PINE BEACH HISTORY
(condensed from Pine
Beach Yesterdays by Stanley A.. Heatley)
During the summer of 1908, Robert M.
Horter, while vacationing at the Windward Yacht Club in Riverbank, learned
the wooded acreage destined to become Pine Beach was for sale. The price
was $10,000. The railroad from Philadelphia to Bay Head, with its Island
Heights junction station, bisected the tract which extended from the river
to the state highway.
By the time he returned to Philadelphia,
Horter envisioned a restricted summer colony of waterfront cottages.
George Kelly a wealthy Philadelphia department store owner became
interested and agreed to finance the venture.
In 1909 Horter’s dream crystallized with
the formation of the Pine Beach Improvement Company. Surveys and maps
laying out the streets were completed quickly. Easter Sunday, April 11,
1909 marked the arrival of the first special train, loaded with
free-riding prospective buyers. The train switched over to the Island
Heights branch, parked on the middle of the trestle crossing the river
long enough for its passengers to absorb the panoramic view and for Horter
to give a sales talk to his captive group of customers. By the year’s
end, 109 deeds had been recorded and 22 dwellings had been built. In
1910, the Pine Beach Inn, a 75-room hotel, was built.
Pine Beach continued as a part of
Berkeley Township for 15 years, with its few voters put to the
inconvenience of traveling down to Bayville each election to cast their
ballots for native office holders who had little interest in summer folk
beyond their taxes.
Over the years, the Pine Beach property
owners had come to realize they were not getting an adequate return for
their tax dollars. Streets were going from bad to worse, street lighting
was inadequate; police and fire protection were nil; garbage and rubbish
were buried in the back yard. These were some of the factors which
brought about the decision of the Pine Beach Lot Owners Association that
the time come for Pine Beach to become a Borough.
A referendum was held on March 27, 1925
and with a vote of 63 in favor, 16 against, Pine Beach became a Borough.
The referendum was followed by a special election on April 21, 1925 to
select the new Borough officers who were to serve through the balance of
the year. Of the 95 ballots cast, 4 were rejected. The winning
candidates were:
Mayor |
LeRoy Hutchinson |
Councilmen |
Dr. Sidney Repplier |
John Mergenthaler |
Chris GT. Bauer, Sr. |
Halsey Camburn |
Lambert K. Schauer |
Charles Creamer |
The newly elected officers met and
organized on April 27, 1925 at the Pine Beach Yacht Club. What the
freshmen Mayor and Council lacked in experience in public office, they
made up for in sound business judgment and a selfless interest in their
new responsibilities. THEM WAS THE
DAYS
A personal memoir by Allan Lake Rice circ 1910
Ever wonder what it was
like, back at the beginning when Pine Beach and the century were both
young?
I went there first as a four-year-old, to
spend the Fourth of July at Pine Beach Inn, now Admiral Farragut Academy,
just opened as one of the flashy resort hotels of the Jersey Coast. It
was a top-flight hostelry and it was jammed.
Dad was beaming from ear to ear at the
beauty of the river, and remarked about it to a dour native who was
stolidly chewing a straw. The dour one calmly removed his straw hat and
spat.
“Wa-al, she’s a nice stretch o’watter,
but they hain’t no feesh into her”
Return to Main Page
|