Benjamin Hearthway
electric light plant superintendent · active 1893
Ran the electric light plant at Ocean City for the 1893 season, from June until the beginning of September, on loan from the Snow Hill Electric Light Company, whose own plant was superintended in his absence by Charles Mills.
In the record (1)
1893
The Atlantic Hotel advertises itself as "lighted by electricity," and Ocean City runs an electric light plant all season.
The Atlantic Hotel's advertisement in the Washington Evening Star from mid-May 1893 reads: "THE ATLANTIC HOTEL, Ocean City, Md., will open June 1. Renovated throughout; commands finest location; cuisine unsurpassed; lighted by electricity; sanitary arrangements perfect. For rates, diagrams and further information apply to THEO. L. PAGE, Manager." It was not merely a hotel plant. On June 10 the Democratic Messenger noted that "in the absence of Mr. Benjamin Hearthway, who is running the Electric Light Plant at Ocean City, Mr. Charles Mills will superintend the plant of the Snow Hill Electric Light Co." — the Snow Hill company lending its man to the beach for the season. On September 2 the paper reported the Hearthways home again: they "have been at Ocean City since June" and "Mr. Hearthway had charge of the electric light plant." Electric light at Ocean City in 1893 was therefore a seasonal municipal-scale operation with a named engineer, running June through August. — 1893 FULL PASS, 2026-08-11 [confirmed]: The advertisement is longer-running and more revealing than the single May setting the campaign cites. It ran in the Washington Evening Star from 28 April 1893 (ad code ap28-1m*) through at least 3 July, on at least thirteen dated settings, always with the same copy and always WITHOUT a price: "For rates, diagrams and further information apply to THEO. L. PAGE, Manager. Senate Cafe, until May 15." Two things follow. First, the Atlantic Hotel of Ocean City was being managed out of the Senate Cafe in Washington, which is where you had to write to find out what a room cost. Second, in June the same manager's name appears on the Sinepuxent Beach Company's own land advertisement — "OCEAN CITY, MD., ON THE ATLANTIC OCEAN. Lots for sale, $200 to $1,000. Terms easy. Atlantic Hotel. T. L. PAGE of the Senate restaurant, manager. Call at the office of the Sinepuxent Beach Co., 17th st., for prospectus." The hotel and the land company shared a manager and a Washington sales office.
Source · checked 2026-08-06