Atlantic city boardwalk

Atlantic City Boardwalk

By atlanticcityboardwalk

  • Railroad Construction Begins

    Railroad Construction Begins
    In the early 1850s, Dr. Jonathan Pitney, an Absecon resident, felt that the island would make a good health resort. However, he realized it would need better access. He and his partner Richard Osborn began the construction of the Camden-Atlantic City Railroad. (http://traveltips.usatoday.com/history-atlantic-city-boardwalk-20055.html)

  • Camden & Amboy R.R. Complete

    Camden & Amboy R.R. Complete
    On July 5, 1854, the first tourist train arrived from Camden, New Jersey. (http://traveltips.usatoday.com/history-atlantic-city-boardwalk-20055.html)

  • Tourism Explodes in A.C.

    Tourism Explodes in A.C.
    The island quickly became a popular vacation spot; luxurious hotels and cheap rooming houses sprung up all over town. However, sand was a major problem: Visitors would track it everywhere, including railroad cars and the lobbies of expensive hotels.

  • Boardwalk Built

    Boardwalk Built
    “In 1870,” says Atlantic City Online, “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.” He and hotel owner Jacob Keim presented the idea of a boardwalk to the city council. Running from the beach to the town, and costing half of Atlantic City’s 1870 tax revenue, an 8-foot-wide boardwalk was built

  • Wider Boardwalk Built

    Wider Boardwalk Built
    In 1880, it was replaced by a larger version. (http://traveltips.usatoday.com/history-atlantic-city-boardwalk-20055.html)

  • Miss USA Pagent

    Miss USA Pagent
    As an attempt to keep tourists around past Labor Day, a beauty contest was held on September 8 and 9, 1921. At first called the Atlantic City Pageant, the contests quickly became nationally famous.

  • WWII

    WWII
    Convention Hall, on the Boardwalk, was made a U.S. Army training facility during the Second World War. Reports AtlanticCityNJ.com, “Squads of armed forces could be seen marching up and down the boards. Mock beachfront invasions and war bond rallies were common as well.” http://traveltips.usatoday.com/history-atlantic-city-boardwalk-20055.html

  • Celebrities on Boardwalk

    Celebrities on Boardwalk
    In the decades after the war, the Boardwalk was popular with celebrities. “Some famous feet to tread upon the boards,” says AtlanticCityNJ.com, “included Marilyn Monroe, Jimmy Durante, Ed Sullivan, Joe DiMaggio, Frank Sinatra, Milton Berle, Dean Martin and Bing Crosby. The Beatles ate the city's world-famous subs on it. Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon opened a bowling alley” there. (http://traveltips.usatoday.com/history-atlantic-city-boardwalk-20055.html)

  • First Casino

    First Casino
    The rise of cheap air travel, an increasingly sophisticated population and a general demographic shift away from the Northeast led to a sharp decline in Atlantic City’s fortunes in the late 1960s. In 1978, the first casino was opened in an attempt to reverse this decline, bringing Atlantic City back to prominence in a different form. (http://traveltips.usatoday.com/history-atlantic-city-boardwalk-20055.html)