Ocean City Chamber of Commerce
civic · active 1925–present
Named for the first time in October 1925, when "Dr. C. W. Purnell, president of Ocean City Chamber of Commerce" presented the town's case for the Maryland National Guard's state encampment alongside Mayor McCabe and Capt. William B. Powell. Purnell was at the same date president of the Ocean City Board of Trade, which had been organised in 1922 under J. Edgar Ijams and which hosted the press associations in July 1925. Whether the Chamber is a renaming of the Board, a successor to it, or a separate body is not settled by any source read here — the two names appear in the same year, in the same paper, with the same president. — 2.5 EXTENSION, 2026-09-02: this record stopped at 1925 and the Chamber runs through the whole modern corpus, 1947 to 2024. Its president promoted the town's airport in 1947; it was voted $5,000 "to operate on" in April 1946 and taken onto the city payroll outright at the last meeting of that year — salary, rent, booklets, postage and telephone. Robert Lee Cropper appeared as its president in August 1946 wanting the town to fund a part-time winter secretary. In 2014 it carried the post-Labor Day school start to Annapolis among its legislative priorities.
In the record (42)
1925 · 1925-10-24
Ocean City lobbied hard for the Maryland National Guard's state encampment, offering a farm at $50 an acre six miles from the beach.
Worcester Democrat, 24 October 1925, page one. General Reckord inspected the "Genezer tract" near Sinepuxent, ten feet or more above sea level, "in close reach to the bay or ocean… and can be brought very close to Ocean City, by stone road, which Commissioner Mackall says will be built, and by the B. C. & A. railroad. Besides, the purchase price is quoted at the cheap rate of $50 per acre." The Democrat argued the six or seven miles was no objection since "the resort furnishes all the amusements which are really required in a community such as a soldier camp." "Ocean City's claims for the camp were presented by Mayor W. C. McCabe; Dr. C. W. Purnell, president of Ocean City Chamber of Commerce, and Capt. William B. Powell. Hale Harrison, president of the Berlin Chamber of Commerce, acted as spokesman for the delegation." Salisbury sent its Chamber manager, Senator Charles R. Disharoon and fifty others; Snow Hill sent Mayor W. D. Corddry; Pocomoke sent Edward J. Clarke of the Worcester Democrat; Berlin sent Mayor E. E. Burbage and Gen. H. M. Creel, U.S.A., retired. T. Alan Goldsborough came for Caroline County and spoke for the Ocean City site. Rival sites were on Kent Island and the Choptank River.
The whole lower Shore turned out to sell the Guard a sandy farm, on the argument that the soldiers could go to the beach.
Maryland State Roads CommissionBaltimore, Chesapeake & Atlantic RailwayWilliam W. McCabeDr. Charles Washington PurnellT. Alan Goldsborough
Source · checked 2026-08-06
1931 · 1931-03-25
The Del-Mar-Va Eastern Shore Association, a thousand businessmen strong, endorses state construction of a permanent inlet at Ocean City while the bill is still pending.
The Smyrna Times of 25 March 1931, under the headline "[DEL-MAR-]VA TO BACK INLET AT OCEAN CITY, MD.": "A proposal for state construction of a permanent inlet between the ocean and Sinepuxent Bay, at Ocean City, has been given the endorsement of the Del-Mar-Va Eastern Shore Association, whose membership consists of more than a thousand of the leading business and professional men of the Peninsula... Action on these two proposals was taken at the meeting of the executive committee of the association at Salisbury recently. The inlet proposal was put before the executive group by Colmore E. [surname lost to the trimmed page edge], of Pocomoke, representing the Worcester County Chamber of Commerce and city official of Ocean City, Md. A measure to authorize construction of such an inlet for this purpose is now pending in the General Assembly." The same meeting appointed a committee to weigh a TUNNEL under the Chesapeake instead of a bridge, on a proposal from the Denton Chamber of Commerce. The association's president, Louis A. Drexler, reviewed a plan for a peninsula business directory.
Three weeks before Chapter 511 was approved, the inlet had a peninsula-wide business lobby behind it and a named sponsor from Pocomoke speaking for Worcester County's Chamber and for Ocean City's own town government. The campaign has never been able to see the town lobbying for the inlet from the inside; this is the closest it has come.
Ocean City Inlet & JettyDel-Mar-Va Eastern Shore AssociationLouis A. Drexler
Source · checked 2026-08-10
1931 · 1931-06-23
"Almost everybody in this city, including Mayor William McCabe, the chief of police and members of the town council, are fishing today."
Washington Times, 23 June 1931, datelined Ocean City: "ANGLERS FLOCK TO BAY CITY... And predictions are that if today's catch is as large as those of the past 10 days all inhabitants and visitors will be out with the hook and line tomorrow... Channel bass are biting better here than ever before in history, while blue fish, king fish and trout fairly fight each other to get on the hook. Mayor McCabe basked today under his laurels as the city's champion fisherman. During the past 10 days he has hooked 18 channel bass, all whoppers... The bass weigh between 25 and 50 pounds." The Evening Star's "Rod and Stream" column ran Ocean City reports all summer: on 21 June from JAMES D. JARMAN of Ocean City, Md. ("Dr. Berman went out last night and in about an hour caught 12 kingfish right in front of our hotel"); on 26 June, "The mayor, the town council, its secretary, the chief of police, most of the proprietors of the hotels and their guests are reported to be engaged in fishing"; and on 19 June a telegram "from Ocean City, Md., from the CHAMBER OF COMMERCE" — "Parties of 15 catching at rate of 30 a day."
Two years before the inlet, the fishery that made the town's modern reputation is already the thing Washington is told about — and the town is organised enough to wire the fishing report to a metropolitan daily under the Chamber of Commerce's name. It is also, incidentally, the only glimpse 1931 gives of Ocean City's government: a mayor, a council, a council secretary and a police chief, none of them named except McCabe, all of them out after channel bass.
William W. McCabeJames D. Jarman
Source · checked 2026-08-10
1931 · 1931-07-17
Ocean City had a radio programme on Washington's WJSV, 7:45 every evening through the summer of 1931.
The Washington Times radio schedules for July 1931 list, on WJSV (1,460 kilocycles): "7:45 — Ocean City program" (17 July), "7:45 — Ocean City (Md.) program" (24 July), and the same slot on 8 July in the Evening Star's listings — between the Mother Goose party and Rudy Schramm's Orchestra. The parenthetical "(Md.)" in the 24 July listing settles which Ocean City.
The town is advertising itself by broadcast in 1931 — a nightly quarter-hour on a Washington station, in the same summer its Chamber of Commerce is wiring fishing reports to the Evening Star. In 1930 the campaign's evidence for municipal promotion was a display advertisement signed "Mayor and City Council". This is the next medium along, and nobody has recorded it before.
Source · checked 2026-08-10
1933 · 1933-10-11
The Chamber of Commerce asked the War Department to call it the McCabe Inlet
In special session at Ocean City the Chamber of Commerce voted resolutions urging that the $781,000 inlet, on completion, 'be dedicat[ed as the] McCabe Inlet, in hono[r of Mayor] William W. McCabe', and forwarded them to the War Department in Washington. The honour was proposed for his work as citizen, as mayor, and as head of the Maryland Waterfront Commission. The same meeting voted to set aside a day off the actual work for a dedication in the latter part of October, with War Department and peninsula notables as guests. The War Department did not oblige: the channel has been the Ocean City Inlet ever since.
Unverified — sourced but not confirmed against a primary record.
Ocean City Inlet & JettyWilliam W. McCabe
Source · checked 2026-08-10
1934 · 1934-06-19
'The town is talking': two hundred pounds of Ocean City bluefish went to Baltimore by aeroplane, the first fish ever shipped by air from the town
The Associated Press filed it from Ocean City on 19 June 1934 and the Salisbury Times ran it on page one under 'BALTIMOREANS TO EAT FLYING FISH': 'Ocean City, June 19 (AP) — Ocean City is all agog over the "flying bluefish." The town is talking because it is the first shipment of bluefish to be made by air. Two hundred pounds of fresh-caught bluefish, packed in ice, were taken on a light truck to Salisbury and placed on the regular Chesapeake Bay Air Ferries plane for Baltimore, where some of them will be served for luncheon.' The fish were 'a gift to the [Baltimore] clubs from the Ocean City Chamber of Commerce, and are being sent to the two luncheons because Mayor W. W. McCabe and A. R. Holcombe, local editor, will be guests of honor.' The next morning's paper added that the fish 'were brought here by truck from Ocean City and loaded at the local airport aboard the regular morning plane for Baltimore.'
Ten months after a hurricane cut the inlet, the town's problem was no longer catching fish but being famous for them. So the Chamber of Commerce put two hundred pounds of bluefish on a scheduled airliner and sent the mayor after them.
Ocean City Inlet & JettyWilliam W. McCabe
Source · checked 2026-08-11
1934 · 1934-06-21
The 1934 hotel column sold Ocean City by its fishing first and its bus connection second
The Washington Times of 21 June 1934 carried the resort's block advertisement: 'OCEAN CITY — You can enjoy deep-sea, bay or surf fishing. Safe swimming. Sailing. Dancing. Beautiful beach. All amusements. Go by Claiborne-Annapolis Ferry and Red Star Bus... Write Chamber of Commerce for further information.' Under it, the houses: 'STEPHEN DECATUR Ocean Front; American Plan; Thoroughly Modern; AAA! Excellent Food; Good Service; 60 rooms; 39 baths'; 'COMMANDER ocean front, elevator and phone service'; 'THE LANKFORD On Boardwalk, garage. Spring rates. M. B. Quillin, Prop.'; 'IDYLWILD L. Brittingham.' Deep-sea fishing leads the copy in the first summer it was possible, and the way you got there is a ferry and a bus — the railway is not mentioned. On the same page an AP story reported Capt. T. H. Mickle bringing his 40-foot cruiser Admiral up from Miami and in through the new inlet. — 1934 FULL PASS, 2026-08-11 [confirmed]: Provenance repaired. The fact carried a Chronicling America collection-query URL plus an LCCN, date, printed page and reel-level ALTO file number, with a note reading 'THE MERGE MUST RESOLVE A REAL PAGE URL BEFORE PUBLISHING.' It now has one: https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn84026749/1934-06-21/ed-1/?sp=19 — HTTP-verified 200. sp=19 confirmed equal to printed page 19; sp=18 and sp=20 also match 'ocean city' because the feature runs across the spread.
Ocean City BoardwalkClaiborne-Annapolis Ferry, Inc.Capt. John Mickle
Source · checked 2026-08-11
1935 · 1935-07-20
A Queen of the Eastern Shore was crowned at Ocean City in July, judged in a bathing suit and required to bring a chaperon
Contestants for the title of Queen of the Eastern Shore “will be guests of the Chamber of Commerce”, were judged in bathing suits on the Saturday afternoon of 20 July 1935, and the winner was announced at a dance given by the Eastern Sho' Forest No. 53 of the Tall Cedars of Lebanon in the Hotel Atlantic ballroom. Each contestant had to provide a chaperon. The same notice carries the town's own estimate of the season: “Ocean City, the summer resort of the Eastern Shore, is prepared to handle the largest crowd in its history.”
Unverified — sourced but not confirmed against a primary record.
Source · checked 2026-08-11
1936 · 1936-03-10
Ocean City's own delegate asked the 1936 legislature for power to license and tax the resort's gaming devices
Maryland's legislature sat in a short session in the early months of 1936, and on Tuesday 10 March Delegate Ralph R. Dennis, 'whose home is at Ocean City', introduced before the House of Delegates a measure which, if passed, 'would authorize the Ocean City Mayor and Council to license, regulate, control and tax games and gaming devices'. It came a year after Worcester County officers had raided twenty-one boardwalk establishments in one morning and thrown eighteen seized slot machines into the Pocomoke. When Wm. H. C. Purnell came before the council on 24 March to ask whether anything had been done toward the legislation the Chamber of Commerce had recommended, the council 'informed him owing to the short session no effort had been made as yet.' The same short session had before it a bill placing the pay of judges and clerks of election in Worcester and Queen Anne's counties on the Baltimore basis. — 1937 FULL PASS, 2026-08-11 [confirmed]: Its author died in 1937. The Salisbury Times of 26 July 1937 reports that 'Chief [Ralph R.] Dennis of the Ocean City Fire Department and member of the House of Delegates dropped dead after a heart attack Saturday night one hour after he aided in fighting a chimney fire at the George Washington Hotel'. Whether his 1936 gaming bill passed is STILL not established; the 1937 county papers do not mention it.
Source · checked 2026-08-11
1936 · 1936-05-12
What Ocean City paid for and charged in 1936: $25 a season for bicycles, $1,000 to the Chamber, $150 to dike a street for the yacht club, $75 for a wharf out of the channel's way
The council's smaller transactions of 1936 read as a price list for a Depression resort. A bicycle licence was fixed at $25.00 a season for Anthony Purnell on 12 May. The same meeting voted $1,000.00 to the Chamber of Commerce after discussing the question with its Board of Governors, refused John S. Gordy of Snow Hill a permit for a bus service on Baltimore Avenue, and paid Levin J. Bunting $50.00 and Charles R. Bunting $75.00 for the removal of their wharves for the digging of the channel. On 16 June the town voted not over $150.00 to dike 14th Street for the Yacht Club and gave the firemen $50.00 toward the expenses of the firemen's convention. Archie Davis was again given the care of the town toilet on the same basis he had held it in 1935 - three dollars a week from 10 June to 10 September. On 29 December the council gave $25.00 to the Community Fund and charged it to advertising.
Ocean City Yacht ClubOcean City Volunteer Fire Department
Source · checked 2026-08-11
1936 · 1936-08-19
Mayor Elliott went on Baltimore radio for fifteen minutes in August 1936 to advertise Ocean City
'Mayor W. Thomas Elliott, of Ocean City, was the guest of radio station WFBR at Baltimore yesterday (Wednesday) when a fifteen minute broadcast on Ocean City was presented over the air from 12.30 until 12.45 P. M.,' the Democratic Messenger reported on 20 August 1936. It is the earliest broadcast promotion of the resort the campaign has recovered, and it fits a season in which the town also voted $1,000 to the Chamber of Commerce and had the state's automobile dealers, its rural letter carriers and its poultrymen in for conventions.
Source · checked 2026-08-11
1937 · 1937-04-26
Ocean City gave its Chamber of Commerce $1,000 to advertise the resort for the 1937 season
'Motion was Carried to give Chamber Commerce $1000 towards Advertising' - 26 April 1937, six weeks before the season. The same meeting granted Dr. Townsend a permit to build a 12-by-24 shed at the side of his garage 'and to pay 10.00 additional a year making 35.00 year Rent', and approved building permits for Herman Parsons and E. E. Dennis.
Source · checked 2026-08-11
1937 · 1937-05-28
With the new walk down, the boardwalk hotels changed hands and reopened: the Roosevelt after two months of remodelling, the George Washington to three new lessees
The rebuilt boardwalk brought its buildings back into the market. On 31 March 1937 the Roosevelt Hotel, 'MAIN BOARDWALK - OCEAN CITY', was leased by Edward L. Thompson of Salisbury and opened formally on 28 May 'after two months of renovating, remodeling, painting and papering'. On 3 April the George Washington Hotel, 'located directly on the boardwalk at Tenth street ... the tallest building there ... 128 [rooms] ... 64 private and communicating baths ... of fire-proof construction', was leased to Horace Davis of Berlin, Richard H. Bailey and W. Edgar Porter. The Art Linen Shop announced it would reopen on the boardwalk on 30 May. In August Jackson's, On The Boardwalk, booked Baby Rose Marie for two floor shows a night on 17 and 18 August. In March the Associated Press had found the town short of walk for its own Easter parade: 'All Ocean City needed today to set the stage for its annual Easter parade was about five blocks of boardwalk ... all but t[hree] blocks of the new one is completed. City officials are rushing work on the structure to have it ready for Easter.' In May the Chamber of Commerce asked the council for police call lights at points along the boardwalk, so that an officer could be summoned by a flashing signal from headquarters.
Ocean City BoardwalkGeorge Washington Hotel Site
Source · checked 2026-08-11
1937 · 1937-07-05
Ocean City's Fourth of July crowd in 1937 broke every record and two thousand cars never got into town
The town expected to 'far surpass last year's record crowd of approximately 50,000', and Red Star Lines put on seven extra buses from Baltimore. It did. 'OCEAN CITY REPORTS AN ALL-TIME RECORD', the Salisbury Times headed its report of 6 July; officials' estimate of the crowd reads as 125,000. Getting out again took 'from an hour and 40 minutes to 2 hours to cover the eight miles from Ocean City to Berlin', and 'State police estimated that 2,000 cars failed to get into the city Monday. All parking places were filled.' Capt. William I. Purnell, president of the Chamber of Commerce, called it the largest crowd ever to visit the resort. The previous year 7,000 cars had come on the Fourth; in 1937 a third of that number again could not get in at all.
A town with one two-lane bridge and no parking discovered on 5 July 1937 exactly how big it was allowed to be — which is the argument for the new bridge, made by traffic rather than by anybody's speech.
Source · checked 2026-08-11
1937 · 1937-08-05
Twelve boats off Ocean City took thirty-two white marlin in a single day in July 1937 — called at the time a world record
'Thirty-two white marlin were caught in the Atlantic Ocean off Ocean City last week by fishing parties, constituting a world's record for white marlin in one day,' the Messenger reported on 5 August 1937 under the head 'World's Record Marlin Catch At Ocean City'. 'A fleet of around twelve deep sea fishing boats participated.' Jack and Paul Townsend took five of them; James B. Whaley of Snow Hill three. Bill Dickey and Lou Gehrig had been fishing off the town the week before. It was that kind of season: the first marlin of 1937 fell to L. C. Dawson of Baltimore on 1 July; a hundred-pounder taken by Robert Jones of Washington from Capt. Crawford Savage's Hilda cost 'a 2-hour-40-minute fight, the longest on record locally', and came aboard with its sword snapped off; Jimmy Foxx landed a 72-pound marlin in thirty-five minutes from the same captain's boat in August while his companion Moe Berg took a dolphin; and the Bonnie Sprae, owned by Dan Trimper and William Scott and captained by Ray Savage, brought in three marlin of 65, 91 and 78 pounds from thirty miles out. At the Ocean City Day dinner at Baltimore's Lord Baltimore Hotel in October, before two hundred sportsmen, J. Paul Blundon of Keyser, West Virginia took the Eastern Shore Times trophy for the season's largest white marlin at 130 pounds, and Paul Townsend was named to the United States tuna team to meet the British Empire team at Wedgeport, Nova Scotia.
The Ocean City Marlin Club is still three years away and the town is already claiming world records — with a Yankee first baseman, a Yankee catcher and a catcher who spoke seven languages and would later spy for the OSS all fishing out of the same harbour.
Ocean City Yacht ClubDaniel W. Trimper, Jr.
Source · checked 2026-08-11
1937 · 1937-09-02
Five hundred and thirty voters, one-third of them living out of town, were entitled to choose where Ocean City's $900,000 bridge would land
The Messenger followed the bridge from soundings to statute. In April the State Roads Commission made borings in Ocean City harbour for a '$760,000' span while a delegation from Ocean City and West Ocean City petitioned with 150 property owners' signatures for a site south of Wicomico Street, preferably South Division Street; in March the Commission voted $1,000 for emergency repairs to the existing bridge. On 26 August the paper reported the 'Sinepuxent Bridge Bill passed by the Senate', 'providing for construction of bridge at either Wicomico, Worcester or South Division Streets, but people of Ocean City' to choose. On 2 September, under 'Ocean City To Hold Bridge Site Election Thursday; 530 Voters', it printed the mechanics: the special election on 9 September, polls at the Municipal Building on Dorchester Street from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., a ballot listing North Division, South Division, Wicomico and Worcester Streets with a blank for a write-in, and a cost now put at $900,000 with approaches. And it printed the franchise, which is the striking part: 'Under the Ocean City Charter, persons who are taxpayers on real or personal property at Ocean City, irrespective of their residence, may vote' — about a third of the 530 lived somewhere else. In December the delay in the plans sent the Chamber of Commerce to Governor Nice, and on 15 December W. Preston Laws and C. W. Purnell 'volunteered to go to Annapolis on Wednesday to tell Gov. Harry Nice where to put the new bridge at Ocean City.'
Maryland State Roads CommissionW. Thomas ElliottW. Preston LawsDr. Charles Washington Purnell
Source · checked 2026-08-11
1937 · 1937-11-02
Capt. William Isaac Purnell, who came to Ocean City a year after it was founded and ended as president of its Chamber of Commerce, was buried with full military honours
'Capt. William Isaac Purnell, 65-year-old retired Coast Guard keeper ... buried with full military honors ... at St. Paul's-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church.' He had been keeper of the Ocean City Coast Guard station from 1917 to 1930, and afterwards, the Salisbury Times reported, 'For the past four years he had been president of the Ocean City Chamber of Commerce' and 'also president of the Ocean City Volunteer Fire Department'. 'At the age of 1 year he moved with his parents to Ocean City, one year after the Maryland resort was founded in July 1875.' In July 1937 he had told the Democratic Messenger that the Fourth of July crowd was 'the largest ever to visit here'; in August he had appointed the man who replaced the dead fire chief; in September he called the closing weekend 'a wonderful season'. He was the last public man in Ocean City whose own life was as old as the town.
Ocean City Volunteer Fire DepartmentCapt. William I. Purnell
Source · checked 2026-08-11
1938 · 1938-11-22
Ocean City put a plain-clothes policeman on the street at twenty dollars a week in November 1938, 'for a while'
'W. A Taylor was appointed as Plain Clothes Police for a while at 20.00 week.' Two sentences of context sit either side of it in the same year: on 12 July a letter from the Chamber of Commerce was 'referred to police for enforcement except the cleaning of Beach', and on 10 November Dr. Buhrman raised 'the need for a police signal light to be operated from the telephone Central', which was left with the secretary to price. The Ocean City Police Department dates in this campaign's record from 1937, when L. B. Cropper was chief.
Ocean City Police DepartmentW. A. Taylor
Source · checked 2026-08-11
1939 · 1939-06-02
Ocean City put a price on thirty-five kinds of business in 1939, and the General Assembly had to give it the power first
On 7 February 1939 the council passed a licence ordinance on third reading, to take effect 1 May, taxing bicycle stations at $250, dance halls at $150 or $25, rolling chairs at $2 a chair and bingo at $500. It was superseded four months later. Chapter 180 of the Acts of 1939 (House Bill 456), approved 3 May and effective 1 June, added Section 147A to the Ocean City sub-title of the Code of Public Local Laws 'relating to additional license fees which may be imposed by the Mayor and City Council of Ocean City'. On 2 June - the day after the act took effect - the council read a new licence ordinance for the third time and passed it unanimously on the motion of C. P. Cropper, seconded by Rayne. The engrossed copy in the minute file is headed 'ORDINANCE NO. ____' and the number is left blank; the clerk's longhand entry assigns one, and the digits read as 154, though the first character is not certain. The new schedule ran to thirty-five heads, made every fee due on 2 June and expiring 1 June following, required the licence to be conspicuously displayed, and fined $25 an offence with each day separate.
The February ordinance was the town guessing at its own powers; the June one is the town exercising powers Annapolis had just handed it, one day old. That is the whole relationship between a Maryland municipality and the General Assembly in a single pair of dates.
Clifford P. CropperHarold J. RayneEdmond H. Johnson
Source · checked 2026-08-11
1940 · 1940-05-14
Ocean City's advertising was to be paid for by taxing the charter boats - ten dollars for a local boat, twenty-five for an outsider - and the town spent the rest of the year trying to find the legal power to do it
On 14 May 1940 the Advertising Committee came before the council: Dr. C. W. Purnell as chairman, C. D. Savage, J. D. Jarman, John B. Lynch, Talbot Bunting, C. Parker Smith and Preston Laws, 'and Clarence Carey, a visitor.' Purnell 'outlined a plan for licensing the sport fishing boats of $10 for native and $25 for foreign, and stated they could collect from outside dealers several hundred dollars, so with the licences and what they could get outside they would have $2,000 for advertising.' The council agreed to pay the committee's advertising man not more than $800, and heard two candidates for the post, Joe Pancoast and a Mr. McKimmon of Salisbury. The power to levy the licence did not exist. On 16 April the mayor had already asked the attorney 'to study the Licences and see if there was any way City could licence the fishing boats.' On 2 October the council settled it by voting the Chamber of Commerce the $2,000 outright for the fiscal year 10 September 1940 to 10 September 1941, advancing $350 in cash at once against it, and resolving 'to try to get an act through the Legislature empowering the City to licence the fishing boats, the licence if collected to be given over to the Chamber also.' — 1941 FULL PASS, 2026-08-11 [confirmed]: The scheme's ending is now dated. On 30 July 1941 Capt. Crawford Savage came before the council 'asking that fishing boats be relieved of any lisence for this year', and the council's recorded response was to vote the Chamber of Commerce a further sum not exceeding $500 to settle its deficit, on terms that it cut its budget to the money it had. Fifteen months after the advertising committee proposed to raise $2,000 by licensing the charter fleet at $10 and $25 a boat, the town was still covering the Chamber out of its own funds. ⚠ THE MINUTE DOES NOT SAY WHETHER THE BOATS WERE RELIEVED, and nothing about the licence's fate should be inferred from it.
The white marlin fleet had made Ocean City famous and the town's answer was to make the fleet pay for the advertising that made it famous - at two and a half times the rate for a boat from somewhere else. It could not, because a Maryland municipality cannot levy what the General Assembly has not authorised, and the Assembly was not sitting. So the town paid the two thousand out of its own pocket and put the licence on the list for Annapolis in 1941. The whole resort economy is in that sequence: an idea in May, a lawyer in April who had already said no, and a bill for the next session.
Ocean City Advertising CommitteeDr. Charles Washington PurnellJohn B. LynchClarence Carey
Source · checked 2026-08-11
1941 · 1941-07-30
A year after the town tried to fund its advertising by licensing the fishing boats, Capt. Crawford Savage came and asked that the boats be let off altogether — and the council voted the Chamber of Commerce another $500 to cover its deficit.
In May 1940 the advertising committee had proposed to raise $2,000 by licensing the sport fishing boats at $10 for a native boat and $25 for a foreign one, and the town spent the rest of that year looking for the legal power to do it. On the evening of 30 July 1941, with only the mayor and two councilmen present, 'Crawford Savage was present asking that fishing boats be relieved of any lisence for this year and on motion by Rayne seconed by councilman Bounds council agreed to help the Chamber of commerce not exceeding $500. addition to what was guaranteed to settle their deficit and they were to cut their budget according to the money they have to spend.' The clerk has run the request and the motion into a single sentence, so what the council actually decided about the boats is not recorded — only that it reached again for its own pocket to cover the Chamber's shortfall. The scheme to make the charter fleet pay for the town's advertising had failed twice in fifteen months.
Capt. Crawford SavageHarold J. RayneE. Raymond BoundsClifford P. Cropper
Source · checked 2026-08-11
1942 · 1942-05-06
With the coast dimmed out and bodies from a torpedoed freighter lately at its Coast Guard station, Ocean City hired a lifeguard captain, three extra policemen and voted $1,750 of public money to advertise the 1942 season.
The clearest measure of what a resort does in the first summer of a war at its own beach is what it spends. At a special call meeting on Wednesday evening 6 May 1942 — four days after the blackout ordinance, five weeks after the Atwater — the council employed Thomas E. Price as captain of the life guard at $25.00 a week and set the men's pay at $20.00; decided to have McCabe repaint the peeling road signs and 'the new signs to let go for this year'; agreed, on Harold Rayne's motion seconded by Raymond Bounds, that 'the City agreed to finance them for $1750.00 for the season', 'them' being the Chamber of Commerce and its advertising; and told the chief of police to take on three extra police 'and if more were needed to try to secur more as needed'. Set that against 1941, when the town paid its lifeguards $17.50 a week: the men's wage rose to $20 in the year the visitors were least likely to come. The season was run, and it was run in the dark — on 11 September the council's own minute says 'we were dimed out and not sufficent light'.
Thomas E. PriceClifford P. CropperHarold J. RayneE. Raymond BoundsL. B. Cropper
Source · checked 2026-08-11
1943 · 1943-04-30
In the second wartime spring the Ocean City Chamber of Commerce and the Hotel Owners Association announced a season opening 29 May, with reservations ahead of 1942 — because Atlantic City's visitors had nowhere else to go.
Ocean City Hotel Owners' AssociationClifford P. Cropper
Source · checked 2026-08-12
1944 · 1944-04-19
Ocean City voted the Chamber of Commerce $1,850 for 1944, asked for in person by John B. Lynch, Dr. C. W. Purnell and C. Parker Smith.
John B. Lynch, Dr. C. W. Purnell and C. Parker Smith came before the council asking a continuance of money to finance the Chamber of Commerce - $1,850 for the year - and the council agreed. Lynch was elected to the council four months later and made its president; Purnell became secretary of the town's first Zoning Commission in 1945. In April 1945 the same Chamber asked $3,500.
Unverified — sourced but not confirmed against a primary record.
John B. LynchDr. Charles Washington Purnell
Source · checked 2026-08-12
1944 · 1944-09-11
Ocean City's new mayor and council were sworn in by Judge James B. Robins on 11 September 1944 and organised with John B. Lynch as president, Rudolph Dolle secretary and Cranford O. Savage treasurer.
'New Mayor & Council met promptly at 7:30 PM in Council Room at Municipal Building.' Mayor-elect Daniel Trimper Jr. was sworn first by Judge James B. Robins, then the three councilmen-elect all at one time. They discussed the handling and disposition of garbage, Board Walk repairs and improvement, the Chamber of Commerce's attempt to buy a truck fit to haul garbage, a police car, and other improvements. The clerk was instructed to order a spray of flowers for Edward Powell and to pay his family ten days' vacation and the balance of salary due him - Powell, one of the policemen voted $100 for the use of his car on 9 September, had died between the 9th and the 11th. Three days later the hurricane came.
Daniel W. Trimper, Jr.John B. LynchRudolph Dolle
Source · checked 2026-08-12
1944 · 1944-12-12
Ocean City told Edward Evans Jr. in December 1944 to prepare papers for a two-year bus franchise inside the city limits, and heard a proposal to advertise the town by radio.
Edward Evans Jr., with his attorney Franklin Upshur, asked a franchise to operate bus service in the city limits; the council told him to prepare papers and they would consider a two-year permit. On 2 January 1945 Evans got a permit to run a bus service from 15 June to 15 September each year for four years, non-transferable, at his own expense for the papers. The same December meeting had Frank Sacca and Talbot Bunting before it in the interest of advertising by radio, asking that finances be appropriated - the council told them to work out a programme with the Chamber of Commerce - and they also wanted the Short Line Buss service invited into Ocean City. R. Dolle presented plans for the building of a trailer camp and parking lot, and Katie Jenkins, Mrs. Willie Ludlam and Mr. Waller and wife came to discuss raising the boardwalk when it was rebuilt.
Source · checked 2026-08-12
1945 · 1945-01-23
Ocean City spent 1945 being asked for an airfield and never decided: first a letter in January, then a franchise sought in June, and by October it was Robert Cropper's project and he wanted a house moved off the town dump for it.
A letter from Clark Gardner referring to an air field was read on 23 January 1945 and the secretary instructed to write for information - the first mention of an airfield in the town's record. On 19 June three gentlemen came before the council asking their aid in securing an air port, and the council decided it wanted time to consider the project. On 26 June Edward Lynch and a second man whose name the clerk left blank asked the council to agree to give a franchise for an air field; after lengthy discussion it was agreed to have their attorney, Tommy Johnson, and the city attorney present the proper papers, and if they were in order the council would grant a permit. On 30 October Bob Cropper, before the council with a Chamber of Commerce delegation, wanted a house moved on the City dump to help in his proposed air field. Nothing in the 1945 minute book records a franchise granted.
Clark GardnerThomas F. Johnson
Source · checked 2026-08-12
1945 · 1945-07-10
Ocean City's reckoning of 10 July 1945 shows $6,827.29 in the bank against $21,000 of notes outstanding, after a town that had held $23,430 in cash eighteen months earlier borrowed twice in two months.
A typed statement headed 'REPORT FOR JULY TENTH 1945' lists taxes and water unpaid at $7,952.21, book account $12,718.00, bonds $20,000.00 and cash in bank $6,827.29 - $47,597.50 - plus estimated income of $9,300.00 from licences at $7,500, the comfort station at $300, the park lot at $500 and the magistrate at $1,000, for $56,897.50 in all. Against that: accounts owed of $24,657.18, being $21,000 in notes, $2,009.18 to Bob Quillin, $1,200.00 to Clark Gardner, $415.26 for parking lot material and $42.74 to the LaFrance Co.; and estimated expenses of $30,350.00, of which $20,500.00 is garbage, life guard and pay rolls to 1 October, $6,000.00 the State Roads Commission, $1,900.00 lights and power, $1,000.00 the Chamber of Commerce, $400.00 insurance, $300.00 administration and $250.00 repairs to signs. Total $55,007.18. In January 1944 the town had $23,430.94 in the bank; it borrowed $15,000 from the Bank of Ocean City in April 1945 and $6,000 on ninety days in May. The Chamber of Commerce had asked $3,500 and is budgeted $1,000.
American LaFrance Foamite Inc.Bank of Ocean CityClark Gardner
Source · checked 2026-08-12
1945 · 1945-10-30
A Chamber of Commerce delegation asked Ocean City in October 1945 to keep minors out of the dance halls and night clubs where beer was sold.
Mrs. Virginia Ayers, Dr. C. W. Purnell, Robert Cropper and Parker Smith came from the Chamber of Commerce. Mrs. Ayers's request was that the council do something towards keeping minors out of dance halls and night clubs where beer was sold. C. Parker Smith wanted better water. Dr. Purnell spoke on the building permit asked by Granville Trimper. Bob Cropper wanted a house moved on the City dump to help in his proposed air field, and also spoke of getting legislation towards State aid in keeping up the Boardwalk. The council's answer to Mrs. Ayers is not recorded. The same meeting received the 1945 financial report as audited by A. M. Ball, and asked Granville Trimper to wait until the zoning bill was completed to see if broader regulation could be made in Amusement Areas.
Unverified — sourced but not confirmed against a primary record.
Mrs. Virginia AyersDr. Charles Washington PurnellGranville Trimper
Source · checked 2026-08-12
1946 · 1946-04-25
Ocean City's rebuilt Boardwalk cost the town $18.00 a running foot and the abutting owners were billed $15.50 - $775 for a fifty-foot lot.
'Board Walk Cost was presented and Secretary ordered to bill the property owners $775. for 50 ft lot, which is $15.50 running foot, and the Walk cost $18.00 per foot.' The figures are internally consistent - fifty times $15.50 is $775 exactly - and the town absorbed $2.50 a foot. It is the first per-foot figure the campaign has for the walk wrecked by the hurricane of 14 September 1944, rebuilt in wood because concrete was prohibitive, and widened on 5 November 1945 to thirty feet from North Division to South Division Street. The same meeting granted building permits to two sitting councilmen without any recusal recorded - R. Dolle to build next to the Comfort Station and five feet from the Barber Shop, with a cement wall next to the Comfort Station, and J. B. Lynch for an ice box - voted $5,000 to the Chamber of Commerce, and heard Bob Cropper ask for somewhere for teen-age children to meet, 'after much debate nothing was decided on'.
Rudolph DolleJohn B. LynchRobert Lee CropperMiss Elizabeth Laws
Source · checked 2026-08-15
1946 · 1946-04-25
Ocean City voted the Chamber of Commerce five thousand dollars 'to operate on' in April 1946 - five times what it had budgeted the Chamber the summer before.
Bob Cropper, Mr. Harris and Elizabeth Laws were present in the interest of finances for the Chamber of Commerce, and after going over the several items the council, on motion by John B. Lynch seconded by C. O. Savage, passed an order to give them $5,000 to operate on. In July 1945 the town's own reckoning had budgeted the Chamber $1,000 against the $3,500 it asked. Three weeks later, on 14 May, Dale Showell and Chas. Jackson got another $500 out of the council for the Business Men's Association, to be matched by them for an advertising fund to be used in 1947 and paid by 1 September. By 26 November the town had taken the Chamber onto its own books entirely.
Unverified — sourced but not confirmed against a primary record.
Ocean City Business Men's AssociationRobert Lee CropperMiss Elizabeth LawsJohn B. LynchCranford O. Savage
Source · checked 2026-08-15
1946 · 1946-06-09
In June 1946 the Ocean City Chamber of Commerce was working to form a sportsmen's club for the town, and the Washington press was already arguing for tagging and releasing marlin.
The Evening Star's angling column reported a move with A. A. Harris of the Ocean City Chamber of Commerce to form a sportsmen's club at Ocean City 'which would concern itself with encouraging and protecting all forms of salt-water sport fishing', adding that if, as in Florida's waters, charter-boat captains and sportsmen could be rewarded for releasing fish caught, it would be excellent for the sport as a whole, and that without preventive legislation the whole matter lay in the hands of the sportsmen themselves. The same month Maryland's organised sportsmen held their annual meeting at Ocean City on 14-16 June - Glenn L. Martin president, F. Wallace Taber executive secretary - with forums on the Chesapeake Bay duck food situation and the bounty system on predatory animals, an entertainment programme of boating, trapshooting and pier and surf fishing, and four resolutions on Maryland trout fishing to be put to the general session. In September the town also had a convention and business conference of county assessors.
Unverified — sourced but not confirmed against a primary record.
Source · checked 2026-08-15
1946 · 1946-08-27
Twenty-two days after being re-elected, the President of the Ocean City Council laid a note on the table resigning both his remaining term and his new one, and walked out of a meeting that had never been called to order.
The council met at eight on the evening of 27 August with Mayor Trimper, Lynch and Dolle present and Savage absent. While they waited for Savage, Robert Lee Cropper came in as President of the Chamber of Commerce and discussed the winter operating of the Chamber: he wanted to keep a girl on part time all winter to answer correspondence and wanted the City to put up the money for it, and he wanted to put on one or more exhibits in Washington or Boston at about $500 each. 'Nothing definite was promised on this.' Then, in the clerk's words: 'The meeting was not called to order or any minutes read when John B. Lynch said he wanted the attention of the Mayor & Council, and at that time laid on the table a note saying he was resigning as a member of Council both for the remaining term and the newly elected term. The members were taken by surprise at this and Mr. Lynch left the room, with Mayor Trimper and Dolle following soon thereafter, at about 9:15 o'clock.' Lynch had been President of the Council, had signed Ordinance No. 99 in that capacity three months earlier, and had polled 335 votes on 5 August. No reason is recorded and the note is not copied into the book. The seat was still empty at the last meeting of the year.
John B. LynchDaniel W. Trimper, Jr.Rudolph DolleRobert Lee Cropper
Source · checked 2026-08-15
1946 · 1946-11-26
At its last meeting of 1946 Ocean City took the Chamber of Commerce onto its own books - salary, rent, booklets, postage and telephone - and named the woman who would run it through the winter.
'On motion by Rudolph Dolle, seconded by Cranford D. Savage, that the City would pay Miss Elizabeth Laws [Salary], pay rent, booklets, postage, telephone; and to give Miss Laws [the] privilege of spending up to $50.00, and on bills over that to get [the] OK of City Council.' The word 'Salary' is interlined above the line in the clerk's hand. It grants, three months late, what Robert Lee Cropper had asked for on 27 August as President of the Chamber - to keep a girl on part time all winter to answer correspondence - and it names her: Elizabeth Laws, who in May had been raising the Honor Roll for the town's service men and in April had come before the council in the interest of the Chamber's finances. Cropper's other request, one or more exhibits in Washington or Boston at about $500 each, is not mentioned and was not funded in 1946.
Miss Elizabeth LawsRudolph DolleCranford O. SavageRobert Lee Cropper
Source · checked 2026-08-15
1960
Cropper was a candidate for mayor of Ocean City in July 1960, and a councilman had resigned in June — but who won is not established
The surname is that of the councilman who sat through the 1957 annexation and of Robert L. Cropper, who wanted $100,000 for the airport land. Laws was feted by the Ocean City Chamber of Commerce in August — the surname of the correspondent who wrote the town's weekly column for the Messenger until it stopped after 1951. The Easter Parade on 17 March was "like July week."
W. Preston LawsRobert Lee Cropper
Source · checked 2026-09-02
1981 · 1981-05-04
For the White Marlin Band Parade of 9 May 1981, moved up from Memorial Day to open the season early, the council voted 6-1 to let two or three private cars onto the Boardwalk so the Fire Department Queen and Miss Teenage Maryland could ride in a convertible
Bob Givarz, president of the Downtown Improvement Association, reminded the regular meeting of 4 May 1981 "of the upcoming White Marlin Band Parade, May 9th, of which the Mayor and City Council will be serving as Grand Marshals" - "the whole concept of this parade was to try and kick off the summer season a little bit early rather than the traditional Memorial Day." He asked the council to relax its rule against private vehicles on the Boardwalk: "We do have some ladies who will be in the parade, some Queens, one of which is the Ocean City Volunteer Fire Department Queen, and we think we might have Miss Teenage Maryland here ... we would like to have a nice car to allow them to ride in"; the Chamber of Commerce wanted a four-wheel drive "to show sport fishing" and the Assateague Mobile Sport Fishermen an entry. President Trimper was against it: "you're setting a very dangerous precedent, because everybody wants to use the boardwalk to put vehicles on. We've denied the antique cars. We've denied all others." Councilman Ayres had asked Public Works' Jake Shaner, who saw "no problem with automobiles or even pick-up trucks", and thought convertibles "an intricate part of a parade". Councilman Feehley moved to try it "on a one-time basis" with the boardwalk liaison; Harrison seconded; "Six in favor, one opposed. President Trimper was opposed." Givarz then asked, for the same association, that bicycles be allowed on the Boardwalk until 6 p.m. on May and September weekdays.
Ocean City Volunteer Fire DepartmentGranville TrimperGuy R. Ayres IIIG. Hale Harrison
Source · checked 2026-09-10
1987 · 1987-09-21
The Canadian Ambassador to the United States, Allan Gotlieb, came to a council meeting to receive a proclamation making September and October Canadian Tourism Months
The regular meeting of 21 September 1987 delayed its minutes because, as President Trimper put it, "we have some very special guests this evening." Mayor Powell: "You know you just don't get a full-fledged Ambassador to come to a Town like Ocean City, and there's nothing the matter with Ocean City (Laughter) but I think it's just great that he has taken his time and Lord knows he's a busy man in Washington... to come to Ocean City and take a look at us." He introduced "the Honorable Allan E. Gotlieb, Ambassador" and Mrs. Gotlieb and read the proclamation: the Chamber of Commerce and the Maryland State Office of Tourism had "once again extended an invitation to our Canadian neighbors," last year's promotion had "netted a 24% increase statewide in Canadian visitors," and the mayor proclaimed "September and October, 1987, to be Canadian Tourism Months in Ocean City." Gotlieb replied that "about half a million Canadians come to Maryland or visit it each year," that the two countries had "about a billion dollars worth of trade," and that he was "very pleased to see that this is one part of the country that takes Canada very seriously." Councilman Steckman told the press the ambassador "has had a long day and he's requested not to meet with the press this evening."
Source · checked 2026-09-10
1993 · 1993-07-19
The Winterfest of Lights was financed as a new project in July 1993, with a performance bond required and the Chamber of Commerce pledging half the cost over three to five years, and its first ceremony was announced that November
Synopsis of the regular meeting of 19 July 1993, item 8: "At the previous work session discussion had taken place regarding financing the Winterfest of Lights project which had been rescheduled for tonight's meeting for more input. City Manager Dare informed the Council that the deadline had been extended until the next day. Martha Bennett provided options as to how the financing could be transacted. Everyone agreed that a performance bond should be required. Councilman Mathias moved to have the proper documents executed with the least exposure of risk for the Town. Councilman Westfall seconded. Louise Gulyas, representing the Chamber of Commerce, assured the Mayor and Council that the Chamber's commitment was solid in that over a three-to-five-year period, they will provide 50%. The motion was amended to include an executed document from the Chamber of Commerce. The vote was 6-0 with Councilman Duggan absent." On 1 November Jim Whittemore, requesting the 11th annual Christmas parade, "commented on the Winterfest of Lights in that it should be a worthwhile addition to the Town's festivities"; the 15 November index carries "ANNOUNCEMENT OF WINTERFEST OF LIGHTS CEREMONY" and the 6 December index "PRESENTATION OF CHECK FOR WINTERFEST OF LIGHTS" and "COMMENTS REGARDING WINTERFEST OF LIGHTS." The word 'Winterfest' does not occur in any 1993 document before July. The cost figure is on transcript pages missing from the text layer.
Dennis W. DareJames N. "Jim" Mathias Jr.
Source · checked 2026-09-10
2001 · 2001-06-02
The Baltimore Ravens, four months after winning the Super Bowl, held their fan convention in Ocean City and paraded up Baltimore Avenue from 17th to 27th Street on Saturday 2 June 2001
The Tourism Committee's April minutes, reported to the council on 1 May 2001, note that "the Chamber is promoting a Raven's weekend (1st weekend in June) and the parade will be held June 2nd along Baltimore Avenue"; the Play It Safe calendar filed with the 7 May agenda has it as "RAVENS PARADE 10AM 17TH ST BALTO to 27th st." At the regular session of 4 June, "as an aside, Wayne Cannon, a board member of the Chamber of Commerce, commented on the parade and convention held this past weekend for the Baltimore Ravens, world champion football team, and the positive effect it generates for the Town." It became a fixture: the 6 August agenda carried the Council of Baltimore Ravens Roosts' request for the "Annual Ravens Convention and Parade" on 31 May-2 June 2002 and a date for 2003.
Source · checked 2026-09-10
2003 · 2003-11-17
A Boardwalk joke-shop owner asked the town to ban black henna tattoos as a skin hazard; the county Health Officer said there was no law to enforce and only three complaints in three years, and the council settled for warning the trade associations
Al Wendling, owner of Pop's Joke Shop, had raised the matter on 20 October 2003 with a letter from Deborah Goeller of the Worcester County Health Department "regarding dyes being used on the skin which have not been approved by the FDA." At the 17 November regular session he "again addressed the dangers of the dye materials and requested the Mayor and Council ban their use. Deborah Goeller, Health Officer for Worcester County, reiterated from her letter of October 14, 2003, that there is no regulatory authority for this issue and no law banning it"; her letter "noted that only three complaints had been received in a three-year period." Councilman Gisriel's motion for a public awareness programme and a work study group died for want of a second. "Councilman Joe Hall moved to have the Hotel/Motel/Restaurant Association and Chamber of Commerce be made aware of the possible hazards of black henna tattoos and to disseminate information to their membership"; Yadigar Karsli of Hollywood Art & Henna showed his product, "a natural product ... used in the Mid-East for hundreds of years," and advised a patch test; the vote was 5-0.
Source · checked 2026-09-10
2014 · 2014-07-15
The mayor put the summer's J-1 foreign student workforce at more than 5,000 and gave a Key to the City to the State Department official who ran the exchange programme
Work session of 15 July 2014, Acknowledgements and Recognitions: "Mayor Rick Meehan thanked Robin Lerner of the Department of State Cultural and Educational Affairs, Melanie Pursel of the Greater Ocean City Chamber of Commerce, and Carrie Linch of the Ocean City Maryland Seasonal Workforce Committee for their efforts in organizing the J-1 Students program in Ocean City. [There are over 5,000 J-1 students in the program.] Mayor Meehan presented Robin Lerner with a Key to the City." The bracketed count is the clerk's. The Chamber had told the Tourism Commission in February that a state workforce planning grant was being used "to see what the gap is in workforce needs", and in August the mayor "recognized the International Students and Student Task Force who were in the forum" at the 12 August work session.
Source · checked 2026-09-10
2021 · 2021-09-28
The Chamber of Commerce brought Holtz Builders to the council with five seasonal-workforce housing sites totalling more than 4,000 beds, from 192 beds on Dorchester Street to 1,264 at 94th or 100th Street, and the council told staff to plan the Model Block and 100th Street lots
New Business, work session of 28 September 2021: "Discussion of Seasonal Workforce Housing presented by Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Lachelle Scarlato and Holtz Builders, Inc., CFO/COO Dan Bullock ... Holtz Builders would like to invest $20M to develop the project. Holtz has the ability to fund the construction-operations of the project, and the Town could partner with a land investment. Seasonal housing is a critical need for the business community and Town organization. Proposed projects: 1. OCDC Model Block: 2 buildings; 460 beds; $10M 2. Dorchester Street (Kim property): 1 building; 192 beds; $4.5M 3. 94th Street: 4 buildings; 1264 beds; $25M 4. 100th Street: 4 buildings; 1264 beds; $25M 5. Park and Ride: 3 buildings; 934 beds; $18M." The council voted to evaluate all five with Ocean City Development Corporation input; on 12 October it directed staff "to work with Holtz Builders to begin development plans for two most optimal locations, Model Block and 100th Street Lot," and on 14 December it gave conceptual approval to an OCDC Model Block scheme for "200 +/- beds plus 25 beds for seasonal police" and asked Planning and Zoning for a workforce-housing zoning code with "heightened density and reduction of parking requirements" for rentals longer than four months.
Source · checked 2026-09-11