gaiety of fancy dress
balls, thrilling races and afternoon promenades. They let those
who came only for the luxuries of the large hotels rush off to the
city to continue the same frantic round of pleasure. The cottagers
were content to remain behind to watch cows peacefully pasture
on the hotel lawns, to see the bathing shacks reduced to piles of
lumber on the beach, to drive along the bluff not bound for some
large formal party but for a quiet evening at home.
Throughout this Indian summer season Long Branch achieved
the kind of neighborliness that the resort had known before it be-
came the magnet for society. Although the quiet sometimes drove
people back to the city sooner than they expected, in the main they
would stay on as long as weather permitted, through October,
sometimes even into November. And the man who enjoyed this
period of repose as much as anyone was he who set its opposite
in motion — President Grant.
The Mansion House, one of the exclusive hotels in the seventies
Interior of the Mansion House
Watching the races at
Monmouth Park
K
CHAPTER V
The Gilded Strand
lESORTS are keenly sensitive to the ever-present possibility that
they may suddenly lose public favor. They know that natural
disasters, violent epidemics or sheer human fickleness can
almost overnight thin their throngs and flatten their purses. In the
midst of its exceptional prosperity in the early 1870's Long Branch
was obliged to add yet another worry to the concerns common to
resorts. Those who were making large sums from the summer
guests knew how much they owed to the presence of President
Grant. What if later Presidents found another place more attractive
than the Branch? Would the bluff, the beach, the track and the
gaming table be sufficient to hold the crowd? Or was Long Branch's
popularity based on its eminence as the summer capital?
As Grant was nearing the end of his second term in 1876,
Harper's examined the problem and stated somewhat reassuringly,
"It is quite possible that, unless our next President should choose
Long Branch as his summer residence also, many years will elapse
before the flow of prosperity will lead to the high prices in real
estate which formerly prevailed there. Yet the prediction would be
childish to intimate that the best days of Long Branch are over.
The probability is that this charming resort will grow more and
more in favor; . . ."
Fortunately or otherwise. Long Branch never had to face the
issue squarely. Grant's successor, Rutherford B. Hayes, came often
enough to the resort to preserve its reputation as the summer
capital. Unlike Grant he never acquired his own cottage, but pre-
ferred to stay at the Elberon Hotel, the newest and smartest of the
shore hotels. No more social than Grant and considerably less
glamorous, Hayes' sole contribution to the resort was his presence.
72 * Entertaining a Nation
Elected as a reform president, he resolutely pursued a social life that
conformed to the austerity he was practicing in government. Under
his wife's influence liquor was for the first time banished from the
White House, all but the most necessary social functions were
eliminated, and over all a stiff, rather countrified formality replaced
the bluff joviality of the Grants.
It is a little startling to contemplate the provincial Hayeses at
Long Branch in the late seventies. They must have found them-
selves in somewhat the position of King George V and Queen
Mary when they fell heir to the gay, slightly disreputable Ed-
wardian way of life. For Long Branch continued in full blast.
Monmouth Park attracted larger and larger crowds; greater sums
were won and lost over the gambling tables; Ocean Avenue
paraded its styles and retailed the gossip with no less energy; and
the hotels reported continuing prosperity.
Yet a subtle change was taking place in Long Branch, one that
would not be manifest for a few years to come. In its first burst of
popularity the resort had been unable to avoid the appearance of
a newly-established watering place. Although the social elite had
come and come again, the racing and gambl'ng had undoubtedly
created a distaste for the place among the aristocratic — but not
sporting — vacationers. Almost imperceptibly these people began
to drift elsewhere, leaving the field clear for sports, sharpers and
social climbers.
Despite the well-known simplicity of their tastes, in going to
the Elberon Hotel the Hayes family was plunging itself into the
center of the smartest company at the resort. When they arrived
for the summer of 1877, the hotel was but a year old and had
already caught the fancy of the fashionables. Built by Lewis B.
Brown, who had been so active in developing the Elberon district,
it was something new in summer hotels in its effort to copy a
country estate. The low, rambling structure with deep first-floor
porches extending out onto the lawn from many angles suggested
an exclusive residence. Several cottages ran along the lawn to the
south of the hotel. Its clientele included George W. Childs, the
Philadelphia publisher, the Durlands, the Wideners, the Sloanes,
George R. Blanchard, president of the New England Railroads,
The Gilded Strand 73
General Fitz-John Porter, Thomas Murphy, James A. Bailey, part-
ner of P. T. Barnum and ex-president Grant.
Equally popular was the West End Hotel, which also sought
to relieve the monotony of the barracks-like structures farther north
on the west side of Ocean Avenue. The grounds were arranged
as an extensive park with many adjoining buildings, including a
summer auditorium. The management provided stables for one
hundred and fifty horses and showed its recognition of the im-
portance of horseflesh in Long Branch by advertising its stage
and stable supervisors among its executives. In 1880 the West End
was the first hotel to set up direct telegraphic service with the New
York Stock Exchange.
When Grant retired from the White House, he went on a
round-the-world tour that took him away from Long Branch for a
few summers. None of the activities in which he had been inter-
ested slackened; in fact they redoubled in size, in money spent
and sheer energy expended. By the time Grant got back from his
trip Long Branch was more prosperous than ever before.
Colonel John Chamberlain's successor as the king-pin of the
local gamblers, Phil Daly, proved himself entirely worthy of carry-
ing on the tradition of the grand style that Chamberlain had
founded. He was induced to come to Long Branch by Richard J.
Dobbins, who made large sums in local real estate. Daly took over
the Pennsylvania Club and with Dobbins' backing modernized it at
a cost of more than $100,000.
Daly was a short, stocky man with dark hair and a ruddy com-
plexion. He seems to have entertained none of the social aspirations
that motivated Chamberlain, but rather to have confined himself
strictly to the pursuit of the business in which he excelled —
gambling. Popular with his guests, known as a square-shooter, he
calmly presided over a vast amount of wealth that more frequently
than not ultimately became his. Like Chamberlain he forbade local
residents to play at his tables, and when a resident did once get in
to play and lost heavily, Daly took him aside, returned his money
and told him never to return.
The Asbury Park Press of February 17, 1935 printed a partial
list of Daly's patrons. It included Jacob Rothschild, the banker;
74 Entertaining a Nation
George Pullman, Sr., and his two sons, George, Jr. and Sagnor;
Thomas Patten, Senator James Smith, Jr., Thomas Murphy, Henry
S. Little, John R. McPherson, Jay Gould, George N. Curtis, the
banker; George F. Baker, president of the First National Bank of
New York; Richard V. Breece, a prominent contractor and builder;
A. J. Cassett, president of the Pennsylvania Railroad; William
McKinley when he was Congressman and Garrett A. Hobart, be-
fore he came vice-president.
An indication of the tolerant view that men in public life took
of gambling was the frequent presence at Daly's of President Grant
and after him President Chester A. Arthur. Their participation was
well known, as was that of such respectable figures as General
Horace Potter and the railroad financier, Chauncey Depew.
It is estimated that an average season saw between $5,000,000
and $10,000,000 wagered in Daly's gambling rooms. Most of the
players appear to have favored roulette and faro, but cards and dice
were popular with a large number of the patrons. Daly was not
always engaged in making money for himself; he could help others
to do the same. When James Connelly of the Long Branch News
wanted to win the $100 prize that Harper's was offering for a 300-
word article on the richest man in the world, he lent his aid. Con-
nelly decided that William K. Vanderbilt was the man, and Daly
obligingly arranged an interview with the tycoon, who was one of
his regular customers. Connelly won the $100, and also through
the efforts of Daly was given what Vanderbilt's time had been
worth during the conversation.
A curious obligato to the click of chips on the gambling tables
at Daly's was his wife's preoccupation with the Catholic faith. In
the rear of their home on Chelsea Avenue she erected a chapel and
together they gave the Star of the Sea Church a magnificent
chandelier costing $2,000.
As Daly grew older, he was subject to violent fainting spells.
Whenever he attended church, he sat on the side in the front row
and had a wicker lounge set by his seat so that, if necessary, his
four paid attendants could quickly remove him from the church
with a minimum of disturbance to the other worshippers and dis-
comfort to him.
.9^'
^^
The daily procession along Ocean Avenue
"The Gambling Evil at Long Branch'' as Harper's
saw it in 1889
■^^^'fkr^':::'^}'^; _... „^
.__— ^ &«--v-
The Iron Pier,
erected in
1879
i.^«aiww^
The Gilded Strand 75
When Daly died of a paralytic stroke in the early nineties, Mrs.
Daly attempted to continue his clubhouse. Her heart, however, was
deep in her faith as a Catholic and she became less and less in-
terested in the fortunes around the green cloth. Her difficult
dilemma was finally resolved when the anti-gambling laws put a
ban on the activities of the Pennsylvania Club. On March 15, 1909
the magnificent old structure, for which Daly had once refused
$250,000, was sold to Simon Hess of New York for $70,000. With
the house went two huge chandeliers purchased from the Centen-
nial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876 for $25,000. Along with
the other furnishings these chandeliers brought only $10,000 in
the posthumous sale.
John Daly, no relative of Phil Daly, operated the Long Branch
Club on Ocean Avenue between North and South Bath Avenues.
This was for many years a popular rendezvous for wealthy New
Yorkers. Daly arrived at Long Branch in much the same way John
Chamberlain had before him. He was running a successful gamb-
ling house at 39 West 29th Street in New York when he noted
that as soon as warm weather arrived his patronage fell oflF. Ac-
cordingly, he opened his shore place. He was a gambler with a creed,
"All any gambler wants is to play for a long enough time and he'll
get all the money any player has. It is absolutely silly to assert that
any so-called respectable gambler would use crooked paraphenalia.
The percentage in favor of the gambling house is always sufficient
to guarantee the profits of the house."
John Daly attracted only a slightly less spectacular array of
patrons than Phil Daly. Senator O. E. Wolcott of Colorado is said
to have made phenomenal winnings at his club. The elder Pierre
Lorillard always set himself the limit of $2,000 a game. Theodore R.
Hostetter, of the Pittsburgh family that had made a fortune in the
production of bitters, could not wait for a roulette wheel to slow
down, so he matched pennies at $1,000 a flip. An especially con-
sistent winner was Elias J. (Lucky) Baldwin,
There were more notorious spots where less famous people could
gather for an evening's entertainment. One of these was the New
York Club built around the former summer home of Dr. H. P. Lee
of Philadelphia. This stood opposite the grander Pennsylvania Club
76 Entertaining a Nation
and passed through a variety of ownerships, including a Colonel
James of Baltimore; William Baker, a gambler from the west; and
Thomas Johnson. Another popular place was the Ocean Club run
by "Doc" Frank Slater, "a flashy dresser who sent to Paris for his
shirts." The building was believed to have been brought to Long
Branch from the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. A third
hang-out was on the second floor of the Mansion House after it
had deteriorated from its once fashionable status.
While gambling continued to be the chief indoor diversion at
Long Branch, the race track at Monmouth Park was an amiable
outdoor rival. Its first season in 1870 had seen but five racing days
and a total of sixteen races. A decade later racing extended more
than two weeks, and although it was to be many years before the
park itself was improved, there were the first sounds of a demand
for better facilities and a generally more impressive plant.
With the racing and gambling that attracted so many
thousands to Long Branch, President and Mrs. Hayes had little to
do. They would quietly establish themselves at the Elberon Hotel,
receive the social honors due their position and then let Long
Branch go its own way. Hayes' successor, James A. Garfield, how-
ever, was more socially inclined. Long Branch had known him as a
Congressman from Ohio, a man who skillfully combined dignity
with enjoyment. Considerably less a reformer than Hayes, Garfield
was on familiar terms with men of wealth, and they looked forward
to his arrival as the signal for a return to the easy comradeship
that had characterized the Grant days.
Grant himself decidedly did not look forward to Garfield's
coming to Long Branch as President. For one thing, it is possible
that he sensed that he might to some extent be displaced as the
outstanding local figure. Moreover, it was certain that he had not
forgiven Garfield his success in obtaining the Republican nomina-
tion in 1880, which Grant had so ardently sought. When the two
men finally met at the resort. Grant was cool and aloof. The men
exchanged only a few words, and Garfield departed, leaving Grant
to his bitterness.
It was mid- June 1881 when Garfield first came to Long
Branch as President. With most of his cabinet he had left Wash-
The Gilded Strand 77
ington to escape the malaria fever epidemic raging there. Mrs.
Garfield herself was recovering from the disease. Toward the end
of the month, the President returned to the capital to clear his desk
of official business before leaving to attend the commencement
exercises at his alma mater, Williams College. He planned to spend
the summer at Long Branch with his family.
On July 2nd he drove to the station in Washington to take the
train for Massachusetts. The ladies' waiting room had been reserved
for his use before boarding the train. As he stood in the room
greeting friends and admirers, a half-crazed, disapponted office
seeker, Charles Jules Guiteau, entered unobserved, paced up and
down, reeled on his heels and shot the President twice with a heavy
revolver. As it blazed, he cried, "I am a Stalwart! Arthur is now
President."
Guiteau's hysterical jubilation was premature. His first bullet
entered Garfield's arm below the shoulder; the second penetratea
the back above the hips. The President made no sign that he was
hurt; he merely turned in surprise and then slumped to the floor.
He was quickly borne to the White House, where his first request
was that a message be sent to Long Branch to "Crete" (Lucretia),
his wife. To his grief-stricken son he put up a brave front, saying,
"Don't be alarmed, Jimmy, the upper story is all right; it's only
the hull that's a little damaged."
But even as Mrs. Garfield rushed to Washington by a special
train, the President was sinking. July brought intensely hot weather
and the sweltering rooms became almost unbearable. Six surgeons
were in constant attendance, and two operations were performed,
the second on August 8th. A week later Garfield's condition was
worse, and when danger of malaria from the Potomac flats began
to threaten in the first week of September, it was decided to remove
the patient from Washington. Dr. D. W. Bliss suggested Long
Branch. "Yes," Garfield agreed feebly, "I want to go down by the
sea. My chances would be better there, but I don't see how it can
be done."
That was the same question that Long Branch asked itself the
following day when Attorney-General Wayne MacVeagh was
notified that the President would arrive the next morning. The first
78 Entertaining a Nation
consideration was a comfortable dwelling place. Instantly dozens of
cottages were offered, and that of Charles Francklyn of the Cunard
Lines was chosen by Mrs. Garfield, since it was on the grounds of
the Elberon Hotel where they had so often stayed.
Once the news that Garfield was coming to Long Branch
spread through the town, the community rose almost as one man
to facilitate his entry. When the fashionable folk heard that the
national tragedy of the President's assassination was to be played
before their eyes, the casinos abruptly closed and the track at Mon-
mouth Park was quickly deserted. There was but a single thought
in the emergency: the spur that had to be built from Elberon Station
down Lincoln Avenue across Ocean Avenue and directly to the
front door of the Francklyn Cottage, a distance of five-eighths of
a mile.
By the afternoon of September 5 th, surveyors supplied by the
government and the Pennsylvania Railroad had laid out a right of
way. Two hours later almost two thousand men were working
furiously on the line. The entire community joined in the feverish
activity. Women served cooling drinks to the men as they labored
through the exceptionally hot night. Bakeshops remained open to
supply food, and the West End Hotel had a tally-ho carting meals
all night from the kitchen to the workers.
Farm wagons, express carts and drays from miles around were
commandeered to carry away the dirt. Special freight cars brought
ties, track and other equipment from the railroad supply yards.
Every contractor in the vicinity made his gang of workmen and all
his materials available to the emergency crew. Boys were used to
hand spikes to the workmen and smaller children held torches for
them as they worked. The torches were those used by the Republi-
can and Democratic clubs in their parades.
In the midst of this furious rush toward completion, one man,
according to stories told by railroad men, at first flatly refused to
work. He was a Captain Mount who had been a Confederate
officer during the Civil War. He protested to the amazed group
exhorting him to do his duty that "it was too hot." He held out
against all pressure until he was told that Garfield, like himself,
was a Mason. Then he plunged in and served most zealously.
The Gilded Strand 79
By six in the evening the first tie was laid and at eight the
following morning the track was completed. When it was tested
for safety an hour later, it was found too weak to support the
heavy engine bringing the Presidential train from Washington.
But the train had left Washington almost three hours before, with
a specially prepared car in which to set the litter. The problem was
solved by placing a lighter engine behind the President's car when
it arrived at the Elberon Station. The important work of guiding
the car to its final destination was entrusted to engineer Dan Mans-
field and fireman Martin Maloney, both of whom died recently in
Long Branch. Under their direction the engine cautiously pushed
the car along the spur until it stood directly beneath the arches
before the door of the Francklyn cottage. It arrived there at one
o'clock in the afternoon, less than twenty-four hours after the right
of way had been laid out.
The presence of the wounded president focussed the eye of the
country on Long Branch. More than a hundred newspaper men
from New York, Washington, Philadelphia and elsewhere arrived
to cover the story, and it was necessary to improvise an express
service to handle the hundreds of messages to the West End Hotel,
where the journalists and telegraph operators set up headquarters.
In his successor's hour of danger, ex-President Grant hastily
brushed aside the differences that had separated him from Garfield
and called at the Francklyn cottage many times. Although he was
unable to see the patient, he remained at Long Branch until the end.
In Our Martyred 'President James D. McCabe gives a full ac-
count of Garfield's final agonizing days at Long Branch, stating
that he "began showing signs of improvement shortly following his
arrival at Elberon. On September 10th, the President's condition
remained favorable but on the 11th there was an alarming return
of unfavorable symptoms. There were indications that blood-poison
had infected the right lung. On September 12th he was much
better and brighter; on the 13th there was still more marked im-
provement. The President requested to be put into the reclining
invalid chair."
This gave rise only to false hopes. By the 15 th Garfield was
again delirious and had to be put back to bed where he lay semi-
80 Entertaining a Nation
conscious. The following two days he grew steadily worse. Stimu-
lants were administered constantly, but his pulse, temperature and
respiration all gave cause for the gravest alarm. When he was
seized with a severe chill and his pulse rose to 120, his physicians
advised that the absent members of the cabinet be summoned
immediately.
On Sunday, the 18th, the President was comparatively com-
fortable, although very weak. Those anxiously attending him seem
to have had more hope than he did himself. That Sunday he
asked his old friend, A. F. Rockwell, whether he thought his name
would have a place in history. After assuring him of posterity's
verdict, Rockwell admonished, "Old fellow, you musn't talk that
way. You have a great work yet to perform." Garfield considered
the remark a moment and then replied heavily, "No, my work is
done."
He spoke with the sure instinct of a dying man. The next day
he suffered a relapse, and the doctors conceded that he might die
at any time. When he fell into a deep sleep early in the evening,
his attendants made the customary preparations for the night's
vigil. Dr. S. A. Boynton paid his evening visit and announced that
the President was doing as well as could be expected.
A few minutes after ten o'clock Garfield awoke. When General
Swaim took hold of his wasted hand, he moaned, "Oh, Swaim, this
terrible pain," and placed the General's hand over his heart. He
drank a glass of water, but it failed to relieve him and again Swaim
laid his hand on his chest. In a desperate gesture he flung his hands
up and cried, "Oh, Swaim, can't you stop this?" Those were his last
words, except for an agonized "Oh, Swaim."
The General promptly summoned Dr. Bliss and Mrs. Garfield.
The doctor arrived first and when he looked at the President, ex-
claimed, "My God, Swaim, he is dying." By the time Mrs. Garfield
came in, they were rubbing the President's limbs. He had suffered
a heart attack; his pain had been acute for a moment, but when
death came, at 10:35, it was painless. There were eleven people in
the small room when the President died. When Dr. Bliss crossed
Garfield's hands on his breast, everyone withdrew, except Mrs.
Garfield and her daughter, Mollie.
Attending uje sincken President Garfield at the Francklyn Cottage
Laying the spur to the Francklyn
Cottage on the night of Septem-
ber 5, 1881
Statue of President Garfield, the
gift of the people of New Jersey,
dedicated 1918
The Gilded Strand 81
The President's private secretary, Joseph Stanley Brown, stayed
with them during their vigil. When it was later rumoured that Mrs.
Garfield fainted once during the night, Brown vigorously denied the
charge, stating categorically, "Mrs. Garfield is not a woman who
faints."
An autopsy revealed that, contrary to the physicians' beliefs, the
bullet was located quite near its point of entry in the back muscles.
Since it had become encysted, it had been the infection of the
wound itself that had threatened the President. Without X-ray and
modern antiseptic methods, the surgeons are believed to have done
their best, despite their theory that the bullet was first lodged in the
liver and then passed into the abdomen. Their probing to discover
the bullet only widened the channel of the pus from the wound.
Although vice-president Chester A. Arthur had a summer home
that season in Long Branch at the corner of Park and Elberon
Avenues, he was in New York at the time of Garfield's death. It is
rather difficult to explain his absence from Long Branch when the
remaining members of the cabinet had already been brought from
Washington. He had left a few days before, when the President
had showed some improvement. Arthur took the oath of office as
President at his New York home, 123 Lexington Avenue at two
o'clock in the morning. He immediately left for Long Branch to
assume his duties and to offer his services to Mrs. Garfield.
The dead president lay in state in a room with chintz curtained
windows open to the sea. The skin of his face was tightly drawn
over the protruding bones, the forehead was deeply creviced, the
lips hung apart and the teeth were tightly set. His once blond hair
had whitened, and his face was blotched with black spots, partly
caused by the taking of a death mask.
The crowds that had collected every day outside the cottage
during the President's losing battle had to wait until Wednesday
morning to pay its last respects. Only an hour and one minute were
allotted for these ceremonies. At 8:45 long lines began to file past
the body through avenues of uniformed guards. At 9:46 Governor
George Ludlow and members of his staff marched to the cottage
and a short funeral service was conducted there by the Reverend
Charles J. Young of the Dutch Reformed Church of Long Branch.
82 Entertaining a Nation
At 10:01 the car bearing Garfield's body pulled out from under
the cottage's arched entrance for the Elberon station. Dressed in the
black clothes he had worn at his inauguration only six months
before, Garfield rested in an elaborate casket with an enlisted man
on guard at each corner. At the head stood a tall cross of yellow and
white rosebuds, carnations, tuberoses and smilax, and at the foot
was a large pillow of similar flowers. The interior of the car was
draped in black with a cornice of small flags festooned together
with black rosettes; its exterior was panelled with black cloth
pleated into sunbursts. Black hangings also covered the heavy
engine that had been attached to the car at the Elberon station.
Shortly after noon the train slowly pulled out of the station on its
long trip to bear the President's wasted body first to Washington
and then to its final resting place in Ohio.
Buildings associated with Garfield's last tragic days in Long
Branch survived by many years the kind of resort that existed
during his final visit. The Elberon Hotel where Garfield had stayed
so often burned in 1914. The Francklyn cottage where he died was
damaged in the same fire and was torn down a few years later.
The railroad ties laid to bring the dying President directly to
the cottage were torn up shortly after his death and purchased by
Oliver Dowd Byron, the actor. Out of them he built a small cabin
on his North Long Branch estate. Still standing, Garfield's Hut, as
it is called, consists of a single room 8 x 12 feet and about 8 feet
high. It is in log cabin style and has a patriotic color scheme; the
ties that are laid lengthwise are painted red, the frame is blue and
the room is finished with white trim. It has a Dutch door in the
front, and on each side is a window with colored glass borders.
One of the original rails supports the ceiling.
Oliver Byron used the small building for tea parties; it is said
that he kept his butter and cream for such occasions in an icebox
that he reached by a trap door in the floor. When he died, the
Garfield Hut was moved to Highlands by his son, Arthur Byron,
also an actor. He recently returned it to Oliver Presley, whose
father built it for the elder Byron. It now stands on the grounds
of his home on Atlantic Avenue opposite Church Street.
Garfield's death was the tragic end of what had been up to that
The Gilded Strand 83
time an exceedingly successful season for Long Branch. The general
optimism in the beginning of 1881 had inspired the construaion of
the resort's fourth ocean pier. Built directly opposite the end of
South Broadway, it was called the Iron Pier because its angular iron
made the material more apparent than the tubular iron used on the
earlier Ocean Pier. Locally it was called Herman's Pier after its
popular superintendent.
Instead of running directly into the ocean as had its predecessors,
the Iron Pier paralleled Ocean Avenue for about three hundred
feet. This distance indicates that it reached the water at about the
same spot as the Ocean Pier and it is possible that its pilings were
used for the new structure. Moreover the old pier is known to have
disappeared at the time that the new one opened.
The entrance to the Iron Pier was through a dignified arched
building in which were located an express office, a bar and a drug-
store. Jaeger's restaurant on the pier soon became a fashionable
eating place. There were a few refreshment counters and a
promenade with benches and rocking chairs. After it was cut in
two by a tug in 1893, the outer quarter was rebuilt with wood and
the pier continued to operate for almost another decade.
President Arthur's decision to continue coming to Long Branch
relieved the fears that had naturally arisen after the death of
Garfield. It was greeted with enthusiasm by the sporting crowd,
for Arthur was considered a "regular fellow." Although he sur-
prised and confounded many political enemies by giving the country
a remarkably efficient administration, he remained to the end
something of a dandy and a sport. A man who could boast, even in
jest, that he was the best-dressed man to become President fitted
in well with the flashy croupier-bookmaker crowd that was tending
more and more to dominate Long Branch.
The change from the simple, rugged Grant to the elegant,
worldly Arthur typified what had been going on quietly in Long
Branch for a little more than a decade. Almost imperceptibly at
first, the fashionable people began seeking their pleasure elsewhere.
While they had patronized the track and the casinos, they began to
sense that the huge success of these ventures was attracting an
exclusively sporting crowd of professional gamblers, sharpers and
84 Entertaining a Nation
even confidence men. As money began to be made in large sums
in Long Branch, the resort paradoxically lost favor with the
wealthiest, who were also in most cases the most socially-elect. It is
possible, too, that there was a psychological reaction against Long
Branch after the death of President Garfield. For many the pall
of tragedy lay over the place and they were glad to leave it to a
showier, less sensitive class of people.
A sure sign of the influx of large numbers of less aristocratic
vacationers was an attempt by several of the older established
residents to form a select social club. In 1882 eight men who were
listed in the Social Register incorporated the Elberon Casino, which
was situated on the northeast corner of Lincoln and Elberon Ave-
nues. With dues at $150 a year and rigid social qualifications for
admission, the membership remained small enough to realize
the original desire for exclusiveness. Members came to the club for
the usual men's club activities, a drink at the bar, a couple of hours
lounging and reading newspapers and a quiet game of billiards or
cards. The large house and its fine grounds suggested a private
estate rather than a club.
Since the middle of the seventies the hotels had gradually
become more and more concerned with decoration and appoint-
ments. In 1882 John Hoey, president of the Adams Express Com-
pany, carried the tendency to its logical extreme by building a
hotel that attracted guests mainly by its magnificent gardens. After
Hoey had established himself in West End in 1862, he set about
acquiring land for a private park. On what had been little more
than a huckleberry hollow and a grove of holly trees, he laid out
a garden that by 1876 was considered one of the sights of America.
A triple and double greenhouse six hundred and fifty feet long
contained exceedingly rare and beautiful tropical plants. Tree-
lined drives wound past brooks, summer houses and vast expanses
of flower beds. Takanassee Lake (later called Hollywood Lake)
was included in the tract, and a velvet lawn of twenty acres swept
to the south from the front veranda of his residence. Visitors soon
became so numerous that Hoey was obliged to issue cards of ad-
mission to regulate the crowds.
The hobby was an enormous expense; more than fifty gardeners
The Gilded Strand 85
were required to keep the park in condition. Hoey, who never
sacrificed business for his aesthetic interests, cannily decided to keep
the guests who were overwhelming him by building a hotel. Out of
the lumber of the abandoned Grand Excursion House he put up a
building that resembled an oriental palace in wooden fretwork.
After the holly trees on the grounds, he called it the Hollywood
Hotel.
It was a success from the start. In addition to the famous park,
Hoey offered other novelties to his guests, such as golf and the
reproduction of rugs in flowers. This latter innovation had been
inspired by Italian gardeners, who practiced the custom of arrang-
ing flowered rugs of cut blossoms for saints' days. Hoey had his
gardeners literally grow such flower carpets, 80 x 40, reproducing
Daghustan and Teheran rug patterns in green and red. From the
promenade of the hotel porches thus stretched a vista of living
carpets.
Hoey continued to expand. In August, 1885 he invited 200
leading newspapers of the country to send their best correspondents
for a week's visit at the hotel, during which he announced that the
Hollywood would remain open all winter. Also for the winter
trade he built thirteen large cottages of the ornate Eastlake design.
Among those who paid the high rates for the apartments were
August Belmont and Elliot F. Shepard.
The whole elaborate project suddenly crashed around Hoey in
1891, when an audit of the books of the Adams Express Company
showed that he had "borrowed" large sums. He died a year later,
and in 1902 the company foreclosed its $350,000 mortgage on the
Hollywood, "which was a legacy from a little unpleasantness with
the late John Hoey, who was largely indebted to the express com-
pany when he died," as the Long Branch Daily Record tactfully
put it. Hoey Park, as the estate was locally known, was gradually
sold in parcels; the gardens and greenhouses disappeared; and in
1926 the hotel itself burned. Out of all Hoey's splendor only a few
of the ornate cottages remain.
In the same year that Hoey made his grand gesture with the
Hollywood, the Scarboro, the last of the old-time summer hotels,
opened its doors. It still stands on the northwest corner of South
86 Entertaining a Nation
Bath and Ocean Avenues, its original clapboard replaced by stucco
and tile. Although not the largest hotel at the resort when it was
built, enlargements have since given the Scarboro that distinction.
Life in the hotels continued throughout the eighties and nine-
ties to be a round of heavy eating, energetic dancing and luxurious
living. Ocean Avenue was more than ever the promenade of four-
in-hand coaches drawn by high stepping horses, the mark of the
rich on parade. Bands in front of the large hotels became a com-
monplace and gradually velocipedes and even horseless carriages
made their appearance in the throng.
Sand and surf held their appeal for all classes who visited
Long Branch. In the nineties, however, an odd Puritanism in
bathing etiquette replaced the free-and-easy mixed bathing of the
earlier decades. It was a throwback to the practice ot the 1830's, but
its corruption would surely have shocked Mrs. Trollope far more
than had the absence of bathing machines. Viewed from the van-
tage point of today, the custom can definitely be assigned to Long
Branch rather than Paris the origin of the gigolo. "To bathe" a
lady rather than to dance with her was the first function of many
attractive young men who hired themselves out by the hour, the
day, or even, the entire season. Although the practice was confined
to fashionable society, it was unmistakably a gaucherie for a lady
to appear on the beach without an escort, no matter how com-
pletely swathed she might be in skirts, pantalettes and long stock-
ings. This commercial companionship persisted until the late nine-
ties when it disappeared before the tolerance which permitted
knee-length bathing skirts.
The summer crush reached its height on Sunday when it is
estimated excursions brought an additional twenty thousand people
to the resort. Some doggedly came for the purpose of enjoying the
beach and the ocean, but most of the excursionists lined Ocean
Avenue and let themselves be awed by the fine coaches, fancy
clothes and expensive jewelry. Very possibly the stones that drew
the greatest admiration were the beach pebbles, reputed to "rival
real diamonds in brilliance," which were made into shirt studs and
sold as souvenirs.
Hoey's Park, of course, was an inevitable destination for most
An old photograph showing the floral rug designs in Hoey's Gardens
I
The Elberon Hotel, erected by Lewis E. Brown in 1876
The Gilded Strand 87
of the one-day visitors. Sometimes Hoey himself, in a flashy suit
and dazzling fancy vest, would receive the crowd, which often
reached three hundred people. As they wandered over the gardens,
they listened to residents retail bits of gossip about Hoey, such as
that he wouldn't have a cook at the Hollywood Hotel who couldn't
make huckleberry pie exactly as he desired it, and that ex-President
Grant came to the Hollywood every week for a piece of that pie.
Grant remained a summer visitor to Long Branch until 1884.
Popular figures came and went at the resort, but Grants* position
as the local hero was never seriously challenged. A train wreck on
the railroad bridge over Parker's Creek between Oceanport and
Little Silver in June, 1882 added to the meagre number of local
Grant anecdotes. The car in which he was riding was derailed and
slumped into a muddy ditch. Grant in his mud-covered light plug
hat and linen duster was pulled up through the window, still smok-
ing his black cigar. He then stood on the wreck and directed the
rescue work.
When the brokerage firm of Grant and Ward failed in 1884
and Grant lost his entire fortune trying to make up the losses sus-
tained by thousands, he came to Long Branch for the last time, a
sorrowful, harried figure. At a reunion of Civil War chaplains that
sunmier at Ocean Grove, Grant must have been deeply touched by
the show of loyalty. In introducing the ex-president, a speaker
concluded by saying, "And no combination of Wall Street sharp-
sters shall tarnish the luster of my old commander's fame for me."
None ever could for Long Branch, which knew well how much it
owed Grant.
It was to Grant that Oscar Wilde was marched in pride when
the British aesthete visited Long Branch on his tour of America in
1882. Unfortunately no record remains of the interview between
the two. Wilde stopped at the Hollywood Hotel, whose buildings
Hoev had painted in gaudy orange and black. According to Hoey,
Wilde is reputed to have said, "This man, whoever he is, has the
courage of his convictions and combined good taste." Not content
with Wilde's approval, Hoey announced at one time to the press
that he thought a garden should have gaudy colors for a back-
' '^und. At the same time he is known to have confessed earlier to
88 Entertaining a Nation
Garfield that, "The purpose of these colors is just to create
comment."
The summer visitors were the same as in the late sixties and
seventies, with greater representation from the stage and the sport-
ing world. Although finance often meant society and society was
beginning to go elsewhere, Long Branch nevertheless continued to
attract many leaders of the business and industrial world. Among
these were H. E. Mason, the world's largest woolen manufacturer;
Colonel T. C. Crowrey, president of the Western Union Telegraph
Company, and his successor in that position, General Thomas
Eckert; I. V. Brokaw, the clothier, and John S. Huyler, the candy
manufacturer. Among the important bankers were the three Selig-
mans, Jesse, James, and Joseph, and George F. Baker, who lived just
over the northern boundary of the city, and gave his daughter a pony
cart drawn by a pair of white mules that made her the envy of
every child in Long Branch.
An equally impressive list of big business men built them-
selves palatial summer homes at the resort. One of the most
spectacular was erected by James A. Hearn, the New York art
collector and department store magnate. His English estate, created
about 1888 on the southeast corner of Second and South Bath
Avenues, cost more than $1,000,000. Hearn entertained on a lavish
scale, and at first placed his guests in a house modelled after
Shakespeare's home at Stratford-on-Avon that he had built opposite
his own home. When this proved insufficient, he added a $500,000
brick and stone lodge. Here he also housed his art treasures, which
now comprise the noted James A. Hearn collection in the Metro-
politan Museum of Art in New York. The grounds were appro-
priate for such an estate; more than three hundred rare trees
surrounded wide terraces, sunken gardens and walks that were
bordered with unusual shrubs and intricate patterns of boxwood.
After Hearn's death the estate passed through many hands and in
1938 was taken over by the city and made a public garden and
recreation center.
Not quite so baronial as Hearn's, but very much on the grand
scale, was Normanhurst, at Cedar and Norwood Avenues, the
home of Norman L. Munro, millionaire publisher of the Fireside
The Gilded Strand 89
Library of paper-backed dime novels. He laid out a tract known as
Norwood Park, where he built a small casino in which singers and
actors performed for his guests' entertainment. At times the house
was occupied by Mary Anderson, the actress, and at other times by
vice-president Garett A. Hobart, who was born in West Long
Branch. Munro was a pioneer in the yachting activity at the shore,
maintaining three elaborate launches, the Henrietta (after his
wife), the Now Then and the Say When. Normanhurst burned in
a disastrous fire in 1902.
One of the meccas for theatrical folk of the period was the
home of Maggie Mitchell, which stands at 104 Norwood Avenue.
It was named Cricket Lodge after the actresses' highly successful
appearance in The Cricket on the Hearth. Over on Bath Avenue
both Fanny Davenport and Lillian Russell at one time maintained
summer homes.
Lily Langtry, the famous Jersey Lily, at first lived with a
theatrical family on Atlantic Avenue, then later moved into one
of the twin cottages that Phil Daly had erected at the northeast
corner of Second and Chelsea Avenues. Daly built the ornate houses
after he had won a $50,000 wager on Grover Cleveland in the
election of 1892. Naming the houses The Phil and The Catherine,
for his wife, he liked to boast that "President Cleveland gave me
those two houses." During the summer that Mrs. Langtry lived in
The Catherine she kept her private car on a railroad siding.
Daly had intended The Catherine for his son, Philip, Jr., but
Philip could not become reconciled to his father's business of
gambling and the cottage passed to Senator James Smith, New Jer-
sey's Democratic boss. Others who helped make Long Branch a
political writer's assignment were Senator Edward Murphy, Jr.,
Governor Franklin Murphy, and A. J. Donahue, Tammany Hall
Leader.
Whether they built huge ornamental palaces or stayed at the
hotels along the bluff, summer visitors went more and more to the
racetrack. The races were gradually increased until at Monmouth
Park in 1888 they reached a peak of one hundred and seventy in
twenty-five racing days. Such success warranted expansion, and two
years later the Monmouth Park Association bought for $100,000
90 Entertaining a Nation
the Casler and Field farms on the peninsula in the Shrewsbury
River between Parker's Creek and the inlet at Oceanport.
With a total of 640 acres, three times the size of the old park,
the Association erected a steel grandstand, 700 feet long and 210
feet wide, reputedly the largest track stand in the world. It seated
10,000 spectators and a like number could be sheltered under its
roof, which projected 75 feet. Including furnishing, retiring rooms,
lounges and bars, k cost $180,000.
In place of the old track the Association laid out three new
ones: an 11 furlong straightaway, a mile and a half run with one
turn, and a 100-ft. wide three-quarter mile straightaway. Nearly
forty stables, designed to surpass anything in the United States or
Europe, could accommodate a thousand horses. A spur from the
Oceanport station led to a l4-track train shed on the racing
grounds. If the people from Long Branch desired to come by
carriage they used the Eatontown and Long Branch turnpike.
The new Monmouth Park opened with the expected plethora
of publicity and fanfare on July 4, 1890. Throughout its brief life
it always attracted the best horses and the biggest turfmen, possibly
because the Monmouth Park Association is said to have made a
provision that the investors would derive only six per cent profit,
and would add all surplus to the stakes and purses. Whatever the
financial arrangements were, Monmouth sported the great racing
names of the day. Governor Bowie, Colonel Buford, Colonel John-
son, Dr. Weldon and the Messrs. Cottrill, Babcock, Collier,
Cameron, Morrissey, Purdy, Belmont, Travers and Thompson.
In the stands was a no less notable gathering. In addition to
the millionaires who spent the entire summer in Long Branch, there
would be such a miscellaneous collection as "Big Tim" Sullivan,
Tammany Hall leader who started Al Smith in politics; De Wolf
Hopper, only recently become famous for his recitation of Casey
at the Bat; Denman Thompson, the star of the perennial favorite
The Old Homestead; Lucius Appleby, a New York millionaire, and
President Cleveland's Secretary of the Navy, William C. Whitney,
of New York.
For the ladies a new track meant new and finer gowns for the
occasion. The simple old procedure of driving over to Monmouth
The Gilded Strand 91
Park in the hotel vehicles fell before the social necessity of driving
up in one's own carriage. Those who did not possess barouches
and victorias often paid as high as $20 for the three-mile drive
from Long Branch to the park in a public hack.
If there was one figure who dominated the track in these days
as Fisk had done two decades before, it was James Buchanan
Brady, "Diamond Jim." He never made a frontal attack on Long
Branch in the manner of Fisk, but was content to let the reputation
he had acquired in New York speak for itself at Long Branch.
This was very possibly the difference between the Long Branches
the two men knew. In Fisk's day it was necessary to put on a show
to impress the crowd. By the time Brady came along he was the
archtype of the flashiness and swagger that had conquered the
resort. Brady didn't have to put on a show. Without altering himself
a bit he could easily assume the role of star.
His diamonds alone were enough to make most people look
longingly after him as his heavy figure lumbered by. But when
Lillian Russell entered on his arm, even the Brady sparklers were
dimmed, the crowd thought. The throng would part and all but
bow as the couple moved grandly to their box at Monmouth Park.
Diamond Jim was a sport, who curiously enough never cared
about gambling itself. He liked the races for the color, the excite-
ment and the chance it gave him to dazzle the public with his
jewelry. Nevertheless he wagered a good deal and was usually
lucky. An undated clipping from the Long Branch Daily Record
records what must have been one of his luckiest strokes:
Diamond Jim went to the races here with Lillian Russell.
He waved down to a man at the post who answered by throw-
ing his hand in the air thumb downward. Diamond Jim took
it that he meant to bet on the last horse in the race, which he
did rather skeptically for it was one of those dark creatures its
safer to write up — after the race is over.
When the finish line was clipped Diamond Jim had
$32,000 he didn't have before. Going down to his friend at
the post, he said, Thanks for the tip.' Amazed the man in-
quired, 'What tip .>' 'Why,' replied Diamond Jim, 'I asked you
what horse — and you pointed thumb down which meant the
last one.'
92 Entertaining a Nation
"I didn't give you any sign," confided the man at the post.
"I thought you wanted me to come up and I couldn't, so I
motioned, come down. Did you think I'd be chump enough
to call clear across the race track to you in the grandstand
up there?'
"You don't have to holler," acknowledged Diamond Jim,
"when you can thumb the winner on a 32 to 1 bet."
Tips on the races were of course more precious than even
Diamond Jim's jewelry. Everyone had the gambling spirit. The
conductor and fireman on the train from the New York boat to
the track once hid a bookmaker in the caboose to get him out of a
scrape. In return for the kindness he slipped them a 40 to 1 tip on
an unknown called Gold Dollar. The horse more than merited his
name, for the trainmen each won $200 on it.
Prices at the racetrack were sky-high. An old-time baker recalls
that a 2j^ lb. loaf of bread that cost villagers ten cents was raised
to twenty cents during the racing season. He sold 3,000 loaves of
bread a week to the racetrack alone. An ordinary pound cake that
sold for eighteen cents in town was priced at thirty-five cents at
Monmouth Park. Dealers began to go in for premiums to such
an extent that one shoe merchant advertised, "No glassware, order
for photos, or prizes of any kind, I offer nothing but footwear."
Despite its colorful and promising opening, the new Monmouth
Park was to prove an unlucky venture. The success of horseracing
at Long Branch had inspired competition, which, in this instance,
showed itself to be anything but the life of trade. Tracks were
established in the late 1880's at Guttenberg opposite New York
and at Gloucester City across from Philadelphia. While there had
long been considerable betting at Long Branch, the honesty of the
operations was beyond question. At the new tracks, however, the
racing was a device for the crooked machinations of the promoters.
Public indignation over the dishonesty of the operators, many of
whom were either themselves prominent in politics and govern-
ment or closely associated with important officials, finally demanded
that the vicious practices cease.
The blow was struck by invoking statutes that had been on the
books since 1877. Moimiouth Park was closed under the authority
"Diamond Jim'' Brady
Lillian Russell
Lily Langtry Oliver Byron
Four summer residents of the eighties and nineties
The Gilded Strand 93
of a law that classed betting booths with disorderly houses. In the
summer of 1891 the Monmouth Racing Association moved its races
to Jerome Park in New York. Ironically the tracks that the anti-
gambling forces had been aiming at, Guttenberg and Gloucester,
managed to evade the attack. At Gloucester a friendly magistrate
repeatedly dismissed the operators with an insignificant fine, while
at Guttenberg a grand jury consistently failed to find evidence
enough to indict.
Unwilling to see their profitable summer business vanish, in
1892 the Monmouth operators had introduced into the state legis-
lature a bill that would remove the betting booths from the category
of disorderly houses. The bill passed the house and went to Gover-
nor Leon Abbett for his signature after the legislative session had
closed. It was at this stage that the horseracing issue became state-
wide. When the Governor remarked that only advocates of the
permissive legislation had approached him, the anti-track forces
united into an Anti-Race Track League under the leadership of the
crusading Dr. Everard Kempshall of Elizabeth. Although these
men had no particular animus against the Long Branch track, they
realized that legalizing betting at Monmouth Park would grant
official sanction to the evils at Guttenberg and Gloucester. By
causing sermons to be preached in pulpits all over the state and bv
hastily-organized mass meeting of citizens in Trenton, the League
induced the Governor to withhold his approval of the bill.
Although the League was reasonably well disposed toward the
Long Branch promoters, local opposition to the track was rapidly
crystallizing. It came from a variety of sources, and was inspired by
a variety of motives. The churchgoing citizens had long looked
askance at the heavy betting at Monmouth Park, and when Kemp-
shall attacked racing in general, they leveled their opposition at the
local activity. It has generally been thought that it was their
Puritan wrath that put an end to Long Branch as a sporting capital.
In the opinion of a writer in the Red Bank Register, however, these
people were really not much more than dupes for an equally
indignant but hardly so respectable group of citizens. As the paper
points out, racing grew so popular that the track felt k did not have
to supply the city poolroom gambling places with direct informa-
94 Entertaining a Nation
tion. Frozen out of the opportunity to take bets on the races, the
poolroom men decided to fight the gentlemen gamblers who
operated the track.
"Clever lawyers were engaged," according to the paper, "and
those representing the poolrooms under cover made an appeal to
the church people of Monmouth Count}'. The ministers of all de-
nominations were consulted and they on perfect good faith took
the bait. Meetings were arranged and these good men of the pulpit
told the people about what an awful thing racing was."
Rivalry between Long Branch and the new neighboring resort,
Asbury Park, may also have contributed to the downfall of racing.
It has been stated by James H. McCreery, an old trainer of Ocean-
port, that James A. Bradley, founder of Asbury Park, circulated a
petition against disorderly houses, gambling and liquor in which
there was an inconspicuous clause making it illegal to bet on a
horse race. Since it had been illegal to bet on a horse race since
1877, it is doubtful that McCreery's recollection of the petition is
entirely accurate. Possibly Bradley was one of those who identified
the betting booths with disorderly houses and thereby accomplished
the first closing of the Monmouth Park track in 1891.
Without gambling, of course, the track would have been a
dead loss. The betting ring at Monmouth Park had one hundred
bookmakers who paid $100 a day each for the privilege of taking
bets. With this revenue eliminated, and knowing that no betting
meant no crowd, the proprietors closed the track.
In the summer of 1892, however, the Monmouth Racing Asso-
ciation followed the example of Guttenberg and Gloucester and
opened late in July. Angered by the spectacle of their competitors
brazenly evading the law, the operators sanctioned wide-open
wagering and prepared for their biggest season. In June the Asso-
ciation built the New Monmouth Park Hotel that they hoped
would be "thoroughly appointed in the elegant manner demanded
by its wealthy clientele." It was a large, many-porched frame struc-
ture set on elaborate grounds that had a mile frontage along the
Shrewsbury River. Scattered over the lawn were metal deer, and
fountains spraying on umbrellas held by cast-iron children.
The possibility of the elimination of gambling could not daunt
The Gilded Strand 95
an adventurous spirit like Phil Daly. Early in the 1890's he dreamed
that a horse named Elkwood would win the next day's race at
Monmouth Park. Betting on this hunch, he won $10,000, with
which he erected a half-mile track, and named it Elkwood Park.
In typical Daly style there were stables for two hundred and fifty
horses, and a large clubhouse.
Such optimism was justified by the character of the legislature
that met in Trenton in 1893. The politicians who operated the
Guttenberg and Gloucester tracks had secured control of both
houses and were determined to thwart the reformers once and for
all by passing permanent legislation allowing gambling on horse-
racing. Originally the Guttenberg and Gloucester men had been
indifferent to obtaining permissive legislation, for they were pro-
tected by the local judiciary. But this spectacle of defiance of the
law made the attacks of the reformers even more vehement and
finally in 1893 drove the Guttenberg and Gloucester operators into
cooperation with those of Monmouth Park.
So completely dominated by the racing interests that it has
come down as the "Jockey Legislature," this session immediately
produced three bills favorable to betting. One permitted counties
or towns to license a race track located within their boundaries,
another provided that a race track where bets were laid was not to
be classed as a disorderly house, and a third imposed trifling fines
on violators of the anti-gambling laws already in effect.
Passing the bills was an easy task. As Speaker the Assembly
had elected Thomas Flynn, a "starter" receiving $100 a day at the
Gloucester track. Other gamblers sat in the Assembly, including
William J. Thompson, proprietor of the Gloucester enterprise. So
confident were the racing men that they jammed the bills through
the legislature without even granting the opponents a hearing.
When the legislation went to Governor Werts, the Anti-Race
Track League appealed to him for a veto, which he promptly gave.
As speedily as the rules would allow the bills were passed by both
Assembly and Senate over the veto.
Flynn's adroit piloting of the legislation had caught his op-
ponents off their guard. When they had introduced bills calling for
the repeal of the obnoxious acts, he showed his contempt for the
96 Entertaining a Nation
reformers by referring the repealers to a committee headed by
Thompson, his employer. This was equivalent to ripping the bills
to shreds, and the League responded with a mobilization that
dwarfed all its previous efforts. Representatives from locals of the
League all over the state poured into Trenton declaring that they
would take over the Assembly chamber and make their protest in
the hall where they earlier had been denied a hearing. Flynn swore
that they would never be admitted, but the legislature wisely de-
cided to hold no session on the day appointed for the mass meeting.
On Washington's Birthday nearly five thousand who were
opposed to the acts marched into the State House and cheered
wildly when Dr. Kempshall took his position at Flynn's desk and
called the meeting to order. With tremendous enthusiasm the
meeting passed resolution after resolution condemning the acts and
authorized a committee of fifty to present their demands for repeal
to the Legislature.
In the face of such pressure Thompson's committee felt obliged
at least to go through the motions of a hearing. The pleas of the
League were eloquently presented by distinguished ex-members of
the Legislature and by Dean McNulty of Paterson. The racetrack
men then presented their case. Very likely the committee listened
even less to them than to the repersentatives of the League. It had
long since made up its mind to fulfill its duty. It never reported
on the repeal measures.
Such a victory was the signal for a gala season at Monmouth
Park. It also led to the chartering of tracks at Clifton, Linden and
Elizabeth. Gloucester and Guttenberg likewise prospered, and the
racing forces looked forward to a long stretch of unimpeded money-
making. They reckoned, however, without the reform forces. Out-
raged by the high-handed methods used to pass the legislation
favorable to racing in 1893, the reformers so stirred up the electo-
rate that fall that an anti-gambling legislature went to Trenton in
1894.
It promptly initiated a bill to repeal the acts of the previous
year. Their control of the legislature taken from them, the race-
track operators put various kinds of pressure on the legislators, but
they were too aware of the indignation of the public to be dis-
Rutherford B. Hayes
James A. Garfield
Chester A. Arthur William McKinley
Four Presidents who made Long Branch the summer capital
The Gilded Strand 97
suaded from their avowed purpose of eliminating gambling. On
March 21, 1894 the repealer so desperately fought for during the
previous session was passed.
Monmouth Park did not re-open for the season of 1894. Repeal
had again put betting booths in the category of disorderly houses,
and, as The American Turf explained in 1898, "racing was entirely
abandoned, the members of the Monmouth Park Association being
law abiding citizens, and unwilling to act, or appear to act, in
contravention of legal enactments, however unjust those might
be." It is estimated that the closing of the park meant a loss of
more than $1,000,000 a year to Monmouth County. In 1897 the
last hope for resumption of racing was blasted when a constitutional
amendment was adopted forbidding gambling or bookmaking.
Horseracing, as such, was never outlawed, but the prohibition on
gambling accomplished the same result.
Gradually Monmouth Park was laid waste. The grandstand
was removed, but the judges' pavilion remained until as late as
1927. The entrance gates were the last part of the plant to go. The
land stood idle for many years, although occasionally a real estate
agent would unsuccessfully try to develop the section. During the
World War the Federal government purchased the site and erected
Camp Alfred Vail, which later grew into the present permanent
signal corps camp. Fort Monmouth.
The passing of Monmouth Park was the beginning of the end
of an era for Long Branch — an era that had started with the arrival
of President Grant. All the memorials to those gay, luxurious
decades remained — the beach, the bluff the hotels. But the spark
that had annually set them ablaze had vanished. Saratoga began to
reclaim the followers of the turf, just as New England had earlier
won back the ultra-fashionable people who found Long Branch too
flashy for their tastes. And now the sports and dudes found the
mere bathing, dancing and resort gossip too dull. The gamblers
soon realized that racing had been the main attraaion, and they
left for more profitable places.
Those who owned large cottages or estates could not cease
coming to Long Branch as quickly as those who went to the hotels.
Since these people had for some years represented the lingering
98 Entertaining a Nation
vestiges of society at the resort, something hke the quiet fashionable
days before the racing era returned for a short time. Naturally,
people did not lose the habit of going down to "the Branch" over-
night. But the drift away to other places was unmistakable from
the time the track closed down. As the new century opened, Long
Branch realized that its future as a resort depended upon develop-
ing new attractions less liable to elimination by public disapproval.
The time had come for the town to take a more active hand in
promoting its own welfare; hitherto the work of making the com-
munity inviting to summer visitors had been largely the business
of hotel-owners and racetrack promoters. From now on the task
was a genuinely civic one, with the future of the resort more in-
timately intertwined with that of the community than ever before.
B
CHAPTER VI
The Town Behind the Bluff
ETWEEN the visit of Mrs. Abraham Lincoln in 1861 and the
closing of Monmouth Park in 1893, Long Branch developed
from a village into a town. In that period the foundation
of the social, economic and political structure of the contemporary
community was laid. The creation of the resort naturally carried
with it the seeds of real growth and improvement for the inland
village. Although Long Branch itself never could be said to have
imitated the fashionable little world down by the shore, it profited
considerably from the services that they demanded and from the
luxuries that they considered necessities.
While some promoters were busy establishing large hotels and
elaborate race tracks, others were engaged in founding for the com-
munity improvements that were to prove of a more lasting value.
Public utilities such as telegraph, gas and water were set up almost
as soon as the resort became important. Such services were con-
sidered absolute necessities to the smooth running of the resort
institutions, and the hotel proprietors, and in some instances the
owners of cottages, were instrumental in obtaining them.
The necessity for speedy communication with New York and
Philadelphia made the telegraph the town's first public utility. In
November, 1858 the Long Branch and Squan Telegraph Company
was leased to the American Telegraph Company, which in turn was
leased to Western Union in 1866. Two years later Western Union
had four offices at Long Branch, located at the post office, the
Continental Hotel, the Ocean House Business Block and the Stetson
House. Woolman Stokes, manager of the Continental Hotel, who
had helped to bring the first railroad to Long Branch, had also
played a leading part in extending telegraph service to the town.
100 Entertaining a Nation
The jubilation over the spur line from Eatontown to Long
Branch in I860 ushered in a decade of complicated and bitter
rivalry to increase railroad service to the resort. In 1865 the Long
Branch and the Seashore Railroad ran tracks from the town to
Spermaceti Cove on Sandy Hook where passengers were transferred
to steamers. A few years later the road was involved in a rate war
with Delaware and Raritan and turned to Jim Fisk for financial
help. He not only gave funds but also the inimitable Fisk touch:
he had his partner Gould's portrait painted on both sides of the
engines.
Neither the Fisk capital nor his antics could save the road, and
in 1870 it was reorganized as the southern branch of the Jersey
Central. The same sort of monopolistic obstruction delayed the
first all-rail route to the Jersey shore until 1875, when the New
York and Long Branch Railroad, a component of the Jersey
Central, established a line between Jersey City and Long Branch.
The last unit of shore service was developed in 1882 by the
Pennsylvania Railroad which used the tracks of the New York and
Long Branch. Both the Jersey Central and the Pennsylvania con-
tinue to serve Long Branch today.
While townsfolk were still using candles and oil lamps, several
of the summer hotels manufactured their own gas for lighting pur-
poses at cost ranging from $8 to $10 per 1,000 cubic feet. Early in
1865 five citizens met at the home of Samuel C. Morris to organize
a company to erect a gas works under the provisions of an act
passed the previous year by the legislature. From the beginning
the venture was sponsored by the hotel men. Within three months
$10,000 had been subscribed and a committee of five was in-
structed to proceed with the organization. Of these, three were
prominent hotel owners, Woolman Stokes, E. S. Green and J. M. P.
Stetson. Stokes was also named president of the organization, known
as the Long Branch Gas Company. Anthony J. Drexel and George
W. Childs were among the stockholders.
In a little more than six months the gas works and 14,000 feet
of mains were completed at a cost of $40,000. The route of the
first line showed clearly that the hotels were the paramount con-
sideration of the company. Six-inch mains were run from the works
The Town Behind the Bluff 101
south to Rowland's hotel and on the turnpike west to the toll gate.
Branches were constructed along the lateral streets, serving all the
hotels except the Atlantic and the Stetson. It was not until some
time later that the lines were extended through the village. After a
few months, the company reduced its rates from $5 to $4 per
1,000 cubic feet.
The requirements of summer visitors also played a decisive
role in the town's early journalism. The first local newspaper was
the weekly Long Branch Netvs, founded in 1 866 by James B. Yard
and James B. Morris. The office was on the second floor of the
Maps and Slocum Coal Company building. In 1867 James Morris
decided that the influx of vacationers warranted publishing a daily
edition during July and August. Aware of the rapid growth in the
region, he campaigned vigorously but fruitlessly to have city-owned
horsecars run at regular intervals between the beach and the out-
lying towns. Morris and Yard operated the News until 1872, when
they sold the paper to W. Jacob Stults, who published the Hights-
town Village Record with Yard.
Schenck's Guide furnishes a detailed picture of business activi-
ties in Long Branch in 1868. Besides the eleven hotels, there were
two drug stores, two dry goods stores, four groceries, seven variety
stores, two clothing stores, three butcher shops and three boot and
shoe shops. The town had two jewelers, two plumbers, three
tailors, one cabinetmaker and three photographers. Services and
repairing were handled by four blacksmiths, three wheelwrights and
a harness shop. Other firms included two flour mills, a printing
office, a paint and supply store, a confectionery and a steam plan-
ing mill. Among the professional men in Long Branch there were
three clergymen, three physicians, a lawyer and a dentist.
Several of the stores enjoyed more than a local reputation. The
L. and D. Edwards Coal and Lumber Yard was the largest in the
county. Antonides' Long Branch Carriage and Light Wagon Manu-
factory served the entire state. The boat works of Charles B. Huff,
founded in 1868, soon rose to prominence along the shore and
from 1878 to 1895 supplied the United States government with
surf boats.
The penchant that summer visitors entertain for having their
102 Entertaining a Nation
pictures snapped in moments of studied leisure led to the establish-
ment of one of the Nation's most famous photographic firms.
Gustavus and Gotthelf Pach, who summered at Long Branch,
amused themselves by taking snapshots of the famous visitors.
Their neighbor, President Grant, became interested in their work
and induced Anthony Drexel and George Childs to lend them
$1,000 for better equipment. The investment proved a sound one,
for the young men prospered first at the shore and then in New
York, where the firm of Pach Brothers became synonymous with
artistic portraiture.
As business developed, financial organizations followed. The
first of these was the Long Branch Building and Loan Association,
organized November 30, 1869. Among the incorporators and first
directors were William Russell Maps, Matthias WooUey, James A.
Lippincott, J. J. Garrabrant and Thomas R. Woolley. John E.
Lanning served as attorney. Three years later the Long Branch
Banking Company was organized as the first bank on the New
Jersey coast. It was in the upper village at 577 Broadway (its
present location) and William Russell Maps was its first president.
The town's first insurance company was the Mutual Fire Insurance
Company, opened in 1867 with Jacob Herbert as president.
Along with commercial growth came the long-delayed political
development of Long Branch. Since 1849 the community had
been a part of Ocean Township, governed by its three township
committeemen. In 1867 the town was granted a borough form of
government. Its boundaries were set at Eatontown Township on the
west, Cedar Avenue on the south, and the Shrewsbury River and
Seaview Avenue on the north. This area was divided into five voting
districts.
The Long Branch Police, Sanitary and Improvement Commis-
sion was established as the governing body. The first commissioners,
appointed by a justice of the Supreme Court, were L. B. Brown, S.
Laird, F. Corlies, J. Herbert and C. Vanderveer. Joseph H. Cooper
was elected the first mayor and John E. Lanning was chosen town
attorney.
According to Schenck's Guide, the Commission had the power
"to abate nuisances, establish a police and exercise magisterial
T>&e "Upper Village" about 1850, ^j pictured by an unknown local artist
The police force of 1880
The Town Behind the Bluff 103
function within their Kmits and also possesses the power of state
commissioners." Its first meeting place was the ticket office of the
Long Branch and Seashore Railroad. Early in 1868, according to
its minute book, the board changed its meeting place to "next door
west of Remond House on Depot Avenue (now South Broadway).
Among its earliest official acts were the adoption of a seal (the
impression of the eagle side of the silver quarter) ; the appointment
of Alexander Cooper as poundkeeper, his salary to be derived from
a 25^ fee for impounding horses, cattle, goats and swine found at
large; and the establishment of a two-cell town lock-up under
Washington Hall.
The Board showed itself no less solicitous of the comfort of
summer visitors than the merchants or promoters. On June 21,
1869 it passed an ordinance providing that between July 1 and
October 1 no swill or garbage could be carted on public roads
except between midnight and six in the morning. In the same year
four gas lamps were erected on the Eatontown and Sea Shore
turnpike between the Arcade Hotel and Cedar Lane.
Long Branch's public water service dates back to the formation
of the first company in 1877. The Long Branch Reservoir and
Water Company was originally incorporated ten years earlier with
a capital of $25,000. Joseph H. Cooper, John Hoey, Charles
Chamberlain, Samuel Laird, A. S. Bright, E. Boudinet Colt, Charles
Stetson, J. Lester Wallack and Francis Corlies were the incor-
porators. It was not, however, until 1874 that Whale Brook Pond
was purchased for the water supply and Takanassee Lake for a
reservoir. The route of the first mains, through Cedar Avenue,
Ocean Avenue and Main Street, showed that, as in the case of gas
service, the hotels and large cottages came first, the town second.
The first water was used in June 1877, but it was August of the
succeeding year before the first tap was installed in the home of
William A. Gawtrey. Pipes were extended throughout the town as
it was found expedient.
George F. Baker, the prominent New York banker and rail-
road president, was the first head of the Long Branch Reservoir and
Water Company. In 1882 pipes were extended to connect with
those of the Monmouth Beach and Sea Bright Water Company.
104 Entertaining a Nation
The companies were merged into the Long Branch Water Supply
Company and the system ran from Sea Bright to Elberon, a dis-
tance of about ten miles.
In the spring of 1882 the New York and New Jersey Tele-
phone Company inaugurated telephone service in West End on
Brighton Avenue opposite Ocean Avenue. Miss Susie Whearty was
the first woman operator, and Charles Fountain served as the first
relief and night operator. Service was started with twenty-five sub-
scribers, about half of whom had direct lines.
Once again the public utility had its impetus from the resort,
and was not extended to the town until later. Among the first
subscribers were Phil Daly's Pennsylvania Club, the West End
Hotel, John Hoey, and General Thomas D. Eckert, president of
Western Union. During the first two years there was so little
demand for service from the town that the telephone exchange
was closed for the winter and reopened in the spring. One pay
station, served by the central office at Asbury Park, was kept open
for emergency purposes.
When the demand increased slightly early in 1884 the exchange
was moved to quarters above the Curtis and Brown store on Broad-
way opposite Third Avenue. A larger switchboard was installed,
but William D. Martin, the new manager, found that he had to be
relief and night operator, salesman, installer, wire chief and col-
lector. At this time there were less than fifty telephones in opera-
tion. Within the next two years, however, long-distance service to
New York and Philadelphia was made possible by the construction
of a line to Freehold, a central exchange of the American Tele-
phone and Telegraph Company. According to the local company's
history of telephone service in Long Branch, it required "lusty
lungs and good vocal chords" to make conversations intelligible,
but "the line was voted a remarkable achievement."
Two other services for the public were founded in the middle
1880's. In 1885 the Long Branch Electric Light Company was in-
corporated, with its office and generating station at the intersection
of West End Avenue and the New York and Long Branch Rail-
road tracks. In May the following year a plant was completed to
serve ninety lights. Three years later the capacity of the station
The Town Behind the Bluff 105
was increased to 250 arc lamps and 1,000 incandescent lamps. In
1890 rates ranged from one light at $6.25 per week to $125 a
year for four or more lights. A year after the establishment of
electric light service, the Long Branch Sewer Company, one of the
four privately-owned utilities of its kind in New Jersey, started
operation with three miles of sewer mains.
The town's second newspaper, the Long Branch Record, was
founded in 1883 by Louis S. Bennett and Robert Morrison Stults,
a son of Jacob Stults, former publisher of the Long Branch News.
Four years later it was acquired by Frank M. Taylor, Jr., who con-
verted it from an all-year weekly into a summertime daily. The ec-
centric Taylor astonished readers of the first edition with the
announcement that he was a millionaire and was "conducting the
daily for the sake of his health." He apparently improved more than
his health, for within a decade the Record was publishing a sixteen-
page edition in August.
The Long Branch News was sold in 1887 by James Stults to
Clifton W. Tayleure, whose previous connection with the theatre
made his career as publisher and editor a lively one. Probably more
from a desire for a sensational headline than out of a sense of civic
duty, Tayleure implied that public officials were accepting substan-
tial sums to shut their eyes to the presence of the gambling casinos.
With his usual flair for the dramatic, he chose to make his accusa-
tion by quoting from Goldsmith's Deserted Village:
111 fares the land, to hastening ill a prey
Where wealth accumulates and men decay.
Tayleure was promptly sued for libel. Records of the case have
disappeared, but old residents believe that it was either the mayor
or several councilmen who prosecuted the ebullient publisher.
They also recall that he conducted himself so foolishly and with so
little regard for the dignity of the court that he lost the case.
Nevertheless, his charges were by no means idle, as the agitation
over gambling in the next decade was to prove.
Feeling the need of a Republican organ in the region, in 1890
Alden T. Hyde established the weekly Long Branch Times. It
made some headway against its competitors, but in 1894 it was
acquired by Jacob Stults, former owner of the News and Holmes
106 Entertaining a Nation
Wheeler, who merged it with the Netvs which they purchased from
Tayleure. They called the new sheet the Long Branch Times-News.
It took almost two decades for Long Branch to pass from
horse cars to power-driven vehicles. BetA,^^een 1870 and 1889 a
single track ran north on Second Avenue from West End to Union
Avenue, west on Union to Rockwell Avenue, then left on Branch-
port Avenue, to Russell Avenue, and west to Martin Street. Here
the tracks turned into Broadway and ran to Eatontown and Red
Bank. The fare from Long Branch to Red Bank was 15^. In 1889
this road was electrified and another line was laid out to Pleasure
Bay. Horse car drivers contemptuously called the trolleys "cheese
boxes on wheels with hand brakes," but within a few years they
were learning to drive them, for the older type of transportation
had been eliminated. The "cheese boxes" ran south to Asbury Park
and made connections to the north along the shore.
The electric trolley speeded the development of many outlying
districts into residential sections. Large homes were built along the
shores of the Shrewsbury and along its Branchport tributary.
Oceanport, to the west, once known as Eatontown Dock, was
changed by the racing at Monmouth Park from a shipping port into
a railroad terminal. The proximity of the track also made it a
favorite place for the operations of land speculators.
Although real estate operators were constantly making large
sums out of summer visitors, their experiences with permanent
residents were not always profitable. An entry in the diary of
William Russell Maps reports his patience and charity: "Eleven
years ago I bought the house and lot belonging to J — H — W, son
of T — W — . I have permitted the family to occupy the premises
since then and I have not received a dollar for rent. I have today
requested them to sign a lease."
Almost coincident with the rise of the large, expensive shore
front hotels was the growth of smaller, less imposing ones in
town. These catered to traveling men who were finding Long
Branch a lively business center, families that could not afford the
luxuries of most of the Ocean Avenue places, and the hundreds of
workers brought into the town by the race track and other summer
diversions. Among these were the San Souci on the north side of
The Town Behind the Bluff 107
Broadway between the present Strand Theatre and Second Avenue,
the Star at Laird Street and First Avenue, and the Florence on
Ocean Avenue near the corner of North Broadway.
Several acquired special clienteles. Quiet family groups seemed
to prefer the Garfield, on the south side of Garfield Avenue near
Second Avenue, and the Victoria on Second Avenue. Both the
Hotel Rothenberg on Ocean Avenue and the Germania House at
North Bath and Second Avenues were patronized exclusively by
Germans. Altogether about seventeen of these smaller hotels
flourished at one time or another during the resort's most pros-
perous decades. Few of them, however, survived many years beyond
the fall of racing at Monmouth Park.
A list of businesses in operation in Long Branch in 1887, al-
though smaller in number than Schenck's tabulation nineteen years
earlier, actually represented substantial commercial growth. Many
of the firms had expanded and many of the earlier business houses
had been consolidated. The business men of this conmiercial census
included:
Geo. W. Jackson, Provisions
C V. N. Wilson, Contractor and Builder
J. V. Allstrom and Son, Sheet Music
Conover & Crammer, Groceries
Maps &. Slocum, Lumber, Coal
Geo. H. Green, Meats
Horace Curtis, Hats
J. Goldstein, Department Store
A. T. Van Derveer, Dry Goods
Morford, Brown & Co., Household Goods
Steinbach Bros., Department Store
Tabor and Newing, Drugs
L. and D. Edwards & Co., Lumber and Supplies
Samuel F. McCloud, Plumber
Samuel S. Scobey, Groceries
Edward R. Slocum & Son, Coal and Wood
H. W. Green, Insurance.
Of these firms the best-known throughout New Jersey was
undoubtedly that of Steinbach Brothers. The store had been
108 Entertaining a Nation
founded by John Steinbach in 1870 after he had started his business
career in Long Branch as a pack peddler with a $25 stock of dry
goods in a basket. As his "Temple of Fashion" began to prosper
he sent for his brother Jacob in Bohemia to join him. Together the
brothers built up an extremely profitable establishment; John was
a shrewd business man and Jacob got along well with the cus-
tomers. By 1876 they were able to open a branch in Asbury Park
for a third brother, Henry, and within a few years the Steinbachs
were among the most successful merchants along the shore.
In contrast to the business firms, the number of professional
men increased considerably over 1868. The three physicians rose to
nine: S. H. Hunt, Thomas G. Chattle, James O. Green, Henry
Hughes, H. H. Pemberton, John P. Pemberton, Geo. W. Brown and
Joseph W. Taylor. In place of a single lawyer there were six:
William D. Campbell, Henry Chamberlain, Wilbur A. Heisley,
Benjamin P. Morris and Henry S. Terhune. There were two den-
tists: James Slocum and Thomas L. Cook.
Two topics chiefly absorbed Long Branch during the eighties:
temperance and evangelism. The vigor with which both were dis-
cussed and the zeal of the advocates for what they considered
improvement of public morals should have been a clear warning 1
to the racing and gambling interests that Long Branch was under-
going a kind of moral rearmament. But they looked upon both
campaigns as purely local in character and continued their wide- |
open practices.
Dr. Thomas Chattle, the father of the school system, was the
spearhead of the temperance attack. In the fall of 1884 he cam-
paigned for the state senate. His platform was the appointment of
a judge who would reduce the number of liquor licenses issued. In
the course of the contest he staged one of the most spectacular
parades ever held in Long Branch. It was known as the "Mother
Hubbard Parade" because every man and woman who marched
was dressed in a loose, shapeless "Mother Hubbard" housedress.
Equipped with old-fashioned torches or brooms dipped in tar and
set afire, the procession marched to the old post oflice where Dr.
Chattle made his principal speech. He was elected and served in
the senate from 1885 to 1887.
William Russell Maps,
diarist and first informal
historian of the city.
One of the builders of the
Long Branch school sys-
tem, Christopher Gregory,
superintendent
(1889-1921).
The Town Behind the Bluff 109
All the denominations represented in Long Branch had evange-
listic meetings, but the Methodist Episcopal church far outstripped
the others both in numbers and intensity. It particularly stressed the
camp meetings at Ocean Grove and Squan, west of what is now
Manasquan. For a two-week period families would go to these
meetings for a continuous round of evangelical lectures, hymn-
singing and picnicking. Throughout the winter visiting evangelists
would take over the regular pulpits for a big revival session, or,
in many cases, would rent halls or pitch large tents. The religious
fervor that gripped the churchgoers of the period is shown by an
entry of May 27, 1883 in William Russell Maps' diary which
states there were "eight preachers in attendance at my dear wife's
death and will take part in the funeral service."
A zealous supporter of both temperance and evangelism at this
time was the Salvation Army whose blue-clad workers invaded
the bars for contributions and converts, and set up elaborate side-
walk meetings that rivaled the religious tent gatherings in their
success at reclaiming derelicts. Long Branch had by the middle
eighties acquired such a wide reputation as a sporting community
that it drew to it an exceptional number of unfortunates on the
fringes of society who proved ready targets for the moral bombard-
ment of reformers.
Despite its preoccupation with ways to the better life, the com-
munity found time for relaxation and amusement. The first
theatre, the Long Branch Opera House, built sometime in the
1880's, was located on the west side of Washington Street, one
door from Broadway. The house was a regular "road" stop for the
main theatrical attractions sent out from New York, but later was
used only for amateur theatricals and concerts. The second theatre
was the Broadway, on the third floor of a building opposite Stein-
bach's department store. Until 1904 it was included in the B. F.
Keith "family time" circuit. Perhaps the most popular entertain-
ment center of the period was the Theatre Comique, an enclosed
beer garden in the rear of the San Souci Hotel. Here audiences of
more than five hundred gathered nightly to drink beer and enjoy
variety entertairmient by Tony Pastor, Annie Hart, Lew Dock-
stader, Frank Bush and Faber and Shields.
110 Entertaining a Nation
In addition to the theatre, the residents frequented the ice-
skating rink on the south side of Broadway behind the Ocean
House, got up occasionally at five-thirty in the morning for bootleg
prizefights, and marked every holiday by the pig-guessing contest
conducted by Dr. Dudley at the Branchport Inn. Guests were re-
quired to guess the weight of a dressed pig before it was cooked
and served to them. Simple entertainment such as this is believed
to have attracted greater numbers of townspeople than the flashy,
expensive racing and gambling.
The town, as always, was subject to violent and dangerous
shifts in the weather, which in summer could all but ruin the
season and in winter could make the year-round residents extremely
uncomfortable. The faithful diarist, William Russell Maps, devoted
a large portion of his entries to the caprices of the elements. The
almost legendary blizzard of March, 1888 turned Long Branch
streets into narrow white tunnels between mountain drifts and
cut off rail and mail service fo rseveral days. In November of the
same year heavy storms and exceptionally high tides wreaked con-
siderable destruction upon the ever-receding shorefront.
The following year, 1889, saw reversal of the weather that
brought almost as much discomfort as the previous storms. On
January 31 Maps noted that no ice had formed all winter and
the reserve supply was exhausted. The emergency was met, but that
fall more severe storms and high tides damaged the shorefront. By
December pneumonia, grippe and influenza had caused an un-
usually high number of deaths among the older residents.
As Maps grew older he grew more occupied with the state of
health in the community. A cholera epidemic in New York in 1 892
caused him to express the gravest alarm for Long Branch's safety,
and in the next year he was considerably worried, first by an in-
fluenza epidemic in Long Branch, and then by an outbreak of
smallpox in Red Bank. Occasionally he recorded minor changes or
improvements in community ways, such as the placement of the
first numbers on house doors in 1891, the first observation of Labor
Day in the same year, or the consternation in 1896 over buggy
runaways caused by the new trolleys. His final entry, unlike the
majority of those that he had been making for more than sixty
The Town Behind the Bluff HI
years, was a personal one. On February 27, 1897, he wrote, "My
complaint is constantly growing worse. Can't eat." One month later
the cancer in his throat proved fatal.
In the years that followed his death Maps' diary apparently
passed through many hands and finally fell into three pieces. All
sections are now in the possession of private individuals. One of
them acquired a portion from a woman who had happened across
it in the contents of an old garret that she had bought for $10.
This section as well as that which she had previously possessed
has been willed by the owner to the Monmouth County Historical
Association. It is not known what disposition will be made by the
owner of the third part of the manuscript. Written on large ledger
sheets, the diary is in good condition except for the fading ink.
Each page is divided into columns, headed date, aspect of weather,
births, marriages, deaths. The last column, originally entitled
"Gatherer," was later changed to "Remarks." A single line is
devoted to each day.
From the time the Long Branch Police, Sanitary and Improve-
ment Commission came into power it was concerned with the
problem of the town's streets. In 1875 resentment against the
private company that operated the Broadway turnpike reached a
crisis. The public objected strenuously to the 2^ toll to pass from
the Upper Village to the Lower Village, not only because it was a
nuisance but also because the company failed to keep the road in
good condition. As a result of a mass meeting in the Opera House
in the Upper Village, the commission purchased the turnpike
charter for $7,000. In celebration of the event a group of school-
boys hauled the little toll house away and dumped it in a bog on
Morris Avenue.
Public ownership, however, did not solve the problem im-
mediately. Throughout the decade 1880-90 the condition of the
roads was a constant source of irritation to both the government
and the people. In 1891 Broadway had again become a veritable
mud hole. There were neither sidewalks nor gutters, and the extent
of conditioning was to shovel the mud to one side for pedestrians at
important cross-walks.
When indignation meetings failed to produce results, the L. and
112 Entertaining a Nation
D. Edwards Coal and Lumber Company decided to try a spectacular
stunt. They hitched a team of horses to a fisherman's pound boat
and hauled it with ease down the entire length of the mud hole still
called Broadway. It worked; sixty men were put to work at once
repairing the road. Maps recorded in September, 1891 that Broad-
way was being paved and the dirt being used on Branchport Ave-
nue. The coal and lumber company had taught their lesson so
well that the following spring it was decided to macadamize the
street all the way to the ocean.
Although the commission showed negligence in some phases of
its administration, it did keep a weather-eye out for the future
prosperity of Long Branch. As early as 1872, when racing was in
temporary disfavor, it realized the necessity of attracting industry
to the community to provide an all-year economy. Through the
decades 1870-90 it continued to emphasize the town's plentiful
supply of labor, the low cost of factory sites and the excellent rail-
road facilities. Among the early industries in Long Branch were a
shirt factory, a cigar manufactory, button and matting factories, a
mail order house that was soon indicted for its sale of questionable
literature and the first shore brewery. Some survived longer than
others, but none lasted up to the beginning of the 20th century. It
was not until racing had been once and for all eliminated as Long
Branch's chief industry that the community realized the necessity
for re-building its economy from the bottom up.
CHAPTER VII
A Modern City Emerges
THE OLD LONG BRANCH died slowly. Custom had bound
many of the old-timers too firmly to enable them to go
anywhere else. They continued to open their vast, frame
cottages every summer until they yielded to a new generation.
Excursions kept bringing large crowds on week-ends for the simple
pleasures of the beach and the sea air, which had always attracted
the middle class. Unwilling to surrender to other resorts without
a struggle, the hotels increased their advertising and reduced their
rates.
Traces of the horseracing days persisted. In 1893, the last year
of racing, the Monmouth County Open Air Horse Show Associa-
tion was organized. The group purchased twenty-five acres of Holly-
wood, the Hoey estate, on which it erected one of the finest exhibi-
tion plants in the east. Later known as the Long Branch Horse
Show, it became one of the most celebrated open-air events in the
country.
When racing ceased, the annual show in the last week of July
helped to create something of the old social life that accompanied
the races. Garden fetes, balls, receptions and teas followed the
daily shows. Horses valued at $7,000,000 or $8,000,000 were ex-
hibited each year. The show drew about seven hundred entries,
divided into sixty classes, with trophies costing $8,000. Front-row
boxes were auctioned off to rich patrons for an annual income of
$5,000.
Promoters were ever on the lookout for diversions to take the
place of racing. The Hollywood Hotel set up a clay pigeon shooting
gallery that drew large crowds, and then Phil Daly, casting about
for a use of his expensive Elkwood Park, followed suit. For a time
114 Entertaining a Nation
balloon ascensions were extremely popular; later Cakewalk exhibi-
tions became the rage and culminated in the importation of a
Chinese Cakewalk from Mott Street in New York. Aldiough
reduced considerably by the absence of the racetrack gamblers, the
casinos provided an outlet for the gambling urge of those who felt
themselves frustrated by the abandonment of Monmouth Park,
In fact, the decade following racing, on the whole, promised
well for Long Branch. The Patten Steamship Line and the Atlantic
Coast Electric Railway joined in 1898 to build the Riverside Hotel
and the Riverside Park in Pleasure Bay. The park was equipped
with fish pond games, a merry-go-round, a grove for picnicking,
a large dance pavilion and a floating theatre on the Shrewsbury.
An audience of two thousand on shore watched performances there
of Gilbert and Sullivan operettas and popular musical comedies.
One of the theatre's directors was Nicholas Schenck, now a motion
picture executive. Charlotte Greenwood broke into vaudeville on
the Pleasure Bay stage in a sister act. In Collier's for January 15,
1938, Miss Greenwood recalled, "People in rowboats, smacked up
against the stage all through our act. We were on right after
Fink's Mules."
Another indication of optimism was a real estate boom in
Elberon that reached its peak in 1902. Lots were purchased at
prices that dwarfed even the fantastic spending of the 1860's and
ou them were erected cottages costing from $25,000 to $75,000.
William Levy, A. S. Roggins and Henry Morgenthau, Sr. were
among those who built palatial homes during this boom. Also
in 1902 Norwood Park was sold in a $2,500,000 trade for im-
proved New York property and turned into an extensive real
estate development.
It is significant that all these new ventures were occurring out-
side the boundaries of the old Long Branch. It indicated that
promoters were seeking to get away from the old region on the
bluff, that the drift even along the Jersey coast was away from
Long Branch. In the decade after racing ceased, Asbury Park,
which Long Branch had never before seriously considered as a
rival resort, made tremendous progress and succeeded in drawing
away a substantial portion of the wealthiest visitors to Long
A Modern City Emerges 115
Branch. Similarly, smaller resorts, such as Belmar, Bradley Beach,
Spring Lake and Manasquan were making strides at the expense
of the town that had once been the undisputed leader along the
coast.
The character of these developments reflected an important
change in the personality of Long Branch. Riverside Park was
essentially an inexpensive amusement park, catering to middle-
class visitors. It was one of the first efforts to provide large-scale
amusements for any group but the wealthy, ocean-front trade. The
park indicated that the promoters recognized the shift in clientele
in Long Branch, even as the hotels did when they brought their
rates down. In somewhat the same way, the land speculation in
Elberon led to the erection of far less expensive homes than those
built ten or fifteen years before. Real estate came high, but the cost
of the buildings seldom ran into six figures.
With one exception the days of fabulous palaces such as Hoey's
were over. That was the Reservation at Troutman and New Ocean
Avenues in East Long Branch on the site of Jim Fisk's ill-fated
East End Excursion House. Consisting of nine large cottages de-
signed for well-to-do vacationers, the Reservation was built in
1900 by Nat Salsbury, the owner of Buffalo Bill's Wild West
Show. His profits from the show amounted to $40,000 a year, and
he claimed he was going to spend "every cent of it" in Long
Branch.
The Reservation nearly accomplished this for him. A winding
private road called the Trail winds among the palatial frame
buildings. Salsbury named each of the cottages after an Indian
tribe, possibly out of compliment to the circus Indians who had
contributed to his success. His grandiose scheme included plans for
an outlet from the ocean to the Shrewsbury that would clean the
river for fishing. Being a better showman than an engineer, he
planned to stimulate the river current by hundreds of mason jars
filled with sea water. He also wanted to run two six-inch pipes
through Seventh Avenue. Fortunately or otherwise, he died be-
fore the grand project could be executed. One of the houses sub-
sequently burned, but the other eight, bearing names such as
Cheyenne, Arapahoe and Uncompaghre, are still in use.
116 Entertaining a Nation
Salsbury's venture was, however, an echo of the past, definitely
not the voice of the future. In the first decade of the twentieth
century many of the large estates that had been showplaces during
the eighties and nineties were sold to real estate men who tore
down the mansions and replaced them with bungalows. The
lumber from John Hoey's vast house, for example, was used in the
construction of seven new cottages. Similarly, the grounds of many
of the larger homes, notably those of Dr. William H. Garrison at
Park and Van Court Avenues, were reduced considerably by sales
of parcels of land for the erection of smaller houses.
The most significant indication of the Branch's decline was to
be found along the bluff. For more than two decades the Atlantic
Hotel, built in 1885, remained the resort's "latest and newest."
There was no particular need for new buildings in the early
nineties, but thereafter, as the old wooden structures burned or
were shattered by storms, builders showed little interest in erecting
new hotels at Long Branch. In 1902, two of the oldest disappeared
permanently: a winter storm damaged Rowland's beyond repair
and it was torn down, and that summer Samuel Prosky, proprietor
of the Ocean Hotel, vanished, leaving one hundred unpaid em-
ployees and debts to many merchants. The hotel never reopened,
and in 1905 the city administration built Ocean Park on the
property. The following year, however, when the West End Hotel
was torn down, it was replaced by the Takanassee Hotel, a six-
story building, costing $300,000. This was the last new hotel
erected in Long Branch until several years after the World War.
Fire destroyed the two most popular of the old wooden hotels, the
Elberon in 1914 and the Hollywood in 1926.
When lauch's Hotel became the Pannaci at the turn of the
century, the change in name was a semi-official recognition of a
large group that was to become one of the major sources of the
resort's clientele. It is believed that the first Italians came to Long
Branch as gardeners for John Hoey's park in 1870's. By 1900
they were arriving for the summer in large numbers and had be-
gun to establish themselves solidly in East Long Branch. Although
as early as 1861 Aaron Christaler's hotel had been patronized ex-
clusively by Jews, it was not until several decades later that a sizable
Ocean Avenue and the Casino Annex, 1907
Open-air theatre at Pleasure Bay
A Modern City Emerges 117
summer colony developed. Jewish visitors favored small boarding
houses at first, and then later began to frequent hotels such as the
Scarboro, and the Atlantic, the successor to Christaler's. As Italians
and Jews increased, Germans became correspondingly fewer, seek-
ing resorts that catered to people of their nationality.
Although the new type of summer visitor belonged to the
middle class, the quest for substitutes for the old attraction of
horseracing continued. Trotting was tried at Monmouth Park; in
1907 a few events were run off. But without the all-important
betting they failed to stimulate much interest. The following year
the experimenters turned to a dog show held the week after the
Hollywood horse show. In 1908 horse races were tried again at Elk-
wood Park in conjunction with the first Long Branch Fair, but
neither was a success.
What did arouse enthusiasm was the introduction of automobile
races in 1908 at Elkwood Park. There was sufficient excitement in
watching cars tear along at fifty or sixty miles an hour to com-
pensate for the absence of betting. The big attraction of the season
was a match race between four of the fastest automobiles in the
country — Barney Oldfield's Green Dragon, a 220-hp. Christie, a
120 hp. Hotchkiss and a 110 hp. Fait-Cyclone. Besides the glory
of victory and the thrill of speed, the winner received a silver
punch bowl offered by Price's Pleasure Bay hotel. On the same
day several wealthy sportsmen also participated; Arthur Ham-
merstein, son of the opera and music hall impresario, entered a
35 hp. Mercedes, Robert Guggenheim entered a Renault, and
Monroe Rothschild, a Packard. The auto races proved to be the
most popular alternative to horse racing and were well-attended.
Competitors sought many ways of profiting from the success of
the auto tracks. Undoubtedly the most ridiculous were the indoor
balloon races held at the Chelsea Roller Skating Rink. In one con-
test the ladies tried to grasp gas-inflated balloons weighted to float
a little over their heads. Apparently a spirited battle had been
anticipated, for the Long Branch Record commented with some
surprise, "The ladies were nice and polite about it and did not try
to take advantage of each other." For her superior stretching and
straining a Bessie Wright won the first prize of one dollar.
118 Entertaining a Nation
The center of activity along the shore during these years was
Ocean Park, a ten-acre park of flower beds and fountains with a
bandstand for daily afternoon concerts. In the successful season
of 1907 a new casino and convention hall seating three thousand
was erected at a cost of $50,000. The old casino, which became
known as the Casino Annex, had been the Agricultural Hall at the
Centennial Exposition of 1876 in Philadelphia and was brought to
Long Branch the following year. In 1906 the present boardwalk
replaced the old dirt path along the shorefront on the bluffs.
The tendency of both vacationers ond residents since before
1900 had been to spread away from Long Branch proper to smaller
surrounding resorts. When its population of almost nine thousand
in 1900 merited a municipal form of government, efforts were
made to include several adjacent and nearby political divisions in a
Greater Long Branch. At the outset of the movement early in 1904
the plan called for annexing to the town all the territory as far as
the Asbury Park line to the south and Eatontown to the west. The
motive on the part of Long Branch was obvious; it was attempting
to corral the growing resorts before its rival, Asbury Park, should
get them.
Protests, however, came immediately from several of the towns
marked for the merger. A mass meeting was held late in January
at the Long Branch town hall to consider the limits of the proposed
new municipality. Ironically it was a former member of the Long
Branch Commission, James Campbell, who thwarted the scheme.
Speaking as a property owner in Deal, he said vehemently, "Deal
seven or eight years ago was of little importance. Long Branch
cared nothing for it. After we have spent nearly $200,000 in street
improvements and are the richest borough for our size in New
Jersey, along comes Long Branch and wants to take us in."
With equal frankness J. A. Stratton of Elberon spoke for the
independence of his borough. He pointed out that he saw people
going toward Asbury Park on the trolleys but very few coming
toward Long Branch. To which the Asbury Park Journal added in
a burst of civic pride, "The reason is obvious. Asbury Park has some
attractions. Long Branch has little besides its drives."
Objection was so strong that annexation advocates decided to
A Modern City Emerges 119
drop Deal, Loch Arbour and Allenhurst from their demands. When
the matter was argued before the Borough and Townships Com-
mittee of the senate early in March, Eatontown Township also
staved off inclusion in the new area. Long Branch argued through
former U. S. Senator Rufus Blodgett that Eatontown would have
the benefit of the Long Branch police and fire protection as well
as superior school facilities. To this Counselor James Steen replied
that Long Branch was merely trying to steal a large part of Eaton-
town Township, containing property on which several wealthy men
had spent large sums in improvements.
When the charter act was finally approved late in March, Long
Branch not only lost Eatontown Township but also Monmouth
Beach and West Long Branch from the large area originally con-
ceived as Greater Long Branch. On May 17, the disappointed citi-
zens adopted the new charter by a vote of 854 to 203, and the
town became a fourth class city, the second in the county, the first
having been Asbury Park in 1897. The following November the
city elected a council of seven members and a mayor to govern the
city. The council selected from itself the various heads of municipal
departments. This practice continued until 1907, when it was re-
placed by direct election.
The mayor and council found itself with new problems on its
hands. Not the least serious was that caused by the advent of the
automobile. As coachmen gave way to chauffeurs and the elabor-
ately-dressed ladies of the victorias became caricatures in veils,
goggles and linen-dusters, the ocean promenade was quickly turned
into a through artery of traffic. In addition to registering, each
driver was required to wear a big shield inscribed. Automotive
Engineer. Most of the town cars were electrics, with short-lived
motors that old family retainers struggled to master.
There were many who objected to the "horseless carriages,"
insisting that, for one thing, they had robbed the Ocean Avenue
parade of its beauty in both horses and women. But to a man like
Diamond Jim Brady the automobile was an opportunity for a new
and superior kind of magnificence. He was easily persuaded by a
New York salesman to purchase not one car but six, to assure his
having one always ready for use. Brady requested that the salesman
120 Entertaining a Nation
select six good chauffeurs, one for each car, and make one of the
cars according to his own specifications.
According to Arthur Newton, the salesman, Brady described
his dream-car in these terms: "I want you to get me up a brougham
with a semi-circular glass front that comes down to the floor. I
don't care so much about headlights on the road. What I figure
on is a hundred concealed lights that will shine into the car."
The automobile was built. All aglow it rolled down Ocean
Avenue displaying a beaming Diamond Jim and lovely Lillian
Russell. In the fall Brady shipped it back to New York, where he
used it as the flagship for the procession of his five other cars on all
important occasions. The effect was that of a lively cortege behind
a gleaming hearse.
But the city fathers had other problems even more pressing
than traflftc. In 1904, the year of their inauguration, they were faced
with an outbreak of lawlessness along South Broadway, which had
become so dangerous that it was nicknamed "The Bowery." A
similar situation existed along Belmont Avenue, which was known
to the police as "The Jungles." The law enforcement agencies
strove diligently to clean up these little crime waves caused by
footpads, thugs and drunks. They received spirited support from
the churches of the city that joined forces and held enthusiastic
uplift meetings in the Bowery and the Jungles. The combination of
a nightstick and a soft answer turned away the wrath of the hood-
lums, and within a year the sections were pronounced safe. It was
doubtless some consolation to upstanding citizens that at this same
time Fourth Avenue so overflowed with blessed events that they
could happily refer to it as "Baby Lane."
It was, therefore, not surprising that there developed soon after-
ward an infantile institution that made Long Branch celebrated for
several years. In 1905 a Mrs. Parker of West Long Branch pro-
moted the first Baby Parade with astonishing success. Within three
years, when it was renamed the Children's Parade, it boasted an
annual procession of more than a thousand children. The line of
march ran from the corner of Ocean and Brighton Avenues along
the boardwalk to Broadway, where the proud but exhausted mothers
broke ranks. Their rivalry was almost equalled by that of the
A Modern City Emerges 121
gardners of the big estates who outdid themselves furnishing floral
decorations for the floats. The parades continued for a half a dozen
years until they were discontinued in deference to the protest that
the heat and excitement did the children more harm than good.
Among the more adult forms of entertainment that developed
in the pre-war period were motion pictures. The first film in Long
Branch, depicting firemen and a three-alarm fire, was shown in a
small room in the Entrance Building of the Iron Pier. In 1909 a
Nickelette Theatre began to show one-reel comedies and melo-
dramas. In the same year the old West End Bathing Pavillion was
transformed into the Bluff Theatre, the only motion picture house
on the boardwalk. This was soon followed by an open-air theatre
on the site of Phil Daly's Club at Ocean and Brighton Avenues,
which seated two thousand people. The old domed gaming room,
accommodating six hundred, was used when it rained. The venture
was so successful that the owner of the building, Simon Hess,
refused to renew the lease and operated the theatre himself. In the
town itself several theatres were used interchangeably for vaude-
ville, Broadway try-outs and movies. The oldest of these is the
Strand, and the most famous is the Paramount, once known as the
New Broadway.
Along with the growth of motion pictures came still another
attempt to give Long Branch a first-class pier. Promoters hoped to
rival the 700- and 800-foot piers that had become a celebrated
feature of Atlantic City. In 1908 the remains of the Iron Pier were
torn down and three years later work was commenced on Long
Branch's fifth pier. It was built by Samuel Rosoff, contractor for
many New York subways. As usual in Long Branch, the plans for
the pier were magnificent. Rosoff intended to build it far enough
into the ocean for steamers running from New York and even
expected to form a company to run the boats. The pier itself was
to contain a dance hall, a theatre and all the attractions of an
Atlantic City amusement pier. The necessary funds never were
raised, and the pier still stands incomplete. The original operating
company went bankrupt, and it was leased to the Long Branch
Pier Company, which now runs it as a small-scale amusement and
fishing pier.
122 Entertaining a Nation
Rosoff also promoted an Amusement Center across the street
from the pier in Ocean Park. There William H. Piper built what
was at that time the highest roller coaster in the world. Although
the cars stuck frequently, causing occupants to climb down from
dizzy heights, the attraction was a thrilling success until a dark
tragedy stopped the wheels forever. Three years after the roller
coaster opened, Piper's son, Raymond, fell from a careening car
and was killed. The grief-stricken father immediately closed the
course. He moved the cars to Keansburg the next season.
The town's efforts to compete with the younger resorts were
not wholly successful. More and more throughout the decade pre-
ceding the World War, it became evident that Long Branch had
fallen between the two stools of smartness and cheapness. The
travel literature of the period subordinated it to many of its rivals
and seemed hard put to discover outstanding attractions for visitors.
Occasionally a publicity man's slip would refer to the resort as
"one with interesting historic associations." This could mean only
the Grant-Garfield era, a mere three decades earlier, an uninten-
tional admission that the years of glory were already a memory.
The Board of Trade strove to offset the impression that Long
Branch was on the wane. Year after year in the first decade of the
new century it issued attractive picture books, urging vacationers to
take advantage of the natural attractions to be found locally. By
1909 the campaign had some results, for the Board's literature of
that year was able to quote proudly from New York and Phila-
delphia papers that Long Branch was coming out of the slump.
Said the New York Tribune: "Long Branch is so superbly located,
so lavishly endowed by nature, and so well built up that it can
easily grow to higher heights of greatness and grandeur."
Less ecstatic, but more to the point was the comment of the
Philadelphia Inquirer: "It is not at all strange that the city is grow-
ing faster than any in the State . . . and the boom is just being
launched. To the Newark Sunday Call, it was still "the chosen
spot of pleasure for the greatest sertion of the American popula-
tion." Those encomiums were significantly labeled as press com-
ment on "New Long Branch." And it was the "newness" that told
the whole up-down-and-up-again story of the resort.
The Scarboro Hotel, now the largest at the res
ort
The Garfield Hut, constructed from the ties of the spur line built for
President Garfield in 1881
A Modern City Emerges 123
The Long Branch of this day, while it had sufficient vitality,
lacked distinction. Nothing had come to replace the horse racing
and the fashionable crowds. Efforts to attract new visitors were con-
fined to roller coasters, baby parades, pony tracks and balloon races.
Although it was claimed that the summer population had reached
one hundred thousand around 1911, it was no longer a free-spend-
ing crowd. Possibly it was more dependable than that which
frequently lost its hotel bill at the racetrack or the gambling board.
Possibly it was considerably more respectable than that composed
of dandies and actresses. But undoubtedly it lacked the glamor and
the cosmopolitan character of the older crowd. Where formerly
visitors had come from all over the country, the sources of Long
Branch's summer trade were now practically limited to New York
and the surrounding metropolitan area. And these people came to
the resort primarily as a change from city life, not necessarily for
a round of pleasure. They came for rest and relaxation as often as
for cutting loose. They were the legitimate heirs of those who had
come in the eighties to spend the day on the beach and gape at the
procession along the bluff. Only now they were the procession.
An unmistakable indication of how Long Branch was losing
ground is furnished by a change in route of the old Patten Line
shortly before the World War. This line, which had been bringing
vacationers to the Branch for more than thirty years, affiliated itself
with a bus line that "whisked the tourist to Asbury Park, the
Capital of Fun," without so much as a stop in Long Branch.
Another instance of decline was the quick failure in 1909 of a
gossip sheet, Jersey Mosquitoes. Ahhough several such papers had
flourished in previous times, the new crowd was apparently not
sufficiently social or homogeneous to support such a publication.
Papers more devoted to community interests, however, were
able to prosper. Shortly after 1900 two newspapers were founded:
the Long Branch Press and the Taxpayer and Workingman. Both
were weeklies, founded and operated by Joseph A. Poole, and lasted
about eight years. In 1914 the Press was revived as the result of a
merger between the Press and the Long Branch Times-News. The
Long Branch Press continued for three or four years, but failed to
stand the competition from the Record. In 1918 Benjamin Bobbitt
124 Entertaining a Nation
founded the Monmouth American, which has since operated suc-
cessfully as a weekly.
The loss of large income from the resort was in, some measure
offset by a steady growth in the number of factories in Long Branch.
Between 1905 and 1910 the number of manufacturing establish-
ments, according to the Federal Census of Manufacturers, increased
from twenty-six to thirty-four. The principal industry in 1905 was
the harvesting of icQ\ one concern employed one hundred and
twenty-five teams and eighty men on a single job. The next most
important activity was sawmilling. Other industries of the period
included boatworks, meat packing, candy and ice cream plants, and
factories that manufactured nightshirts and cigars.
With the growth of industry came increased population, and by
1910 Long Branch numbered 13,298 people, a substantial rise of
five thousand in a decade. With this increase came another change
in the form of local government. Almost as soon as the Walsh Act,
permitting New Jersey municipalities the commission form of
government, was passed in 1911, a movement got under way for
the adoption of the new type in Long Branch. Although there
seem to have been no specific complaints against the councilmen,
local business men were heartily in favor of the change as an
economy measure.
Petitions were circulated in March, 1912, and several mass
meetings were held to stir up public sentiment. Mayor Donnelly
of Trenton, its first mayor under the commission form, impressed a
large rally with his account of the savings the new regime
had accomplished in his community. Among the most active sup-
porters of the change in Long Branch were Harry Rehm, secretary
of the board of trade, William J. Smythe, druggist and president
of the Long Branch Press, and Frank L. Rowland, later the first
mayor under commission government.
On April 9 citizens went to the polls to vote for the first city
commissioners. Fifty-three candidates entered the primary, which
was to select the ten men to run for ofiice in a second election. The
Asbury Park Press hailed the event with the prediction that "Long
Branch will make a wise final decision in its first trial of commis-
sion government" and then added this realistic warning, "that
A Modern City Emerges 125
temporarily at least the bosses of old will occupy a back seat and
be relegated to real private citizenship." In the second election,
held May 7, the five successful candidates included three Democrats
and two Republicans: Bryant B. Newcomb, city clerk, 1,563 votes;
Thomas V. Arrowsmith, city recorder, 1,502; John W. Flock,
city assessor, 1,164; Frank L. Rowland, 1,116; and Marshall
Woolley, 1,064. It was presumed that when the commissioners
organized they would elect Newcomb, the highest man on the
ticket, mayor. Rowland, however, received the position. The five
commissioners replaced the mayor, twelve members of the city
council and nineteen paid officials. Each received a salary of $2,000
a year, with an additional $500 for the mayor.
Unquestionably the most important event in Long Branch's
pre-war history was its revival as the summer capital in 1916.
Woodrow Wilson felt keenly the necessity of returning to his
adopted state to wage his campaign for re-election. When Captain
J. B. Greenhut offered his palatial estate, Shadow Lawn, as a sum-
mer White Rouse, it was promptly accepted. Actually Shadow Lawn
was in West Long Branch, rather than Long Branch proper, for it
stood on the southwest corner of Cedar and Norwood Avenues, and
the center of Norwood Avenue is the boundary between the com-
munities. Somewhat to the discomfort of West Long Branch, how-
ever. Long Branch was always considered the site of the president's
residence. Date lines on the president's activities invariably read
"Long Branch," and Wilson himself always referred to "our resi-
dence at the Branch."
Shadow Lawn was already an architectural and financial legend
along the Jersey coast when President Wilson lifted it to national
eminence. It was the dream-house of John A. McCall, president of
the New York Life Insurance Company. In July, 1903 the Long
Branch Record reported in large headlines that he had decided to
erect a "handsome country seat" on sixty-five acres of land he had
acquired. The area was composed of three parcels of land that had
belonged to three old Long Branch families: the forty-acre Rulick
farm, fifteen acres of the Abbott tract and ten in the Renderson
Plot.
It took two years to build the house. This was entirely under-
126 Entertaining a Nation
standable to any who heard McCall's increasingly lavish plans. He
altered the design almost daily, and had a penchant for adding
bathrooms. When the house was finally completed, there were more
bathtubs left over on the lawn than were in the house. Modified
colonial in style, it was a three-storied white wooden structure
situated on a grassy knoll surrounded by landscaped acres of park.
It contained fifty-two rooms and not the least of its glories was
gold-plated plumbing throughout.
There had been nothing like this in Long Branch since the days
of Jim Fisk. The house so overshadowed meaner residences like
Dr. William H. Garrison's thirty-room dwelling and James A.
Hearn's $1,000,000 estate that it at once became the greatest
single attraction at the resort. McCall, however, was deprived of
most of the admiration of his munificence. His company discovered
that several of the millions that had gone into the construction of
the mansion properly belonged in its vaults. He was apprehended
and the house was sold. It passed rapidly through a succession of
owners, perhaps the most colorful being John A. White. He knew
passing fame as "Postage Stamp White" through his purchase of a
$15,000,000 bond issue with the sole capital of the 2^ stamp on
the envelope in which his bid was enclosed.
Captain Greenhut, who owned the mansion when it was the
summer White House, offered it without cost, but Wilson insisted
on turning over $2,500 to Monmouth charities as his rental pay-
ment. It was a far cry from the few hundred dollars that Grant
had paid for his cottage. The contrast in their houses in a sense
illustrated the tremendous growth of activity of the Federal govern-
ment. Grant's cottage had by no means been a small one. Into its
twenty-eight rooms he placed an impressive array of secretaries and
aides. Yet Wilson's was nearly double that size, and his official
family more than filled the huge building.
With the exception of an occasional emergency, Grant was
free to spend his summer as he chose — ^genuinely vacationing. But
Wilson virtually did little more than exchange one desk by the
Potomac for another by the Atlantic. Even before his campaign
started, he was working constantly. As in the days of Grant, official
Washington formed a steady stream of visitors to Long Branch.
^i'r?
President Woodrow Wilson at Shadow Lawn, delivering speech accepting
re-nomination by the Democratic Party, September, 1916
A Modern City Emerges 127
It was, however, to a considerably soberer Long Branch that
they came. Bankers, senators and industrialists finished their busi-
ness with the President, took a brief stroll on the boardwalk and
departed for home. There was no track at which celebrities could
gather, no gambling houses for the wealthy, and hardly any more
of the luxurious hotels that attracted so many lovers of fine living.
The behavior of the official visitors was typical of Wilson's stay at
Long Branch. It restored to the resort the title and something of
the newspaper glory of being the summer capital, but not the kind
of prosperity and the way of life that had resulted from previous
presidential favor.
Of course, the crowds came. They lined Ocean Avenue or came
as close as they could to Shadow Lawn for a glimpse of the Presi-
dent. But Wilson was not playing Grant's role of national hero,
and the resort did not have enough to carry it on its own momen-
tum as it had had in the days of Hayes, Garfield and Arthur. It
required a special occasion for a really large throng. The most
spectacular of these was September 1, 1916, "Notification Day,"
when Wilson was officially informed of his re-nomination for the
presidency. Most of the leading Democratic statesmen and politi-
cians assembled at Shadow Lawn where Senator Ollie James of
Kentucky delivered the principal address.
The Long Branch Chamber of Commerce exploited the pres-
ence of Wilson for all that it was worth to their community. It
issued approximately twenty-five thousand Summer White House
souvenir stamps, distributed in envelopes containing a picture of
the President and a little publication on the attractions of Long
Branch. The showmanship took a superstitious turn with a written
statement on the announcing, "This envelope contains 13 Summer
White House Stamps. Shadow Lawn was built 13 years ago. Thir-
teen is President Wilson's lucky number." The authority of this
latter claim remains undisclosed after the most exhaustive research.
After the official notification, Wilson conducted his fight for
re-election from Shadow Lawn. It was the old-fashioned type of
front-porch campaign in which the public came to the candidate.
Actually it was a front-lawn campaign, for most of the meetings
were held on the vast greensward before Shadow Lawn. According
128 Entertaining a Nation
to the Long Branch Record, "The President stood on a raised plat-
form and talked in a quiet conversational way to his audience."
Throughout October special days were designated for states from
which supporters came on chartered trains to hear the President.
More than three thousand Pennsylvanians made the pilgrimage
and delegations visited from states as far west as Ohio and Missouri.
Shadow Lawn's lovely gardens and tree-lined walks provided
Wilson with a pleasant retreat from the ardors of official life. His
well-known preference for strolling alone when he was composing
a speech or state paper gave his guards many anxious moments.
Wilson constantly fought against any kind of protection. "One
morning at breakfast," states the Long Branch Record, "he noticed
iron bars had been placed at the windows. He resented it, saying,
'No one intends to shoot at me. Take them down.' "
In addition to the presidential campaign he faced the grave
problem of American neutrality during the World War. It was
while Wilson was at Long Branch that Theodore Roosevelt wrote
the bitter poem The Shadows of Shadow Lawn, a thrust at the
President's conciliatory policy toward Germany's submarine activi-
ties. And it was to Shadow Lawn that reporters often hurried to
interview a foreign diplomat after his conference with the Presi-
dent. No history-making statements issued from Long Branch,
however, for the ambassadors generally followed the policy of Jules
Jusserand, French ambassador, who in reply to a question on the
possibility of protest over U-boat raids, simply stated, "It is a sub-
ject which must be studied. I can say nothing more at this time."
As the leaves were changing color during the first week of
October, President and Mrs. Wilson arrived to stay at Shadow
Lawn through the shore's beautiful Indian summer. On election day
they motored to Princeton to vote and then returned to Long
Branch to await the results. The news that Hughes' election had
been conceded by the New York World was phoned to Wilson at
Shadow Lawn that night by his secretary at Asbury Park. "Well,
Tumulty," half chuckled the President, "it begins to look as if we
had been badly licked."
It was in his bathroom at Shadow Lawn, next morning, while
he was shaving, that Wilson learned from his daughter Margaret
A Modern City Emerges 129
that his defeat had been as unreal as a bad dream. At first incredu-
lous, then jubilant, when a call to New York confirmed her report
that he had carried California and defeated Hughes, the President
left immediately for the White House.
Although Wilson never returned to Shadow Lawn, his visit
revived the old dream of making Long Branch the permanent
summer capital. In January, 1917 wealthy shore residents sub-
scribed $25,000 toward the $150,000 needed to purchase the $10,-
000,000 mansion. The sponsors proposed to present the estate to
the government on condition that it be accepted as the regular
summer White House. Congressman Thomas J. Scully, of Deal,
introduced such a bill into Congress, but the scheme died there.
The following year the mansion was sold to Hubert Templeton
Parsons, then president of F. W. Wool worth Company for
$800,000.
In a spectacular fire on January 7, 1927 Shadow Lawn burned
to the ground. A strong guard was placed around the estate to
prevent looting of the $100,000 in melted gold and silver and
costly gems covered by the wreckage. Parsons immediately built
another Shadow Lawn, even more magnificent than the first. The
plainly-designed Italian marble palace has been called the most
completely equipped summer estate in the country. The new 128-
room Shadow Lawn has an elaborate penthouse, a private theatre
for talking pictures, tapestry-hung drawing rooms, a baronial tap
room, an indoor swimming pool encased in gold mirrors, solaria,
conservatories and terraced roof gardens. And once again Shadow
Lawn sports gold fittings in marble and tile bathrooms.
When Parsons lost the house, foreclosure proceedings forced
the sale of the estate to clear up a $756,000 mortgage. To protect
its $151,000 tax claim the borough of West Long Branch acquired
the real estate. In November 1939 the house was put up at public
auction. After an intensive advertising campaign, including large
notices in metropolitan papers, the house had to be purchased by
the borough for $100. Among the many discouragements to bid-
ders was the newspaper statement that k required 90 tons of coal a
month to heat the house. The borough has not decided upon its
disposition.
130 Entertaining a Nation
In Long Branch, as in other cities throughout the nation, coal,
gas, meat, bread and sugar were scarce during the World War. The
old Casino Annex was used as a Red Cross workroom, and in 1919
became a recreational center for invalided soldiers.
There was no separate army company made up of Long
Branch men. Most of the enlisted and drafted men were included
in the 311th Infantry, 78th Division and trained at Camp Dix.
George Thurston Wolcott, killed in France on September 26, 1918,
was the first Long Branch soldier to die in action. The Asbury Park
Press of April 1, 1934 lists the following Long Branch veterans as
recipients of the military Order of the Purple Heart: "Joseph Bel-
mont, Dominick Scullanti, Raymond Brazo, James Dagman, Lewis
Mazza and Fred Wardell."
During the war Long Branch looked back to the man whose
presence and death had meant so much in her history. On the 25 th
anniversary of President Garfield's death in September, 1906, a
memorial had been proposed at a meeting of citizens in the Elberon
Casino. A year later the cornerstone for a Garfield monument had
been laid in Ocean Park. On September 2, 1918, 25,000 people
gathered in Long Branch for the unveiling of a bronze statue of
the martyred president. Ex-United States Senator Theodore E.
Burton, a lifelong friend of the Garfield family, represented Ohio
at the ceremony and delivered the principal address. Two of Gar-
field's children, Dr. Harry A. Garfield and Mrs. J. Stanley Brown,
attended the dedication. Senator Burton gracefully thanked the
people of Long Branch and New Jersey for the statue and then
devoted the remainder of his speech to Garfield as a symbolic in-
spiration for national unity "in this time of transcendent trial." A
banquet that evening at the Hollywood at which Rabbi Silverman,
former United States Senator Dick, James M. Beck, and Governor
Walter E. Edge were the speakers, concluded the ceremonies. The
inscription on the statue reads:
Dedicated September 2, 1918
James Abraham Garfield
20th President of the United States.
Born at Mentor, Ohio, November 19, 1831
Died at Long Branch, September 19, 1881
iff\^
m
The "Breakers," a modern estate
''Aladdin's Palace'' typical specimen of Victorian resort splendor
CHAPTER VIII
The Last Twenty Years
IN THE YEARS immediately following the World War Long
Branch was occupied with three main problems: the enlarge-
ment of its industrial activity, the strengthening of its school
system, and the improvement of its vacation facilities. Efforts to
achieve progress along these lines have been the concern of private
citizens and civic groups as well as of the municipal government.
In several instances, notably the improvement of the beach, changes
have been the result of official action based on private study of a
public problem.
The principal additions to the Long Branch industrial scene
have been clothing factories. The oldest now in operation is the
Monmouth Manufacturing Company, 20 Seventh Avenue, which
employs approximately one hundred and twenty-five workers mak-
ing ladies' garments. It moved to Long Branch from New York in
1910. Another pre-war firm was that of A. Hollander and Son,
500 Broadway. Established in 1917, the plant employed about
five hundred people in dressing and dyeing furs until it closed
early in 1938. Two years later the company reopened the plant on
a considerably reduced scale.
Two of the most important firms in the city were established in
1919. The Samuel Rothstein Clothing Company, which covered
a block of ground on West and Willow Avenues, moved here
from New York. Approximately one hundred workers manu-
factured men's, boys' and children's wearing apparel that was sold
throughout the country. In 1938 the company failed and later re-
opened as the Consolidated Trouser and Sportswear Company. The
American Silk Mills, 804 Broadway, is a branch of a $2,000,000
corporation with factories in several states. Although actually in
132 Entertaining a Nation
West Long Branch, it draws most of its four hundred workers
from Long Branch. They are employed all year in the manufacture
of silk textiles, ladies' underwear, pajamas, coat and suit linings,
mufflers and shirts. The modern brick building is in a sharp con-
trast to the original small plant on Division Street that employed
fewer than fifty workers. The American Silk Mills is the largest
industry in Long Branch.
After the arrival of these concerns, there was a lull until 1925,
when the Monmouth Paint and Varnish Company, 255 Willow
Avenue, was opened. The plant grinds, mixes and manufactures a
full line of paints; employment varies with seasonal demands. The
following year, 1926, the Pacific Overall Company moved to Long
Branch from the Highlands. It now employs seventy-five year-
round workers.
The next sizable increase in the number of factories occurred
in 1935, when three firms moved to Long Branch from other
communities. From Newark came the LTnited Sheeplined Clothing
Company, 273 Branchport Avenue, which employs about one
hundred and seventy-five people in making sheeplined garments.
George Silberstein, 17 Second Avenue, had a staff of seventy-five
workers who assembled and fashioned ladies' suits, but the firm re-
cently moved to another community. At 20 Third Avenue is the
Long Branch Dress Company, which came from Connecticut. The
firm employs fifty girls. Two years before these companies estab-
lished themselves, the Kay Dunhill Frocks, Inc. opened at 108
North Broadway. It gives employment to nearly four hundred
people throughout the year, and manufactures cotton and rayon
house dresses. The plant is now situated at 199 Westwood Avenue.
In 1936 three more clothing factories were opened. Both the
Trojan Garment Company, 353 Broadway, and the Rose Novelty
Company, 663 Broadway, came from New York. The Trojan Com-
pany assembles street and house dresses and bathrobes, and the
Rose Novelty manufactures ladies' blouses; they employ about
fifty employees during the year. The Branch Manufacturing Com-
pany, 422 Morris Avenue, employs sixty workers in making slacks,
ski suits and other women's sportswear.
In addition to the garment firms there are several smaller in-
The Last Twenty Years 133
dustries, the most important of which is the Italian bakery, Bald-
anza Bros., Inc., which delivers to stores along the Jersey shore
line.
This industrial growth brought with it complex problems of
employer-employee relationship. For several years previous to the
arrival of factories, building trades workers in Long Branch had
been organized by the American Federation of Labor with member-
ship in the Monmouth County Central Labor Union in Asbury
Park. When the Congress of Industrial Organizations launched its
Nation-wide drive for membership in 1937, repercussions were
felt in the local garment factories. The outstanding achievement
has been the organizing of the Monmouth Manufacturing Company
by the International Ladies' Garment Workers Union.
Attempts to unionize other factories, notably the American
Silk Mills, situated in West Long Branch, have so far met with
little success. On the one hand labor leaders attribute this to the
city's reputation as a refuge for runaway shops and to the ease with
which injunctions are issued at the request of the employer. The
government, however, categorically denies both charges and points
to strikes settled by official mediation as proof of its neutral atti-
tude. The administration feels that most local labor controversy
results from unrest in the main plants of firms which have Long
Branch divisions.
Since 1900 the city's inmiigrant population had been increasing
and with the growth of industry it became a genuinely significant
factor in the community. According to the 1930 census, foreign-
born whites totalled 3,137, or 17 per cent of the population. Of
these, Jews and Italians constituted the greater number, possibly
more than half. Native white of foreign or mixed parentage were
listed at 5,806. Next to the Italians, Russians, Germans, Irish and
English constitute the largest number of Europeans. The Negro
population was 1,609 or 8.7 per cent of the total.
While industry was advancing, the city officials attacked the
major resort problem — the erosion of the shorefront. Back in the
1890's and early 1900's it was customary for the mayor to take
up a subscription after a storm had washed over Ocean Avenue.
At first bulkheads were thrown up to protect the land, but later
134 Entertaining a Nation
jetties were tried. The first one that was erected at Sea View Avenue
was extended in March, 1916 and reconstructed in 1922. Between
Chelsea and South Bath Avenues four jetties were built from 1929
to 1931. Victor Gelineau, chief engineer of the New Jersey Board
of Commerce and Navigation has explained the action of the sea
as follows: "Considering the many forces involved and their great
magnitude, beaches are relatively stable in position. Nevertheless,
over the years there is almost everywhere a tendency for beaches
not adequately protected to be beaten back by the onset of waves —
waves which are propagated in deep water, unless checked gradually
by a sloping foreshore, crash with terrific force when they are
abruptly halted. . . ."
The sea's greatest havoc has been wrought on Ocean Avenue,
which was the road on the bluff in the old days. The present
Ocean Avenue is the third to have been built since 1862, each one
having been moved farther inland as the ocean continued to en-
croach. In 1833 there was a half mile of land east of the Bluff
Drive, as it was then called. By 1862 this had shrunk to 1,000 feet;
it was 600 feet in 1883. Today Ocean Avenue takes a sharp
detour inland from North Long Branch to Sea View Avenue.
The most recent improvement has been the construction of
thirteen steel and rock jetties from Cottage Place to the Deal line,
by the Public Works Administration. The success of these jetties
may influence the adoption of the so-called Boulevard Campaign,
a major plank of which was the building of new beaches by jetty
construction. The plan also called for a one hundred-foot wide
new street or boulevard from the city's northern boundary North
Long Branch to Brighton Avenue in West End, running parallel
to Ocean Avenue between it and Second Avenue. This would open
up a new business section and allow the full width of Ocean Ave-
nue to be converted into a boardwalk, which would surpass At-
lantic City's in width. It is believed that large hotels and apart-
ments could be built on the solid land west of the boardwalk more
easily and economically than on the soft sands of any other large
Jersey resort.
The proposed new boulevard is expected to increase local retail
trade. In 1930, Otis R. Seaman, then city engineer, pointed out in
The Last Twenty Years 135
support of the Boulevard Campaign that Ocean Avenue had become
merely a through highway for general shore traffic. Limited to
hotels, boarding houses and a section of refreshment and amuse-
ment stands, the street has little to recommend it as a shopping
or casual buying district. On the new highway, however, there
would be ninety-six corner sites available for business establish-
ments.
The Boulevard Campaign originated among private citizens in
1928, and the following year $2,000,000 for the construction of the
boulevard was voted by the city commission. When the plan was
presented at the general election in November, 1931, it was de-
feated. Objection stemmed partly from the expense involved and
partly from the fact that the improvements would benefit par-
ticular organizations and individuals. Interest in the proposal,
however, persists, and it is entirely possible that it will again be
presented to the voters for ratification.
The necessity for keeping the resort in the public eye led Long
Branch to welcome the establishment of a training camp for prize-
fighters by Jimmy DeForest on the third floor of the old Broadway
Theatre shortly before the World War. Jack Dempsey was at the
headquarters at 245 Atlantic Avenue for his fight with Jess Willard
in 1919 and again in 1927 for his bout with Jack Sharkey. Luis
Angel Firpo, "The Wild Bull of the Pampas," trained for a short
time at Ocean Park in 1923, and Max Baer spent the sunmier of
1934 at the Ocean Avenue home of P. Hal Sims, the bridge
expert. The following year, a few days before he lost his heavy-
weight championship title to James J. Braddock, he was given a
testimonial dinner at the West End Casino attended by Governor
Harold Hoffman, the mayor of Long Branch and other dignitaries.
Tonmiy Farr, the English heavyweight, was the most recent bigtime
boxer to train at Long Branch. In 1937 he prepared for his fight
with Joe Louis in the city-owned Speedway. Two champions who
fought as preliminary boys in local arenas were Primo Camera and
Gene Tunney, who willingly used to leave his post as lifeguard at
Keansburg for a $50 fight in Long Branch.
The fanfare that attended each championship challenger was
decidedly welcome to Long Branch, especially in the years direaly
136 Entertaining a Nation
after the World War. At that time the resort seemed to have no
particular attractions that it could publicize. Its summer clientele
had become more rigidly stratified than at any previous time in its
history. Along Ocean Avenue and back through Elberon and West
End a number of wealthy residents still maintained their large
homes. In Long Branch proper the hotels and boarding houses
were receiving almost exclusively family groups from the middle
class, largely Italian and Jewish. In addition there was still a large
miscellaneous week-end clientele that came in search of only an
inexpensive room on a Saturday night and a long Sunday on the
beach.
The rich continued to provide occasional amusement or as-
tonishment for the rest of the resort. One such instance was the
will of Washington Wilson, a wealthy Elberon resident. He was
so fond of his home that he ordered it torn down immediately
after his death. His wife sorrowfully complied and stored much of
the furniture in a barn that is still standing on the deserted estate
to the southeast of the Elberon station.
A far more amazing and disturbing eccentricity was the rising
strength in the early twenties of the local society of the Klu Klux
Klan. The organization became wealthy enough to purchase Elk-
wood Park for its meetings, and on July 2, 1924 a tri-state Kon-
klave was held at the Park, terminating on Independence Day with
a huge parade of hooded marchers that took four hours to pass a
given spot.
There could have been no better index to the character of the
summer clientele than the reaction that followed the mass meeting.
The meeting had demonstrated principally against the presidential
candidacy of Al Smith, but the effect on Long Branch business was
disastrous. The Jewish summer residents departed from the town
the next day practically en masse, leaving a deserted city of ruined
shopkeepers and empty hotels and boarding houses. The Negro
population locked its doors tight and refused to emerge on the
streets for several days. Similarly, Catholics, for whose benefit
several fiery crosses had been burned, either left the community
or took steps to protect themselves.
A group of three nuns associated with the Star of the Sea
The James Fleam Estate, now a public park
Hulks of Patten Line steamboats on Pleasure Bay
h-^.rm&^
The Last Twenty Years 137
Academy saw the parade, and as one robed and hooded figure
passed, the trio exclaimed as they saw his feet, "The iceman." That
individual received no more orders from either the academy or its
neighboring Catholic institutions. Several weeks later a sheepish
iceman confirmed their guess when he called to inquire whether
they had stopped taking ice "just because I was in that parade."
Although there was no organized opposition to the Klan in
Long Branch, the hasty departure of the summer visitors in 1924
served much the same purpose. When they realized how thoroughly
the Klan was wrecking their business, local participants withdrew
from it. The revulsion toward the Klan was so strong that it soon
lost Elkwood Park and ceased to be a factor of any importance. A
small group of Klansmen are said still to hold secret meetings in
the woods back of the town, but there has been no public evidence
of such activity.
The elimination of the threat of the Klan ushered in a decade
of quiet progress. As the old Victorian and Edwardian hotels burned
down or were battered to pieces by storms, new or remodeled
structures took their place. On the ruins of John Hoey's Holly-
wood in West End a new Hollywood rose in 1926. At about the
same time the New Atlantic replaced the old Atlantic, destroyed in
a spectacular fire at the height of the 1925 season. One of the
oldest names among Long Branch hostelries returned when the
New Howland was opened, and the erection of the Vendome-Plaza
brought a continental addition to the native nomenclature. The
Scarboro, which had been in operation since 1882, was remodeled
to present a handsome white surface to the boardwalk. The majority
of the clientele at all these hotels has been Jewish for almost the
last two decades.
In 1926 the one hundred-room Garfield-Grant Hotel, the
largest year-round hotel in town, was built at a cost of $450,000. It
is the headquarters for the leading service organizations of the city.
At present there are about thirty hotels in Long Branch; aside
from the resort places mentioned, they are mostly small family
houses.
Racing came back to Long Branch suddenly and spectacularly
in 1934, when the State Racing Commission granted the Long
138 Entertaining a Nation
Branch Kennel Club a license to operate a dog racing track from
July 10 to October 10. It was the first time since 1893 that gamb-
ling was permitted on any kind of racing, and Long Branch con-
fidently expected a quick return to "the good old days" of forty
years ago. The Kennel Club leased Ocean Park for five years, had
the grounds landscaped, erected a grandstand and kennels and re-
opened the old Ocean Club as a clubhouse. A small part of Elk-
wood Park was cleared of the growth of years and used to exercise
and train the greyhounds and whippets while Ocean Park was
being readied. The races were operated by the Ocean Park Race-
track Association, a subsidiary of the Long Branch Kennel Club,
and were supervised by Meyer Goldberg, head of a syndicate to
promote dog racing in the United States.
The most significant change from the previous racing at Long
Branch was the decision to hold the races at night, a plan to cap-
ture as much as possible of the commuter trade. The track was
illuminated by three hundred high-powered electric lights with im-
proved reflectors, spaced at sixteen-foot intervals. The program
consisted of ten races nightly, except Sunday; there were prelimin-
ary contests of from 3/l6ths to 5/l6ths of a mile for dogs of
different ages, and one feature race for champions.
The first race was held July 21, before a large and en-
thusiastic crowd. If the promoters had been unable to win back to
Long Branch the patronage of "society," they had at least succeeded
in attracting a large number of notables from the sporting world
and public life. Dancing in the clubhouse followed the races, and
the town looked forward to its most successful season in a
generation.
The races, popular and well-attended, continued through the
summer, until September 11, when the law permitting pari-mutuel
betting at the track was declared unconstitutional. Several em-
ployees were arrested, but the Kennel Club obtained an injunction
that permitted it to continue to the end of the stipulated season.
Little hope was held for a viaory in the courts, but the track
opened in 1935. It operated for only about fifteen days when the
State Supreme Court upheld the previous ruling on the unconstitu-
tionality of the pari-mutuel law. The brief whirl was over. The
The Last Twenty Years 139
track remained dark the rest of the season, and the crowds dwindled.
Exhilarated, then deflated, Long Branch took its loss with good
grace and turned its attention to less evanescent attractions. In 1937
and 1938 midget auto races were held at the Ocean Park Speed-
way, as the erstwhile dog track had been renamed.
The cessation of the dog races had struck Long Branch at a
particularly hard time. The resort had only just begun to emerge
from the effects of the depression. The summer season of 1931
was an extremely poor one, and business failed to improve in the
fall. The low point was reached in December when three local
banks, including the Citizens' National Bank and the New Jersey
Trust Company closed their doors within two days. All but the
Citizens' National were permitted to reopen.
The resort's loss proved to be the town's gain, during the
depression. Hard times caused many summer visitors to move
permanently to Long Branch, where living was less expensive than
in the large cities. They bought or rented small bungalows that
had been erected on the sites of Victorian mansions. The influx
helped real estate and retail trade to some extent.
It was not, however, until 1935 that Long Branch began to
show positive signs of recovering from the economic collapse of
1929. In that year the Bureau of the Census reported that "business
in Long Branch among its 318 establishments showed more than
$1,000,000 increase over the mark set in 1933 by but 259 estab-
lishments. Employment likewise was on the upturn, with more than
200 additional persons being given employment in the city's busi-
ness houses."
The business upswing was refleaed in 1934-35 by a successful
drive to induce residents to improve and repair already existing
real estate through the aid of the Federal Housing Administration.
In 1936 there were one hundred and seventy building permits
issued in Long Branch, and the value of building projects was
$237,696. The C. W. Jones building, opened in 1938 for West
Motors, Inc., is the largest private structure built in the city since
the erection of the Garfield-Grant hotel.
Like any older community Long Branch welcomed the oppor-
tunity offered by the United States Housing Authority to replace
140 Entertaining a Nation
some of its dilapidated, uninhabitable dwellings with a modern
development to cost $606,000. In September 1939 construction
was started on Garfield Court, 11 buildings at Central and Rock-
well Avenues, designed to accommodate 127 families. Four of the
buildings will be reserved for Negroes.
When in June, 1939, voters of New Jersey approved of a
constitutional amendment legalizing pari-mutuel betting on horse
racing, the old hope of a racetrack in Long Branch promptly re-
vived; not at Monmouth Park, site of the resort's greatest glory, but
at Elkwood Park, where the iron fence lies rusted and smashed in at
several places. From Pleasure Bay to Elberon old-timers promptly
polished up their best racing stories to lend a flavor of the past to
the excitement of the present. Although no charters have been
issued, a newly-formed Monmouth Park Racing Association stands
ready to invest large sums in the creation of an attractive racetrack.
Once again hotel proprietors and merchants, hack drivers and
chambermaids see Long Branch coming back into what they fondly
call "its own."
If the spirit of the gilded age should return, it would be to a
vastly diflFerent Long Branch. Instead of being a community of less
than two thousand people, the city now has a population of 18,399.
Instead of depending almost solely upon the profits of the summer
season, the town has learned from lean years the lesson of building
up local all-year industries. Instead of looking forward to next
season exclusively in terms of providing amusement for the sum-
mer guest, the community thinks of next year in terms of all its
citizens. Public schools, well-paved streets, police protection, library
service are recognized as far more important than the conditioning
of a racetrack or the repair of an amusement pier.
This tradition of municipal service, established in years when
racing was no more than a memory in Long Branch, is firmly
rooted. The cheering and frenzy of a new racetrack era will hardly
be able to drown out the steady voice that ever calls for more and
more civic progress. Rather, should racing return to the Branch, it
will have to be harmonized with the civic pattern that has de-
veloped in its absence. That pattern combines the town with the
resort into a mutually beneficial whole.
Sun and trees work a lovely pattern on Bath Avenue
CHAPTER IX
How the City is Governed
SINCE THE DAYS when the five original settlers founded Long
Branch, it has been administered under four kinds of local
government. Down to 1849 it was a part of the colonial tract
known as Shrewsbury Township. Until 1867 it was included within
the boundaries of Ocean Township, but was governed by its own
three township committeemen. Between 1867 and 1904 Long
Branch was a borough, its affairs directed by the Long Branch
Police, Sanitary and Improvement Commission. When it was
granted a city charter in 1904, it elected a mayor and council form
of government. Since 1912 it has operated under a board of five
commissioners.
The only form of city government that Long Branch has not
tried is the city manager plan. And some citizens feel that the ex-
periments with different types of local government should be made
complete. Under the leadership of Michael A. Viracola petitions
have been circulated urging the voters to adopt the city manager
form. There is also some sentiment for a return to the councilmanic
plan, which, its partisans claim, would effect an annual saving to
the city of $25,000.
Long Branch is governed at present by five commissioners
elected every four years. From their own number the commissioners
elect a mayor who also serves as director of public affairs. The other
four departments are revenue and finance, public safety, public
works, and parks and public property. The Board of Commissioners
meets every Tuesday at three in the afternoon in the three-story
brick City Hall at 344 Broadway, erected in 1891. The growth of
municipal responsibilities since then taxes the facilities of the build-
ing and will soon make a new one imperative.
142 Entertaining a Nation
Department of Public Affairs
The mayor represents the commission to the citizenry and Long
Branch to die rest of the state. He presides over city commission
meetings and handles all public relations. Through the offices of
city clerk and deputy city clerk the department is responsible for
the records of all city business, such as leases, contracts, insurance,
bonds and ordinances. The city clerk attends all commissioners'
meetings and does all the official typing and his deputy keeps the
minutes of these meetings. Both serve a one-year term.
The legal division is headed by the city solicitor, who is in
charge of the city's legal affairs and gives advice on the law to the
city officials. The city physician makes health examinations and
prescribes for families on relief. He personally cares for all persons
brought into court on charges of drunkeness and those who have
been injured in accidents. The overseer of the poor investigates
relief cases and distributes funds or clothing to the needy.
Public Ubrary
Also under the mayor's jurisdiction is the public library. This
institution originated as a private venture in October, 1878, when
a group of women formed the East Long Branch Reading Room
and Library Association at the home of Mrs. Jennie L. Morris.
Within a month a reading room, donated by Mrs. Jordan WooUey,
was opened on the second floor of Washington Hall, 206 Broad-
way. Books were contributed by many wealthy residents, including
George W. Childs, Anthony Drexel and Mrs. Hugh Hastings.
The next year the Association rented an adjoining room and
started a circulating library service. In January, 1880 it acquired
the old ''JimmitY Jones" school, which it sold to raise money for
a library building. Mrs. Morris mortgaged her home and loaned
the proceeds to the Association. By May a two-story frame struc-
ture, known as Library Hall, was completed and occupied. To help
finance the venture a stationery store was operated downstairs and
the upstairs hall was rented for social funaions. The library re-
mained here until 1916, when the building was sold at a profit, and
the institution, which now had five thousand volumes, was moved
to the Slocum homestead.
How THE City is Governed 143
In the same year the Association deeded the new building and
the land to the city to facilitate its transition to a tax-supported
public library. The city was thus able to receive a $30,000 grant
from the Carnegie Corporation for a new building that cost Long
Branch only one-third of a mill on all taxable property for main-
tenance. Long Branch was the last city to receive such a grant
from the Carnegie Corporation. Mayor Marshall Woolley ap-
pointed the city's first free library trustees, five in nimiber, and a
public library in Long Branch was a reality.
Since November, 1920 the library has been housed in a red-
brick one-story classic building on the tree-covered lawn of the
old Woolley home. The basement is used by the Long Branch
Woman's Club. The building was designed by Edward L. Tilton.
At present the library has an annual appropriation of $6,400,
employs a staff of four, and has fifteen thousand volumes on its
shelves.
Department of Revenue and Finance
The director of revenue and finance is responsible for the col-
lection and disbursement of the municipal funds. He serves as city
treasurer, comptroller, collector of taxes and collector of mercantile
licenses. He also direas the work of municipal tax searchers. The
issuance of municipal bonds and the payment of the city's debts
are handled by this office.
The staff includes an assessor, who sets valuations on all tax-
able property, a license inspector, who issues all mercantile licenses,
and an office force of five.
On January 1, 1939 Long Branch reported a gross debt of
$2,997,468, less deductions amounting to $1,509,864. The net
municipal debt, including a school indebtedness of $924,500, was
$1,487,604. The tax rate in 1938 was $5.84 per $100, an increase
of 13 points over 1937 and 22 points over 1936. From surveys
made in 1938, the total valuation of assessed property, including
real estate, personal property and second class railroad property
was $18,005,025.
144 Entertaining a Nation
Department of Public Safety
In addition to the important functions of police and fire pro-
tection, the commissioner of public safety supervises the work of
the building and plumbing inspeaor, the bureau of health, the
police court, and the city recorder, a police magistrate who passes
sentence in municipal cases.
Police Department
It was not until Long Branch became a busy resort that policing
the streets was considered necessary. In 1868 Cornelius Van Der-
veer was appointed the first police marshall. Shortly afterward, two
more marshalls were added, and in 1870 Henry Green was ap-
pointed chief marshall, or police chief, at a salary of $350 a year.
He and two marshalls constituted the first organized police depart-
ment in the city. Its first order from the governing body was to
remove an offending pig sty.
Duties soon became more exacting. The small force dealt with
drunkenness, arson, assault, burglary, and rarely, murder. Early
ojffenders were placed in two small cells in the basement of Wash-
ington Hall, 206 Broadway. For a short time police headquarters
were at the southwest corner of Second Avenue and Broadway.
Since 1891 they have been located in the City Hall, at the rear
of which are a police court and a jailhouse.
So many citizens carried clubs for protection against dogs and
footpads that early in its history members of the department were
ordered to wear ribbon badges around their hats to distinguish
them. After the city received its charter in 1904, police protection
was organized into a regular department of the municipal govern-
ment with the appointment of twenty-four patrolmen. In 1906 the
Long Branch Local No. 10 of the Patrolmen's Benevolent Asso-
ciation was formed. The organization takes care of the ill and
needy in its membership and carries on much charitable work
outside its own ranks. A police pension system has been in opera-
tion since 1913.
Major crimes have been rare in Long Branch. Catching
dangerous runaway horses, surprising bootleggers during Prohibi-
tion or trapping confidence men have been the most spectacular
The City Hall, erected 1891
How THE City is Governed 145
exploits of the department in recent years. Nevertheless, the gen-
eral law-abiding spirit that has prevailed in Long Branch for many
decades is perhaps a far more significant tribute to the efiiciency of
the department than screaming headlines in metropolitan tabloids.
In 1931 the department provided a sensation that rocked Long
Branch for days. As the Long Branch Daily Record put it, "Like a
bolt from the blue came the announcement by Commissioner of
Public Safety Charles E. Brown that he had appointed Mrs. Corne-
lia Woolley Hopkins head of the police department . . ." The
article continued by quoting Brown's statement that the appoint-
ment was "a matter of courtesy . . . merely honorary" and then
expressed wonder as to why it was "necessary to honor, or show
particular courtesy, to Mrs. Hopkins."
Not only was the socially-prominent Mrs. Hopkins the first
woman police commissioner in Long Branch but she also enjoyed
the distinction of being the first of her sex to serve in that post
anywhere in the state. Moreover she was actually the first police
commissioner in Long Branch, for previously the operation of the
department had been administered directly by the commissioner of
public safety. An the Daily Record observed, rather archly, ". . . Mrs.
Hopkins will . . . look to Commissioner Brown for her instructions.
Chief McGarvey, on the other hand, will answer to Mrs. Hopkins
for the conduct of the department."
No sooner had the appointment been made public than a lively
controversy began. Some citizens objected to an extra office on the
public payroll; others suspected that Mrs. Hopkins was merely
serving as a front for Magistrate Joseph F. Rosen's attempt to
control the department; still others, and by far the majority,
opposed her appointment on the simple grounds that she was a
woman. The city solicitor, William L. Edwards, landed feet first
into the melee with an opinion that the appointment was illegal
and that unless Brown rescinded it, he himself would be obliged
to resign.
Headlines in the Record best describe the confusion and excite-
ment. On May 30: "MRS HOPKINS MAY RESIGN"; June 1:
"MRS. HOPKINS MAY QUIT TOMORROW"; June 2: "MRS.
HOPKINS' RESIGNATION HAS APPARENTLY VANISHED
146 Entertaining a Nation
OVERNIGHT"; June 2: "MRS. HOPKINS SAYS SHE IS STILL
POLICE HEAD BUT WON'T BE ACTIVE." To this last ran a
subhead informing the avid readers that Mrs. Hopkins had had
two lawyers investigate her right to the position and that she was
standing by their favorable decision. The uproar subsided, and Mrs.
Hopkins served out her term to its conclusion in 1935. Her activity,
however, was negligible.
The police department today has thirty-eight men — and no
women. A two-way radio system keeps headquarters constantly in
touch with six radio-equipped cars. Since 1930 a motor patrol has
cruised the city nightly. During the summer there is also a motor-
cycle patrol to enforce speed and traffic regulations. A modern
filing system and bureau of identification aid the chief, detective
lieutenant, desk lieutenant, sergeants, police clerk, patrolmen and
summer chancemen in maintaining an almost complete absence of
major crimes.
During 1938 there were 764 arrests in Long Branch, the
greatest number of single offenses being 112 for violation of police
regulations.
Fire Department
Fire protection in Long Branch is actually only a quasi-govern-
mental function. The department still retains many of the features
of the volunteer fire system from which it developed. Firefighting
is in charge of a fire chief who is responsible to the commissioner of
public safety for the efficiency of the department. The nine local
companies, however, are manned by nearly five hundred and fifty
volunteer firemen.
The town emerged from the bucket brigade method of com-
bating fires in 1866 when Charles Antonides built a hook and
ladder, the first fire wagon in Monmouth County. The following
year Charles Stetson, proprietor of the Stetson House, demonstrated
a fire engine that was strapped to the back of the operator and
sprayed an extinguishing liquid on the fire. Stetson purchased six
of these at about $50 each. Shortly afterward city ofiicials con-
sidered buying a steam fire engine to pump water from the cis-
terns. The Long Branch News triumphantly reported its rejection
with the lofty comment, "Property owners don't want such worth-
How THE City is Governed 147
less things as fire engines around here. Ashes bring a good price."
Three years later a fire engine came to stay. The Oceanic Fire
House, in which Antonides' hook and ladder was also housed, was
built for it. Around these two pieces of fine equipment was formed
the Oceanic Fire Engine Company, No. 1, the city's oldest volun-
teer company.
When a fire department was created as part of the city govern-
ment in November, 1878, the borough was divided into six fire
districts with six fire companies, three of which are in operation
today. They are the Oceanic, the Neptune Hose Company No. 1,
which was organized in 1877 as a revival of the Neptune Hook and
Ladder Company, No. 1, founded without a charter in 1866 and
disbanded in 1872, and the Atlantic Fire Engine and Truck Com-
pany, chartered in 1874. The Neptune's five-year lapse, and the fact
that it was originally unchartered, ranks it third in seniority among
the departments.
Until the World War the chartered fire companies were like
popular clubs with active social programs. There were long waiting
lists for membership; initiations were conducted with elaborate
horseplay; and the annual firemen's parade and the gala ball that
followed were highlights of the social season. Ladies' auxiliaries
helped to raise funds by running bazaars. May Day breakfasts and
harvest suppers.
The oldest companies had been outgrowths of local need for
fire protection. But in the eighties and nineties vacationers furnished
a large measure of the support of the additional companies. In
1885, only a year after the West End Engine Company No. 3 had
been founded, wealthy summer cottagers donated the money for a
firehouse on the northeast corner of Brighton and Second Avenues.
Two years later, when a barn burned because fire horses were not
immediately available, the summer residents again came forward
with funds for a team of black horses.
When a group of young men decided to form another company
in 1886, they were canny enough to approach Phil Daly, the
proprietor of the resort's most successful gambling establishment,
for the use of his name for their organization. Daly hesitated at
first, fearing that such a move would cloud the company's respect-
148 Entertaining a Nation
ability. Eventually he was persuaded, and he contributed several
hundred dollars, as did many of his patrons. The Phil Daly Hose
Company No. 2 quickly became one of the most fashionable in
town. Its trim appearance was in demand at parades and contests
throughout the state, for its spirited three-horse hitch and gleaming
truck with Daly's portrait in oil was circus enough for anyone.
Less munificent was the aid given the Elberon Engine Com-
pany No. 4, by Lewis B. Brown, hotel proprietor and realtor. When
the company was founded in 1890, he presented it with five hundred
feet of cotton hose from his Elberon Hotel. Within a year a hose
wagon was purchased and a team was rented from James Fay. In
the same year that the Elberon Company was organized, Oliver
Byron, the popular actor who lived in North Long Branch, built a
firehouse for a troop that gratefully designated itself the Oliver
Byron Hose Company No. 3. In 1898 the company was reorganized
as the Oliver Byron Engine Company No. 5.
After Branchport was incorporated in Greater Long Branch in
1904, the Branchport Hose Company No. 3, organized in 1903,
was admitted to the Long Branch Fire Department. For many years
this company held the distinction of being the only local outfit
with a sleigh for use in the winter. The youngest of the city's fire
units is the Independent Engine and Truck Company No. 2,
founded in 1910 as an offshoot of the Atlantic Fire Engine and
Truck Compay. In its second year the company set a world's record
for horse-drawn apparatus that has not yet been surpassed. The
crew "rolled" one quarter of a mile and raised a twenty-two-foot
ladder in 47.4 seconds.
These are the companies that have fought the fires of Long
Branch for the past seventy years. The town has suffered the many
serious fires to be expected in a wind-swept community of large
wooden summer hotels and cottages. The worst fires in recent years
were the burning of Steinbach's Department Store on January 2,
1905, and the West End fire in July, 1909. Damages in the Stein-
bach catastrophe reached $200,000. Help from Asbury Park was
required to extinguish the fire. The West End fire, starting from an
overheated bakery oven, consumed everything on the south side of
Brighton Avenue from the ocean to the old Coulter House prop-
fX-^^t:..
The firefighters of Long Branch
Radio cars are an important part of police protection
How THE City is Governed 149
erty. Reinforcemeots were called from Asbury Park, Sea Bright,
Red Bank and Monmouth Beach to fight the blaze, which de-
stroyed thirty-two buildings.
Such fires, of course, brought forth every volunteer in Long
Branch. But lesser blazes were often an opportunity for a display
of the rivalry between the companies — not always to the ad-
vantage of the person whose building was ablaze. It is said that
when fire hydrants were first introduced, if two companies were
called to the same fire, the first one to arrive would put a barrel
over the hydrant and place their strongest man on it, daring the
rival outfit to attach its hose — ^while the flames roared. Almost every
fire called for a fist fight afterward to determine to whom belonged
the glory.
The introdjuction of l^utomobiles heightened these natural
rivalries. When Louis Huhn of the West End Engine Company was
the first chief to have a car in 1919, the horsemen used to cross
the wires so that it would noti start. One night when Huhn was in
a rush to get to a fire he dashed off without inspecting his car. As
he turned from Third Avenue into Broadway, the motor fell out.
Later on the tables were turned. The Branchport and Neptune
companies were the last to acquire motor-driven apparatus, and
rival outfits would step on the gas whenever an opportunity pre-
sented itself to make fun of the horse-drawn vehicles.
As in other communities, smart-alecks in Long Branch per-
ennially plagued the department by asking what would happen if a
fire broke out during a firemen's parade. They had their answer on
August 18, 1929. When the streets were crowded with people and
blocked with cars watching the procession, the fire alarm suddenly
sounded. The Long Branch companies were down the line of march
out of earshot, but visiting firemen smartly rose to the occasion. The
Belford and Atlantic Highlands companies broke ranks and were
soon fighting the fire, while the parade continued on its way,
affording the populace two shows for the price of one.
Although the nine companies are under the jurisdiction of the
department of public safety, they run their own aflFairs. Each com-
pany elects its own officers. A fire chief is chosen from the member-
ship of the volunteers, as are his first and second assistants who
150 Entertaining a Nation
automatically rise to the position of chief. These three constitute
the Chiefs' Organi2ation. On New Year's Eve the retiring chief
goes at midnight to the fire box nearest his own fire house and
pulls one tap for each number in the last digit of the departing
year. His successor then adds a tap for the coming year and badges
are exchanged.
The size of each company is now restricted to one hundred
members for a combination fire engine and truck company, sixty
for an engine company and forty for a hose company. Each volun-
teer must attend sixty per cent of the fires answered by his company
to keep in good standing.
Most of the trucks and all equipment are furnished by the city.
Eight drivers for the eleven trucks as well as a relief driver are
also paid by the city. The relief man rotates his services with the
other eight. The city now has nearly three hundred fire hydrants,
and it has been figured that if the hose carried by each company
were laid end to end it would reach from Broadway to beyond
Brighton Avenue in West End.
The fire alarm system is a far cry from the old rims of loco-
motive wheels that were struck with a sledge hammer. After using
hand-rung bells and a compressed air horn, the city adopted the
modern alarm box system, which includes seventy boxes. All of
these can be rung from City Hall.
The Firemen's Relief Association collects dues from its mem-
bership to care for indigent firemen and the widows and orphans
of deceased members. An outgrowth of this organization is the
Exempt Firemen's Association, which affords its members a death
benefit of $300, exempts them from a certain percentage of muni-
cipal taxes and permits them to operate business enterprises with-
out a mercantile license.
The most recent division of the department is the First Aid and
Safety Squad, organized in March, 1929. It has forty members,
who must be firemen in good standing and pass a Red Cross first-
aid test every three years. A crew of four is on twenty-four-hour
duty for a two-week period, as the ambulance must be at all fires
and accidents.
The extra-curricular activities of the fire companies are not
How THE City is Governed 151
as widespread and varied as in the days when the social life of Long
Branch revolved around them. The West End Company supports
a football team; the Oliver Byrons are especially active table ten-
nis players, as are the Independents, who also play a good deal of
baseball. Ladies' auxiliaries help to support the companies by sup-
pers and card parties.
The present membership and location of the companies follow:
Name Address Membership
Oceanic Fire Engine Company No. 1 29 Norwood Ave. 78
Atlantic Fire Engine and Truck
Company
Neptune Hose Company No. 1
West End Engine Company No. 3
Phil Daly Hose Company No. 2
Elberon Engine Company No. 4
Oliver Byron Engine Company No. 5
Branchport Hose Company No. 3
Independent Engine and Truck
Company No. 2
Bureau of Health and Hospitals
This bureau has jurisdiction over all health affairs in Long
Branch, including the Long Branch Public Welfare Society, the
Long Branch Public Health Nursing Association and two privately-
owned hospitals. There is no city hospital in the conmiunity.
A health department was founded in 1874 with a board of
three men and Dr. I. O. Green as health inspector. The board was
increased to six men in 1886 and to seven in 1902. Ten years
later the board was abolished, and the city commissioners took
over its work. It was reorganized in 1913 with a health oiB&cer who
instituted milk regulations, established laboratories and introduced
modern health practices. In 1928 the board was again abolished
and set up as a bureau in the department of public safety.
Through the installation of modern milk-testing equipment
the infant mortality rate wasf^ reduced from 151 per 1,000 in 1913
353 Broadway
100
30 Branchport Ave.
34
595 Second Ave.
60
10 Second Ave.
37
173 Lincoln Ave.
60
A6 Atlantic Ave.
60
241 Branchport Ave. 31
19 Third Ave.
96
152 Entertaining a Nation
to 25 per 1,000 in 1934. The department reported 219 births and
207 deaths in 1938. In the same year there were reported 1,167
cases of communicable diseases.
The director of the bureau of health investigates all contagious
cases reported by private physicians. He also issues quarantine
notices and inspects stores, factories, lunchrooms, dairies, schools
and swimming pools.
The Monmouth Memorial Hospital, the center section of which
is the old Central Hotel on Third Avenue, was founded by twelve
citizens in 1887. Additions made by private individuals and the
Board of Freeholders have increased the capacity to two hundred
beds. Its equipment includes two of the six Drinker respirators in
the state. It is controlled by a self-perpetuating board of thirty-
three governors, with Otis N. Auer as director. Its services are avail-
able to all, except those suffering from contagious and mental
diseases. Since 1896 it has maintained a school of nursing.
The Dr. E. C. Hazard Hospital, Washington and Dewey Streets,
can accommodate nearly one hundred patients and has an out-
patient clinic, a school of nursing, a social service bureau and a
cancer clinic.
Department of Public Works
The director of this department is mainly concerned with the
maintenance and improvement of the city's one hundred and forty
miles of streets. He supervises their upkeep, cleaning, grading and
lighting. Working in conjunction with him is the city engineer,
who surveys city streets and oversees Works Progress Administra-
tion activities that are city projects.
Long Branch has progressed from oil street lamps through gas
lights to its present admirable electrical equipment. The magazine.
The American City, in November, 1930 cited local street lights as
a model of "good engineering, sound judgment and good
economics."
Thirty miles of the city streets are improved. The city is rigidly
zoned, according to laws passed in March, 1931 and then amended
in November, 1936. Industrial distrias mainly follow the railroad
.?^V.*^'
'WS^-
vt^.r-Zfr
View on Lake Takanassee
The Colony Surf Club
How THE City is Governed 153
tracks from Myrtle Avenue to Seventh Avenue, from behind
Branchport Avenue southwesterly toward Westwood Avenue and at
the bend of the track in North Long Branch. The business district
follows South Broadway, Broadway and its adjoining blocks.
The residential zones are divided into three types; restricted
areas where the distance in from the street line and the space
between houses is strictly regulated; sections with less space re-
strictions upon detached private houses; zones where houses may
adjoin each other and where multiple dwellings are allowed.
Department of Parks and Public Property
This department is in charge of most of the real property owned
by the city, which includes the city parks, the two city-owned
beaches, two miles of boardwalk, and all public buildings, including
the City Hall, a warehouse with a capacity of 15,000 square feet,
nine firehouses, all fire equipment, the Casino and other buildings
in Ocean Park and on the beach front. This is naturally the most
heterogeneous of the city's payrolls, embracing a custodian at City
Hall, laborers, beach workers and lifeguards.
The finest parks in Long Branch are its beaches. In fact, its
municipally-owned beaches may be said to be the forerunner of the
long-proposed ocean front State Park. One beach is three and one-
half miles long, extending from Sea View Avenue southward to
Lake Takanassee. The other stretches one and one-half miles from
Atlantic Avenue in North Long Branch parallel to New Ocean
Avenue to Sea View Avenue. A stone jetty separates the two
beaches. The boardwalk of Oregon lumber laid diagonally on a
foundation of concrete piling extends along the larger beach.
If it were not for a plot of ground six feet square in Montclair,
Long Branch would probably have at the junction of Norwood Ave-
nue and Broadway the smallest park in the world. An ordinance of
May, 1899 designated an area six feet by two feet as a park for the
ereaion of a Memorial Fountain to Dr. Thomas Chattle. The
grounds adjoining the City Hall and Public Library have been
called both City Hall Park and Library Park. Other small parks
are the Branchport Dock Park and a brookside park at Second
and Pavilion Avenues.
154 Entertaining a Nation
One of the first improvements of the Shade Tree Commission,
organized in 1934, was the planting of two hundred Japanese
cherry trees around Lake Takanassee, purchased by public subscrip-
tion. They did not thrive, however, and were removed in 1939. The
Commission has charge of parks, shade trees and shrubbery on
public highways. Cooperating with this body is the City Planning
Board, organized in 1936. In 1938 it opened three new parks:
a playground for younger children at Brighton and Ocean Avenues,
the site of Phil Daly's famous Pennsylvania Club; a combination
park and playground along the west side of Third Avenue from the
railroad station to Bath Avenue; and the Hearn estate at South
Bath and Second Avenues. The last-named is by far the most
elaborate of the new parks with sunken gardens and groves of
rare trees enclosed by a heavy wall. The mansions and large recrea-
tional lodge, considered splendid specimens of old English build-
ings, will be used as a community center. In 1939 the Board opened
four additional playgrounds.
City Officials
Officials of the municipal government as of January 1, 1940,
are:
Mayor and Director of Public Affairs . Alton V. Evans
Director of Revenue and Finance . . . Walton Sherman
Director of Public Safety Frank A. Brazo
Director of Public Works Paul Nastasio, Jr.
Director of Parks and Public Property . J. William Jones
City Clerk J. Arthur Wooding
Deputy City Clerk Maude F. Finn
Secretary to Mayor A. Lawrence Placer
City Solicitor Leo J. Warwick
Assessor B. Drummond Woolley
Tax Collector Walton Sherman
Recorder Eldon C. Presley
City Engineer O. WoLCOTT Morris
Chief of Police Fred A. Wardell
Chief of Fire Department Michael DeLisa
f
How THE City is Governed 155
Overseer of the Poor Charles E. Morris
Director of Health Bureau R. Clifford Errickson
City Physician Sydney L. Neiderhoffer
License Inspector Donald E. Bowie
Building and Plumbing Inspector George H. Northam
Board of Education
R. Kearney Reid President
Dr. C Byron Blaisde Vice-President
Harold N. West Secretary
William M. Smith Supt. of Schools
Rev. Morton A. Barnes, E. T. M. Carr,
LeRoy Throckmorton
City Planning Board
Louis B. Tim, chairman
DoRMAN McFaddin Philip H. Meyer
William I. Rosenfeld Morrel Barbour
R. Emmett Mulholland George H. Northam
O. W. Morris, Engineer
Political Divisions
For administrative and political purposes Long Branch, em-
bracing North Long Branch, East Long Branch, Pleasure Bay,
Branchport, West End and Elberon, is divided into six wards and
nineteen election districts.
Ward No. 1, with two districts, is bounded by North Broad-
way and Broadway, Ocean Avenue, Chelsea Avenue and Fourth
Avenue.
Ward No. 2, which has four distrias, extends from Chelsea
Avenue to the Deal line and from Ocean Avenue to an irregular
line following Division Street to Willow Avenue, to Westwood
Avenue, to West End Avenue, to Norwood Avenue, south to the
Deal line.
Ward No. 3, having three districts, starts at the city limits
in the northwest and then follows the railroad track to Grand Ave-
156 Entertaining a Nation
nue, across to Broadway, down to Willow Avenue, along to West-
wood Avenue, out to West End Avenue, up to Norwood Avenue,
north to Wall, out to Oakwood, thence northwest to the railroad
tracks.
Ward No. 4, with four districts, starts at the corner of Grand
Avenue and the railroad tracks, runs east to Liberty Street, south
to Broadway, north to Fourth Avenue, south to Chelsea Avenue,
west to Morris Avenue, to Division, down to Willow Avenue,
northwest to Broadway, west to Grand Avenue and then north to
the railroad tracks.
Ward No. 5 has three districts. Its boundaries are the Shrews-
bury River, Liberty Street, the railroad tracks, and the junction of
Myrtle Avenue and Branchport Creek.
Ward No. 6, divided into three districts, is bounded by the
Shrewsbury River and city line, the Atlantic Ocean, North Broad-
way, and Liberty Street.
Activities of the Federal Government
Post Office
The original Long Branch Village Post Office was established
May 28, 1834 and designated as "private" by the department in
Washington. This meant that mail was carried there by private
individuals from the nearest public post office.
Prior to that date all mail had been handled by the Shrewsbury
post office four miles away. In 1834, however. Long Branch resi-
dents, headed by William R. Maps, petitioned Washington to
carry mail at their own expense to and from the newly-established
Eatontown post office and to open a private post office in Long
Branch. This was granted and Maps carried the mail from Eaton-
town by wagon or sleigh until April 19, 1838.
William W. Croxson was the first postmaster of Long Branch
Village, serving from 1834 to 1846. The post office was in his
small store on Broadway opposite Branchport Avenue. Maps' diary
for March 1, 1839, reveals an amusing incident. "W. W. Croxson
removed the Long Branch post office to Mechanicsville (Israel
Williams' store) on the 25th Feby. last without knowledge or
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The United States Post Office, erected 191 A
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How THE City is Governed 157
consent of the people who are very indignant at his conduct and
will not submit to the same. Said office returned this evening (four
days later). Mr. Croxson very much mortified in consequence."
On March 1, 1861 there was great rejoicing when the new
railroad brought the first mails from New York in three hours.
The Lower Village had become sufficiently important by then to
have a post office of its own, which was opened in the railroad
station with the company agent, James P. Allaire, being paid $10 a
year as postmaster. The post office was called "Branch Shore" until
1876 when it became "East Long Branch." Although there was
only one mile between the post offices of the upper and lower
villages, a letter from one addressed to the other had to go first to
New York. The Long Branch Netvs of February 4, 1869 com-
plained that a letter to Eatontown, Red Bank or elsewhere in New
Jersey also had to go to New York first. A Keyport correspondent
in the same issue wrote that a business letter mailed in Long Branch
on Thursday arrived — too late — ^the following Monday.
It took short-tempered President Grant to correct these condi-
tions. Enraged that mail he expected at the East Long Branch
(shorefront) post office was sent to the Long Branch City (Upper
Village) post office, he is said to have altered the entire local mail
system overnight, causing all mail to be sent first to the Long
Branch City post office. He also obtained a $1,000 appropriation
during the summer months for the extra work this entailed.
In 1874, the North Long Branch post office was opened with
George Hoyt as postmaster. In 1901 it was consolidated as a sub-
station of Long Branch. The post office in West End was established
in September, 1881 with D. M. Hildreth as postmaster. Six Presi-
dents received their mail at the West End post office, which was
consolidated with Long Branch on July 1, 1917.
On August 1, 1898 a free delivery system was instituted in
Lower Long Branch. Edward Rogers was the first mail carrier
delivering mail from a small woven straw market basket hung on
his arm. Four carriers covered the conmiunity, and two more were
added during the summer months. Free delivery was established in
North Long Branch and upper Long Branch on June 2, 1902, in
West End on July 1, 1917, and in Elberon on July 7, 1919-
158 Entertaining a Nation
The present $100,000 post office on Third Avenue, opposite
Garfield Avenue, was dedicated June 25, 1914 with the same
ceremony used when George Washington laid the cornerstone of
the Capitol in Washington on September 18, 1793. The cere-
monies, following a civic parade, were in charge of the Grand
Lodge of New Jersey Masons with Most Worshipful Grand Master
Charles P. Russ of Elizabeth presiding.
The Long Branch post office, rated as first-class since 1907,
now has three branch offices and one sub-station. There are more
than one hundred street letter boxes and a rural free delivery route
of three hundred and fifty boxes. The personnel includes nineteen
carriers with three substitutes, and seventeen clerks with four sub-
stitutes. John W. Guire has been postmaster since April, 1937.
United States Weather Bureau
In 1907 a Weather Bureau under the Department of Agri-
culture was brought to Long Branch in the hope that the official
New Jersey Climatological Reports would create wide free adver-
tising for the resort. William D. Martin was the first to record
weather statistics for the Federal Government from 593 Irving
Place. Later the weather tower was erected at 59 North Broadway
just west of Ocean Avenue. Upon Martin's death, his son, W. Doyle
Martin, the present recorder, continued the work.
Observations are taken at half-past seven in the morning and
evening. They are telegraphed to the Washington and New York
headquarters for the bureaus in this vicinity. The bureau supplies
information to the local coast guard stations and posts weather
warnings for ships at sea. A white light above a red light means a
northwest storm; white below red, a southwest storm; two red
lights, a northeaster, and one red light, a southeast storm. Red and
white flags givQ the same warnings by day.
Records are kept of all daily weather conditions as well as
the predictions given for that date. These are used for future
observations and the possible settlement of disputes, legal and
loquacious.
CHAPTER X
The Progress of Education
THE CRY of "better schools for our children" resounds through
the last century of the history of Long Branch. At times it
has been the lone voice of a single champion howling
against the waves of reaaion or indifference. Again it has been
a sullen roar from an aroused population demanding an increase
in the size and scope of public education. Today it represents a
steady chant in praise of the city's three fighting superintendents,
Dr. Thomas G. Chattle, Christopher Gregory and Charles T. Stone.
The veneration of these men appears to guarantee the heritage
which they so largely created.
Both Chattle and Gregory have been memorialized by names
of local schools, a distinct tribute from a community which had so
many nationally-known names with local associations to choose
from. Although Stone's achievements are of too recent origin for
such an honor, k is not likely that the people of Long Branch will
forget. Chattle, pioneer in extending free schooling to the greatest
possible number of students; Gregory, conservator of the public
support won by Chattle and founder of the system's tradition of
academic excellence; and Stone, modernizer of the old ways of
teaching and builder of new structures of learning; taken together,
the careers of these three men, brilliant and tireless champions of
education, tell the story of the Long Branch school, from the three
"R's" to "progressive education."
Like worship, formal schooling in the community originated in
West Long Branch. In 1780, a decade before there was a local
church, a schoolhouse was built on the property of Elisha West on
Cedar Avenue. It is to be assumed that prior to this time Long
Branch children received their education either at home or in
160 Entertaining a Nation
Middletown or Shrewsbury. By 1812, however, the Upper Village
was large enough to warrant its own schoolhouse. Benjamin War-
dell circulated a petition calling for the erection of a building on
the present site of Primary School No. 1, and when 24 citizens had
subscribed $1,680 the school was opened. John Wood, who had
been conducting classes privately in a large house on upper Broad-
way, was engaged as the schoolmaster.
This single small building proved adequate for the educational
needs of the community for almost thirty years. But, as population
began to spread and grow, it was necessary in 1840 to replace it
with a larger structure. Then, four years later, a second public
school was erected in the Lower Village at the southeast corner of
Broadway and Academy Alley, the latter street being named for its
academic association. The school officially bore the dignified name
of Primary School No. 2, but when the name of its first teacher,
Timothy Jones was corrupted into "Ji^^^ty Jones," a tradition in
Long Branch education was promptly established. The school was
nicknamed the "Ji^imity Jones," and as late as 1881 there was a
"Jimmity Jones" school in^ the city.
Its surroundings would be heartily approved by students of
today. In front of the building was the village pump, suitable for
juvenile hazing and across the street was the Commons of the
Lower Village, a made-to-order playground, and the liberty pole, a
splendid base for hide-and-go-seek and a standing invitation of
shinnying. Consisting as it did of the inseparable three "R's," Bible
study, and a smattering of history and geography, the curriculum
would have been no less popular. On one count, however, the
modern students would have balked; discipline was maintained
neither by reason nor persuasion, but by the swish of a lash or the
rap of a ferule.
Public education, however, had not yet overcome the snobbish
objections of the aristocratic and the wealthy. As soon as their
numbers warranted it, they founded private schools, where their
children would be assured a less democratic, if, at times, more
thorough schooling. On Deal Turnpike (Norwood Avenue) at
the corner of Brighton Avenue George Northam conducted a small
school in a building erected in 1840. It was known as the Buck-
The Progress of Education l6l
town School, deriving its name from that of the section, where
Joseph Brown, an early settler, had once shot a buck. A dozen years
later the wealthy Troutman family built their own school between
North Broadway and Sea View Avenue to serve the other end of
the village. More expensive then Northam's institution, which
charged $2 per quarter, this school was conducted by a tutor from
Virginia.
Although education in Ocean Township had progressed by
1855 to the point of appointing Richard Poole superintendent of
schools, development in Long Branch itself was slow. When Dr.
Thomas G. Chattle succeeded Poole in 1857, he began his long
fight for educational reform by insisting that teachers be licensed
only after passing examinations. If such a move caused protest, it is
somewhat remarkable that $1,000 was voted for the erection of a
schoolhouse in East Long Branch in 1859 over the bitterest kind
of opposition.
Chattle made an investigation of the township schools, which
he printed at his own expense. It indicated that new buildings
were not necessarily accompanied by capable pedagogues. It stated
in part:
"As poor as was the equipment in regard to furniture, the
equipment of teachers was still poorer. In one school, the
teacher was a paralytic, he could scarcely read, he could not
write or even hold a book in his hand. He was a gentleman
born in Ireland and very innocent of the rules of pronuncia-
tion of the American tongue. In another school a gentleman
who was a cripple was employed. In another, one who was
then over 80 years old and whose only recommendation was
that 60 years before persons could remember he was a first-
class clap-master, because he used to whip his scholars so
hard. Such was the character of the teachers. All had been
employed because they could be obtained more cheaply than
anyone else."
In the winter of 1859-60 the superintendent delivered a series
of lectures on the need for improved educational facilities. By now
the opponents of his campaign were clearly recognizable; they were
the large taxpayers who were quite willing to support private
schools for their own children, but were uncompromisingly against
spending public money for mass schooling. Under this patronage
162 Entertaining a Nation
private schools continued to flourish. In I860 Mrs. James B. Morris,
wife of the editor of the Long Branch Neu^s, opened a school on
Union Avenue, followed shortly afterward by Miss E. Bergen's
Select School for Girls and a small Latin School for Boys where the
Rev. J. B. Wilson taught. For higher education the paying students
at this time went to the Ocean Institute in Eatontown Township.
By 1869 the situation in the public school system had become
intolerable. Although the population of the town had been steadily
increasing since 1844, only one small school had been built since
that date. Children were jammed into small quarters; far too few
teachers were employed; and Chattle's efforts to raise the scholar-
ship level had been wrecked on the rocks of economy. His propa-
gandizing had, however, awakened citizens to a realization of their
needs, and presently the smouldering revolt flared violently in the
columns of the Long Branch News.
One letter to the editor stated bluntly, "we can better afford to
pay for new schools than for jails," to which another replied that
"only young squirts desired to spend the taxpayer's money for
schools — a schoolhouse good enough for our grandfathers is good
enough for our grandchildren." It remained, however, for a cor-
respondent, who signed himself "Growler," to point out in the
issue of March 18, 1869 the most damaging piece of evidence —
that two buildings, the larger of which measured 18 x 20 feet and
was only 8 feet high, housed 225 children. He then stated the case
for a school building program with elaborate and telling satire:
Now if, we have an aisle 2 feet wide through the center,
there is room for desks 8 feet long on either side, and allow-
ing 2 feet width for each desk and seat, gives 10 desks to a
side 8 feet long or 20 desks altogether. As all the children do
not use desks, only 5 are put on a side, and the other space
filled up with small benches for the little children. By squeez-
ing a trifle 6 children could be placed at each desk, and 125
children could be accommodated.
Now there are only 225 children in the district, so that
accommodating 120 here there are only 105 left for the other
schoolhouse which, being smaller, cannot take so many. Now
in my computing the space of the room, I have deduaed
nothing for the teacher, or his desk, or the stove, or the water
pails, or the woodbox; ion these being only artdes of luxury
The Gregory Primary School, named for a leading local educator
The Star of the Sea Academy, conducted by the Catholic Church
M
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fillJB^
%^mB
The Progress of Education 163
and not matters of necessity, can easily be left out of doors
or left at home.
The idea that some put forth that 8 feet is enough ceiling
height is ridiculous; nobody ever heard a child being injured
from breathing foul air in our schoolhouse, such a thing is
simply impossible; for in a few places the plastering is oflF
the walls and ceiling, allowing the bad air to escape that way,
and a few weatherboards are off and the door is cut full of
holes, and the boys very considerately, as boys will, now and
then break a pane of glass or two from the windows to let
in the air, which may compel some of the children that the
windvblows on, to take cold; but that is nothing for they take
cold anyhow. And if the wind blow hard, there are good
strong shutters which can be closed, as it is not necessary for
children to have much light as they do not have to study
anyway.
Some say, too, that we cannot get good teachers for such a
schoolhouse as this. There is no use in having any better
teachers than we have had. We all know that when one gets
one of these high lernt teachers, we always have the most
trouble in the scholars, for they always have an idea that
children should not do as they please in a school. And if a
child happens to get up on a teacher's desk and whistle or
pound his feet, or talk out loud, or sing, or go out and shut
the shutters, or throw things into the room, the teacher thinks
right away they must whip the child for it, and then mothers
have to go to the schoolhouse to take the children's part.
The combination of such protest and Chattle's leadership (he
continued to fight for better schools after he had resigned as Town-
ship Superintendent of Education in 1864) produced results. In
1870 the present Primary School No. 1 was erected at a cost of
$48,500 to supersede the building on that site since 1844, and the
same year the Garfield School was erected on Garfield Avenue, a
recognition of the greater need of the Lower Village. The city now
had four schools, for the old Primary School No. 1 building was
moved to 624 McClellan Avenue to serve there as the Branchport
school.
Next on the list of new benefits was a local high school. Dr.
Chattle had almost succeeded in obtaining one in the winter of
1866. He planned to buy the old Methodist Church for $3,000 as
a private high school andi industriously raised a subscription list of
164 Entertaining a Nation
$2,500. As the goal was neared, many subscribers realizing that
they would have to make good their pledges, began to find reasons
for breaking their promises. Their chief objection was the additional
expense needed to convert the church into a school building. Just
when feeling was running high on both sides. Captain George W.
Brown, who was to build the new church for the Methodists,
settled the whole affair by taking the old building in payment for
the new one.
The fate of the high school was decided by the State Legisla-
ture's creation in 1871 of four school districts under the corporate
title of Long Branch, District No. 85. With increased funds from
an enlarged area, it was then possible to plan for the town's first
graded and high school building. In 1873 a board of education was
set up, with Dr. Chattle as secretary, and a bond issue was floated
for the new high school. The following year the board voted to
accept a site on Prospect Street and to adapt the plans of the Tren-
ton Normal School, reducing each floor from six rooms to four.
The building was dedicated in July 1876 with Dr. James A.
Green as principal.
Dr. Green had been Township Superintendent since 1871.
When a full-fledged public school system on a local basis was
established in 1880, he headed the new administrative set-up.
Behind him throughout his term of ofiice was the powerful and
insatiable figure of Dr. Chattle. Just when most citizens had felt
that enough progress in education had been achieved to satisfy
the most severe critics, the veteran campaigner demanded still better
teachers and larger buildings.
Under the sting of his attack incompetent teachers were forced
into retirement and replaced by younger instructors. In the decade
that followed the publication of the report, three new schools
were erected: one for Negro children in 1884 on Brook Street,
another on Brighton Avenue in West End, and the North Long
Branch School on Church Street in 1891. Five years before the
Garfield School had been enlarged to accommodate the further con-
centration of population in the area which is now the city's business
district.
It had been the dream of the crusaders in the 1870's to erect a
The Progress of Education 165
building exclusively devoted to secondary schooling. Not until
1899 was this realized by the opening of a building on Morris
Avenue, which cost $78,000. For Long Branch the event meant
far more than a new school building, for the high school was to be
called the Chattle High School, after the man to whom the entire
city felt indebted almost for its proficiency in reading and writing.
Meanwhile, another important personality had arisen from the
school system. In 1889 Christopher Gregory left a position in a
New York City school to assume the superintendentship in Long
Branch. He brought with him an insistence upon high scholarship
standards and a generally progressive approach toward education.
Throughout his term of thirty-two years he introduced, among
other innovations, kindergartens and domestic science, manual
training and commercial courses. Gregory was the first man to lead
education in Long Branch with due regard for policies and prac-
tices elsewhere in the State; Chattle's struggle for improved local
conditions had won him recognition over the state, but it was
Gregory, a trained educator, who strove to bring the Long Branch
schools up to the best level of New Jersey.
Three years after the turn of the century Gregory was able to
continue the building program, started by the erection of the high
school. Under his leadership Primary School No. 1 on Broadway
was enlarged and the Liberty Street School was built at a cost of
$76,000. Nine years later the Intermedial Building was erected
alongside the Chattle School, at an expenditure of $137,000,
nearly twice as much as the Chattle had cost only thirteen years
before. Clearly Long Branch had come a long way from the days
of "Growler."
When the superintendent retired in 1921 he left Long Branch
a smooth-running educational machine that was generally con-
sidered one of the strongest in the state. His successor, Charles T.
Stone, a former principal of the Chattle School, was soon faced with
the necessity of increasing the physical plant. In 1924 a primary
school, affectionately called the Gregory, was opened at Seventh
and Joline Avenues, and new auditoria and additional classrooms
were obtained for the North Long Branch, Broadway and Garfield
Schools.
166 Entertaining a Nation
Although this building cost $145,000 there had been com-
paratively little opposition to it. But when Stone carried his pro-
gram to its logical conclusion and asked that a new high school be
erected, he precipitated a city-wide controversy that made the
friends of education wonder whether the citizens had moved very
far indeed from the days of Dr. Chattle's battles.
Stone proved a worthy successor on the firing line to the illus-
trious crusader. For five embattled years he stood firmly against the
argument that "^ schoolhouse good enough for my father is good
enough for my grandchildren." He carried his arguments to the
local press, dramatized the benefits of education and tirelessly re-
peated his reasons for considering the old high school inadequate.
Finally, in the fall of 1926 his tenacity won out. The cornerstone
was laid for the impressive $683,000 building of red brick and
simplified white classic decorations. It was opened in 1927, offering
general, commercial and college preparatory courses.
In addition to the Long Branch Senior High School, the public
school system, under the direction of William M. Smith, who con-
tinues the work of his predecessors, now consists of a junior high
school (the Chattle and the Intermedial buildings) and seven
elementary schools. The latter have been supervised for the past 12
years by Miss Dorothy Bergen. The per capita cost of education in
1938-39 was $123.31. Three years earlier on the same basis of
comparison the Educational Research Service ranked the city ninth
among comparable cities in the country and first among cities of
the same population group in the state.
The high school on Westwood Avenue is the apex of the edu-
cational system today. "While the late W. E. Gate was principal a
three-year course of domestic science and homemaking for girls
and a like course of training in the manual arts for boys were in-
stituted. The curriculum was generally reorganized, and the in-
dividual and his particular needs were stressed in contrast to the
older principles of mass teaching. This system won the compliment
in 1935 of being the object of study by a representative of the
Washington, D. C. high schools.
A modern athletic field adjoins the high school which has
football, basketball, baseball, track, soccer and golf teams. Known
The Progress of Education 167
as "The Branchers," these teams have won championships in track,
football and basketball. The gridiron clash with Asbury Park on
Thanksgiving Day is the major sport event of the school year.
Interest in the fortunes of the teams runs high among townspeople
as the success of the Green and White Association attests. Founded
in 1935 by delegates from civic organizations to consolidate sup-
port for the school's athletic program, it quickly became a member-
ship group which last year had 400 members. For $1.00 citizens
promise to display the Long Branch colors, to attend all local games
and to root for the Long Branch teams, win, loose or draw. Keys are
presented to graduating members of the various varsity teams at
an annual dinner. John McGuire is president and Francis Schneider,
vice-president.
Supplementing the public schools are two night schools con-
ducted in the high school building. The Monmouth County Junior
College, opened in 1933, operated for three years on funds from
the WPA. Since 1936 it has charged a tuition fee of $100 a year
for courses in liberal arts, business and engineering. The curriculum
prepares the student to enter other colleges as a junior. There is a
faculty of seven under Dean Edward G. Schlaefer and a student
body of more than one hundred and fifty.
The other night school is operated for adults by the WPA.
About two hundred and fifty students receive instruaion in com-
mercial courses, Italian, French, Spanish, English, reading and
hygiene. These night schools, serving largely the foreign population,
have answered a need that has long been felt locally by both
adults and younger people, natives and foreign-born.
The Catholic Church conducts two parochial schools in Long
Branch. St. Mary's Our Lady Star of the Sea Lyceum offers free
grammar school instruction to three hundred pupils. St. Mary's Our
Lady Star of the Sea Academy has a tuition fee for its primary,
grammar and high school courses. The primary and grammar
school building, opened in 1885, was the home of Dan Doherty
of Philadelphia, known as another "Silver Tongued Orator." The
high school was built on the grounds to the east of the mansion in
1928. The combined schools have an attendance of about one
hundred and fifty pupils, of whom twenty are boarders. Sister Alicia
168 Entertaining a Nation
Maria supervises the Academy which is accredited by the Middle
States Association of Colleges and High Schools.
These two institutions represent the survival of the once-
dominant private schools in Long Branch. The triumph of the
public school was the triumph of a democratic conception of
education, fostered by leaders like Dr. Chattle and citizens like
"Growler." Within the memory of most people in the community
today education was once a luxury which only continued agitation
could convert into a necessity. Like other cities, whose school sys-
tems have been created by a victory over indifference and short-
sighted parsimony. Long Branch justly prides itself on its educa-
tional achievement — in its own way a vindication of the American
way.
Br
I
Co
CHAPTER XI
Churches
10NG BRANCH was more than a century old before it ereaed
. a church of its own. When the Methodist Protestants built
a house of worship in 1791 in West Long Branch, they
shared it with Methodist Episcopalians and Presbyterians. This
arrangement lasted until 1809, when the original church was
retained by so-called "Independent Methodists," and the Methodist
Episcopal Society erected the present Old First Methodist Episcopal
Church in West Long Branch.
Despite the preponderance of Methodists, many other denomi-
nations preceded them in the region that is now Long Branch. The
Dutch Reformed Church opened the first church building in Long
Branch proper in 1849, and was quickly followed three years later
by the Catholics. The Episcopalians were next in 1854, and in I860
the Methodist Episcopalians dedicated their own building.
In a sense the Presbyterians represent the oldest established
group, for, although a church was not organized until 1849, a
church society began meeting informally for services in 1840.
The development of Long Branch as a resort profoundly al-
tered the local church situation. Making a characteristic distinction
between the resort and the village, summer residents soon began
to sponsor their own churches and erected buildings along the ocean
front that became extremely fashionable houses of worship. At-
tendance by Presidents Grant, Garfield, Hayes, Arthur and Harrison
made many of the small churches points of historic interest, and, in
the case of at least one, the Church of the Presidents, a national
shrine.
It was to these churches that wealthy parishioners like George
W. Childs, Anthony Drexel and Norman L. Munro made hand-
170 Entertaining a Nation
some contributions in the form of cash, church equipment or
memorial windows. After Long Branch ceased to be a society
resort, several of the summer churches were forced to close for
lack of support. Vacationers were thus obliged to attend those in
the village, which in many cases benefited greatly from the in-
creased membership.
Following the Civil War new denominations were added to
the religious roster, including Baptists, Jews and Christian Scientists.
New buildings replaced the old ones of the sects earlier established,
and the newly-arrived groups quickly erected permanent structures.
Thus, the largest part of church architecture in Long Branch re-
flects the style and taste of the period 1880-1900. In many in-
stances there is much evidence that the extravagance and elaborate-
ness that was characteristic of the mansions being built at this time
strongly influenced church building. Instead of conventional spires,
mediaeval battlements adorned simple frame structures; fretwork
became almost obligatory; and simple panes of window glass
vanished in a plethora of stained glass.
From their beginning, the churches in Long Branch played
their accustomed role as the center of social activity in a small
town. No amount of competition from the pleasures at the water-
front ever seriously threatened the church activities in the village.
The more wordly the resort became, the more, k seemed the
churches thrived, until at last in the 1890's they were able to play
a decisive role in the elimination of gambling and, subsequently,
racing at Monmouth Park.
Since that crusade, the churches, on the whole, have refrained
from taking part in public affairs. Occasionally, as in 1904, ministers
denounced lawlessness, but for the most part they have concerned
themselves with ecclesiastical matters. Since 1915 six Protestant
churches have united several of their activities in the Long Branch
Ministers' Association. The group sponsors petitions and protests on
the moral and religious aspects of public affairs and conducts joint
services on special occasions. The Reverend Alfred Duncombe is
president. The participating churches are the Simpson Memorial,
the Asbury Methodist Episcopal, the First Presbyterian, the First
Baptist, the Dutch Reformed and St. Luke's.
i
Churches 171
5"/. Luke's Methodist Episcopal Church
This is the lineal descendant of the Methodist Protestant Church
founded in West Long Branch in 1791. Long Branch members of
the Old First Methodist Episcopal Church in West Long Branch
withdrew in 1850 and founded the Centenary Methodist Episcopal
Church in March, I860. Nine years later a new building at the
corner of Broadway and Washington Street was dedicated in the
presence of President Grant.
Some time later Grant was expected to attend the church for a
Sunday service. His pew was elaborately decorated with flags, and
William Russell Maps, then an usher, was instruaed to admit no
one but Grant to that pew. Grant drove himself to the church and
entered, unnoticed by the nervous usher. He started down the aisle
for the decorated pew, but Maps pursued him, vigorously pro-
testing until recognition of the President suddenly humbled him.
When the original church burned in 1893, the present build-
ing was erected. The cautious Maps confided to his diary, "I am
afraid we have built the new church too costly. So far the cost for
building, refurnishing and organ is $50,000. It will be a credit to
our place if it can be paid for." The present building was dedicated
in 1894.
The rough squared brownstone building has a square open
belfry in the southwest corner, which is the main entrance. The
massive tower, ninety-eight feet high, contains a Meneely bell
weighing more than a ton. Giant fans change the air in all parts
of the building every fifteen minutes. The building is designed in
the romanesque revival style.
On the east wall is the Peace Window presented by George W.
Childs in memory of President Grant. It shows Grant surrounded
by figures of Peace, Victory and Mourning, and contains the in-
scription, "Let us have peace," the general's benediction at the
peace of Appomattox. The south rose window is a memorial to the
eighteenth century pioneer, Michael Maps, given by his son, Wil-
liam Russell Maps. Other memorial windows include several to
members of the Maps family and one to Norman L. Munro, pub-
lisher of the Fireside Library. The membership is estimated at
nine hundred.
172
Entertaining a Nation
The following pastors served the church:
Rev. Joseph Chattle
Joseph Atwood
John S. Heisler
Chas. W. Heisley
Robt. M. Stratton
Jacob V. Graw
Joseph R. Dobbins
Henry M. Brown
C S. Van Cleve
George C Maddock 1876-77
Chas. R. Hartranft 1878-79
John R. Wilson
James Moore
Richard Thorn
Ananias Lawrence
George Reed
1860-61 Rev. Henry R. Robinson 1895 -9b
1861-62 W. P. C Strickland 1897-98
Edmund Hewitt 1899-1900
John Handley 1901-06
Joseph G. Reed 1907-09
George H. Neal 1909-11
John Y. Dobbins 1912-13
Frederick B. Harris 1914-18
Lambert E. Lennox 1918-19
John Handley 1920-21
(second pastorate)
W. Elwell Lake 1922-29
H M. Lawrence 1929-31
Carlton R. Van Hook 1932-33
Neal Dow Kelley 1933-37
James Wagner 1937-
1863-64
1864-65
1865-67
1868-70
1871-72
1872-74
1875-76
1879-80
1880-82
1883-84
1885-86
1886-90
John R. Westwood 1891-94
Affiliated societies include the Epworth League, Ladies' Aid
Society, Ladies' Foreign Mission, Girl Scouts, and the Semper
Fidelis Society.
Asbury Methodist Episcopal Church
Memorializing by its name the powerful evangelistic work of
Bishop Francis Asbury, this organization, now numbering four
hundred members, developed from services held in an old school-
house at Fresh Pond (North Long Branch), with Michael Maps
as class leader. The present building on the northeast corner of
Atlantic Avenue and Church Street is opposite the site of the first
structure, erected 1872.
Dating from 1894, the Asbury church is a low rambling build-
ing of brownstone blocks with rough surfaces. Inside are memorial
windows to the Epworth League, the Mizpah Endeavor Circle and
the Reverend Charles H. McAnney.
The following served as pastors:
Rev. S. T. Horner 1872-73 Rev.
John Harris 1873-75
W. P. C Strickland 1875-78
E. C Hancock 1878-79
S. Wesley Lake 1879-82
S. F. Wheeler 1882-84
S. S. Weatherby
Phillip Cline
Chas. McAnney
A. M. North
W. S. Zane
G. S. Messeroll
1884-86
1886-88
1888-89
1889-91
1891-93
1893-96
Simpson Memorial M. E. Church
First Baptist Church
Elberon Memorial Church
St. Luke's M. E. Church
Churches
173
Rev. J. H. Payra 1896-97 Rev.
W. R. Wedderspoon 1897-99
T. S. Hammond 1899-1903
J. R. Thompson 1903-04
J. G. Edwards 1904-07
A. H. Eberhardt 1907-13
R. D. Stephenson 1913-16
L L. Hand 1916-19
G. W. Hanners 1919-22
DeWitt C. Cobb 1922-26
Chas. S. Fees 1926-30
Marvin R. Guice 1930-36
George S. Johnson 1936-38
John C. Hayward 1938-
Church organizations include the Ladies' Aid Society, Woman's
Home Missionary Society, Woman's Foreign Missionary Society,
and the Epworth League.
Simpson Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church
Like the Asbury church, this organization also grew out of
Bible classes conducted by Michael Maps prior to 1882 in the Sea
District School (Broadway and Academy Alley). In 1881 the
group requested from the bishop of the New Jersey conference an
unmarried pastor at a yearly salary of not more than $400. Al-
though the conference sent a minister who was married and received
$600 a year, the church prospered and within two years had erected
its own building.
This was replaced in 1900 by the present square red brick struc-
ture with shingled gables and corner tower entrance below a
shuttered belfry. The older building is used as a Sunday School.
Three windows, each in a larger gable, are dedicated to Matthias
Woolley, Mr. and Mrs. Augustus Chandler and Bishop Matthew
Simpson, to whom the church is a memorial. The membership is
four hundred and fifty.
The following served as pastors:
Rev. J. A. Jones
1881-83
Rev. F. A. DeMaris
1908-10
A. H. Eberhardt
1883-86
Alphonso Dare
1910-14
N. A. McNichol
1886-89
W. L Reed
1914-16
J. A. Dilks
1889-90
J. B. J. Rhodes
1916-19
J. W. Gamble
1890-93
J. M. Hunt
1919-21
N. J. Wright
1893-96
W. R. Blackman
1921-33
J. F. Heileman
1896-98
A. L. Banse
1933-37
J. R Shaw
1898-1903
H. E. Garrison
1937-38
H. J. Zelley
1903-05
H. W. Rash
1938-39
S. L. Dobbins
1905-08
C H. Witt
1939-
174 Entertaining a Nation
Church organizations include the Ladies' Aid Society, Methodist
Brotherhood, Queen Esther Circle, Pastor's Aid, Boy Scout Troop
No. 21, Berean Bible Class and the King's Heralds.
Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church
Founded in 1873 as the First African Methodist Episcopal
Church on Clark Street (now Belmont Avenue), this church was
reorganized by the Reverend Alfred Garrison as a mission for
Negroes in 1880. The present building at 66 Liberty Street was
erected in 1905. It is a plain rectangular structure of stucco on
wood with wide wooden steps, and has been reconditioned since a
fire in December, 1936.
The following served as pastors:
Rev. Alfred Garrison 1880-83 Rev. J. F. Vanderhorst 1922-24
F. R. Martin 1883-89 Henry H. Thomas 1924-29
George Johnson 1889-1900 Chas. G. Collins 1929-32
Joseph W. Rose 1900-14 Chas. Crumidy 1932-33
Daniel Franklin 1909-14 Harry Ivey 1933-34
Benj. F. Watkins 1914-15 Burton Highgare 1934-35
Joseph Ashley 1915-19 John H Dunn 1935-36
Harry Cummings 1919-22 James Calvin Choice 1936-40
Rev. James O. Vick 1940-
Church organization: Ladies' Aid Society.
Reformed Dutch Church
In the fall of 1847 several Long Branch families who were
members of Reformed Churches elsewhere obtained Nathaniel
Conklin, a student at New Brunswick Seminary, for services in the
village schoolhouse. Within two years a church was dedicated on
land at Broadway and Jackson Street donated by J. A. Morford.
Twenty months later the church was formally organized with nine
members and fifteen families. The Reverend James Wilson became
the pastor and remained for twenty-eight years.
In 1878 a Second Reformed Church was organized with thirty
members. The organization continued to meet in the Seaside Chapel
until it disbanded early in the 1890's. Meanwhile, the election of a
new pastor for the First Reformed Church in 1887 split the con-
gregation and led to the formation of the Congregational Church,
which funaioned for about fifteen years.
Churches 175
The present congregation is housed in a plain shingled building
with white trim, arched windows in the romanesque style and a
j large open belfry, on the site of the first church, and completely
f rebuilt in 1902. On the east and north walls are large memorial
windows to President William McKinley and Vice-President Gar-
rett A. Hobart.
The following served as pastors:
Rev. James Wilson 1851-79 Rev. Eugene H. Keator, then a stu-
Chas. J. Young 1879-87 dent filled in for several
Edward Cornet 1887- months.
(not installed) John Froschl 1906-08
James Campbell 1887-90 Frederick K. Shields 1908-11
A. B. Herman 1890-97 V. J. Blekkink 1912-14
Bergen B. Staats 1897-1905 Alfred Duncombe 1915-39
Herbert Van Wyk 1939-
The church organizations include the Dorcas Helping Hand
j Society, the Christian Endeavor Society, the Social Club, and the
I Ladies' Missionary Society. Boy Scout Troop No. 39 has rooms in
I the church, although some of its members are from other churches.
St. Mary's Our Lady Star of the Sea
Catholic services were first held in Long Branch about 1848,
when Bishop Hughes of New York visited the shore and said mass
in the dining room of the old Cooper House. The first Catholic
I church was erected in 1852 on the south side of Chelsea Avenue
I east of the Seaside Railroad tracks. Not until 1855 was a regular
^ service established. In July, 1876, Father John Salaun, who had
cared for this mission from Red Bank, was transferred to Long
Branch as the first resident pastor. He replaced the old structure
with a new church, on the present site, which burned in 1926.
Under Father James A. McFaul, later Bishop of Trenton, the
Sisters of Charity from Madison, New Jersey, founded a girl's
school, the Star of the Sea Academy, and St. Michael's Church was
opened as a mission in West End. His successor, William P. Cant-
well, built the Star of the Sea Lyceum parochial school and
auditorium.
In 1928 the parish erected the present Gothic building of rough
granite in irregular blocks. It has a low square belfry and three
176 Entertaining a Nation
deeply recessed entrances above low, wide steps. The nave is
flanked by five Gothic arches on both sides, each with a hanging
lantern of mediaeval design. Behind the marble altar is a blue
rose window radiating from a Virgin and Child in its center. The
church membership fluctuates from twenty-five hundred in winter
to five thousand during the summer season.
The following served as pastors:
Rev. John Salaun 1876-77 Rev. W. P. Cantwell 1898-1915
James A. Walsh 1877-90 M. C McCorriston 1915-31
James A. McFaul 1890-98 W. J. McConnell 1932-35
Rev. Leo M. Cox 1935-
The church organizations include the Holy Name Society, Holy
Rosary, Knights of Columbus, Catholic Daughters and Columbus
Cadets.
5"/. MichaeVs Roman Catholic Church
For years Catholics had four or five masses each Sunday in
Long Branch, but when this did not suffice, St. Michael's Church
was erected at 800 Ocean Avenue in West End and dedicated on
August 9, 1891 as a summer church. It is a long narrow Victorian
Gothic building with an Italian interior. The Rt. Reverend James
A. McFaul, of St. Mary's, attended masses until 1892, when the
first resident pastor was appointed. St. Michael's supplied the mis-
sions for Deal and AUenhurst until 1904, when they became
separate parishes.
In 1907 the private casino and theatre on the estate of Mrs.
Norman Munro was given the parish. It was moved across Nor-
wood Avenue from the estate to become St. Michael's Annex, the
summer mission of Norwood, conducted from the mother church
for fifteen years. The winter membership of five hundred swells to
two thousand during the summer months.
The resident pastors:
Rev. Richard Cream 1892-1928
Mgr. John J. Sweeney 1928-
The church organizations include the Holy Name and Holy
Rosary Societies.
B.
St. James' Episcopal Church
St. Mary's Our Lady Star of the Sea
Brothers of Israel Synagogue
Churches 177
Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church
Catholic services for Italians in Long Branch were begun by
visiting Italian priests who were invited at stated intervals to
preach in their native tongue. Later Italian-speaking priests served
as assistants in St. Mary's, Star of the Sea.
When the Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church was organized
in 1902, mass was held in the Star of the Sea Lyceum auditorium.
In 1904 Mrs. Cronin donated property at the corner of Prospea
Street and Exchange Place for a church that was completed in 19 16.
It is a plain brick building with arched romanesque windows in
stained glass on both sides.
The first resident priest (1921-1938) was Father Gerardo Chris-
tiani. Earlier services were held by Father Cortesi (1902-06), Gio-
vanni Prosseda (1906-10), Father Petrone (1910-12), and Father
Fisher (1912-21). The present incumbent is Father Emilio
Cardelia.
It is about five years since any gala Saint's Day celebration has
taken place in the Italian parish. The celebrations used to occur on
July 16, the feast day of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel; on August 15,
the feast day of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary; and on
September 8, the feast day of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin
Mary.
Lights were hung along Prospect Street from Bath to Morris
Avenues. Street stands of holy articles and refreshments dotted the
block. The Saint's shrine and a bandstand were bright with tinsel
and paper flowers. A three-day celebration of processions and band
concerts ended on the feast day when a statue of the Blessed Virgin
Mary covered with a white veil was carried through the area. Any-
one wanting a particular favor would pin a small token or coin on
the veil. Elaborate fireworks closed the celebration.
St. James' Church
This church had its beginnings as an outpost of Christ Church,
Shrewsbury, the early font of Episcopalianism in this district. After
at least ten years of services in private homes and hotel parlors, the
church was incorporated in February, 1854 and the cornerstone for
a building was laid on the Broadway site of the Paramount theatre.
178 Entertaining a Nation
Presidents Garfield, Grant, Hayes and Arthur attended services in
the long, low brick building that served the congregation for many
years. Garfield's last public worship was in this church.
According to Vestryman Albert A. Hackman, on this occasion
Charles Guiteau visited the church intending to shoot the Presi-
dent. He sat on the usher's seat in the rear and questioned Hackman
about the President. Instead of going out the gate, he walked around
the church to the rear. When Garfield was shot within a week,
Hackman immediately identified Guiteau as the man who had
accosted him during ^he service. Guiteau is said to have confessed
later that he went to the church to kill Garfield. He planned to
shoot through a window opposite the President's pew, but two
ladies blocked his view.
The cornerstone of the present building at Broadway and
Slocum Place was laid in 1912. This new English Gothic structure
of grey stone has an impressive interior of stone arches, an altar of
Italian marble and a crossbeam above the chancel carved with the
cross and angels. President Wilson's final visit in late October, 1916
was the last time a chief executive worshipped in Long Branch.
The pew, six rows from the front on the left aisle, is marked to
commemorate the visit.
The parish has a membership of about eleven hundred.
The following pastors served the church:
Rev. Harry Finch 1854-61 Rev. H. H. P. Roche 1896-02
Robert A. Poole 1861-73 Elliott White 1903-06
Elliott Tomkins 1874-96 E. Briggs Nash 1906-13
Rev. Morton A. Barnes 1914-
Church organizations include the Parish Guild, Woman's Club,
Young Men's Club, Woman's Auxiliary, Choir and Altar Guilds,
and Boy Scout Troop.
Si. James' Chapel {Church of the Presidents)
This small summer church, once called Elberon Chapel and
officially registered as St. James' Chapel, is widely known as the
Church of the Presidents. The tiny wooden auditorium, open only
a few months each year, and always without a resident pastor, is
noted for the fabulous wealth of its old-time congregations and the
Churches 179
long list of presidents who have made it a national shrine.
The religious practiced of the congregations of the eighties and
nineties were not limited to one creed. Staunch Presbyterians, like
John Sloane, also kept pews in this chapel. President Grant, a
Methodist, worshipped here for many years with his devoted friend,
George W. Childs, who later gave St. Luke's M. E. Church the
memorial window in honor of Grant.
In 1886 a local newspaper man found $120,000,000 repre-
sented by his neighboring pew-holders. Often wealth in excess of
$250,000,000, and the fashionable world of all America, were
crowded into this same wooden chapel. It is unaltered in appear-
ance except for the grey paint that has replaced the original red.
Despite its large square center tower, it resembles a cottage of
pseudo-Tudor design of the 1880's.
Brass wall tablets are dedicated to Presidents Hayes, Grant,
Garfield, Arthur, Harrison, McKinley and Wilson, each of whom
worshipped here while chief executive of the United States. There
are also memorial tablets to George W. Childs and Anthony
Drexel. The greatest treasure of the church is the flag placed over
President Garfield's casket during the memorial services conducted
by the Long Branch Masonic Lodge.
Opened in 1881 as a branch chapel of St. James, this Episcopal
church on Ocean Avenue in the southern end of Elberon has been
supplied with a summer pastor by the Bishop of the diocese. No
record was kept of these pastors. A women's club and church
conmiittees are the only active organizations. The present member-
ship is about forty.
First Presbyterian Church
Although the First Presbyterian Church was not organized
until December 28, 1883, the first organized church society in Long
Branch was Presbyterian. That society was formed about 1840 as
an outgrowth of meetings held in Long Branch Village homes by
the minister of the Shrewsbury Presbyterian Church.
In 1846 a lot was purchased in Long Branch, and a building
was completed and dedicated on July 29, 1849. Six years later the
society dissolved and sold the property to the Methodists.
180 Entertaining a Nation
Presbyterian services were not resumed until 1883, when
services were conducted in old Library Hall on Broadway, and then
in a chapel on the southeast corner of Chelsea and Second Avenues.
The present building at the southeast corner of Chelsea and Third
Avenues was dedicated on March 16, 1894. It has weathered
shingles with white trim and Georgian mouldings following long
wide gables. The membership is now about three hundred.
The following served as pastors:
Rev. Maitland Alexander 1892-97 Rev. A. J. Muyskens 1921-24
R. M. Blackburn 1897-1901 D. Rhea Coffman 1926-36
John G. Lovell 1902-19 Ronald Brooks 1938-39
B. Frank White 1919-20 Wayne Walker 1939-
Church organizations include the Missionary Society, and the
Church and Community Club Social Union.
Elberon Memorial Church
The dark stained shingle building is built as a Victorian version
of an English Tudor cottage church. It was erected in 1886-87 on
the south side of Park Avenue, west of Ocean Avenue in accordance
with the will of Moses Taylor, who also supplied a legacy for its
upkeep. Commonly called the "Moses Taylor Memorial," this
Presbyterian church is open only for summer services.
No record has been kept of the visiting ministers.
First Baptist Church
Prior to 1886 Long Branch Baptists worshipped at Eatontown.
It is said one had to be there before the first bell was rung to be
assured of a seat, so large was the congregation of that now de-
serted old church.
As early as 1873 the Eatontown minister reported to the mis-
sionary committee of the Trenton Baptist Association that a church
was needed in Long Branch Village. He suggested that certain
desirable lots be bought in anticipation of building a meeting house.
The committee borrowed $200 for the purchase, and in 1881 serv-
ices started in a tent on that land, the present site, at Emmons
Street and Bath Avenue. A chapel replaced the tent in 1883 and
the Eatontown pastor did missionary work to this congregation.
w^>
Church of the Presidents, a national shrine
Dutch Reformed Church
St. Michael's R. C. Church
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Churches 181
On February 10, 1886 a group of thirteen Baptists of Long
Branch met and organized the First Baptist Church. In April of
that year the church body was recognized and financially aided by
the Trenton Association. The church remained in the fellowship of
the Trenton Association until the Monmouth Association was
created in 1898.
The church building was badly damaged by fire in March,
1892. For several weeks services were held in the Y.M.C.A. Then
the old armory building on Norwood Avenue was rented. On
August 12, 1894 the present shingle building was completed and
dedicated. The southeast corner has a square tower and the south-
west corner a low rounded turret. The present membership num-
bers two hundred and fifty.
The church was served by the following pastors:
Rev. William G. Russell 1886-91 Rev. Thomas B. Hughes 1910-11
C T. P. Fox 1891-93 (Mrs. Hughes also filled
George B. Lawson 1894-95 the pulpit on many oc-
George Williams 1896-99 casions)
W H. Marshall 1899-1903 H. A. Buzzell 1913
Frank Johnson 1903-10 Charles F. McKoy 1913-19
Herbert J. Lane 1920-38
Benjamin B. Abbitt 1938-
The church organizations include the Ladies' Auxiliary, Phila-
thea Society, Friendship Circle, Christian Endeavor Alumnae and
World Wide Guild.
Second Baptist Church
For many years after Reverend Bloodsoe organized a colored
Baptist mission in 1887 meetings were held in Layden's Hall on
Mill Street near Second Avenue. The present cement block church
set high above a basement floor at 93 Liberty Street was built in
1905. The single entrance has a rose window in its framing arch
and is flanked by two windows in the romanesque style. There are
two hundred and fifty members.
No records have been kept of past ministers, but a partial list
includes the Reverends Bloodsoe, Jones, Jeffries, Smallwood, Elliott,
Conway, Flowers, Grayson and Williams. The Reverend L. E.
Jackson is the present incumbent.
182 Entertaining a Nation
Brothers of Israel Synagogue
This congregation is the only orthodox Jewish synagogue in
Long Branch. Founded in 1898, meetings were held on Jeffrey
Street until 1918, when the present building at 81 Second Avenue
was dedicated. It is a large square temple of terra cotta brick
trimmed with red brick in pilasters and inserted patterns of the Star
of David. Four Ionic columns divide the three double glass doors.
There are two hundred and fifty members and sixty children in
the Hebrew school. The synagogue also supports a Boy Scout troop.
Dr. Niel Rosenberg served as rabbi from 1898 to 1930, and
was followed by David Sokol. In 1939 Meyer Hirschman succeeded
him in the pulpit.
Beth Miriam Synagogue
The summer synagogue of Reformed Judaism, Beth Miriam is
the oldest synagogue at any resort on the Atlantic coast. The con-
gregation was formed in 1888, and in the same year the present
dark stained shingled building on North Avenue between Ocean
and Second Avenues was erected. Elaborate details of wooden sun-
bursts and recessed scallops of wood following the gabled roofline
link it firmly to the period in which it was built. Services for
approximately three hundred and fifty families are held from
June 15 to September 15.
Rabbi Benjamin Morris officiated from 1888 to 1912, and B.
A. Elzas from that date until 1936. Since then there has been no
resident leader.
Free Brothers of Israel Synagogue
Free Brothers of Israel is a reformed synagogue organized in
1919. The membership consisting of thirty families, worships on
the second floor of the Trilling Building, 120 North Broadway.
There \s no permanent rabbi, the last one having been Rabbi
Sevolowitz (1923-26).
Christian Science Society
Religious services according to the established rules of the
Mother Church in Boston, Massachusetts, were held in Long Branch
Holy Trinity R. C. Church
Second Baptist Church
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As bury M. E. Church
First Presbyterian Church
Miiiiii
Churches 183
as early as 1893, although no concerted effort to form a local
branch church was made until 1925. Mrs. Mabel Farraday, a
Christian Science practitioner of Ocean Grove, was asked to or-
ganize the church, and services were held in Military Hall, now the
home of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.
In 1930 ex-Mayor Clarence H. Houseman donated the present
building at l43 Broadway in appreciation of benefits he had derived
from the society. It is a small two-story building of light grey stone
blocks. No list of previous readers is available. The present First
Reader is Mrs. Ada G. Frank; Mrs. Mae F. Kingsland is Second
Reader.
Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Reformation
This church was organized as a mission congregation in Octo-
ber, 1931. It is sponsored by the Board of American Missions of
the United Lutheran Church in America. A rented hall is used by
this group of fifty-four baptized members. Pastors from Asbury
Park and students from Hartwick Seminary, Brooklyn conducted
services. Howard Alexander Kuhnle was the first full-time pastor.
Rev. Walter Cowen took over the congregation in May, 1935 and
is still in charge. It is located at 14 Branchport Avenue.
The Church of God in Christ
This church has conducted meetings in a rented hall at 144
Lincoln Place since 1931. It is a Negro church with headquarters
in Memphis, Tennessee. Elder Hardie Adams Griffin has been the
only minister to serve the congregation of about thirty persons.
Virst Pentecostal Church
This church holds evangelistic and divine healing meetings
on Hampton Avenue under Reverend Andrew Rahner.
The Seventh Church of Psychic Science
This church conducts spiritualistic meetings at 218 Union Ave-
nue under Reverend V. Fleischman.
CHAPTER XII
Civic and Social Organizations
THE AMERICAN propensity for joining and supporting lodges
and clubs is much in evidence in Long Branch. The com-
munity has nearly fifty organizations that represent various
kinds of activity. Taken together, they constitute Long Branch's
accomplishment in self-improvement, community co-operation,
recreation and fellowship.
The societies are of several kinds: lodges, service clubs, veter-
ans' organizations, labor groups, charitable orders, women's clubs,
athletic associations and foreign-language societies. Many have
limited their scope to the welfare of their membership, but several
have made contributions to civic betterment. Notable among these
is the charitable work of the Long Branch Public Welfare Society,
the success of the Long Branch Community Council in petitioning
the municipal government for the establishment of a City Plan-
ning Board, and the efforts of the Long Branch Garden Club for
the beautification of public property.
Lodges
The Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Long Branch Lodge
No. 77, organized March 13, 1848, is the oldest lodge in Long
Branch. The first minutes book is still a cherished possession. The
lodge later divided into Sea view Lodge No. 184 and Empire Lodge
No. 174, and in 1925 reunited under its present name. The first
Odd Fellows' Hall was at Broadway and Jackson Street. A later
meeting place at Pearl Street and Broadway was used shortly before
the World War. Nearly forty members meet in the present hall,
179 Broadway, under Noble Grand Fred Applegate and Vice
Grand Charles Cook.
Civic and Social Organizations 185
Standard Chapter No. 35, Royal Arch Masons, organized Sep-
tember 13, 1876, was the first Masonic lodge in Long Branch. It
was formed by a group of twelve who left Hiram Chapter No. 1
for that purpose. Dr. Thomas G. Chattle was the first High Priest.
Among its meeting places were Old Neptune Hall in Church
Street, now torn down. Castle Hall opposite City Hall on Broad-
way, and the third floor of the Steiner and Sons faaory on Morris
Avenue. The more than two hundred members now meet at the
new Masonic Temple, 410 Broadway, completed in 1925. Townely
Carr is Most Excellent High Priest and James Warner is Excellent
King.
Long Branch Lodge No. 78 of the Free and Accepted Masons
also meets at Masonic Temple. Harry Layton is Worshipful Master;
Willis A. Woolley, Senior Warden.
Abacus Lodge No. 182 of the Free and Accepted Masons, or-
ganized in 1926, meets in the Masonic Temple. Worshipful Master
is Arthur Mahn; Senior Warden, Wallace Markert.
The Adah Chapter No. 5, Order of the Eastern Star completed
the number of Eastern Star lodges required to create the first Grand
Chapter of New Jersey. The original Adah Chapter in Long
Branch was formed in 1871, the present one in 1897. There are
two hundred and sixty members, including ten life members. Mrs.
Russell Bodine is Worthy Matron; William Lackey is Worthy
Patron.
Long Branch Chapter No. 273, Order of the Eastern Star,
formed in 1931, has nearly fifty charter members. The present
Worthy Matron is Mrs. Alice Cyphers; the Worthy Patron is
Charles Pietz.
The Masonic Club Auxiliary was founded in 1920. Mrs. Wil-
liam Van Brunt is president and Mrs. Louise Hultz vice-president.
The club of one hundred members assists in raising money for the
Long Branch Masonic Club.
Monmouth Chapter, Order of De Molay, an organization of
ninety boys from fifteen to twenty-one years old, was sponsored in
1922 by Standard Chapter No. 35, Royal Arch Masons. The chap-
ter meets twice monthly in the Masonic Temple, where there is
always an attendance prize donated by local merchants. Each
186 Entertaining a Nation
November the group has a "father and son" banquet. Official "Dad"
Charles E. Morris has guided the group since 1924. The present
Master Councilor is Charles Griffin; the Senior Councilor is Allan
Warwick Sussman.
The Mothers' Circle of the Order of De Molay was established
in 1924 to assist the boys' organization whenever called upon. The
twenty active members meet twice a month. This circle led in
forming the state circle, which meets semi-annually throughout
New Jersey. Mrs. C. P. Kingston is president, and Mrs. Walter W.
Woolley vice-president.
Long Branch Forest No. 40, Tall Cedars of Lebanon, organized
in 1907, now has one hundred and fifty members. Harry Case is
Grand Tall Cedar and William Lawley, Senior Deputy. Meetings
are held from four to six times a year in Masonic Temple.
Knights of Columbus, Lodge No. 335, has since 1924 owned
and operated Columbus Hall, at Morris and Third Avenues, as the
lay Catholic center of Long Branch. Organized in 1898, the lodge
now has three hundred members. William P. Beatty, is Grand
Knight; Frank Quirk, Deputy Grand Knight.
Catholic Daughters of America, No. 736, meets fortnightly in
Columbus Hall. This woman's branch of the Knights of Columbus
was called Daughters of Isabella until 1921, when this lodge was
formed. There are two hundred and fifty members; Mrs. Frank
Vincelli is Grand Regent, Miss Helen Burns, Vice-Regent.
Long Branch Lodge No. 742, B.P.O. Elks, was organized in
1901. In 1908 the old Garfield Hotel at 150 Garfield Avenue was
taken over, redecorated and opened as the first of the five existing
clubhouses in the city. There are three hundred and fifty members;
William White is Exalted Ruler, and Martin Rafferty Esteemed
Leading Knight. This lodge does much charitable work, especially
for crippled children.
The Long Branch Women's Auxiliary, B.P.O.E., began in 1912
and now has forty members. Mrs. P. J. Carroll is president; Mrs.
Connie Warwick, first vice-president.
Foresters of America, Court Victor Emanuel II, No. 130 was
formed in 1903. Felix Ripandelli is Chief Ranger and Peter La
Macchia is Sub Chief Ranger of the fifty members.
'0:^-
il
^L^^'
Masonic Temple, where many civic and social organizations meet
Civic and Social Organizations 187
Service Clubs
The Long Branch Rotary Club traces its ancestry to a Traders'
Union, formed in 1902 for the mutual protection of merchants.
After this short-lived experiment, merchants and professional men
formed another association in 1912, but it was not until 1921 that
a lasting organization was established. Affiliated with the interna-
tional organization, the club consists of thirty-six members who
meet Fridays at the Garfield-Grant Hotel. William Smith is
president.
The Exchange Club of Long Branch, organized in 1927 as a
unit of the National Exchange Club, is a group of twenty-three
young business and professional men who meet weekly at the Gar-
field-Grant Hotel. Among other services, every Christmas they
collect, repair and redistribute hundreds of toys for under-privileged
children. Abraham Vogel is president and Henry A. Stevenson
vice-president.
The Chamber of Commerce of Long Branch, formed in 1932,
consists of eighty leading merchants who meet monthly in the
Garfield-Grant Hotel to discuss general problems and the civic
welfare of the community. The president is James Barbour; the
first vice-president, Stanley Bouse.
The Long Branch Community Council was organized in 1935.
The twenty-three members represent civic, health, educational and
welfare organizations. Mayor Alton V. Evans is president and R.
Clifford Errickson is vice-president. The first accomplishment of
the council has been to secure passage of a city ordinance creating
a City Planning Board. It is now engaged in a campaign to
eliminate juvenile delinquency.
Religious Organizations
The Long Branch Y.M.C.A., 404 Broadway, was first organized
in 1902 in the deserted Congregational Church on Morris Avenue.
Through lack of funds and insufficient interest it went out of
existence. In 1927 the organization was revived and ten years later
it laid a cornerstone under the old residence which now serves as
its home. The present membership is about three hundred and fifty.
188 Entertaining a Nation
Frederick Neaves is the president of the board of thirty directors.
The Y.M.H.A. and Y.W.H.A. of Long Branch, founded in 1911
was not on a permanent footing until it was reorganized in 1928
by A. Lawrence Plager and Isaac Katz. They now have one hun-
dred and twenty-five members and meet at the Brothers of Israel
Synagogue, which is known as the Jewish Community Center.
Joseph P. Stein is president and Samuel Wolfson vice-president.
Veterans' Organizations
Long Branch Post No. AA of the American Legion, Department
of New Jersey has headquarters at 415 Broadway where the one
hundred and thirty members meet twice monthly under Com-
mander George Ziska, and Vice Commander Ferdinand Vaugoin.
Since its organization in 1919 '^t has encouraged youth movements.
The American Legion Auxiliary of Post No. 44 was formed in
1921. At present there are twenty members; Mrs. Joseph Nazza is
president; Mrs. Nicholas Trezoglou, first vice-president. Activities
have ranged from national broadcasts by the Auxiliary Quartet to
the embarrassing night in March, 1930 when a concert pianist at-
tempted to giYG a recital on a piano the keys of which went down
but never came up.
The Disabled American Veterans of the World War, Jersey
Shore Chapter No. 13, was charted in 1932 by an act of Congress.
The forty members are part of the only national organization com-
posed entirely of men disabled in line of duty. William H. Sutphin,
Representative from the 3rd district, is an honorary member. Wil-
liam V. Faddavis is commander; Louis Walker, vice-commander.
Meetings are held in the American Legion Home, 415 Broadway.
The Long Branch Memorial Post No. 2795, Veterans of For-
eign Wars has forty members organized in 1933 with headquarters
at 619 Broadway. A Ladies' Auxiliary was installed the same year.
Six of the men received Purple Heart decorations in April, 1934.
The post maintained a food kitchen for the needy during the winter
of 1933-34. In 1939 the club disbanded, and its members associated
themselves with the Asbury Park post.
The Jewish War Veterans of the United States, Post 125, has a
membership of almost one hundred and meets in the Jewish Com-
Civic and Social Organizations 189
munity Center. Founded in 1935 it is a county-wide organization
which convenes alternately twice a month in Long Branch and
Asbury Park. The commander is Irving Weinstein, the senior vice-
commander Irving Hirsch. There is a ladies' auxiliary of which Mrs.
Irving Hirsch is president.
United Spanish War Veterans, Colonel Theodore Roosevelt
Camp No. 34, organized in 1925, has thirty members who meet in
the American Legion Headquarters. Every man, from the oldest,
who is seventy-four to the youngest, aged fifty-seven, volunteered
for the war with Spain, making this the only organization with
such a record. The group has an American flag presented to it by
Colonel Theodore Roosevelt. The commander is Edward Oppen-
lander and the Adjutant, Edward Bunno.
Iroquois Post No. 247 of the American Legion, a Negro veter-
ans' organization founded in 1921, has a clubhouse at 86 Liberty
Street. Chester Bass is post commander.
Benevolent Organizations
The Long Branch Council No. 246, Junior Order of United
American Mechanics, organized in 1897, has one hundred and fifty
members and its own clubhouse, the American Mechanics Hall on
Branchport Avenue. Anthony Witek is the councilor and George
Greenleaf, vice-councilor. The purposes of the order are to establish
a sick and funeral fund and "to maintain and promote the interests
of Americans and shield them from foreign competition. To keep
seaarian interference from the public school system and uphold
the reading of the Bible therein."
Hollywood Council No. 29, Jr. O.U.A.M. was organized in
1882. There are sixty members, with Lindsay J. Clark as councilor
and William Wagner as vice-councilor. The Hollywood Council's
motto is "Virtue, Liberty and Patriotism."
Charitable Organizations
The Long Branch Public Welfare Society with oflices in City
Hall was organized in 1910 and incorporated in 1920. In 1910 a
group of citizens observed Christmas toys being distributed from
190 Entertaining a Nation
a truck, as an advertising scheme, to a shouting crowd of poorly-
dressed and undernourished waifs. They noticed that the children
needed clothing and food more than toys and obtained their names
and addresses. Home investigations led to a general meeting at
which the Society for the Improvement of the Poor was organized.
Later the present name was adopted. Each year a Christmas party
for about six hundred children has been given in the Paramount
Theatre, donated for the occasion.
The society's activities include child welfare, the general im-
provement of underprivileged family life, and legal, medical and
financial aid to the needy. It collects and distributes clothing and
household goods and maintains an employment bureau. In con-
junction with the WPA the society sponsors a Municipal Day
Nursery.
The estimated budget is $9,500 yearly, obtained from member-
ship fees, donations, drives and benefits. Mrs. Ernest Linburn is
president and Mrs. Lila B. Terhune is executive secretary. The
society is the Long Branch representative of the National Travelers'
Aid Society, National Desertion Bureau, U. S. Department of
Justice, Social Service Bureau, National Committee on Transporta-
tion (charity rates), National Family Welfare Association and the
Home Service of the local branch of the American Red Cross.
Long Branch Public Health Nursing Association, 65 Fourth
Avenue, an outgrowth of the Long Branch Public Welfare Society,
was begun in 1912 as the first nursing organization in Monmouth
County. This private association of nearly thirty members under
Mrs. Bartley Wright, president, and Miss Janet Slocum, first vice-
president, has its own Health Center and has maintained a Well
Baby Clinic since 1915. Public and private funds are used to carry
on the work. Organized by Mrs. J. W. Cunningham with a single
nurse, the staff has had as many as five; now the budget allows
for only two nurses. Two baby clinics are held weekly at Health
Center and one monthly at Monmouth Memorial Hospital.
The association is affiliated with the Monmouth County Medical
Society, American Red Cross, Monmouth County Dental Society,
New Jersey Tubercular League, Monmouth County Organization
for Social Service, New Jersey Organization for Public Health
« .1
\% 3^
yU
mmmir-^}m^!\
m«M^''^^mm^
Brancloport yacht basm
The Sunday beach crowd
Civic and Social Organizations 191
Nursing, Monmouth Memorial Hospital, Monmouth County
Nurses Club and the American Nurses' Association.
Long Branch Hebrew Benevolent Society was organized in
1918 by a group of ten women. In 1920 the organization was
chartered and incorporated. There are now one hundred members;
Mrs. M. Rothstein is president. A budget of $1,500 supplies non-
sectarian aid to many in need of fuel, clothing, food and funds.
The Long Branch Division of the American Red Cross, an
affiliate of the Monmouth County Chapter, has offices in City Hall
and is directly interested in all the various charity organizations.
The Salvation Army's Seaside Home Memorials in North Long
Branch are two fresh air camps for girls from six to fourteen years
old. More than two hundred adults and seven hundred children
enjoy two-week vacations each season. One building at Ocean and
Atlantic Avenues is the Madge Nathan Haas Memorial, given by a
wealthy woman whose daughter died in childbirth. The adjoining
house is the Margaret Switzer Memorial, near which additional
dormitories and playgrounds have been constructed.
Women's Clubs
The Woman's Club of Long Branch was organized in 1920 by
a group of women who had done war work together in the Long
Branch Community House of 1917-18. Its present two hundred
and twenty members meet in the basement of the public library
for social, cultural and civic betterment. Committees on public
affairs, arts and crafts, literature, drama and music constitute the
club's activities. Mrs. A. Leo Blaisdell is president; Mrs. John F.
Simpson, vice-president.
The Junior Woman's Club, affiliated with the Woman's Club,
was started in 1921 and reorganized in 1925. The fifty members
have Miss Marie DePeter as president and Rose Lagrotteria as vice-
president. Each year the club's activities are directed toward one
charitable objective. The project for 1937 was raising funds for
books in Braille.
Confusion resulted when another Long Branch Woman's Club
was started in 1923, but this club was reorganized in 1933 as the
Regular Democratic Woman's Club of Long Branch. The eighty
192 Entertaining a Nation
members have headquarters at 209 Broadway. The president is
Mrs. A. Purcell; the vice-president, Mrs. John Myenberg. The Club's
activities are political, and include welfare work within the party.
The Elberon Woman's Club was started in 1924 by Miss Jenni
Hunt, then librarian at the Elberon Library, to foster intellectual
and social advancement. At present there are about one hundred
members under Mrs. Lloyd Humpt, president, and Mrs. Charles
Jamison, vice-president. Meetings are held twice monthly in the
Elberon Library, which benefits from the club funds.
Long Branch Garden Club, with headquarters in the Garfield-
Grant Hotel, was organized in 1931 as an outgrowth of the
Woman's Club of Long Branch. There are now sixty-five members,
of whom Mrs. Harvey Slocum is president and Mrs. Harry Davis,
vice-president. The monthly meetings consist of garden parties and
lectures by recognized authorities. The club co-operates with the
city in horticultural shows and the protection of wild flowers and
birds.
Long Branch Parent-Teacher Association was established in
1921. There are now units in eight public schools and one parochial
school. The program involves child welfare and discussions on co-
operation between parent and teacher. All units are affiliated with
the county, state and national associations.
Woman's Christian Temperance Union, formed about 1884,
has a membership of more than fifty women; Mrs. Jennie May
West is president and Mrs. William Jordan, vice-president. On May
30, 1899, this organization dedicated the Chattle Monument and
Fountain at the junction of Broadway and Bath and Norwood Ave-
nue. The fountain, ereaed through popular subscription, was long
in constant use.
The Long Branch Section, National Council of Jewish Women
was organized in 1921 and now has one hundred members under
Mrs. Abraham Vogel president and Mrs. Samuel Zuckman, vice-
president. The council takes part in many civic and community
activities.
Hadassah, Jersey Shore Chapter, was organized in 1933. The
ninety members have Mrs. Irving Weinstein as president and Mrs. .
Louis Farb as vice-president. The society directs Zionism in Mon^i
f
Civic and Social Organizations 193
mouth County and contributes to medical work in the Near East.
Alpha Sigma Gamma Sorority is a local social group organized
in 1923. There are nearly forty active members; Mrs. Mary Camp-
bell is president.
Sports Clubs
South Shrewsbury Ice Boat and Yacht Club, on Atlantic
Avenue, was organized in 1896 and is the oldest yacht club in the
city. It was formed to promote ice-boating, but during the past ten
years has turned to summer sports on the Shrewsbury. There are
forty members under Commodore Thomas Farley. Byron Russell \s
the present 135 -cubic inch hydroplane champion. In the early days
of ice-boating, club-owned boats at various times held every third-
class iceboat championship in America.
Long Branch Ice Boat and Yacht Club, organized in 1901, held
the National A Class Championship for many years. The club has
one hundred and twenty-five members, the present Commodore
being Everett Gillan. Under the club's constitution the President
of the United States and Secretary of the Navy are honorary mem-
bers, as was Sir Thomas Lipton during his later years. The late
Elisha W. Price, one of the founders, did not retire as a racing
skipper until the age of eighty-two. In 1905 he achieved the then
fastest time ever made in any vehicle, one mile in 28.2 seconds.
The Shrewsbury Handicap Sailing Association was started in
1936 to promote sailboat racing on the river. The thirty members
have Marshal Van Winkle, Jr. as president. During its first season
an average of twenty-five boats sailed in races every Saturday after-
noon throughout the summer. The season's cup for winning the
most races went to Captain Thomas H. Slack, an eighty-year-old
skipper who sailed his own boat.
Foreign Societies
Amerigo Vespucci Society, on Willow Avenue, was organized
in 1893 as a local mutual benefit society. The present membership
is one hundred and sixty. Felix Ripandelli is president, Francesco
Mancuso vice-president.
194 Entertaining a Nation
Tammany Club, Tammany Auditorium, Morris Avenue, a
political organization started in 1926, has six hundred members.
The president is Langdon Coles; the first vice-president, John
Angerio.
Giordano Bruno Order, Sons of Italy, with a clubhouse at West-
wood and Morris Avenues, was organized in 1917. This lodge of the
national organization has ninety members; Cecesre Ziska is the
commander.
The West End Casino
Regatta on the Shrewsbury River
■■■'
].
f
CHRONOLOGY
1668 Long Branch settled by five associates of the Monmouth Patentees.
1704 Chadwick House deed registered.
1707 Joel Wardell House deed registered.
1754 Michael Maps settles in Long Branch.
1780 First schoolhouse built.
1782 Capt. Philip White, Tory, captured in Wardell house on McClellan St.
1788 Elliston Perot spends summer in Long Branch, regarded as inauguration
of the city's resort career.
1791 First church (Methodist) established in West Long Branch.
1792 Herbert & Chandler advertise the Shrewsbury Hotel.
1806 The Shrewsbury becomes Bennett's boarding house.
1812 Primary School No. 1 built.
First general store started by Michael Maps and Richard Wykoff.
1820 William Renshaw's boarding house opened.
1828 First ocean pier built at foot of Bath Avenue.
1830 Steamboat service to New York started.
1834 First post office opened.
1835 Liberty pole erected at Broadway, Bath and Norwood Avenues.
1840 Bucktown School opened.
1844 "Jimmity" Jones School opened.
1846 Allegheny House opened.
1849 Reformed Dutch Church dedicated, first church building in Long Branch
proper.
1851 Pavilion Hotel opened by Samuel Morris.
1852 First Catholic church, Star of the Sea, erected.
1854 Wreck of the New Era, 240 persons drowned.
St. James' Church ereaed.
1857 Price's Hotel opened in Pleasure Bay.
Dr. Thomas G. Chattle appointed Township Superintendent of education.
1860 Centenary Methodist Episcopal Church opened.
Long Branch connected with New York by rail.
1861 Long Branch sends one company of volunteers to the Civil War.
Mrs. Abraham Lincoln stays 10 days at the Mansion House.
1864 Spotted fever epidemic.
1865 Widespread speculation during land boom.
1866 Continental Hotel, now accommodating 1,200, is largest in the world.
First local newspaper. Long Branch News, founded.
196 Entertaining a Nation
1867 Long Branch becomes a borough.
Stetson House opened.
Long Branch Police, Sanitary and Improvement Commission established
as governing body.
1868 New York & Long Branch Railroad incorporated.
Gas Works opened.
1869 President Ulysses S. Grant makes Long Branch the Summer Capital.
1870 First organized police department.
Monmouth Park racetrack opened.
Steinbach Brothers, Department Store founded.
1872 Long Branch Banking Company organized.
9th Regiment of New York Guards encamps at Long Branch under
Col. Jim Fisk.
Oceanic Fire Engine Company No. 1 incorporated, city's first volunteer
fire company.
Asbury Methodist Episcopal Church formed.
1874 Bureau of Health organized.
1876 Elberon Hotel opened by Lewis B. Brown.
First high school organized.
1877 Long Branch Reservoir and Water Company organized.
President Rutherford B. Hayes visits Elberon Hotel.
1878 First library opened.
1879 Ocean Pier built in front of Ocean Hotel
1880 Public school system established.
1881 President James A. Garfield dies at Elberon.
New Iron Pier ererted at foot of South Broadway.
President Chester A. Arthur at Long Branch.
1882 Simpson Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church organized.
Hollywood Hotel opened by John Hoey.
1882 First Long Branch telephone exchange established.
Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church founded.
Oscar Wilde visits Long Branch.
Scarboro Hotel opened.
1883 First Presbyterian Church organized.
Long Branch Daily Record founded.
1885 Star of the Sea Academy opened.
Long Branch Elearic Light Company incorporated.
1886 First Baptist Church organized.
1887 Beth Miriam Synagogue chartered.
1889 Monmouth Memorial Hospital opened.
1890 New Monmouth Park opened.
Chronology 197
1891 St. Michael's Church dedicated.
Broadway paved.
City Hall built.
New Monmouth Park closed.
1892 Cholera epidemic.
Robert Morrison Stults composes "The Sweetest Story Ever Told" in
Morford House.
New Monmouth Park reopened.
1893 Monmouth County Open Air Horse Show Assn. organized.
1894 Race Track Act closes New Monmouth Park permanently.
1899 William R. Maps, diarist and city's first informal historian, dies.
Chattle High School built.
Riverside Park at Pleasure Bay opened.
1904 Long Branch incorporated as a City, after failure of Greater Long
Branch plan.
1906 Boardwalk built along Ocean Avenue.
1907 U. S. Weather Bureau established at Long Branch.
1912 Long Branch Public Welfare Society founded.
Commission form of government adopted.
New Broadway Theatre opened.
1914 Post office dedicated.
1916 President Woodrow Wilson makes Shadow Lawn summ-r White House.
1918 Monument to President Garfield dedicated in Ocean Park.
1919 Jack Dempsey trains here for fight with Jess Willard.
1920 Public library opened.
1924 Klu Klux Klan holds tri -State Konklave at Elkwood Park.
1927 Long Branch Senior High School opened.
1932 Long Branch Chamber of Commerce organized.
1934 Dog racing held at Ocean Park.
1939 Garfield Court, U.S.H.A. housing development, begun.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Appleton's Hand-Book of American Travel. New York, D. Appleton & Com-
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Appleton's Railway and Steam Navigation Guide. New York, D. Appleton &
Company, I860. 276 p.
Barber, John W. and Howe, Henry. Historical Collections of New Jersey. New
Haven, J. W. Barber, 1868. 543 p.
Beekman, George C. Early Dutch Settlers of Monmouth County. Freehold,
Moreau Brothers, 1901. 142 p.
Beers, Frederick W. Atlas of Monmouth County, N. J. New York, Beers, Corn-
stock and Cline, 1873. 121 p.
Bobbitt, B. B. Long Branch, Descriptive Sketches. Long Branch, B. B. Bobbitt,
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Bowers, Claude. The Tragic Era. Boston, Houghton, Mifflin Company, 1929.
567 p.
Boyd, William H. Boyd's Business Directory of New Jersey. New York, Beers,
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Caldwell, Robert Granville. James A. Garfield. New York, Dodd, Mead & Com-
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Cantacuzene, Princess. My Life Here and There. New York, Charles Scribner's
Sons, 1921. 322 p.
Chattle, Dr. Thomas C. History of the Long Branch School System 1857-1880
(ms.) 1880. 20 p.
Ellis, Franklin. History of Monmouth County. Philadelphia, R. T. Peck & Com-
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Fuller, Robert W. Jubilee Jim: A Life of Colonel James Fisk, Jr. New York,
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Gordon, Thomas F. Gazeteer of the State of New Jersey and History of New
Jersey. Trenton, Daniel Fenton, 1834. 605 p.
Hesseltine, William B. U. S. Grant. New York, Dodd, Mead & Company, 1935.
408 p.
History of the Long Branch Fire Department. Long Branch, Phil Daly Hose
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Kobbc, Gustave, The New Jersey Coast and Fines. Short Hills, N. J., Privately
Published, 1889. 108 p.
Kull, Irving S., ed. New Jersey. A History Vol. 1. New York, American His-
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Lee, Francis Bazley. New Jersey as a Colony and as a State. New York, Publish-
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Logan, Olive. "Life at Long Branch." Harper's New Monthly Magazine. Vol.
LIII No. CCCXVI.
Martin, George C. History of Long Branch. Long Branch, R. A. Martin, 1902.
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Company, 1880. 768 p.
Morell, Parker. Diamond Jim. New York, Simon and Schuster, Inc., 1934.
286 p.
Mustin, M., ed. Sketch of Monmouth County, New Jersey 1683-1929. Camden,
M. Mustin Company, 1929. ^(> p.
Nelson, William. The New Jersey Coast in Three Centuries. New York, The
Lewis Publishing Company, 1902. 3 vols.
New Jersey State Business Directory, 1866. New York, Talbott and Blood, 1866.
430 p.
O'Connor, Harvey. The Guggenheims: The Making of An American Dynasty.
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Parsons, Floyd, ed. New Jersey: Life, Industries and Resources of a Great State.
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Sachse, Julius F. The Wreck of the Ship, New Era, Upon the New Jersey Coast.
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Salter, Edwin. History of Monmouth and Ocean Counties. Bayonne, E. Gardner
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Salter, Edwin and Beekman, George C. Old Times in Old Monmouth. Freehold,
James S. Yard, 1887. 465 p.
Schenck, J. H. Descriptive Guide, Maps, etc. of Long Branch. New York, The
Trow and Smith Book Manufaauring Company, 1868. 195 p.
Schreiber, George. Portraits and Self -Portraits. Boston, Houghton, Mifflin Com-
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November 19, 1926.
Slocum, Charles Elihu. History of the Slocums, Slocumbs, Slocombs of America.
Defiance, Ohio, Published by the Author, 1908. 543 p.
Spaulding, M. C. Historical Hand-Book of New Jersey. Columbus, Ohio, Pub-
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Sweetster, Charles H. Book of Summer Resorts. Compiled for the New York
Evening Mail, 1868. 528 p.
.Williamson, Jefferson. The American Hotel. New York, Alfred A. Knopf,
1930. 324 p.
Watson, John F. Historic Tales of Olden Time. New York, 1832. 213 p.
Wiley, Samuel T. ed. Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of the Third Con-
gressional District of N. J. Philadelphia, Biographical Publishing Com-
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Weeks, Lyman Horace. The American Turf, History of Racing in the U, S.
New York, The Historical Company, 1898. 482 p.
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Wolverton, Chester and Breon, Forsey. Woherfon's Atlas of Monmouth County.
New York, privately published, 1889. 43 plates, 54 maps.
Woolman, H. C. and Rose, T. F. Historical and Biographical Atlas of New
Jersey Coast. Philadelphia, H. C. Woolman, 1878. 372 p.
The Long Branch Daily Record
The Asbury Park Press
The Red Bank Register
The Newark Sunday Call
Harper's New Monthly Magazine
Frank Leslie's Illustrated Weekly.
Harper's Weekly
The Daily Graphic
Minutes of the Long Branch Police, Sanitary and Improvement Commission.
Minutes of the Borough of Long Branch.
Minutes of the City of Long Branch.
INDEX
Abbett, (Jovernor Leon, 93
Abbitt, Rev. BenjauiLu B., 181
"Aladdin's Palace" (Solomon R. Guk
genheim House), 3
Alicia Maria, Sister, 168
Allaire, James P.. 157
Allegheny House, 33
Allen, Abner, 34. 35
Allenhurst, 119
Allstrom, J. V., and Son, 107
Alpha Sigma Gamma Sorority, 193
American Federation of Labor, 133
American Hotel, The, by Jefferson Wil
liamson, on resort in 1820's, 25; sixjrt-
ing life, 27
American Legion
Iroquois Post No. 247, 189; Long
Branch Post No. 44, 188; Post i\o.
44 Auxiliary, 188
American Nurses' Association, 191
American Red Cross, 190-91
American Silk Mills, 131
American Telegraph Company, 99
American Turf, The, on abolition of
racing. 97
Americus Club, 50
Amerigo Vespucci Society, 193
"Amicus," letter from. 22
Amusement Center. 120
Anderson, Mary, 89
Angerio, John, 194
Annexation Controversy, 118-19
Anti-Race Track League, 95
Antonides, Charles, 146
Antonides' Long Branch Carriage ;ind
Light Wagon Manufactory, 101
Applegate, Fred, 184
Architecture
Victorian cottages, 3; late 18th cen-
tury homes. 19; hotels, S3
Arrowsmith. Thomas V., 125
Arthur, President Chester A., 81, 83
Asbury, Bishop Francis, 172
Asbury M. E, Church
History of, 172; list of pastors, 172-3
Asbury Park, 94. 114. 118
Asbury Park Jaurnal, on annexation
of Deal. 118
Asbury Park Press, on gambling. 7Z ;
commission form of government, \2A
Atlantic Coast Electric Company, 114
Atlantic Fire Engine and Truck Com-
pany, 147, 148
Auer, Otis N., 152
Auto racing, 139
Automobiles, advent of, 119-20
B
"Baby Lane," (Fourth Avenue), 120
Baby Parade, 120
Baer. Max, 135
Baker, George F.. 44. 103
Baldanza Bros., Incorporated, 133
Balloon races, 117
Bancroft, Hon. George, 38
Bunks, 102, 139
Baptists, 180-81
barber, John W. and Howe, Henry
i^See Historical Collections of Mew
Jersey)
Barbour, James, 187
iiarbour. Morrel, 155
1 '.arbour. Colonel William, 44
Barnes, Rev. Morton A., 155, 178
Hass, Chester, 189
Bath House, 31
Hath House Pier, 60
Bathing
Present costs, 3; beach clubs, 3;
"mixed" forbidden, 25; Mrs. Trollope
on, 28; "machines," 28; costumes and
customs in 1870's, 56-7; conventions,
1880-90. 86
Beaches
Ignored by early settlers, 11; in 1834,
29; in 1870's, 57; erosion of, 58, 133-
34; present-day list of, 153
Beatty, William P.. 186
Beck, James M., 130
Belmar, 115
Helmont, August, 52
Benevolent organizations, 189
11. P. O. Elks
Long Branch Lodge No. 742. 18o;
Women's Auxiliary, 186
Bennett. James Gordon, 67
Bennett, Joshua, 21
Bennett, Louis S., 105
Bergen's Select School, 162
Rerger, Miss Dorothy, 166
Beth Miriam Synagogue, 182
Blaisdell Family, 19
niaisdell, Dr. C. Byron, 155
Blaisdell, Mrs. Leo. 191
B iss. Dr. D. W., 77, 80
RIodgett, U. S. Senator Rufus, 119
RluflF. the. 58
Bluff Theatre, 121
Board of Trade, 122
Boarding Houses (see Hotels)
'^obbitt, Benjamin. 123
Rodine. Mrs. Russell, 185
Book of Summer Resorts, by Charles H.
Sweetster, on hotels, 52
202
Entertaining a Nation
Booth, Edwin. 43 ,,. ,r
Boulevard Campaign, 5, 1J4 .55
Bouse, Stanley, 187 _.
Bowers. Claude (see Tragtc Era The)
"Bowery. The" (South Broadway), 120
Bowie, Donald E.. 155
Boynton, Dr. S. A., »0
Bradley. James A., 94
i;:t.: Ja-s ^Buchanan ("Diamond
Sipared with Jim Fisk 91; at races.
92; buys fancy auto. 119-^0
Braine, Colonel —.63
Branch Manufacturing Company, li^
Branchport. 1, H, 148
Branchport Dock Park, 153
Branchport Hose Company No. 3, 148
Brazo, Commissioner Frank A., 15-+
Bright, A. S., 103
Brindley, Sylvester, 31
BrLnley, William. 14
Britton. Samuel, 24
Broadway , . . r ^ . :„
Contemporary descnptiori of, 4, m
1830's, 23-4; paving of, IIM^
Broadway (theatre). 109
Brokaw, I. V.. 88
Brothers of Israel Synagogue, 182
Brown. Charles E., 145
Brown, Captain George W., 108, 164
Brown, Joseph Stanley, 81
Brown, Mrs. J. Stanley, 130
Brown, Lewis B. , ., , ,-,.
Develops Elberon, 44; builds Elberon
Hotel, 72; as commissioner, 102; sup-
ports volunteer fire company. 148
Bucktown School, 160
Rudd. Samuel. 37
Bunno, Edward. 189
Bureau of Health and Hospitals, 151-2
Burns, Miss Helen, 186
Burton, U. S. Senator Theodore E., 130
Buses. 123
Bush, Frank. 109
Business
Contemporary picture of, 4; first gen-
eral store 20; in 1830's. 26-7; panic
of 1837. 30; in 1868, 101-02; list of
in 1887, 107; recent improvement,
139
BuxtoJi's Creek, 5
Byron, Arthur, 82
Byron. Oliver Dowd
Visits resort, 44; builds Garfield Hut.
82; aids firemen, 148
Cabot, John, 7
Cabot, Sebastian. 7
Camp .Mfred Vail. 97
Camp Gould. 64
Campbell. Tames. 118
Campbell. Mrs. Marv, 103
Campbell. William D.. 108
Cape May. 43
Cardelia, Father Emilio. 177
Carnegie Corporation. 143
Camera, Primo, 135
Carr. E. T. M., 155
Carr. Townely, 185
Carroll, Mrs. P. J., 186
Case, Harry. 186
Casino Annex
Brought to Long Branch, 118; war
use of, 130
Gate. W. E.. 166
"Catherine, The" (house), 89
Catholics, Roman. 136, 167, 175-77
Catholic Daughters of America, No.
736. 186
Chadwick, Thomas, 16
Chadwick House. The, 12
Chamberlain, Charles, 103
Chamberlain, Henry, 108
Chamberlain, John, 12
Chamberlain, Colonel John
Plans race track, 49; host at races.
50; operates gambling casino, 60-2
Chamberlain, William, 41
Chandler, Thomas, 20
Charitable Organizations, 189-90
Chasey. Alcine, 41-2
Chasey, J., 32
Chasey, Michael, 20
Chattle, Dr. Thomas G.
Runs for State Senate on temperance
platform, 108; campaigns for better
schools, 159, 161-63; fountain dedi-
cated to. 192
Chattle Memorial Fountain, 153, 192
Chattle High School. 165
Chelsea Roller Skating Rink. 117
Chiefs' Organization (Fire Dept.), 150
Childs. George W.
Brings President Grant to Long
Branch, 45; and gift of Grant Cot-
tage. 46; stockholder in gas company,
100; helps Pach brothers, 102; gives
books to public library, 142; presents
memorial window to St. Luke's M. E.
Church. 171
Children's Parade. 120
Christaler, Aaron, 116
Christian Science Society, 182
Church of God in Christ. 183
Church of the Presidents (see St. James'
Chapel)
Churches
Clark. Li.ndsay J., 189
Clougblv Brothers. 44
Coles. Langdon. 194
Collier's, on vaudeville at Riverside
Park, 114
Colony Surf Club, 3
Colt. E. Boudinet, 103
Earliest, 19-20;, 1840-60, 37; history of.
169-83; aflfected resort, 169; as social
centers, 170; crusade for reform, 170
City Clerk. 142
City Hall Park, 153
City Manager plan. 141
City Physician, 142
City Planning Board, 154
City Officials, 154-5
City Solicitor, 142
Civic and Social Organizations. 184-98
Civil War, Long Branch men in, 40
Clarendon (hotel), 38
Index
203
Committee of Observation and Safety
16
CoHRregationalists, 174
"Congress Hall Water," 53
Congress of Industrial Organizations,
133
Connelly, James, 74
Conover, J. V., 32
Conover & Crammer, 107
Conover House, 31
Consolidated Trouser and Sportswear
Company, 131
Continental Hotel
And racing, 51; "largest in world,"
52; description of, 53; telegraph ser-
vice at. 99
Cook. Charles, 184
Cook, James, 12
Cook, Jesse, 32
Cook, S., 32
Cook, Stewart. 12
Cook, Thomas L,, 108
Cooper, Joseph H., 102. 103
Cooper, Joseph N.. 38
Cooper, Samuel, 32, 38
Cooper Cottage, 38
Corlies, Francis, 49. 102. 103
Cowen. Rev. Walter. 183
Crime. 120. 144-45
Crowrey, T. C, 88
Croxon, Jacob, 20
Croxson. William. W., 156-7
Cunningham, Mrs. T. W.. 190
Curtis, George W.. 68
Curtis. Horace. 107
Cyphers, Mrs. Alice. 185
D
Daly, John, 75
Daly, Phil
Acquires Pennsylvania Club, 62; op-
erates gambling casLno. 73-4; death
of, 75; builds elaborate cottages, 89;
builds Elkwood Park, 95; early tele-
phone subscriber, 104; operates shoot-
ing gallery, 113; aids firemen, 147-8
Daly, Phil, Jr.. 89
Daly, Mrs. Phil, 74, 75
Dancing. 54
Dandy, Rev. James H., 24
Davenport, Fannv, 89
Davies, William D.. 49
Davis, Mrs. Harry, 192
Davison. J, McB.. 49
Deal. 119
Deal Beach. 34
DeForest, Jimmy, 135
Delaware and Raritan Railroad, 100
DeLisa, Chief Michael, 154
Dempsey, Jack, 135
Department of Parks and Public Prop-
erty, 153-4
Department of Public Affairs, 142-3
Department of Public Safety, 144-52
Department of Public Works, 152-3
Department of Revenue and Finance,
143
De Peter, Miss Marie, 191
DeVise, W., 32
Dick, U. S. Senator — . 130
Disabled Veterans. Jersey Shore Chap-
ter No. 13. 188
Dobbins. Richard J., 7i
Dockstader, Lew, i09
Dog Racing. 137^38
Donahue, A. J., 89
Donnelly, Mayor — , 124
Douglass, Frederick, 44
Drexel, Anthony J., 100, 102, 142
Dudley, Dr. — . 110
Dunce, Mrs. • — , 35
Duncombe, Rev. Alfred, 170
Dunlcp's Advertiser, on 18th century
resort, 21
Dutch Reformed, 37, 174-5
Early families
1700-1770, 12; 1790-1800. 19
East End Excursion Pavilion. 65
East End Hotel, 65, 115
East Long Branch, 116
East Long Branch Reading Room and
Library Association, 142
Eastern Star
Long Branch Chapter No. 273, 185;
Adah Chapter No. 5, 185
Eatonto-wn, 49
Eatontown Township, 119
Fckert, General Thomas. 88, 104
Edge, Governor Walter E., 130
Education
First school, 20; in 1840's, 37; his-
tory of. 159-69
Edwards Family, 17
Edwards, Stephen. 17
Edwards. William L., 145
Edwards, L. and D., & Co., 101, 107,
112
Elberon
Contemporary description of, 1 ; boom
in, 44. 114
Elberon Casino. 84
Elberon Engine Company No. 4. 118
Elberon Hotel
President Hayes at, 71; built. 72;
clientele, 73; President Garfield at,
78; burns dow.n, 82, 116
Elberon Memorial Church, 180
Elberon Woman's Club, 192
Electric Light Service, 104-05
Elkwood Park
Built by Phil Daly, 95; shooting gal
lery at, 113; auto races at. 117:
bought by Klu KIux Klan, 136; re-
conditioned for racing, 140
Epidemics. 42, 110
Episcopalians, 37. 177-9
Erickson, R. Clifford, 155. 187
Exchange CTub. 187
Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Re-
formation, 183
Evans, Mayor Alton V., 154. 187
Faber and Shields. 109
Faddavis, William V., 188
Farb, Mrs. Louis. 192
Farley. Commodore Thomas. 193
Farr, Tommy. 135
Federal Housing Administration, 139
Finances, municipal, 143
204
Entertaining a Nation
Finn. Maude F., 154
Fire alarm system. ISO
Fire Companies, list of, 151
Fire Department, 146-51
Firemen's Relief Association, 150
Fires, 147, 148-9
Firpo. Luis Angel, 135
First Aid and Safety Squad (Fire De-
partment), ISO
First Baptist Church
History of. 180; list of pastors, 181
First Pentecostal Church. 183
First Presbyterian Church
Founding, Zl ; history of, 179; list
of pastors, 180
Fish 'LandinR, 9
Fish Path (Broadway), 10
Fish Tavern. 14, 20-1
Fishtown (North Long Branch). 32
Fisk, Colonel James, Jr.
Donates racing stakes, 51; visits re-
sort, 62-6; brings 9th regiment to
Long Branch, 63; builds hotel and
pier, 60, 65; operates steamboats, 65;
snubbed, 66; aids Delaware and Rari-
tan railroad. 100
Fleischman, Rev. V., 183
Flock. John W., 125
Florence (hotel), 107
Flynn. Thomas. 95
Fort Monmouth, 97
Foresters of America, Court Victor
Emanuel II No. 130, 186
Foreign Societies, 193
Forrest, Edwin, 43
Fountain, Charles, 104
Frank, Mrs. Ada G., 183
Francklyn, Charles, 78
Francklyn Cottage, 78-82
Free and Accepted Masons
Abacus Lodge No. 182, 185; Long
Branch Lodge No. 78. 185
Free Brothers of Israel Synagogue, 182
Fresh Pond. 10
Fuller, Robert W (^see Jubilee Jim)
Gambling
Casinos', in 1870's, 60-2; 1880's, 73 6;
against racing, 94
Horseracing: 51, 91-2; campaign against.
92-7
Dog Races: 138
Pari-Mutuel: 51; legalized. 140
Garfield, Dr. Harry A., 130
Garfield, President James A.
Investigates "Black Friday" panic.
63; assassination of, 77; illness and
death at Francklyn Cottage, 78-82;
monument dedicated to, 13()
Garfield, Mollie. 80
Garfield Court, 140
Garfield- Gra.nt Hotel, 137
Garfield Hotel. 107
Garfield Hut, 82
Garfield School. 163
Garrabrant, J. J.. 102
Garrison, Dr. William H.. 116
Garrison, Rev. Alfred, 174
Gas Service, 100-01
Geological discoveries, 2
Gelineau, Victor, 134
Germania House, 107
Germans, 107, 117
Gigolos, origin at Long Branch, 86
Gillan, Everett, 193
Goirdano Bruno Order. Sons of Italy,
194
Gloucester City, 92
(Jilmore's Band, 54, 69
Goldsmith, James A., 46
GoMstein, J., Department Store, 107
Gomez, Estevan, 7
Gordon's Gazeteer, on Long Branch in
1834, 28
Good. Brent, 68
(Government
Colonial, 16; changes in form of,
102, 124; annexation controversy,
118-19; description of, 141-58; types
of, 141
Goldberg, Meyer, 138
Gould, Jay
Builds cottages, 44; constructs pier
and hotel, 60, 65; camp named for,
65; portrait on locomotive, 100
Grand Excursion House, 65
Grant, President Ulysses S.
Significance to Long Branch, 2;
comes to resort, 45; habits at. 45-48;
and racing. 48; local friends of. 48;
and Jim Fisk, 64; love of Indian
summer, 70; at Elberon Hotel, 74;
Oscar Wilde meets, 87; and John
Hoey, 87; Long Branch's faith in,
87; helps Pach brothers, 102; com-
pared with Wilson, 126; changes
postal system, 157; visits St. Luke's
M. E. Church, 171; "Peace Window"
dedicated to, l7l
Great Pond (Deal Lake), 34
Greater Long Branch, 118
Green, E. S., 100
Green, Henry, 12
Green, Henry, 144
Green, Dr. I. O., 151
Green, J.. 32
Green, James, 31
(ireen. Captain James, 24
Green, Dr. James A., 164
Green, James O., 108
Green, Geo. H.. 107
Green, H. W.. 107
Green and White Assocation, 5. 167
Greenhut, Captain J. B., 125-26
Greenleaf, George. 189
Greenwood, Charlotte, 114
Gregory, Christopher, 159, 165
Griffin. Charles. 186
Griffin, Elder Hardie Adams, 183
"Growler," letter on education, 162
Guggenheim, Robert, 117
Guggenheim, Solomon R., 3
Guire, John W., 158
Guiteau, Charles Jules
Shoots Garfield. 77; attempts to kill
Garfield in St. James' Church, 178
Guttenberg, 92
H
Hackman, Albert A.. 178
Hadassah. Jersey Shore Chapter, 192
Haight, Charles, 49
Hammerstein, Arthur, 117
Hardy, Captain — , 34-5
Index
205
Harper's Magazine
On shape of LotiR Branch, 1; land
boom in 1860's, 43-4; characterization
of resort, 45; on racing, SO; on danc-
ing, 55
Harper's Weekly
Compares lesort to circus, 62; on
future of resort. 71
Hart, Annie, 109
Havens, Newberry, 40
Hayes. President Rutherford B.. 71, 76
Hayes. Mrs. Rutherford B.. 76
Hay ward. Rev. John C, 173
Hazard, E. C, Hospital, 152
Hearn, James A.. 88
Heisley, Wilbur A., 108
Helmbold. Dr. H. T.
Rise of, 66; at resort, 66-68; destroys
hotels, 67; judged insane, 68
Helmbold Block. 67
Herbert, Jacob, 102
Herman's Pier, 83
Hess, Simon, 75, 121
Hildreth. Dr. M.. 157
Hirsch, Irving. 189
Hirsch, Mrs. Irving, 189
Hirschman, Rabbi Meyer, 182
Historical Collections of New Jersey, by
John W. Barber and Henry Howe,
on Long Branch in 1844, 30
History of Monmouth and Ocean Coun-
ties, by Edwin Salter, on founding of
resort, 21
Hobart, Vice-Pres. Garrett A., 44, 89
Hoey, John
Donates racing prizes, 51; spectacular
party given by, 69; garden hobby of,
84; builds hotel, 85; failure of. 85;
host to President Grant, 87; Oscar
Wilde comments on, 87; and Presi-
dent Garfield, 88; incorporator in
water company, 103; early subscriber
to telephone service. 104
Hoey Park, 85
Hoey's Gardens, 84, 85
Hoffman, Governor Harold. 135
Hollander, A., and Son, 131
Hollywood (Hoey estate), 113
Hollywood Hotel
Opened, 85; burned down, 116; new
building erected, 137
Hollywood Lake, 84
Holy Trinity R. C. Church
History of, 177; list of pastors. 177
Hope, Anthony, 17
Hopkins, Mrs. Cornelia Woolley, 145-6
Hotels
Resort — 18th century: first, 14, 20,
21; 1800-1840: description of, 22, 28.
31; business at. 29. 30; 1840-1860:
location of, 32; new buildings erected,
38-9; 1860-1875: description of, 52-6;
rating by Charles Sweetster, 52;
architecture, S3; rates- food, 54; dances
at, 54-5; inexpensive, 56; in nearby
resorts, 59; 1880-1890: description of,
72Z, 85-6; after abolition of racing:
113, 114; destruction of several, 116;
present-day, 137
Commercial and Family — 1870-1890:
description of, 106-7; present-day: num-
ber of, 137
Houseman. Charles H., 183
Housing, 139
Howland, Frank L., 124, 125
Howland, Henry, 31, 32
Howland House
Opened, 31; Charles Sweetster's es-
timate of, 52; remodeled, 53; torn
down, 116
Iloyt, George. 157
Huddy, Captain Joshua. 17
Hudson, Henry. 7
Huff. Charles B., 101
Hughes, Henry, 108
Huhn, Louis. 149
Hultz. Mrs. Louise, 185
Humphreys, Dr. F., 68
Humpt, Mrs. Lloyd, 192
Hunt, Jenni, 192
Hunt, S. H.. 108
Huvler, John S., 88
Hyde. Alden T.. 105
I
lauch's Hotel, 116
Indenture, Michael Mapes, of. 12
Independent Engine and Truck Com-
pa.ny No. 2. 148
Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
Long Branch Lodge No. 77, 184
Indians
Iroquois, 2; Lenni Lenape, 2, 8-9
Intermedial Building, 165
International Ladies' Garment Workers
Union. 133
Iron Pier (Herman's Pier), 83, 121
Italians
Permanent population of, 4; come to
resort, 116, 136; celebrate Saints'
Day. 177
Jacksan, A., 32
Jackson, Geo. W.. 107
Jackson, Rev. L. E., 181
Jaeger's Restaurant, 83
James, U. S. Senator Ollie, 127
Jamison, Mrs. Charles, 192
Jerome Park. 93
Jersey Central Railroad, 100
Jersey Derby. 51
Jersey Mosquitoes, 123
Jessie Hoyt, The, 49
Jewish Community Center. 188
Jewish War Veterans. Post No. 25. 188
Jews
At resort, 116, 136; religious life of.
182. 188
"Jimmity Jones" School (see Primary
School No. 2)
"Jockey Legislature," 95
Joline, James, 19
Joline, Captain James, 24
Jones, Commissioner J. William, 154
Jones, C. W., Building, 139
Jordan, Mrs. William, 192
Jubilee Jim, by Robert W. Fuller, on
Fisk as social pariah, 66
"Jungles," The (Belmont Avenue), 120
Junior Order of U. A. M.
Long Branch Council No. 246. 189;
Hojlywood Council No, 29, 189
Junior Woman's Club, 191
206
Entertaining a Nation
K
Katz. Isaac. 188 ^ ,^^
Kay Dunhill Frocks Incorporated, 132
Keith, B. F., circuit, 109
Kempshall, Dr. Everard. 93, 96
Kennedy, F., 38
Kingsland. Mrs. Mae F., 183
Kingston. Mrs. C. P., 186
Knights of Columbus, Lodge No. 335.
186
Ku Klux Klan, 136-37
Labor, 133
Lackey, William, 185
Lagrotteria, Rose, 191
Laird Family. 42
Laird. Samuel. 49. 102, 103
LaMacchia. Peter. 186
Land
Bought from Indians, 11; boom in
1860's, 42, 44; boom in Elberon, 114
Lane. Cornelius, 31
Lane. J., 32
Langtry. Lily. 89
Lanning, John E,. 102
Lawley, William. 186
Layton, Harry, 185
Lee. Dr. H. P.. 68
Levy. William. 114
Lewis, John P.. 24
Library Hall. 142
Library Park, 153
Liberty Street School. 165
Lightfoot, Jesse, 32
Lighting, street, 152
Linburn, Mrs. Ernest, 190
Lincoln. Mrs. Abraham
At Mansion House, 31; visit to Long
Branch. 39-40
Lippincott Family. 19
Lippincott, Elisha. 20, 32
Lippincott, James A., 32, 102
Lippincott's Corners. 20
Lipton. Sir Thomas. 193
Little, Henry S.. 49
Lloyd. Charles S.. 49
Loch Arbour, 119
Lodges. 184-86
Logan. Olive {see Harpers Magazine
on racing)
Long Branch and Seashore Improve-
ment Company. 49
Long Branch and Squan Telegraph
Company, 99
Long Branch and the Sea Shore Rail-
road. 100
Long Branch Banking Company. 102
Long Branch Building and Loan As-
sociation. 102
Long Branch Chamber of Commerce.
127. 187
Long Branch Club. 75
Long Branch Community Council, 187
Long Branch Community House, 191
Long Branch Dress Company, 132
Long Branch Electric Light Company.
104
Long Branch Fair, 117
Long Branch Garden Club. 192
Long Branch Gas Company. 100
Long Branch Hebrew Benevolent So-
ciety, 191
Long Branch Horse Show. 113
Long Branch Ice Boat and Yacht Club,
193
Long Branch Kennel Club, 138
Long Branch Ministers' Association. 170
Long Branch News
On drownings, 57; fashions, 69;
founded, 101
Long Branch Opera House, 109
Long Branch Parent - Teacher Associa-
tion. 192
Long Branch Pier Association, 60
Long Branch Pier Company. 121
Long Branch Police, Sanitary and Im-
provement Commission
Becomes governing body, 102-3; and
street problem, 111; listed, 141
Long Branch Press, 123
Long Branch Public Health Nursing As-
sociation, 151, 190
Long Branch Public Welfare Society,
151, 189
Long Branch Record
Reprints Maps' diary, 26; on erosian,
58; John Hoey, 85; founded, 105; in-
door balloon races, 117
Long Branch Reservoir and Water Com-
pany, 103
Long Branch Rotary Club, 187
Lang Branch Senior High School, 166
Long Branch Sewer Company, 105
Long Branch Times, 105
Long Branch Times-News, 106
Long Branch Water Supply Company,
104
Lorillard, George, 52
Lorillard. Pierre. 52
Lower Village. 23. 163
Ludlow. Governor George. 81
Lutherans. 183
M
MacGregor, Alexander. 24. 26
MacVeagh, Wayne, 77
Madge, Nathan Haas Memoral. 191
Mahn, Arthur, 185
Maloney, Martin, 79
Manahan. H.. ^2
Manasquan, 115
Mancuso, Francesco. 193
Mannhassit Creek. 13
Mansfield. Dan. 79
Mansfield, Josie, 63. 66
Mansion House
Opened, 31; Mrs. Abraham Lincoln
at. 39; Grant at, 46, 48; Sweetster's
estimate of, 52; gambling at. 76
Manufacturing
First, 112; growth 1905-10, 124; post-
war development. 131-32; contem-
porary account of, 131-33
Mapes, Frederick, 12
Mapes (Maps) Michael. 12
Maps. Michael
Opens general store. 20; leads Meth-
odist Church classes. 172, 173
Maps, William Russell
Opens store. 26; and temperance, 27;
buys shipwrecked coal, 33; officer in
first building and loan association.
Index
207
102; death of, 111; and post office
petition, 156; and President Grant,
171
Maps, William Russell, diary of
On pole dedication, 24; food prices,
26; boardinR houses, 29, 30; real es-
tate, 106; evangelism, 109; growth of
business, 110; disposition of, 111;
streets, 112; cost of St. Luke's M.
E. Church, 171
Maps & Slocum, 107
Margaret Switzer Memorial, 191
Market, Wallace. 185
Market House. 39
Martin, Edwin. 41, 42
Martin. William, 42
Martin, William D., 104, 158
Martin, W. Doyle, 158
Mason. H. E.. 88
Masonic Club Auxiliary. 185
Mayor, duties of. 142
McCabe, James D., 79
McCall, John A., 125
McCloud, Samuel F., 107
McCormick's Hotel. 38, 53
McCreery, James H., 94
McFaddin, Dormon, 155
McGrath, Price. 61
McGuire. John. 167
McKesson, John. 44
McKesson, John Jr., 68
McKnight, Lewis, 21
McNulty, Dean — . 96
Methodist Episcopal Society, Z7
Methodist Protesta.nt Church
Founded. 19; schism in, 37
Methodists, 19, 25. Z7, 171-4
Metropolitan Hotel. 39, 52
Meyer, Philip H., 155
Middletown Township, 8, 11
Minisink Trail, 15
Mitchell. Maggie. 43. 89
Monmouth American, The, 124
Monmouth Beach. 32, 119
Monmouth Beach and Sea Bright Water
Company, 103
Monmouth County Central Labor Union,
133
Monmouth County Historical Association,
111
Monmouth County Junior College, 167
Monmouth County Open Air Horse
Show Association, 113
Monmouth Herald and Inquirer, on
Mrs. Abraham Lincoln in Long
Branch, 39
Monmouth House, 38
Monmouth Manufacturing Company, 131,
133
Monmouth Memorial Hospital, 152, 190,
191
Monmouth Militia, 16
Monmouth Paint and Varnish Company,
132
Monmouth Park (racetrack)
Organized, 49; first seasan. 49-50;
description of by Olive Logan. 50-1;
reorganized. 52; Jim Fisk at, 64; in
1880's, 76, 89; re-built, 90-1; campaign
against, 92-7; closed 97; trotting races
at. 117
Monmouth Park Company. 52
Monmouth Park Racing Association, 140
Monmouth Park Railroad Association, 52
Monmouth Patent, 8
Monmouth Racing Association, 89, 94,
96
Monmouth Steamship Company, 24
Morford, George, 19
Morford, Captain John A., 24
Morford, Brown & Company, 107
Morford House, The, 12
Morgenthau, Henry, Sr., 114
Morris, Benjamin P., 108
Morris, Charles E., 155, 186
Morris, Jacob W., 31, 32
Morris, James B., 101
Morris, Mrs. James B., 162
Morris, Mrs. Jennie L., 142
Morris. O. Wolcott, 154, 155
Morris, Samuel C, 38, 100
Morris and Levy, the (hotel), 32
Morris House, 31
Morrissey, John, 62
Mother's Circle, Order of DeMolay. 186
Motion picture theatres, 4, 121
Mount, Captain — , 78
Mulholland, R. Emmett, 155
Municipal Day Nursery, 190
Munro, Norman L., 88
Murphy, U. S. Senator Edward, Jr., 89
Murphy, Governor Franklin, 89
Murphy, Thomas, 46
Mutual Fire Insurance Company, 102
Myenberg, Mrs. John, 192
N
Nastasio, Commissioner Paul, Jr., 154
National Council of Jewish Women,
Long Branch Section, 192
Nazza, Mrs. Joseph, 188
Neaves, Frederick, 188
Negroes
Population percentage, 133; schools
for, 164; religious life of, 174, 181,
183
Neiderhoffer, Sydney L., 155
Neptune Hook and Ladder Company,
No. 1, 147
Neptune Hose Company, No. 1, 147
Newark Sunday Call, on resort revival,
122
New Atlantic Hotel, 137
New Broadway (theatre), 121
Newcomb, Bryant B., 125
New Era, The, wreck of. 33-36
New Era Association, The. 36
New Hollywood Hotel, 137
New Howland Hotel, 137
New Jersey State Racing Commission,
137
New Monmouth Park Hotel, 94
Newspapers
First, 101; in 1880's, 105-6; weeklies,
123-4
Newton, Arthur, 120
New York and Long Branch Railroad,
100
New York Club, 75
New York Seventh Regiment Band, 54
New York Tribune
On hotels, 54; bathing, 56; resort re-
vival, 122
Nickelette Theatre, 121
208
Entertaining a Nation
Nicolls, Colonel Richard, 8
Niles Register, 25
Ninth Regiment of New York Guards, 62
Normanhurst, 88
North America {S.S.) wreck of, 32
North Long Branch, 1, 32
North Long Branch School, 164
Northam, George, 160
Northam, George H., 155
Norwood Park, 89, 114
Oakhurst, 14
Ocean Avenue
Buldngs on in 1851, 33; in 1870*8,
45, 46, 58-9; effect of erosion on,
134; and Boulevard Campaign, 135
Ocean Beach Club, 3
Ocean Club, 76, 138
Ocean Grove, 22,, 59
Ocean Hotel, 116
Ocean House, 32
Ocean House Business Block, 99
Ocean House Cove. 26
Ocean Institute, 162
Ocean Park
Built, 116; casino erected in, 118;
dog racing at, 138
Ocea.n Park Racetrack Association, 138
Ocean Pier, 60
Oceanic Fire Engine Company, No. 1,
147
Oceanic Fire House, 147
Oceanport, 49, 106
Oceanville Cemetery, 14
Oldfield, Barney, 117
Oliver Byron Engine Company, No. 3,
148
Oppenlander, Edward, 189
Order of DeMolay, Monmouth Chap-
ter, 185
Our Martyred President, by James D.
McCabe, on Garfield's illness and
death, 79-82
Overseer of the poor, 142
Pach, Gotthelf, 102
Pach, Gustavus, 102
Pacific Overall Company, 132
Panic of 1837, 30
Pannaci Hotel, 116
Paramount Theatre, 121
Parker, Mrs. — , 120
Parker, B. C, 32
Parker, H. W., 32
Parker, J. W.. 32
Parker, Joseph, 8, 10
Parker, Meribah, 11
Parker, Peter, 8, 10
Parks, 153
Parsons, Hubert T., 129
Pastor, Tony, 109
Patrolmen's Benevolent Association,
Long Branch Local No. 10, 144
Patten Steamship Line, 114, 123
Pavilion Hotel. 38
Pemberton, H. H., 108
Pemberton, John P., 108
Pennsylvania Club
Founded, 62; operated by Phil Daly,
73-5; telephone service for, 104
Pennsylvania Railroad, 100
Perkins, Dr. Elisha, 31
Perot, Elliston, 21
Philadelphia Inquirer, The, on resort
revival, 122
Phil Daly Hose Company No. 2, 148
"Phil, The" (house), 89
Piers
First. 60; 1870-1890, 65, 83; 1900's.
121
Pietz. Charles, 185
Piper, William H., 122
Pitman House, 38
Plager, A. Lawrence, 154, 188
Playgrounds, 154
Pleasure Bay ("Sheep Pen"), 1. 5. 14,
59. 114, 117
Pleasure Bay Hotel, 117
Plymouth Rock, The, 49, 64, 65
"Pole, The"
Erected in Lower Village, 23; erected
in Upper Village, 24; as name for
Long Branch, 24
Police Department, 144-46
Poole, Joseph A., 123
Poole, Richard, 161
Popamora, Chief, 8
Population, growth of, 124, 133
Port-au-Peck, 2, 8
Pot Pie Road (Locust Avenue), IS
Potter, Howard, 46
Potter, J,. 32
Potter, Robert, 26
Presbyterians, 179-80
Presley, Eldon C, 154
Presley, Oliver, 82
Price, Ed., 59
Price. Elisha W., 193
Price's Hotel, 59
Primary School No. 1, 160, 163
Primary School No. 2 ( ' ' J i m ni i t y
Jones"), 160
Prosky, Samuel, 116
Public Library, 142-43
Public Works Administration, 134
Pullman, George, 46
Purcell, Mrs. A., 192
Quakers, 11, 16
Quirk, Frank, 186
R
Raccoon Island (Monmouth Beach), 2,2
Racing
At Monmouth Park {see Monmouth
Park)
Beach. 27
Dog, 137-38
Trotting, 49, 59, 117
Automobile, 117, 139
Rafferty, Martin, 186
Rahner, Rev. Andrew, 183
Red Bank Register, on abolition of rac-
ing, 93
Reed, Abner H., 38
Reformed Dutch Church
Founded, 37; history of, 174-5; list
of pastors, 175
Regular Democratic Woman's Club of
Long Branch, 191
Index
209
Rehm, Harry, 124
Reid, R. Kearney, 155
Religion
Colonial, 19-20; 1840-1860, V\ evan-
gelism, 109; church histories, 169 83;
organizations, 187-88
Remmiscences of an Idler, by Henry
Wikoff, on resort in 1820's, 25
Renshaw, William, 21
Renshaw's Bath House, 21, 28, 31
Reservation, The, 115
Revolutionary War, 16-18
Rhode Island Monmouth Society, 8
Ripandelli, Felix. 186, 193
Riverside Hotel, 114
Riverside Park, 114, 115
Roads
Colonial, IS; turnpike charter, HI
Rockwell, A. F.. 80
Rogers, Edward, 157
Roggins, A. S., 114
Roosevelt, Colonel Theodore, 189
Roosevelt, President Theodore, 128
Rose Novelty Company, 132
Rosen, Joseph F., 145
Rosenfeld, William F., 155
Rosoff. Samuel, 121, 122
Rothenberg (hotel), 107
Rothschild, Monroe, 117
Rothstein, Mrs. M., 191
Rothstein, Samuel, Clothing Company,
131
Round Table, The, on "hops," 55
Royal Arch Masons, Standard Chapter
No. 35, 185
Runyon, Brigadier-General Theodore, 40
Russ, Charles P., 158
Russell, Byron, 193
Russell. Lillian, 89, 91, 120
s
St. James' Chapel (Church of the Presi-
dents), 178
St. James' Church
History of, 177; list of pastors, 178
St. Luke's M. E. Church
History of, 171; list of pastors, 172
St. Mary's, Our Lady Star of the Sea
Academy, 167
St. Mary's, Our Lady Star of the Sea
Church
History of, 175; list of pastors, 176
St. Mary's, Our Lady Star of the Sea
Lyceum, 167
St. Michael's R. C. Church, 176
Saints' Day Celebration, 177
Sair, Mrs. D.. 32
Sair, Obadiah, 31
Sair's (hotel). 28
Salsbury, Nat, 115
Salter, Edwin {see History of Monmouth
and Ocean Counties)
Salvation Army's Seaside Home Me-
morials, 191
San Souci Hotel. 106
Sandy Hookw 34
"Saratoga Spring," 52
Saratoga Springs, 43. 53
Scarboro Hotel, 85, 137
Schenck, J. H. (see Schenck's Guide to
Long Branch)
Schenck, Nicholas, 114
Schenck's Guide to Long Branch
On bathing, 25, 56; storms, 33; busi-
ness, 101; government, 102
Schlaefer, Dean Edward G., 167
Schneider, Francis, 167
Schoenlein, Justice Harry, 36
Schools {see Education)
Schools, Catholic, 167
Scobey, Samuel S., 107
Scott, General Winfield. 43
Scully, Hon. Thomas J., 129
Seaman, Otis R., 134
Seaman, Walter, 41
"Sea Bright Skiffs," 41
Sea Cliff Bathing Establishment of
Within Doors Sea Baths, 57
Sea Rangers, 24
Second Baptist Church
History of, 181; list of ministers, 181
Seligman, James, 88
Seligman, Jesse, 88
Seligman, Joseph, 88
Service Clubs, 187
Seventh Church of Psychic Science, 183
Shade Tree Commission, 154
Shadow Lawn
President Wilson at, 125-29; erected
by John McCall, 125; description of,
126; proposed as permanent summer
capital, 129; burned and rebuilt, 129;
forclosure on, 129
Shadows of Shadow Lawn, The, 128
"Sheep Pen" {see Pleasure Bay)
Shell Dock, 14
Sheridan, General Philip, 47
Sherman, Commissioner Walton, 154
Shields, J. B., 32
Shipwrecks. 33-36, 40
Shore Road (Ocean Avenue), 33
Shrewsbury Handicap Sailing Associa-
tion, 193
Shrewsbury (hotel), 21
Shrewsbury Inlet, 32
Shrewsbury River, 4, 14, 115
Shrewsbury (tavern), 14
Shrewsbury Township, 8, 10, 11, 16
Silberstein, George, 132
Silverman, Rabbi — , 130
Simpson, Mrs. John F., 191
Simpson Memorial M. E. Church
History of, 173, list of pastors, 173
Sims, P. Hal. 135
Slack, Thomas H., 193
Slater, "Doc" Frank, 76
Slocum, Abigail, 41
Slocum, Mrs. Harvey, 192
Slocum, James, 108
Slocum, Janet, 190
Slocum, John
Buys land, 8; wrestles Vow-a-vapon,
9; will of, 11; land owned by, 31
Slocum, Pete, 41, 42
Slocum, Peter, 11
Slocum, William B., 41
Slocum, William H., 24
Slocum, Edward R., & Son, 107
Slocum's Island, 11
Smith, U. S. Senator James, 89
Smith, William, 187
Smith, William M., 155, 166
Smythe, William J., 124
210
Entertaining a Nation
Snagr Swamp, 10
Society for the Improvement of the
Poor. 190
South Shrewsbury Ice Boat and Yacht
Club, 193
Spermaceti Cove, 26, 100
Sports Clubs, 193
Spring Lake, 115
Stacy, John, 35
Star Hotel. 107
Steen, James, 119
Stein. Joseph P., 188
Steinbach, John, 108
Steinbach Bros., Department Store
Founded, 107; fire in. 148
Stetson, Charles, 103. 146
Stetson, J. M. P., 100
Stetson House
Grant at, 46; and racing. 51; rated
by Charles Sweetster, 52; founded, 53
Stevenson, Henry A., 187
Stockton, P. A.. 33
Stokes, Edward S., 63, 66
Stokes, Woolman. 99, 100
Stokes' Hotel, 38
Stone. Charles T.
Place in educational history. 159;
campaigns for better schools. 165-66
Strand (theatre), 121
Stratton, J. A., 118
Streets, 111-12, 152
Stults. Jacob, 105
Stults, Robert Morrison, 105
Stults, W. Jacob, 101
Surf House. 38
Sussman, Allan Warwick, 186
Sutphin, Hon. William H., 188
Swaim, General — , 80
Sweeney, Mgr. John J., 176
Sweetster, Charles H., on hotels, 52
Taber's Hill. 23
Tabor and Newing, 107
Takanassee Beach Club, 3
Takanassee Hotel, 116
Takanassee Lake, 43, 84, 103
Tall Cedars of Lebanon, Long Branch
Forest No. 40, 186
Tammany Club, 194
Tattle Tale, The, on "hops," 54
Tayleure, Clifton W., 105
Taylor Jr.. Frank M.. 105
Taylor, Joseph W., 108
Taylor, Moses, 46. 180
Taxpayer and Workingman, The, 123
Telegraph Service, 99
Telephone Service, 104
Temperance movement, 108
Terhune, Mrs. Lila B., 190
Terhune, Henry S., 108
Theatre, 109, 114
Theatre Comique, 109
Thompson, William J., 95
Throckmorton, LeRoy, 155
Throckmorton, W., 32
Tilton, Edward L., 143
Tim. Louis B.. 155
Tories, 16
Tragic Era, The. by Claude Bowers
On Grant at hotels, 46; on bathing,
57
Transportation
Roads: new boulevard, 5, 134; 18th
century, 14, 15, 21; in 1830's, 29
Railroads: 37, 38, 100
Steamboats: 60, 123
Trezoglou, Mrs. Nicholas, 188
Trinity M. E. Church
History of, 174; list of pastors, 174
Trojan Garment Company, 132
Trolley Service, 106
Trollope, Mrs. Francis
0.n Long Branch in 1830's, 27; "bath-
ing machines," 28
Troutman, N. W., 32
Troutman's School, 161
Tumulty, Joseph, 128
Tunney, Gene. 135
Turf, Field and Farm, an racing, 49
Turtle Mill Brook, 10, 14
Tweed, "Boss" William, 50
u
Unions, 133
U.nited Sheeplined Clothing Company,
132
United Spanish War Veterans, Colonel
Theodore Roosevelt Camp No. 34, 189
United States Housing Authority, 139
United States Post Office, 156-58
United States Weather Bureau, 158
Upper Village, 4, 23
Valentine, C. H., 32
Van Brunt, Cornelius, 19
Van Brunt, D., 32
Van Bru-nt, Henry, 48
Van Brunt, Mrs. William, 185
Vanderbilt, William K., 74
Van Derveer, A. T., 107
Vanderveer, Cornelius, 49, 102, 144
Van Dike. E.. 32
Van Dyke, Lem, 48
Van Winkle Jr., Marshall, 193
VanWyk, Rev. Herbert, 175
Vaugoin, Ferdinand, 188
Vendome-Plaza Hotel, 137
Verrazano, Giovanni da, 7
Veterans of Foreign Wars, Long Branch
Memorial Post No. 2795, 188
\'eterans' Organizations, 188-89
Vick, Rev. James O., 174
Victoria (hotel), 107
Vincelli, Mrs. Frank, 186
Viracola, Michael A., 141
Vogel, Abraham, 187
Vogel, Mrs. Abraham, 192
Vow-a-vapon, 8. 9 ,
w
Wagner, Rev. James, 172
Wagner, William. 189
Walker. Louis, 188
Wallack, James W., 43
Wallack, John Lester
Visits resort, 43; clothes described by
Long Branch News, 69; as water
company incorporator, 103
Wallack, Lester, Jr., 43
Index
211
Walsh Act. 124
War of 1812. 20, 23
Warden, Captain — ,36
Wardell. Benjamin. 160
Wardell, Eliakira
Buys land, 8; settlement by, 10; per-
secution of, 11; appointed sheriff, 11
Wardell, Chief Fred A., 154
Wardell, J., 32
Wardell, Joel, 12
Wardell, Joseph D., 31
Wardell. Lydia, 10
Wardell, Mrs. Richard, 31
Wardell, W. H.. 32
Warden's Beach, 32
Warden's (hotel), 28. 31
Warden's Lainding, 14
Wards, 155-6
Warner, James. 185
Warwick, Mrs. Connie, 186
Warwick, Leo J., 154
Washington Hall, 142. 144
Water, 103, 104
Watson, John F., 27
Weinstein, Irving, 188
Weinstein, Mrs. Irving, 192
Well Baby Cllinic, 190
Werts, Governor George T., 95
West, Elisha
In North Long Branch, 32; owns
Pleasure Bay House, 59
West, J., 32
West, George, 20
West, George E., 69
West, Haight, 51
West, Harold N.. 155
West, Mrs. Jennie May, 192
West End. 1
West End Casino, 3
West End Engine Company No. 3,
147
West End Hotel
Erected, 73; supplies food for work-
ers on track to Francklyn Cottage, 7S ;
installs telephone, 104; torn down,
116
West Long Branch, 119, 129
Western Union, 99
Wetmore, George Peabody, 52
Whale Brook Pond (Lake Takaaiassee) ,
14, 26, 103
Whearty, Susan, 104
Wheeler, Holmes, 105
Wheeler's Trotting Park, 49
White. B.. 32
White, John A.. 126
White, Captain Philip, 17, 21
White. Winiam. 186
Whitlick, Thaddeus W.. 24
WUde, Oscar. 87
Williams, Rev. H. G.. 37
Williamson. Jefferson {see American
Hotel. The)
Wilson, C. V. N., 107
WUson, Rev. J. B., 162
Wilson, Rev. James. 174
Wilson, Washington, 136
Wilson, President Woodrow
Residence at Shadow Lawn, 125-29;
contrasted with Grant, 126; "Notifica-
tion Day" speech, 127; exploitation
by Chamber of Commerce, 127; presi-
dential campaign of 1916, 128-9
Wilson, Mrs. Woodrow, 128
Witek, Anthony, 189
Withers, David D., 52
Witt, Rev. C. H., 173
Wolcott, George Thurston, 130
Wolf Hill, 14
Wolfson, Samuel, 188
Woman's Christian Temperance Union,
192
Woman's Club of Long Branch, 191
Women's Clubs. 191-93
Wood, James W.. 42
Wood, John. 160
Wooding, J. Arthur, 154
Wool ley Family, 19
Woolley, B. Drummond, 154
Woolley, Sheriff John, 41
Woolley, Mrs. Jordan, 142
Woolley, Mayor Marshall, 143
Woolley, Sam. 41
Woolley, Mrs. Walter W., 186
Woolley, WiHis A., 185
Woolson, John, 37
Works Projects Administration (see
Works Progress Administration)
Works Progress Administration
And city streets, 152; adult education
program, 167; co-sponsor of day nurs-
ery. 190
World War, 128, 130
Wright, Mrs. Bartley, 190
Wright, Bessie. 117
Wright, Howard, 44
Wyckoff. Richard, 20
Yard, James B., 101
Young, Rev. Charles J., 81
Young Men's Christian Association, 187
Young Men's Hebrew Association, 188
Young Women's Hebrew Association,
188
Zionism, 192
Ziska, Cecesre, 194
Ziska, George, 188
Zoning, 153
Zuckman, Mrs. Samuel, 192
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