Henry E. Davis, Jr.
Builder of the Ocean City ocean-front board walk, 1909 · active 1909
The contractor paid by the Mayor and City Council of Ocean City for the ocean-front board walk built under Ordinance No. 302 — $100.00, $400.00 and $565.33 in three instalments across the 1908–09 municipal year, $1,065.33 in all, more than any other single payee in the town's published accounts except the gasoline bill for the water works. He also appears in the same accounts for "use of hose, 15.00" on the receipts side, so he owned equipment the town borrowed. This is the earliest named boardwalk builder in the project's record.
In the record (1)
1909 · 1909-09-25
The town's own share of the 1909 walk: $1,065.33 to Henry E. Davis, Jr. for the front board walk, $348.71 of oak lumber, $128.62 of crossings.
The published accounts itemise every payment the corporation made, and the boardwalk lines can be totalled. **Henry E. Davis, Jr.** was paid in three instalments for the ocean-front walk — "front board walk 100.00," "front walk 400.00," "front walk 565.33" — $1,065.33 in all, with a further $100 to **Lemuel Wyatt** as "part payment on front walk." **D. J. Ward** supplied "oak, lumber board walk" at $348.71 (and $340.15 of lumber carried over from 1908). **G. W. Rounds** was paid $25.16, $58.76 and $44.70 — $128.62 — for "building board walk crossings" and "front board walk crossing," the public-street sections the town could not assess to an abutting owner. The cement side of Ordinance No. 302 cost more: **R. C. Quillen** took $1,561.67 for cement walks in four payments, and **Jos. Schaefer** $701.57 for cement walks and crossings, including "1 Cement Crossing N. 3d St. 40.00." Against a year's total expenditure of $9,348.63, walks and pavements are far the largest thing the town bought. Because the ordinance assessed most of the cost to frontage owners, these figures are the municipality's share only, not the full price of the walk.
The first hard construction price for an Ocean City boardwalk anywhere in the record — and it is a builder's name and three instalments, not a contract.
Source · checked 2026-08-06