History

Josephine L. Massey

hotel proprietor, The Hamilton · active 1902–1903

Baltimore woman who ran The Hamilton at Ocean City — advertised through the 1902 and 1903 seasons as 'beautifully situated: directly facing the ocean, newest and one of the finest hotels on the beach.' In May 1903 she gave St. Paul's-by-the-Sea an Italian marble font inscribed 'To the glory of God, and in loving remembrance of my little daughter, Florence Massey.'

In the record (2)

  1. 1903 · 1903-07-11

    The Hotel Mount Vernon advertises itself all summer at "Talbot Ave. and Boardwalk" — $1.50 a day, $7 to $10 a week, and a fifty-cent dinner.

    The standing "Ocean City Hotels" advertising block, running weekly in the Democratic Messenger from at least 4 July to the end of August 1903: "HOTEL MOUNT VERNON, Talbot Ave. and Boardwalk, OCEAN CITY, MD. FULL OCEAN VIEW. $1.50 Per Day. $7 To $10 A Week. EXCELLENT TABLE. Our 50 Cent Dinner a Specialty. MRS. S. M. PURNELL, Two Blocks North R. R. Station." The same block carries The Plimhimmon — "One whole block Ocean front. Newly decorated. Hollywood Mandolin Orchestra. Capacity 200. Chattolanee Spring water. Mrs. R. T. Shreve"; The Hamilton — "Beautifully situated: directly facing the ocean, newest and one of the finest hotels on the beach. Mrs. Massey"; and The Colonial — "Was opened for the reception of guests on Saturday, June 27th. Bath house in connection with the hotel and all modern conveniences. Terms moderate." A boarding week at the Mount Vernon in 1903 cost less than half what the Atlantic charged the convention trade by the day. **The address is the point.** "Talbot Ave. and Boardwalk" is a paid, repeated, commercial street address, printed weekly in 1903 — the earliest use this campaign has found of *Boardwalk* as the name of a place you could be told to go to.

    Rosalie Tilghman ShreveMrs. S. M. Purnell

    Source · checked 2026-08-06

  2. 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 ChurchRev. J. Gibson GanttDavid J. Adkins

    Source · checked 2026-08-06