Henry J. Anderson
Worcester County legislator · active 1900
Member of the Maryland General Assembly for Worcester County who in February 1900 introduced the bill incorporating the Ocean City Steel Pier Railway and Amusement Company, and was named in it as one of the incorporators. The bill became Chapter 682 of the Acts of 1900, approved 10 April.
In the record (1)
1906 · 1906-06-02
Ocean City builds its first ocean pier: 800 feet out, a "spacious auditorium" at the beach end, and upward of 5,000 coloured electric lights.
Work was under way in the first week of February — "Considerable progress was made on the ocean pier this week, but nothing further will be done for some time owing to the great difficulty of the work during the severe weather" — and resumed in late May. The Messenger of 2 June 1906: "Work has at last been resumed on the ocean pier, with prospects for an early completion, but not in time for the regular opening of the season here, which will be on June 16. It is proposed to extend the pier out 800 feet, and at the beach end will be erected a spacious auditorium. At night the whole will be brilliantly illuminated by upward of 5,000 incandescent electric lights of various color." The company's stockholders had met at Ocean City in late January, a special car carrying H. F. Harmonson, L. L. Dirickson and Henry J. Anderson down from Berlin; R. Lee Purnell of Ocean City was secretary. The pier did not open in 1906 — the registry dates the pier building to 1907.
Two seasons of work and a winter of bad weather stand between the charter and the first pier — which is why 1907, not 1906, is the year on the plaque.
Pier Ballroom & Bandshell SiteOcean City Pier and Improvement CompanyCol. L. L. Dirickson
Source · checked 2026-08-06