Rev. J. Gibson Gantt
Episcopal rector · active 1899
Rector of the Berlin, Maryland parish that included Ocean City as a charge, and the clergyman who drove the move to build a larger Episcopal church at the resort. In July 1899 the press reported him as "for some time very anxious to make a change" from the existing church south of the railroad station, and John Floyd Waggaman's gift of two centrally located lots as the answer to that wish. He worked with a building committee of Robert J. Showell, L. L. Dirickson, Jr., and Edward M. Scott; the old church and lot were advertised for sale on 22 August 1899, and the cornerstone of what became St. Paul's by-the-Sea was laid on 6 June 1900.
In the record (3)
1901
St. Paul's-by-the-Sea works its first season: a Fourth of July patriotic service, an all-season choir, and a benefit concert at the Atlantic.
The new Carpenter Gothic church held its first public service on 7 June 1901; the rest of the year shows it in use. On 3 July the Maryland column reported that "Rev. J. Gibson Gantt, rector, will conduct patriotic services in the new Episcopal Church at Ocean City tomorrow" - the Fourth of July, four weeks after the building opened. By late July "the little Episcopalian chapel of St. Paul's by the sea has secured some all-season musical talent in the persons of Miss Herzberg of Baltimore, contralto; Miss Ethel Smith of Washington, soprano; Mr. Hamilton of Ocean City, bass, and Miss Dorrity as organist" - the only named church musicians this campaign holds for the town. And on Thursday 22 August "the most brilliant concert of the season was given for the benefit of St. Paul's-by-the-Sea, under the immediate patronage of the Atlantic management", billed as an evening of "old, familiar ballads", the stage set "arranged under the personal supervision of Mrs. Waggaman of Washington". The interior was still unfinished; consecration would wait until July 1903.
St. Paul's by-the-Sea Episcopal Church
Source · checked 2026-08-11
1902 · 1902-05-25
Bishop Adams confirmed the first class ever presented in the new St. Paul's by-the-Sea on 25 May 1902 — six people, eleven months after the church's first service.
"Bishop Adams will be in Berlin on Sunday, May 25th ... In the afternoon he will go to Ocean City and hold a service and preach in the new St. Paul's-by-the-Sea at 3.30 o'clock. At that hour the Rev. Mr. Gantt will present a class for confirmation. The first ever presented in the new church." The following week the paper reported that the Bishop had "visited Berlin and Ocean City last Sunday, preaching three most vigorous and eloquent sermons. In St Paul's by the Sea, Ocean City, a large congregation assembled" and named the confirmed: Samuel Ludlum, Daniel Trimper, Robert Hobbs, [Minus] H. Holston, Elmer Trimper, Mamie Parker, Minnie Hearne and Emilie Gorton — the Berlin report of the same service counts "a class of six." The year's other church news: the diocese's Southern Convocation met at St. Paul's, Berlin and St. Paul's by-the-Sea on 29-30 April, with the Ocean City sessions "in the new church"; the Rev. J. Gibson Gantt held a Wednesday-night (later Thursday-night) service at Ocean City through July and August; and on Thursday 14 August a musicale at the Atlantic Casino, with the Atlantic Hotel Orchestra "and many of the best voices on the beach," raised money "to finish the New St. Paul's By-The-Sea."
St. Paul's by-the-Sea Episcopal Church
Source · checked 2026-08-06
1903 · 1903-07-28
St. Paul's-by-the-Sea is consecrated on 28 July 1903 by the Bishop of Easton — three years after its cornerstone, and three months after it opened itself for a wedding.
The rector's own notice, printed 25 July 1903 over the signature "J. Gibson Gantt, Rector": "On Tuesday, July 28th, at 11 A.M. the beautiful St. Paul's-by-the-Sea, the new Episcopal Church at Ocean City, Md., will be consecrated by Bishop Adams, who will also preach the sermon. The Deans of Trinity Cathedral and of the Southern Convocation with its Clergy will be present, and the Vested Choir of Berlin and Salisbury will render the music. In the afternoon at 4 o'clock the Dean of Trinity Cathedral will make an address at a Woman's Auxiliary rally and at night the Southern Convocation will begin a series of services lasting throughout Wednesday. On Tuesday the 28th, the B. C. & A. R. R. will run a train back as far as Salisbury, leaving Ocean City at 10 p. m." The bishop is William Forbes Adams of Easton. Three months earlier, on 25 April, the paper had reported the building "now practically finished... the largest and most beautiful church in Ocean City. It was opened last week for the marriage of Mr. Harvey Hastings, of Wilmington, Del., and Miss Kate Trimper, of Ocean City" — built "under the direction of D. J. Adkins, architect and builder," with an open roof, painted ceiling and exposed timbers, Gothic arches to sanctuary, chancel, organ chamber and sacristy, and a chancel twenty feet deep. In May the church received a quartered-oak altar from the Woman's Auxiliary of the Diocese of Easton, placed by Charles B. Flowers of Easton, and an Italian marble font from Mrs. Josephine L. Massey of Baltimore, proprietor of a hotel at Ocean City, inscribed "To the glory of God, and in loving remembrance of my little daughter, Florence Massey." In August the parish raised money with a children's calisthenics-and-tableaux exhibition — fifty children, "beautiful stage effects" — in the Plimhimmon Casino.
St. Paul's by-the-Sea Episcopal ChurchDavid J. AdkinsJosephine L. Massey
Source · checked 2026-08-06