M. J. McDermott

In the record (5)

1. 1937 · 1937-04-15

   Ocean City's sewage plant went into operation in April 1937 with the first under-water sewage grinders in Maryland, and put the town's effluent into its own inlet

   'Operation of the new PWA sewerage system and treatment plant at Ocean City will begin this week,' the consulting engineer Clark Gardner told the Messenger on 15 April 1937. The description is the fullest the campaign has of what was actually built. 'The intercepting sewer, constructed along Philadelphia avenue, consists of 7,750 lineal feet of cast iron pipe, varying in diameter from 12 to 20 ins., laid below mean high water of the Sinepuxent Bay.' The treatment plant stood 'on St. Louis Avenue between North First and North Second Sts.' and was 'capable of handling a maximum of 3,000,000 gallons of sewage a day.' 'Among the outstanding devices employed in the new plant are the units for grinding the raw sewage under water. After grinding the sewage is chlorinated in wet wells, and is discharged through a force main to the inlet. The under-water grinding devices, Gardner said, are the first to be used in Maryland.' The engineering problems he named were 'the extreme variation in sewage flow because of the large differential in summer and winter population, and ... the water pressure at the outlet, 16 feet below the level of the bay.' The works were 'formally turned over to the Mayor and Council on Tuesday of this week', the Messenger reported on 20 May, and 'Mr. Frank Tyre has been appointed Plant Superintendent by the Mayor and Council.' The council's own Resolutions of Acceptance followed on 30 April for the sewers and 8 June for the plant.

   The inlet the 1933 hurricane opened had been the fishing fleet's harbour mouth for four years. From April 1937 it was also the town's outfall.

   Ocean City Inlet & JettyFederal Emergency Administration of Public WorksA. Stanley Mundy & Co., Inc.Clark GardnerFrank TyreW. Thomas Elliott

   Source · checked 2026-08-11

2. 1937 · 1937-04-26

   The sewage plant ran eight months late because the contractor could not get cinders and brick, and because the Board of Health made him keep sewage out of the water mains

   A typed resolution of 26 April 1937 sets out the whole history of the delay in the contractor's favour. 'M. J. McDermott under contract NO.2 started work on August 26th 1936 Docket Md.1065-2R Sewerage Treatment Plant and on Jan 4th 1937 time extended to April 26th 1937.' Two reasons are given for a further extension: '#1 Inability to obtain certain materials to meet specifications (cinders, brick, etc.)'; and '#2 - It became necessary, because of stipulation by the State Board of Health, to have the Roberts Filter Mfg. Co., Sub Contractor, design and submit for approval certain mechanical equipment to prevent the backing up of sewerage into the city water lines.' The council extended the time to 26 May 1937 and 'waive[d] the liquidated damages specified in said contract relative to failure to complete the work in time', directing that 'the State Director be advised of this action'. It was signed by Mayor W. Thomas Elliott, by William H. Scott as President of the City Council, and certified by J. M. Mumford.

   A resort that had just voted 104 to 1 to put sewers in the sand was, eighteen months later, still waiting on a delivery of cinders - and on a Philadelphia filter company to invent a way of stopping the sewage getting into the drinking water.

   Roberts Filter Manufacturing CompanyMaryland State Board of HealthFederal Emergency Administration of Public WorksM. J. McDermottW. Thomas ElliottWilliam H. ScottJohn M. Mumford

   Source · checked 2026-08-11

3. 1937 · 1937-06-08

   On 8 June 1937 Ocean City accepted its sewage treatment plant, and the two-year job the town had voted 104 to 1 for was finished

   Dr. F. J. Townsend offered the resolution and W. Preston Laws seconded it, and it passed unanimously: the Mayor and City Council 'have accepted as satisfactory - Subject to prior acceptance by the Consulting Engineer - Sewerage Treatment Plant, Force mains, and Appurtenances recently Constructed at Ocean City, Maryland, by M. J. McDermott, of Georgetown, Delaware, under Contract #2 PWA Docket NO Md. 1065-2R.' The clerk was again to notify the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works. McDermott had bid $74,510.48 as the low bidder on 26 June 1936 and started work on 26 August 1936; the plant was in the ground in ten months and had been running long enough by 15 April 1937 for the council to decide it did not need the manufacturer's man to stay on and give instruction. The system had cost the town $61,000 of federal bonds, an $8,250 cash contribution of its own and a federal grant that had been raised to $56,659.

   The 1936 pass closed with the sewer '70 per cent complete' and a hole where the answer should be. This is the answer, in the town's own hand: accepted, 8 June 1937, from the low bidder of the previous June.

   Federal Emergency Administration of Public WorksM. J. McDermottFrancis J. TownsendW. Preston LawsW. Thomas ElliottJohn M. MumfordClark Gardner

   Source · checked 2026-08-11

4. 1937 · 1937-12-14

   Ocean City ended 1937 by buying a second sewer: $6,921.15 to put an eight-inch line down the west side of Philadelphia Avenue

   The PWA system had served the ocean side. On 9 November the secretary was ordered to ask the engineer Clark Gardner when he could meet the council 'and decide on what could be done on Connecting sewer on west side of Phila. ave'. On 16 November Gardner and Dallas went over the plans and it was decided to ask for bids 'for Connecting up with new Sewer 8" leaving present lines for Storm Drains'. On 14 December the bids were opened in front of the three contractors themselves - 'Mr. McDermott of Georgetown Del., Munday of Bridgeton N.J., Clark Gardner, Dallas of Salisbury' were all present - and read: A. Stanley Mundy $7,625.30, M. J. McDermott $7,373.50, George & Lynch $6,921.15, each with a certified cheque for $500. Dr. Townsend moved and Laws seconded, and the contract went to George & Lynch. The same evening the council released W. C. Pool from a sewer easement taken on his land in November 1929, 'as the City has no use for a sewer crossing any of the property on West Side of Phila ave', and told Mrs. Kuhit it would put in the necessary sewer on 8th Street when she was ready to build.

   George & LynchA. Stanley Mundy & Co., Inc.Clark GardnerM. J. McDermottFrancis J. TownsendW. Preston LawsW. C. Pool

   Source · checked 2026-08-11

5. 1945 · 1945-12-26

   Ocean City opened two bids for its post-war water main extension five days before the end of 1945 and threw them both out as too dear.

   The council met on the evening of Friday 21 December to open bids on the water main extension, with Clark Gardner, Purnell and Messick of the engineers present, a Mr. McDermott representing George & Lynch, and two men representing a second contractor. Bids were opened from the two bidders and, after reading, held for consideration until Thursday 27 December, the certified checks with them. But on 26 December the council discussed them and decided the price was too high; on motion by John B. Lynch, seconded by R. Dolle, the bids were rejected and the certified checks returned to the bidders. The project had begun with a $200 survey agreement in December 1944 and had the State's acceptance and half its engineering paid; Ocean City entered 1946 with plans, an unadopted zoning ordinance and no water contract.

   Unverified — sourced but not confirmed against a primary record.

   George & LynchClark GardnerJohn B. LynchRudolph Dolle

   Source · checked 2026-08-12