History

Callahan Thompson

manager of the Ocean City pier and dance pavilion · active 1931

Son of Mr. and Mrs. S. E. Thompson of Seaford, Delaware, and in July 1931 'manager of the pier and dance pavilion at Ocean City, Md.' — the first person this campaign can name as running the Ocean City pier after the boardwalk fire of December 1925. He was chosen that month as a judge of the drum and bugle corps at the Maryland State Firemen's Association parade, whose convention filled the Ocean City Pier Convention Hall on 8-10 July 1931.

In the record (1)

  1. 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 AssociationOcean City Amusement Pier Corporation

    Source · checked 2026-08-10