History

Robert Lee Purnell

promoter and pier builder · active 1905–

Snow Hill man who chaired the meeting at the Ocean City railroad depot in May 1905 that organised the Ocean City Pier and Improvement Company, became its secretary and later its secretary and general manager, and personally superintended the construction of the pier that began on 16 October 1905. In April 1905 he had been at Ocean City for a fortnight superintending work on his brother T. M. Purnell's cottage. In October 1905 he also told the county paper that an inlet from the ocean to Sinepuxent Bay could feasibly be cut two miles below Ocean City to bring salt water to oyster grounds. He was appointed notary public at Ocean City by Governor Edwin Warfield in October 1907, filling out an unexpired term.

In the record (5)

  1. 1905 · 1905-05-12

    A crowded meeting at the railroad depot organises the Ocean City Pier and Improvement Company to build an ocean pier — the third such company since 1896, and the first to build one.

    "A New Pier for Ocean City. A company was organized last Friday to erect an ocean pier out from the beach at Ocean City — a project long contemplated. A largely attended meeting was held at the railroad depot." R. Lee Purnell of Snow Hill chaired and J. E. Ijams of Baltimore was secretary. Officers of the Ocean City Pier and Improvement Company of Ocean City, Maryland: president Christopher Ludlam of Ocean City (the town's mayor); vice-president L. L. Dirickson, Jr., of Berlin; treasurer D. J. Adkins of Berlin; secretary R. L. Purnell of Snow Hill; assistant secretary J. E. Ijams of Baltimore. A board of directors was elected to serve one year, and it was proposed "to erect the pier at once and to capitalize the company at $20,000." By 8 July R. Lee Purnell reported plans to build "just below the Atlantic Hotel, extending [900] feet into the Ocean."

    capitalised at $10,000–$20,000 — the two Messenger reports disagree

    Ocean City Pier and Improvement CompanySteel Pier and Railway Company of Ocean CityOcean City Steel Pier Railway and Amusement CompanyChristopher LudlamCol. L. L. DiricksonDavid J. AdkinsJ. Edgar Ijams

    Source · checked 2026-08-06

  2. 1905 · 1905-10-16

    Pile-driving for the Ocean City pier starts on 16 October 1905 — 900 feet of hickory piles, a 120-by-70-foot convention and dancing hall at the shore end, and a pavilion at the far end.

    "Building Ocean City Pier. Active operations began Monday, the 16th instant, on the construction of the pier at Ocean City, giving employment to a great number of workmen. The beach in the neighborhood of the [locality] where the pier is being constructed is strewn with stout timbers, including hickory piles for the structure. The builders claim that hickory trees cut at the season of the year when the bark will remain are more durable than iron or steel in salt water. The building of the pier will be continued throughout the winter … The plans call for a pier 900 feet long and 130 feet wide. At the shore end there will be a hall for conventions and dancing, 120 feet long by 70 feet wide. At the other end of the pier will be another pavilion. From the shore the pier will extend over the outer bar into deep water." Robert Lee Purnell was promoter and general manager. At the company's annual stockholders' meeting, reported 16 December, Capt. Christopher Ludlam was re-elected president, Calvin B. Taylor treasurer and R. Lee Purnell secretary, with Taylor and John W. Staton as counsel, and "the pier will be completed for the opening of the coming season."

    Ocean City Pier and Improvement CompanyChristopher LudlamCalvin B. TaylorWilliam T. TaberThomas J. CropperJohn L. JohnsonJoseph SchaeferCapt. Joshua J. DuntonDavid J. AdkinsCol. L. L. Dirickson

    Source · checked 2026-08-06

  3. 1905 · 1905-10-21

    The pier's promoter tells the county paper that an inlet from the ocean to Sinepuxent Bay could be cut two miles below Ocean City "with proper engineering" — twenty-eight years before the storm did it.

    In the same column that announced pile-driving for the pier: "It is claimed by Mr. Purnell that two miles or so below Ocean City, where the beach between the Atlantic and Sinepuxent bay is not more than a couple of hundred yards wide, it is perfectly feasible with proper engineering to make an inlet from the Ocean to the Sinepuxent to add salt water for oyster cultivation. Thirty miles below, where the bay is salt, there is already a large area covered with oyster farms." The argument is agricultural, not navigational — salt water for oyster grounds, the same reasoning that drove the 1869–72 canal schemes — and it is offered casually, as one item on a promoter's list of improvements.

    Every generation on this beach worked out that the island could be cut. In 1905 the reason given was oysters.

    Ocean City Pier and Improvement Company

    Source · checked 2026-08-06

  4. 1907

    Governor Warfield appoints R. Lee Parnell notary public at Ocean City - one of two surviving traces of the town's governance in 1907.

    The Annapolis Evening Capital of 10 October 1907: "Executive Appointment. Governor Warfield has appointed Mr. R. Lee Parnell a notary public at Ocean City, to fill out the remainder of the term." With the Snow Hill Democratic Messenger undigitised for 1907, the General Assembly not in session (Maryland legislated in even years this era), and the town's own books destroyed in 1896, this appointment and the summer resort columns are almost all that survives of Ocean City's public life for the year. No mayor, no council, no election, no ordinance and no municipal account for 1907 appears in any source read.

    Source · checked 2026-08-06

  5. 1912

    The Atlantic Casino changes hands and the Pier gets a new management that visitors actually like.

    Two amusement properties turn over in 1912. In April: "R. L. Purnell, real estate agent, completed a deal Thursday by which the Atlantic Casino at Ocean City was sold to Joseph Tibbett" — the Casino being the hall where Ocean City nominated its mayor in 1908 and the Democrats picked a congressman in 1904. In August, of the pier leased to an unnamed New York man for the 1911 season: "The Pier at Ocean City this season seems to be especially attractive to visitors. Under the new management conditions have been much improved over former years and the Pier seems to be the first place sought by newcomers, especially those who enjoy moonlight dancing, excellent fishing and a delightful ocean breeze. The bowling alleys are of the best and are constantly [in use]." Elsewhere in the year the Ocean City Hotel — John J. Rayne's property opposite the railroad station and opposite the Seaside Hotel, "25 ROOMS: 12 bed-rooms, barber shop, running water, bath, toilets and electric and acetylene-gas lights" — was offered at private sale through Upshur & Upshur, and in October Dr. Frank Townsend of Ocean City bought the drugstore formerly run as Townsend & Jones.

    Atlantic Casino CompanyOcean City Pier and Improvement Company

    Source · checked 2026-08-06