M. J. McDermott
contractor · active 1936–1937
Contractor of Georgetown, Delaware, who built Ocean City's sewage treatment plant, force mains and appurtenances under Contract No. 2 of PWA Docket Md. 1065-R. He was the low bidder at $74,510.48 on 26 June 1936, started work on 26 August 1936, had his time extended from 4 January 1937 to 26 April and then to 26 May 1937 — for inability to obtain cinders and brick, and because the State Board of Health required his subcontractor the Roberts Filter Manufacturing Company to design equipment to stop sewage backing into the town's water lines — and had his liquidated damages waived. The Mayor and City Council accepted the plant as satisfactory on 8 June 1937. He appears in the Ocean City minutes again on 31 March 1937, when the mayor was to see him about grading the town's streets, and in person on 14 December 1937 as an unsuccessful bidder at $7,373.50 for the Philadelphia Avenue connecting sewer. Neither the Democratic Messenger nor the Salisbury Times ever printed his name.
In the record (4)
1937 · 1937-03-31
The engineers had to come and tell Ocean City it would need a man to look after the sewage plant
'Mr. Clark Gardner and Dallas of Salisbury and Mr. Watson were present explaining the necessity of having a man to care for the plant' - 31 March 1937, six weeks before the works were accepted. On 15 April the follow-up question was put: 'Question of having Mr. Watson remain longer for to give instruction at the disposal plant was discussed and Mayor Elliott Called Gardner and it was not deemed necessary.' The town had built a mechanical sewage works and then had to be told, by its own engineers, that somebody would have to run it - and having been told, decided it did not need the extra fortnight of instruction. The same 31 March meeting discussed the grading of the streets, with the Mayor to see 'Mr. McDermott' about it, and the raising of the sidewalks on St. Louis Avenue.
Clark GardnerW. Thomas Elliott
Source · checked 2026-08-11
1937 · 1937-04-26
The sewage plant ran eight months late because the contractor could not get cinders and brick, and because the Board of Health made him keep sewage out of the water mains
A typed resolution of 26 April 1937 sets out the whole history of the delay in the contractor's favour. 'M. J. McDermott under contract NO.2 started work on August 26th 1936 Docket Md.1065-2R Sewerage Treatment Plant and on Jan 4th 1937 time extended to April 26th 1937.' Two reasons are given for a further extension: '#1 Inability to obtain certain materials to meet specifications (cinders, brick, etc.)'; and '#2 - It became necessary, because of stipulation by the State Board of Health, to have the Roberts Filter Mfg. Co., Sub Contractor, design and submit for approval certain mechanical equipment to prevent the backing up of sewerage into the city water lines.' The council extended the time to 26 May 1937 and 'waive[d] the liquidated damages specified in said contract relative to failure to complete the work in time', directing that 'the State Director be advised of this action'. It was signed by Mayor W. Thomas Elliott, by William H. Scott as President of the City Council, and certified by J. M. Mumford.
A resort that had just voted 104 to 1 to put sewers in the sand was, eighteen months later, still waiting on a delivery of cinders - and on a Philadelphia filter company to invent a way of stopping the sewage getting into the drinking water.
M. J. McDermottRoberts Filter Manufacturing CompanyMaryland State Board of HealthFederal Emergency Administration of Public WorksW. Thomas ElliottWilliam H. ScottJohn M. Mumford
Source · checked 2026-08-11
1937 · 1937-06-08
On 8 June 1937 Ocean City accepted its sewage treatment plant, and the two-year job the town had voted 104 to 1 for was finished
Dr. F. J. Townsend offered the resolution and W. Preston Laws seconded it, and it passed unanimously: the Mayor and City Council 'have accepted as satisfactory - Subject to prior acceptance by the Consulting Engineer - Sewerage Treatment Plant, Force mains, and Appurtenances recently Constructed at Ocean City, Maryland, by M. J. McDermott, of Georgetown, Delaware, under Contract #2 PWA Docket NO Md. 1065-2R.' The clerk was again to notify the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works. McDermott had bid $74,510.48 as the low bidder on 26 June 1936 and started work on 26 August 1936; the plant was in the ground in ten months and had been running long enough by 15 April 1937 for the council to decide it did not need the manufacturer's man to stay on and give instruction. The system had cost the town $61,000 of federal bonds, an $8,250 cash contribution of its own and a federal grant that had been raised to $56,659.
The 1936 pass closed with the sewer '70 per cent complete' and a hole where the answer should be. This is the answer, in the town's own hand: accepted, 8 June 1937, from the low bidder of the previous June.
M. J. McDermottFederal Emergency Administration of Public WorksFrancis J. TownsendW. Preston LawsW. Thomas ElliottJohn M. MumfordClark Gardner
Source · checked 2026-08-11
1937 · 1937-12-14
Ocean City ended 1937 by buying a second sewer: $6,921.15 to put an eight-inch line down the west side of Philadelphia Avenue
The PWA system had served the ocean side. On 9 November the secretary was ordered to ask the engineer Clark Gardner when he could meet the council 'and decide on what could be done on Connecting sewer on west side of Phila. ave'. On 16 November Gardner and Dallas went over the plans and it was decided to ask for bids 'for Connecting up with new Sewer 8" leaving present lines for Storm Drains'. On 14 December the bids were opened in front of the three contractors themselves - 'Mr. McDermott of Georgetown Del., Munday of Bridgeton N.J., Clark Gardner, Dallas of Salisbury' were all present - and read: A. Stanley Mundy $7,625.30, M. J. McDermott $7,373.50, George & Lynch $6,921.15, each with a certified cheque for $500. Dr. Townsend moved and Laws seconded, and the contract went to George & Lynch. The same evening the council released W. C. Pool from a sewer easement taken on his land in November 1929, 'as the City has no use for a sewer crossing any of the property on West Side of Phila ave', and told Mrs. Kuhit it would put in the necessary sewer on 8th Street when she was ready to build.
George & LynchA. Stanley Mundy & Co., Inc.M. J. McDermottClark GardnerFrancis J. TownsendW. Preston LawsW. C. Pool
Source · checked 2026-08-11