Mrs. A. B. Showell

In the record (5)

1. 1894

   The Atlantic Hotel advertises an artesian well and sanitary sewerage in the season of 1894 — two years before the town claims artesian water as its own.

   The Washington Evening Star's seaside column carried the Atlantic Hotel's card through the summer of 1894: "ATLANTIC HOTEL, Ocean City, Md., now open for season of 1894. Terms reasonable. All modern conveniences; artesian well; sanitary sewerage; finest bathing on the coast; splendid hunting and fishing; two daily elegant trains each way." That is the earliest attestation this campaign has of either an artesian well or a sewerage system at Ocean City, and it belongs to a private hotel — the Sinepuxent Beach Company's own house — not to the town. When the county paper wrote in June 1896 that "the introduction of artesian well water has removed the one great objection to the place" [fact:1896-artesian-water-at-three-hundred-feet], and when the City Council was reported that September to have "plans in process for a water supply and sewerage system" [fact:1896-water-supply-and-sewerage-planned], the technology had already been on the beach for at least two seasons in the hands of the company that owned it. The same column runs the Isle of Wight House — "SEPTEMBER, CHARMING MONTH AT Ocean City; Bathing, boating, fishing, hunting. Reduced rates; excellent table. At Mrs. A. B. SHOWELL'S Popular Isle of Wight House, Ocean City, Md." — which puts Mrs. Showell's proprietorship a year earlier than the campaign had it.

   Atlantic HotelSinepuxent Beach Company

   Source · checked 2026-08-11

2. 1894 · 1894-06-26

   Two Ocean City lodging houses advertised in Washington in 1894 that the county paper never named: A. B. Showell's 'Seashore Home' and the Bruce Cottage of the Misses Crozier and Judd.

   From the Evening Star's summer-resort columns. From 2 May 1894, repeated for a month: 'SEASHORE HOME FOR THE SPRING, SUMMER and fall months. Adults preferred. Reduced rates May and June. Apply to A. B. Showell, Ocean City, Md.' In 1895 the same advertiser, in the same paper, is 'Mrs. A. B. Showell' of the Isle of Wight House, which identifies the 1894 'Seashore Home' as that house or its predecessor and gives the campaign a continuous Showell tenancy across the two years. And from 26 June 1894: 'BRUCE COTTAGE, OCEAN CITY, MD. NEW house; newly furnished; near beach. Apply Misses CROZIER and JUDD.' Neither name appears anywhere in the 206 pages of the county paper for 1894. The town's accommodation in the 1890s is legible in Washington and invisible in Snow Hill.

   Source · checked 2026-08-11

3. 1895 · 1895-06-28

   The Isle of Wight House advertises out of county for the first time: 'LARGE COOL ROOMS. OCEAN VIEW. EXCELLENT TABLE. EXCLUSIVE BATH ROOMS. HOME SURROUNDINGS' — Mrs. A. B. Showell, Ocean City.

   The house appears in 1895 in two out-of-county papers under the same proprietress. The Bel Air Aegis & Intelligencer of 28 June and 5 July ran a display advertisement: 'THE ISLE OF WIGHT HOUSE, OCEAN CITY, Md. NOW OPEN. LARGE COOL ROOMS. OCEAN VIEW. EXCELLENT TABLE. EXCLUSIVE BATH ROOMS. HOME SURROUNDINGS. Address MRS. A. B. SHOWELL, Ocean City, Maryland. Send for Terms and particulars.' The Washington Evening Star carried a classified through June: 'DESIRABLE ROOMS, EN SUITE OF THREE TO SIX, on one floor, with first-class table board, at the Isle of Wight House. Address Mrs. A. B. Showell, Ocean City, Md.' The Star's summer-resort column had run the same advertiser in 1894 without the house's name, as 'SEASHORE HOME FOR THE SPRING, SUMMER and fall months. Adults preferred. Reduced rates May and June. Apply to A. B. Showell, Ocean City, Md.'

   Source · checked 2026-08-11

4. 1898

   Board at Ocean City in 1898 runs $7 to $10 a week; a new furnished ten-room cottage lets for $150 for the season.

   From the Washington Evening Star's summer-resort columns: 'SEASIDE HOTEL, OCEAN CITY, MD.; admirably located; 88 rooms; refurnished; greatly improved; modern luxuries and conveniences; rates, $7 to $10 per week. Address Mrs. A. B. Showell, Proprietress.' (By late August the same house advertised '$7 to $9 per week.') 'THE COLONNADE, Near the beach. Superior table. Terms $7 to $10 weekly. Mrs. Massey, Ocean City, Md., formerly of "The Gables."' And in the Washington Times of 3 July 1898: 'FOR RENT — At Ocean City, Md., a new ten-room cottage; furnished; unobstructed view of ocean and bay; terms $150. Apply to R. J. Dennis, Ocean City, Md.' Dennis was elected to the city council four weeks later. The Colonial offered 'special discounts made for September if booked in August'; the Plimhimmon, under Mrs. R. T. Shreve, advertised electric light, hot and cold baths, ball rooms, an orchestra and Chattolanee spring water served without extra charge, and opened 15 June.

   Two years earlier the county paper complained that Ocean City's prices were 'beyond the reach of many that would delight to spend a week': the Isle of Wight Cottage wanted up to $17.50 a week. In 1898 the same proprietress, Mrs. A. B. Showell, was asking $7 at a bigger house. The town had heard the complaint.

   Rosalie Tilghman ShreveReverdy J. Dennis

   Source · checked 2026-08-06

5. 1901

   Mrs. A. B. Showell, wife of Col. Lemuel Showell, takes over a second Ocean City house - and the Delaware papers cannot agree which.

   On 29 May 1901 the Smyrna Times reported that "it is reported that Mrs. Lemuel Showell will operate the Colonade Hotel at Ocean City"; on 14 August the same paper stated flatly that "Mrs. A. B. Showell, wife of Col. Lemuel Showell, is now proprietress of the Isle of Wight Hotel, at Ocean City, Md." She had kept the Isle of Wight Cottage in 1896 and the 88-room Seaside Hotel by 1898 - and the Seaside was sold out from under the family in January 1901 to become an annex of the Atlantic. The Showells' hotel interest at Ocean City in 1901 is therefore real, but which house it was is not settled: "Colonade" is most likely the OCR or the reporter's version of the Colonial, which was advertised all season by W. J. Warrington.

   Sources disagree on this.

   Col. Lemuel ShowellWilliam J. Warrington

   Source · checked 2026-08-11