History

Ocean City Amusement Pier Corporation

company · founded 1926

Chartered in December 1926 with authorised capital of $160,000, about $120,000 of it to be paid in at the start of construction, to rebuild the Ocean City pier destroyed by the fire of 29 December 1925. It bought the franchise of the old pier company. President Clarence W. Whealton of Salisbury; vice-president B. F. Shipley, Ocean City; secretary and treasurer R. R. Dennis, Ocean City. The design, by the Washington architect Robert N. Walker, put 300 feet of frontage on a boardwalk pavilion, a theatre seating 1,000 — 'the largest auditorium at the resort' — and bowling alleys in front, and a fishing pier at the rear reaching forty feet beyond the bar, the whole not to exceed 750 feet into the ocean under the town's ordinance.

In the record (3)

  1. 1926 · 1926-12-04

    A $160,000 corporation is chartered in December to rebuild the pier on the old site, with a 1,000-seat theatre and bowling alleys.

    Worcester Democrat, 4 December 1926, 'AMUSEMENT PIER WILL BE ERECTED AT OCEAN CITY — Incorporation Papers Granted Pier Amusement Co. Construction Starts Soon — SITE TO BE SAME AS FOR THE OLD PIER': 'Incorporation papers have been granted to the Ocean City Amusement Pier Corporation, with an authorized capital of $160,000. About $120,000 of the amount will be paid in when construction starts within the next month. The new corporation has purchased the franchise of the pier company whose property was damaged by fire at the resort last December.' Officers: president, Clarence W. Whealton of Salisbury; vice-president, B. F. Shipley, Ocean City; secretary and treasurer, R. R. Dennis, Ocean City. The town's ordinance granting the building permit required construction to start within thirty days, set the building line fifty feet west of the boardwalk and capped the pier at 750 feet into the ocean. Plans by Robert N. Walker, a Washington architect: 300 feet of frontage on a pavilion built out from the main boardwalk, a fishing pier at the rear reaching forty feet beyond the bar, and in the front portion a theatre and bowling alleys — 'The former will have a seating capacity of 1,000 and will be the largest auditorium at the resort. The theater and pavilion will provide much needed facilities for conventions, for which the resort is host for no small number during the summer season.' To be finished for the opening of the season 'late in June'.

    Ocean City Pier and Improvement CompanyClarence W. Whealton

    Source · checked 2026-08-06

  2. 1928 · 1928-03-21

    In March 1928 Dr. Charles Washington Purnell announces the Sinepuxent Pier and Improvement Company — a fishing pier AND an amusement pier — the fourth attempt to replace the pier the 1925 fire took.

    Smyrna Times, 21 March 1928: "In line with other improvements which are being made at Ocean City, Md., announcement was made last week by Dr. Charles Washington Purnell that the Sinepuxent Pier and Improvement Company is laying plans for the construction of a fishing pier and an amusement pier for this resort." The Ocean City Amusement Pier Corporation chartered in December 1926 under Clarence W. Whealton of Salisbury, with $160,000 of authorised capital and thirty days to break ground, does not appear in the 1928 corpus at all; the man now announcing a pier is the owner of the Atlantic Hotel. The only other 1928 mentions of an Ocean City amusement pier in the entire corpus are a Washington Daily News motoring feature of 23 May and this item. THE PIER EXISTS BY 1930 and is described on 18 June as "the old Ocean City pier, which burned down, was replaced by a 700-foot ocean fishing pier fronting Atlantic av." — a length matching the standard June-1929 franchise account exactly. But NO CONTEMPORARY SOURCE NAMES THE BUILDER, and "sinepuxent pier" is still zero pages across 1929–31.

    1926 ended with a pier company on paper and a promise of a June 1927 opening. 1928 opens with a different company, a different promoter and two piers instead of one. The standard account of Ocean City's pier dates the Sinepuxent Pier and Improvement Company to June 1929, when it obtained its franchise from the town — but here it is announcing plans fifteen months earlier, and announcing them through the proprietor of the Atlantic, not through the Salisbury lawyer who held the 1926 charter.

    Pier Ballroom & Bandshell SiteSinepuxent Pier and Improvement CompanyDr. Charles Washington PurnellClarence W. Whealton

    Source · checked 2026-08-06

  3. 1931 · 1931-07-08

    Fifteen hundred firemen fill the Ocean City Pier Convention Hall, 8-10 July 1931 — the pier is not only standing, it is the town's assembly room.

    Washington Times, 9 July 1931: "Although the OCEAN CITY PIER CONVENTION HALL was crowded at the opening session last night, delegates and units from State towns continued to arrive throughout the night and morning and it is expected that more than 1,500 firemen will attend the sessions tonight." The Maryland State Volunteer Firemen's Association met at Ocean City on 8, 9 and 10 July, with delegations from every fire department in Montgomery County and from Cecil, and with a candidate for president — Noble F. Rushe, the Hyattsville chief — running on a bill to tax insurance companies for the support of veteran volunteer firemen and their widows. Delaware's own association complained in April that Maryland had booked the same dates. The drum-and-bugle corps at the parade were judged in part by CALLAHAN THOMPSON, son of Mr. and Mrs. S. E. Thompson, "who is manager of the pier and dance pavilion at Ocean City, Md."

    The pier thread has been running blind since the fire of 1925. 1930 gave a 700-foot fishing pier and a 900-foot one and no owner; 1932 gave nothing at all in 645 pages; 1933 gave a wreck. 1931 gives the building in use, with a name on the door — the first time this campaign can name anyone running the Ocean City pier and dance pavilion.

    Ocean City Fishing PierPier Ballroom & Bandshell SiteMaryland State Firemen's AssociationCallahan Thompson

    Source · checked 2026-08-10