Fenwick Island Land Company
company · founded 1906
Organised in 1906 with offices in Baltimore and Wilmington and Pennsylvania and Delaware capital, to develop Fenwick Island — partly in Maryland, partly in Delaware, eight miles north of Ocean City — as a summer resort. By April it had acquired about 2,300 of the island's roughly 3,000 acres and was negotiating for the rest; by October it reported control of about 2,000 acres, building lots laid out and arrangements made for a large hotel. George F. Taylor of West Chester, Pa. was president and William M. Rosenberger secretary-treasurer. Its scheme depended on the Baltimore and Ocean City monorail, which was to run through the island and south to Ocean City. Deeds from the company to individual buyers, including lots on Stokley Avenue in 'Fenwick City', appear in the Worcester County transfer column from February 1906.
Fenwick Island's first land boom, in the same file as a monorail that never ran.
In the record (2)
1906 · 1906-04-21
The Fenwick Island Land Company buys 2,300 of the island's 3,000 acres and plans two hotels eight miles up the beach.
"Closely associated with the movement to build a mono-rail electric line from Baltimore to Ocean City is a plan to develop Fenwick Island, and make it a summer resort. It is proposed to build the railroad through Fenwick Island and south to Ocean City, eight miles away." The company had acquired about 2,300 of the island's roughly 3,000 acres and was closing on the rest, with offices in Baltimore and Wilmington and Pennsylvania and Delaware capital behind it; two hotels were planned "without delay." George F. Taylor of West Chester, Pa. was president and William M. Rosenberger secretary-treasurer; the other directors were John H. Long, Horace J. Hickman, B. Frank Wagaman, C. P. Darby, Ralph F. Swarts and Nathan Supplee. Until then the island's only regular use was the Fenwick Island camp meeting, poorly attended "owing to the fact that the island is without railroad connection with the outside world." By 20 October the company reported control of about 2,000 acres — 1,200 cleared land and beach, 800 woodland — building lots laid out, and arrangements made for "the erection of a large hotel." Deeds to individual buyers from the company appear in the Worcester County transfer column from February onward. The July deadline passed with nothing built, but the scheme was still alive in December: "Several New Yorkers visited Ocean City last week to inspect the route for the proposed trolley line to be constructed next year from Ocean City to Fenwick City" (Democratic Messenger, 15 December 1906) — by then described as a trolley line, not a monorail.
Fenwick Island's first subdivision, sold on the promise of a monorail that never came.
The Baltimore and Ocean City Railway Company
Source · checked 2026-08-06
1921
Two land companies plan three brand-new resort towns north of Ocean City - Wight City, Seabay and Fenwick City - with a beach highway and a bus line to the railroad.
The Cambridge Daily Banner of 15 October 1921: surveys "up the beach past the Delaware line, are now being made by direction of the Isle of Wight and the Fenwick Island Land Companies. Bids are to be asked this week for the construction of four miles of this highway and it is the intention of the companies, which are said to be backed by New York, Philadelphia and Wilmington financiers, to open up their tract from two miles beyond Ocean City to the Delaware line in the spring. Two of the towns to be laid out will be in Maryland, while the third will be beyond the Delaware line. Wight City will be about two miles up the beach from Ocean City, while Seabay will be about five miles away. The company will take over Fenwick, which at present is termed little more than a lighthouse and campground, and make from it a summer rendezvous to be known as Fenwick City, Del. The beach where the new resorts are being planned is said to be much wider than at Ocean City, in some places reaching a breadth of three-quarters of a mile. The transportation problem, it is understood, will be solved by a bus line which the company contemplates running, should the plans bear fruit. This line would connect with the Baltimore, Chesapeake and Atlantic Railway, at Ocean City. Robert C. Wilker, architectural engineer of Washington and Salisbury, has been retained by the promoters as their engineer."
Baltimore, Chesapeake & Atlantic Railway
Source · checked 2026-08-10