TIME MACHINE ... "It exists only on paper and in the imagination of its founders."

(Reader-friendly viewing of newspaper archives material)

　

April, 1880

(The New York Times)

MARYLAND'S SEASIDE RESORT

THE RAPID GROWTH AND MANY ATTRACTIONS OF OCEAN CITY

Ocean City, Md., March 31.- On the morning of Dec. 29, 1874, THE TIMES was sent the first letter ever written for publication from this place. The first paragraph of that letter read: "I write from where the Ocean House is to be, and not from where it is. Atlantic Ocean City is purely an American city. It exists only on paper and in the imagination of its founders. It is situated on the Synapuxant Beach, (newspaper spelling) about 20 miles below Lewes, and is intended by its founders to be a sea-side summer resort for Baltimorians, and a Winter resort for gunners from New York and Philadelphia." The dream of the originators of that sea-side city has been fully realized, and what then was a barren waste of sand is now covered by many hotels and private cottages. The Ocean House, the largest and best appointed hotel on the beach, had, last year sleeping accommodations for upwards of 500 guests, and dining arrangements for as many more. This season's preparations are being rapidly pushed to a conclusion, and when that house is opened this Summer it will have sleeping accommodations for upward of 800 guests, and will have dining-room and kitchen capacity for furnishing upward of 400 meals an hour. The Massey House, which stands just across the street from the Ocean House, can readily accommodate several hundred people, while the "Lynch" and the "Ayers" are also large and well kept houses. Besides, there are several other very good hotels in Ocean City, while the Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore Railway Company owns a very large and pretty excursion house, or pavilion, built by that company for the accommodation of excursion parties brought by the company during the season to this city. During the past season excursions to Ocean City from all parts of this peninsula became very popular, and it was estimated that on some days last year not less than 20,000 people visited this place on these excursion trains. On one particular day, (a day made memorable by the death, by drowning, of Senator Fords, of Queen Anne's County, who at the cost of his own life, saved a young lady from that death,) excursion trains were made up to run directly to this point at Washington, at Baltimore, at Wilmington, at Philadelphia, and from off the Kent County Railroad, the Maryland and Delaware Railroad, and from the Maryland Extension Railroad.

(Many more details about Ocean City in 1880 coming up in Part 2 of this article next week!)

　

June, 1955

Numerous correspondents from surrounding communities near Pocomoke City contributed news of interest from their respective areas to Pocomoke's local newspaper, The Worcester Democrat, and were recognized in a 1955 seventy-fifth anniversary edition of the paper:

Mappsville area... Mrs. Anna Roberts

Cokesbury area... Mrs. Mildred Beauchamp

Snow Hill area... Mrs. Flossie H. Richardson

Beaverdam area... Mrs. Margaret Holland (contributing her column for 40 years)

Wattsville area... Mrs. Hazel Collins

Chincoteague area... Mrs. Kay Connor　

　

December, 1968

Pocomoke City residents were remembering Miss Mildred Schoolfield who passed away at age 65. Miss Schoolfield served as Pocomoke's town clerk for 30 years until her retirement six months earlier.　

　

ACROSS THE USA

May, 1893

Iowa Postal Card(Newspaper)- Fayette, Iowa

Miss Susan B. Anthony declares that we are on the eve of an era of unmarried women. The grounds for her opinion are that under modern social conditions young women are becoming more and more self-dependent.

　

　

Do you have a local memory to share with PPE readers.. such as a big snow storm, a favorite school teacher, a local happening, something of interest your parents or grandparents told you about? It can be just a line or two or more if you wish. Your name won't be used unless you ask that it be. Send to tkforppe@yahoo.com and watch for it on a future TIME MACHINE posting!