Henry Page
congressman · active 1890-1892
Somerset County lawyer nominated for Congress at Ocean City on the 199th ballot in September 1890 and renominated there by acclamation on July 20, 1892, then re-elected and resigned his seat that September to go on the bench. The First District Democratic convention, adjourned at Ocean City subject to the chair's call, reconvened at Salisbury in October 1892 to fill the vacancy he created.
In the record (3)
1892 · 1892-07-20
The Atlantic Hotel's dancing pavilion is the town's public hall: a congressional convention in July, the Gridiron Club's hop in August.
The Democratic Messenger's account of the First District Democratic convention of July 20, 1892 locates it precisely: "The convention was held in the dancing pavilion of the Atlantic Hotel, the same room where Mr. Page was first nominated two years ago. The same chairman also presided, Dr. Robert M. Price, of Queen Anne's county, whose fair rulings then commended him to the present convention." A month later the same room did what it was built for: "A musicale and hop were given in the Atlantic Hotel pavilion Saturday night by the Gridiron Club of Washington, D. C., and dancing was indulged in to a late hour." The hotel had brought its own band down for the season — "The Atlantic Hotel Orchestra arrived at Ocean City on Friday" (July 2). The pavilion is also what the year's most persistent hotel rumour was to be attached to: "a fine new hotel will be erected at Ocean City on the ground adjacent to the Atlantic and in front of the Seaside. It is proposed to join this to the Atlantic with an immense open-air sea pavilion."
Atlantic Hotel CompanySinepuxent Beach Company
Source · checked 2026-08-11
1892 · 1892-07-20
Both parties nominate their First District congressman at Ocean City in the same summer — and the winner resigns within two months.
The Democratic congressional convention for the First District met at Ocean City on Wednesday, July 20, 1892 and renominated Congressman Henry Page of Somerset by acclamation; the Democratic Messenger called it "just as it should have been." Worcester County had chosen its eight Ocean City delegates at a county convention on June 8 — William C. Franklin, John L. Robins, Oscar M. Purnell, Robert N. Todd, Jerome T. Hayman, Zadok F. Henry Jr., William Lee Carey and J. Edward White. The Republican State Central Committee then set its own First District convention for Ocean City on August 18, where George M. Russum of Caroline County was nominated — the Messenger, unimpressed: "Uncle George is a good fellow but he hasn't a ghost of a show of being elected." Page resigned his seat in September to go on the bench, and the Democratic convention, adjourned at Ocean City subject to the call of the chair, reconvened at Salisbury in October to fill the vacancy. — 1892 FULL PASS, 2026-08-11 [confirmed]: Confirmed from outside Worcester County, and the Republican convention gains a chairman and a dateline. Baltimore's Der Deutsche Correspondent of 20 August 1892: “Die republikanische Congreß-Convention für den ersten Marylander Distrikt fand am Donnerstag in Ocean City, Md., unter dem Vorsitz des Achtb. Thomas S. Hodson von Somerset-County, Md., statt und nominirte einstimmig Achtb. George M. Russum von Caroline County für den Congreß.” — The Republican congressional convention for the First Maryland District met on Thursday at Ocean City, Md., under the chairmanship of the Hon. Thomas S. Hodson of Somerset County, and unanimously nominated the Hon. George M. Russum of Caroline County for Congress. A wire dispatch datelined “Ocean City, Md., Aug. 19” in the Wilmington Daily Republican of 19 August carries the same result. The convention dates are corroborated in advance by four further papers — Montgomery County Sentinel 6 May, Democratic Advocate 7 May and 16 July, Catoctin Clarion 21 July, Aegis & Intelligencer 6 May and 22 July — so both conventions were on the state's political calendar from the spring. NEW NAME: Thomas S. Hodson of Somerset County, chairman of the Republican convention, is not currently in the record.
Two years after Henry Page was first nominated here on the 199th ballot, the town of eighty-five hosted both parties' district conventions in a single August — and the man it nominated in July had quit by September.
Source · checked 2026-08-06
1892 · 1892-07-23
The county paper counts the score: Ocean City has been holding First District congressional conventions since 1876, "because of the invigorating atmosphere."
Under the heading "First District Congressional Conventions Since 1876," the Democratic Messenger of July 23, 1892 supplied the town's own political pedigree: "Ocean City is becoming a favorite spot for the holding of Congressional conventions, because of the invigorating atmosphere in contrast with the stuffy, dusty condition of the inland towns during the summer months. The First Congressional Convention held in Ocean City was in 1876 when Daniel M. Henry of Dorchester was nominated." The list ran on: in 1886 "the convention met at Ocean City and renominated Congressman Gibson by acclamation"; in 1888 it met at Denton, where Charles H. Gibson broke the district's two-term precedent after "nearly 200 ballots"; and in 1890 the convention met at Centreville, cast 178 ballots without nominating anybody, and "adjourned to meet at Ocean City on the following [day], where after a lively contest" Henry Page was nominated. That is four conventions at Ocean City in sixteen years, beginning the year after the Atlantic Hotel opened — and it dates the resort's usefulness to Maryland politics a good deal earlier than 1890.
Unverified — sourced but not confirmed against a primary record.
Source · checked 2026-08-11