City Of Atlantic City history

Development of the island as a summer resort was first envisioned by physician Jonathan Pitney, who arrived about 1820 and wanted to establish a health resort.

Robert B. Leeds, born in Atlantic City on May 2, 1828, was the city’s first postmaster.

By the year 1850, there were seven permanent dwellings on the island, all but one which were owned by descendants of Jeremiah Leeds.

In 1852, construction began on the Camden-Atlantic City Railroad.

Atlantic City was officially incorporated on May 1, 1854, carving sections of the city from nearby Egg Harbor Township and Galloway.

The first public school was opened in 1858 at Maryland and Arctic Ave.

In 1870, Alexander Boardman, a conductor on the Atlantic City-Camden Railroad, was asked to think up a way to keep the sand out of the hotels and rail cars.

1876 - Easter Parade The Easter Parade is held on the Boardwalk for the first time.

June 16, 1880, Atlantic City was formally opened.

The Atlantic City Beach Patrol opened in August 1881, posting strict 9am to 5pm bathing hours.

As its popularity increased, Colonel George W. Howard constructed the world's first ocean amusement pier in 1882, a 650-foot long structure located off the boardwalk, into the Atlantic Ocean.

By 1883, the city had built its first school on Texas Ave., at a cost of $25,000.

The rolling chair, introduced in 1884, was the only vehicle allowed on the Boardwalk, which was soon extended by enormous amusement piers such as Steel Pier, visible in the background of the photograph above.1

1887 Rolling chairs debuted on the Boardwalk.

Flooding and power outages nearby forced the closure of the New York Stock Exchange, the longest weather-related closure of the exchange since 1888.

On Sunday September 9, 1889, a devastating hurricane hit the island, destroying the boardwalk.

The 4th Boardwalk was dedicated May 10, 1890.

In 1895 a visitor returning from Europe introduced to local merchants German-style picture postcards which instantly became popular on Atlantic City souvenir stands.

The 5th Boardwalk was dedicated July 8, 1896.

Steel Pier, first opened in 1898, was a noted entertainment area.

Inventing Entertainment: Early Motion Pictures and Sound Recordings from the Thomas A. Edison Companies contains two panoramic films of a moving boardwalk, or platform mobile, a novelty featured at the 1900 Paris Exposition.

The more daring bloomer suits and stockings worn by these bathing beauties were not introduced until 1907.

The structure was described in 1909 by a travel writer for a national magazine as "overwhelming in its crudeness—barbaric, hideous and magnificent." Roughly paralleling Atlantic and Pacific avenues, the boardwalk is 60 feet wide and home to a variety of shops, amusement stands, and eateries.

Atlantic City’s famous Jitney service started up in 1915, with a ride around town costing just 5 cents.

The name "airport" was coined to designate Edward L. Bader Field, which opened in 1919.

From the Montefiore True Sisters, who provided food baskets to the needy, evolved the Federation of Jewish Agencies, founded in 1923 to coordinate all fundraising, budgeting, and community planning for local, national, and overseas agencies.

The Atlantic City Auditorium/Convention Hall on the boardwalk opened in 1929.

Martin Couney, an early advocate of neonatal care, starts an infant incubator exhibit on the Boardwalk, saving hundreds of tiny babies before it closed in 1943.

A 1944 hurricane washed away nearly half the boardwalk, but it was quickly rebuilt.

The first ripple of change in the city’s future came in 1970.

Since 1975, the casinos have funneled $7 billion back into the city's economy in addition to creating some 55,000 jobs.

In 1976, the "Atlantic City Gamble " was launched when New Jersey voters approved a referendum legalizing gambling in Atlantic City, but not elsewhere in the state.

The first Atlantic City casino (Resorts Atlantic City) opened in 1978.

Property in Atlantic City was valued at $6 billion by 1988.

In 1989, the median income of the city was $12,017 compared with a New Jersey statewide median of $18,870.

In 1990, the pier reopened as a family entertainment facility under the auspices of the Trump Taj Mahal complex.

Opened in 1999, the $4 million Atlantic City Visitor Welcome Center, located on the expressway just outside the city, provides guests with up-to-date information on hotels, restaurants, attractions, shopping, festivals, events, and regional cultural and historical sites.

Billboard magazine named Boardwalk Hall, renovated in 2001, as the top-grossing midsize arena in the United States.

Atlantic City is home to the Jewish Older Adult Services agency and in nearby Galloway Township the Seashore Gardens Living Center accommodates both assisted living and long-term care in a magnificent facility opened in 2003.

Now one of the nation's top tourist attractions, the city boasts 13 gambling casino/hotels, which attracted 33 million visitors in 2004.

For fiscal year 2005, the city has $2,736,159 budgeted for redevelopment and improvements.

The high winds and torrential rains that buffeted parts of southern Haiti also destroyed crops and blew away or washed away thousands of tents and temporary structures that were being used to house refugees from the Haiti earthquake of 2010.

On October 29, 2012, Hurricane Sandy made landfall at the New Jersey shore, causing extensive damage; in Atlantic City, it destroyed large portions of the Boardwalk, severely eroded the beach, and inundated some four-fifths of the city.

In the immediate aftermath of the storm, property damage was estimated at between $30 billion and $50 billion; however, this estimate had grown to $71.4 billion by 2014.