Hon. James U. Dennis
Atlantic Hotel Company stockholder · active 1875
Maryland officeholder and a top-class ($500) subscriber to the Atlantic Hotel Company. His was the first name drawn from the hat at Ocean City's lot drawing on August 31, 1875, giving him first choice of lots in the new town; he was not present, and his brother, U.S. Senator George R. Dennis, chose Lot No. 11 for him. He appears in the Baltimore guest lists at the Atlantic Hotel that July as "J. Upshur Dennis."
In the record (1)
1887 · 1887-08-01
Seven men are elected directors of the Atlantic Hotel for the year from August 1, 1887 — the fullest named leadership Ocean City has yet produced.
Baltimore's German daily Der Deutsche Correspondent reported on August 3 that the following had been chosen directors of the hotel at Ocean City, Md. for one year from August 1: president H. H. Dashiell; secretary B. Jones Taylor; E. S. Toadvine; Judge J. Upshur Dennis; N. J. Henry; Col. Sam Showell; and Dr. S. P. Dennis. About two hundred guests were lodging in the house at the time, "so that an excellent season is in prospect." B. Jones Taylor was one of the four men named in the Atlantic Hotel Company's 1868 charter; J. Upshur Dennis drew first choice of lots at the town's founding sale in 1875. Nineteen years on, the same names still run the house.
No mayor, no commissioners, no bailiff — but a full slate of hotel directors, printed in German, in Baltimore. In 1887 that was the closest thing Ocean City had to a government of record.
Atlantic HotelAtlantic Hotel CompanyB. Jones Taylor
Source · checked 2026-08-06