History

Thomas Shill

applicant for building permits, Ocean City · active 1939

The most-refused man in Ocean City in 1939. In February his indefinite application for a building on 9th Street drew four objectors and he walked out of the council room saying it was unimportant to him whether he built or not. In March he and Rudolph Dolle were granted a permit to build on the Ayers lot at 9th Street for retailing popcorn, over the same objectors, on condition they complied with the building line. In September he applied with C. H. Clark to enlarge and roof the entire structure, and on 3 October, after the 250-foot notice had gone out and the same neighbours had been heard, the application was refused. Nothing else about him is in the record - not his trade, not his address, only three applications on one block in one year.

In the record (1)

  1. 1939 · 1939-10-03

    The same council that refused the Colored Recreation Hall refused a white man's building on 9th Street in 1939 - and had granted him one in March

    Thomas Shill appears three times in 1939. On 21 February his permit for a building on 9th Street drew Mrs. Della K. Powell, P. C. Dennis and Mr. and Mrs. Benson to the council room; 'Mr. Shill was very indefinite as to just what he proposed to build and finally said it was unimportant to him whether he built or not and he left the Council room & no further action was taken.' On 31 March he and Rudolph Dolle applied to build on the Ayers lot at 9th Street for retailing popcorn; the same objectors attended - Mrs. Della Powell, Mr. and Mrs. Benson, H. O. Cropper, Phil Dennis and Mrs. Virginia Ayers - and 'Permits were granted to applicants with understanding they were to comply with building line and operate as requested in applications.' On 19 September he came back with C. H. Clark to enlarge and roof the entire structure, and the mayor sent him away to fill in an application so the clerk could notify everyone within 250 feet. On 3 October the application 'was taken up and discussed with adjoining owners of property Mr & Mrs Benson, P. C. Dennis & Della K. Powell & letters from H. O. Cropper and application refused.'

    This complicates the 1938 case and it should. The notice-and-hearing machinery refused white men too, and it refused this one after granting him a permit on the same block six months before. What it does not show is a single instance in 1939 of a Black applicant being put through it at all - which is the more exact indictment: the procedure was real, and Black Ocean City had already been taught what it produced.

    Rudolph DolleDella K. PowellHorace O. Cropper

    Source · checked 2026-08-11