Mrs. K. C. Hastings

In the record (4)

1. 1921

   The 1921 hotel roster, from the Evening Star's summer advertising block: eleven Ocean City houses, their proprietors, and what each was selling.

   Washington's Evening Star carried a standing Ocean City, Md. block every summer Sunday of 1921 under the slogan "Finest beach in world; ocean on one side, bay on other; cool, healthful; boating and fishing." The houses and their proprietors: THE ATLANTIC HOTEL, ocean front, European plan, garage accommodations, W. B. S. Powell, prop.; PLIMHIMMON HOTEL and cottages, ocean front, "Best service. Ballroom. 'Morris' novelty' string orchestra"; THE COLONIAL, "On boardwalk; remodeled & enlarged; private baths, running water... Open June 15th to October 1. Ownership management"; THE HASTINGS, "Newest hotel on Boardwalk; excellent rooms and private bath," Mrs. K. C. Hastings; THE HASTINGS COTTAGE, Mr. Graves; THE RIDEAU, "On boardwalk. Ocean front dining room. Excellent table," La Fayette Johnson, prop.; HOTEL HAMILTON, ocean front, J. L. Massey & Son; THE LIN-MAR, "Running water in rooms. All conveniences. Bath houses attached," Mrs. H. F. Boyd; THE DENNIS, "Comfortable and homelike. Porticos overlooking ocean and bay. Terms reasonable. Bathing free," Mrs. R. J. Dennis; THE BELMONT and Cottages, "With ocean view. Cool, delightful rms. Rates reasonable. Excellent table," L. B. Hearne; THE BREAKERS, ocean front, "Phone connection. Excellent cooking. Bathhouses attached," Mrs. C. Timmons, prop. The county papers add three more trading names that summer. The Hamilton took the Eastern Shore Society of Baltimore's touring party in July. The Herring Cottage on the boardwalk, "only a few doors from the Atlantic Hotel," was run in 1921 by Isaac H. West of Pocomoke City. And the Hastings housed the Philadelphia family whose father drowned in August.

   Atlantic HotelPlimhimmon Hotel / Plim PlazaOcean City BoardwalkWilliam B. S. PowellLafayette Johnson

   Source · checked 2026-08-10

2. 1927

   The 1927 hotel advertising is a rebuilding schedule: two brand-new boardwalk houses, forty new rooms at the Plimhimmon, twenty at the Belmont, and a Chandler House two blocks north of where it used to be.

   The Washington papers' Ocean City block through the summer of 1927 reads as a construction report. New houses: "The MAYFLOWER — Mrs. K. C. Hastings' new hotel on Boardwalk. Opened May 15th"; "HOTEL ROYALTON — Complete new hotel on boardwalk; hot and cold running water in all rooms; fine service; excellent table. LYNCH & KELLEY, Ownership-Management". Enlarged: "PLIMHIMMON Hotel. 40 new rooms and baths added. Ocean front. Best service. Ballroom. Orchestra. Garage. Golf"; "THE BELMONT — Ocean front rooms. Running water. Recently remodeled with 20 new rooms". Moved and rebuilt: "THE CHANDLER HOUSE, Oscar M. & Hattie W. Chandler, Ocean City, Md. Our New Place. Larger and Better. Two Blocks North of Old Location. Running Water and Large Rooms. Rooms With Baths." The rest of the block: the Hamilton ("The House of Plenty. Ocean Front. Running Water. Garage. Dancing. Bathing. Golf, Hotel Bus"), the Colonial ("Best On Boardwalk. Modern. Open May 25th. Golf. Ownership Management. 14th season", C. O. & N. C. D. Carter), the Hotel Lankford ("Ocean front, modern, exclusive. American plan. Garage." Mrs. M. B. Quillan, opened 25 May), The Kaye ("New and modern. On boardwalk. Excellent table. Bathing free." Mrs. M. Kaye, Prop., Ph. 117), the Hastings, the Del-Mar (Mrs. S. I. Carey, owner-proprietor, "running water all rooms, season June to late Sept."), the Dennis ("Comfortable and homelike. Hot and cold running water. Terms reasonable. Bathing free." Mrs. R. J. Dennis) and the Gables (Edward Kurtz, prop., "thoroughly renovated, hot and cold water in every bedroom … Seafood dinners a specialty. Every patron a booster our motto").

   Running water was the boast in 1922, private baths in 1923, a garage in 1925. In 1927 the boast is that the room is new. Fifteen months after three ocean-front blocks burned, the selling point had become the rebuilding itself — and two of the new houses are on the boardwalk the fire took.

   Plimhimmon Hotel / Plim PlazaOcean City Boardwalk

   Source · checked 2026-08-06

3. 1931 · 1931-04-19

   Two boardwalk hotels advertise themselves as new in 1931: the Mayflower and The Kaye.

   From 19 April the Evening Star carries "MAYFLOWER — New; directly on Boardwalk; rooms single or en suite. Special Spring rates. Mrs. K. C. Hastings, Owner-Manager", running weekly through the spring; from June the Ocean City block also carries "THE KAYE — New and modern. On boardwalk. Excellent table. Bathing free. Mrs. M. Kaye, Prop. Ph. 117." Both are on the Boardwalk, both are advertised by women proprietors, and neither appears in the 1930 hotel column.

   In the second year of the Depression two new houses opened on the Ocean City boardwalk and advertised in Washington under the word NEW — which is the closest thing 1931 has to a construction story, and a reminder that the resort's building did not simply stop after the crash. Whether "new" means newly built or newly under that name is not stated.

   Ocean City Boardwalk

   Source · checked 2026-08-10

4. 1931 · 1931-06-09

   Eleven Ocean City, Md. houses advertise in the Evening Star's June 1931 resort column — and the George Washington Hotel is not one of them.

   The "OCEAN CITY, MD." block in the Evening Star of 9 and 12 June 1931 lists: the PLIMHIMMON ("A Famous Maryland Hostelry... The T. Worth Plimhimmon Orchestra in ball room. Garage. Golf."); the COLONIAL HOTEL ("Boardwalk; modern. Special rates to July 15. Golf. Booklet. 18th season. Charges reversed on phone reservations. Ph. No. 2. C. O. and N. C. D. CARTER"); the ATLANTIC ("Largest and most modern Resort Hotel on the Delmarva peninsula. Phone 128"); the HASTINGS HOTEL (Mrs. Chas. Ludlam, parking space, special rates to July 15); the MAYFLOWER ("New; directly on Boardwalk; rooms single or en suite... Mrs. K. C. Hastings, Owner-Manager"); THE LANKFORD ("On Boardwalk; garage. M. B. Quillin, Prop."); the BREAKERS ("On Boardwalk. Rooms with hot and cold running water and private bath. Phone 76. C. H. Timmons, Prop."); THE DENNIS; THE BELMONT ("Terms Reasonable. L. R. Hearne"); THE KAYE ("New and modern. On boardwalk. Excellent table. Bathing free. Mrs. M. Kaye, Prop. Ph. 117"); and THE DEL-MAR ("Private baths. Mrs. S. I. Carey"). The MAJESTIC joins the block later in June.

   Twelve houses across the season, two of them advertising themselves as NEW. And no George Washington Hotel — in a column that its 1932 successor advertised in, on the same page of the same paper. Whatever the George Washington was doing in 1931, it was not buying space in Washington.

   Atlantic HotelPlimhimmon Hotel / Plim PlazaOcean City BoardwalkAtlantic Hotel CompanyPlimhimmon Hotel Company of Worcester CountyDr. Charles Washington Purnell

   Source · checked 2026-08-10