W. Lee Carey
mayor · active 1908–1912
Mayor of Ocean City from 1908 to 1912. In July 1911 he rode the evening train down from Baltimore with Senator John Walter Smith and hosted him at the Atlantic Hotel during the great heat wave, as the senator's Eastern Shore lieutenants gathered at the resort. He was nominated in the Atlantic Casino on Monday 27 July 1908 on a full slate with Cropper, Powell, Massey, Taylor and Johnson, and elected without a reported contest on Monday 3 August; three weeks later he bought the lot in Ocean City that the charter required a mayor to own, from the druggist Cornelius F. Coffin.
In the record (22)
1892 · 1892-07-20
Both parties nominate their First District congressman at Ocean City in the same summer — and the winner resigns within two months.
The Democratic congressional convention for the First District met at Ocean City on Wednesday, July 20, 1892 and renominated Congressman Henry Page of Somerset by acclamation; the Democratic Messenger called it "just as it should have been." Worcester County had chosen its eight Ocean City delegates at a county convention on June 8 — William C. Franklin, John L. Robins, Oscar M. Purnell, Robert N. Todd, Jerome T. Hayman, Zadok F. Henry Jr., William Lee Carey and J. Edward White. The Republican State Central Committee then set its own First District convention for Ocean City on August 18, where George M. Russum of Caroline County was nominated — the Messenger, unimpressed: "Uncle George is a good fellow but he hasn't a ghost of a show of being elected." Page resigned his seat in September to go on the bench, and the Democratic convention, adjourned at Ocean City subject to the call of the chair, reconvened at Salisbury in October to fill the vacancy. — 1892 FULL PASS, 2026-08-11 [confirmed]: Confirmed from outside Worcester County, and the Republican convention gains a chairman and a dateline. Baltimore's Der Deutsche Correspondent of 20 August 1892: “Die republikanische Congreß-Convention für den ersten Marylander Distrikt fand am Donnerstag in Ocean City, Md., unter dem Vorsitz des Achtb. Thomas S. Hodson von Somerset-County, Md., statt und nominirte einstimmig Achtb. George M. Russum von Caroline County für den Congreß.” — The Republican congressional convention for the First Maryland District met on Thursday at Ocean City, Md., under the chairmanship of the Hon. Thomas S. Hodson of Somerset County, and unanimously nominated the Hon. George M. Russum of Caroline County for Congress. A wire dispatch datelined “Ocean City, Md., Aug. 19” in the Wilmington Daily Republican of 19 August carries the same result. The convention dates are corroborated in advance by four further papers — Montgomery County Sentinel 6 May, Democratic Advocate 7 May and 16 July, Catoctin Clarion 21 July, Aegis & Intelligencer 6 May and 22 July — so both conventions were on the state's political calendar from the spring. NEW NAME: Thomas S. Hodson of Somerset County, chairman of the Republican convention, is not currently in the record.
Two years after Henry Page was first nominated here on the 199th ballot, the town of eighty-five hosted both parties' district conventions in a single August — and the man it nominated in July had quit by September.
Source · checked 2026-08-06
1894 · 1894-07-25
Seen from outside the county, the Ocean City convention of July 1894 was Senator Gorman beating the Cleveland men — and paying for it with his own candidate for governor.
The Middletown (Del.) Transcript of 28 July 1894 printed the metropolitan account the county paper's own excited narrative does not give: 'GORMAN WINS. His Unyielding Grip on "My Maryland." Ocean City, Md., July 25th. — Senator Gorman knocked the Clevelandites of the First Congressional District silly to-day by not only securing the nomination of two Congressmen for the unexpired and the full terms from below the Choptank and thus keeping the Senate berth open to Mr. Gibson, but also securing the defeat of a Cleveland resolution and the substitution of one to suit himself. In order to assure himself of victory Senator Gorman sacrificed Spencer Jones, his candidate for Governor, and made a deal with Colonel John Walter Smith, president of the [Senate]...' The Messenger reported the same convention as pandemonium and hat-throwing over Cleveland's name; the wire reported it as a machine operation in which Cleveland's men lost, and it names the price and the counterparty.
Sources disagree on this.
Source · checked 2026-08-11
1894 · 1894-07-26
"One of the most intensely exciting conventions ever held on this Peninsula" nominates two congressmen at Ocean City.
Democratic Messenger, July 28, 1894, "THE OCEAN CITY CONVENTION": the First District Democratic convention met at Ocean City on Thursday, July 26, with I. H. White of Wicomico in the chair and W. Lee Carey of Worcester among the secretaries. "For a while it seemed as though the thousands of people there to witness the event would all take a part in the convention. For a while pandemonium reigned. Men shouted and threw up their hats at every mention of Cleveland's name." The fight was over resolutions: R. D. Jones of Worcester carried a majority report endorsing the 1892 national platform, beating Olin Bryan of Queen Anne's minority report by 21 votes. Then "it did not take the convention long to make Joshua W. Miles for the long term and Laird Henry for the short term; they were both at Ocean City and responded eloquently to the calls of the people for speeches." Senator Charles H. Gibson's friends "controlled four votes in the Convention and no more." Four years after the 199th-ballot convention of 1890, the Eastern Shore again picked its congressman on this beach. — 1894 FULL PASS, 2026-08-11 [confirmed]: Corroborated and enlarged from outside the county. The Middletown (Del.) Transcript of 28 July 1894 carries a wire account datelined Ocean City, 25 July, headed 'GORMAN WINS', which supplies the machinery the Messenger's crowd scene leaves out: Gorman secured both nominations from below the Choptank so as to keep the Senate seat open to Gibson, defeated the Cleveland resolution and substituted his own, and to do it 'sacrificed Spencer Jones, his candidate for Governor, and made a deal with Colonel John Walter Smith.' Note the dateline is 25 July and the Messenger's date is Thursday 26 July. — 1894 FULL PASS, 2026-08-11 [confirmed]: Confirmed by three out-of-state papers carrying datelined dispatches from OCEAN CITY, MD., July 26 — the Richmond Times and Richmond Dispatch of 27 July and the Wheeling Daily Intelligencer of 27 July, the last headed 'GORMAN WINS in the Congressional Convention at Ocean City, Maryland.' The dispatches add that the convention was called to order by Lloyd Wilkinson, chairman of the State Central Committee for Worcester county and local appraiser for the port of Baltimore, before Captain Isaac H. White of Wicomico took the chair, and that the resolutions fight was read nationally as a defeat for Cleveland: 'CLEVELAND NOT ENDORSED. Maryland Democrats Vote Down Administration Resolutions. SENATOR GORMAN WINS AS USUAL.' The Evening Star of 30 July and the wire notices of 6-7 June (which set the convention for Ocean City on 26 July, printed identically in Shenandoah, Pa. and Gloucester County, N.J.) complete the run.
Source · checked 2026-08-06
1895
W. Lee Carey and the clerk of the Circuit Court lobby Washington in February for a life-saving station north of Ocean City — in August, seven people drown at the spot they picked.
The Democratic Messenger of February 9, 1895 printed a Washington special: "Mr. Lee Carey and Mr. Francis Henry Purnell, clerk of the Circuit Court for Worcester County, Maryland, were here to-day. They urged that another life-saving station be established along the Maryland coast. Accompanied by Representative Henry, they called upon Superintendent Kimball, of the life-saving service. Mr. Kimball approved the proposition." The paper noted that Carey had raised the same need at Ocean City the previous August and that the Messenger had editorialised for it. Six months later the argument made itself. Reporting the Isle of Wight Bay drowning [fact:1895-isle-of-wight-bay-drowning], Wilmington's Evening Journal carried an Ocean City dispatch of August 20: the accident "happened at a point 6[½] miles north of Ocean City, directly opposite the place where it is being urged to locate a life-saving station… Captain Dunton, of the Ocean City life saving crew, says that if a life saving station had been there on Saturday last some if not all of the lives lost might have been saved. The place of drowning is about midway between the Ocean City life-saving station and Fenwick Island station." The push for a station between Ocean City and Fenwick had been running since at least 1888 [fact:1888-saulsbury-bill-for-a-station-north-of-town].
Ocean City Life-Saving Station MuseumUnited States Life-Saving ServiceSumner Increase Kimball
Source · checked 2026-08-06
1895 · 1895-08-21
The seven drowned went down 'directly opposite the place where it is being urged to locate a life-saving station' — and Capt. Dunton said a station there might have saved them.
The Smyrna (Del.) Times of 21 August 1895 places the disaster exactly and turns it into an argument: 'The distressing drowning accident in Isle of Wight bay, or Assawoman bay, as it is sometimes called, happened at a point 6½ miles north of Ocean City, directly opposite the place where it is being urged to locate a life-saving station... Captain Dunton, of the Ocean City lifesaving crew, says that if a lifesaving station had been there on Saturday last if not all of the lives lost might have been saved.' The campaign for that station was already seven months old. On 9 February the Messenger had run 'A NEW L. S. S. — Movement on Foot for Another Life Saving Station,' commending Francis Henry Purnell, Clerk of the Circuit Court for Worcester County, and W. Lee Carey for urging a new station on the coast above Ocean City in Washington; on 10 August the two men put the case to Superintendent Kemble of the Life-Saving Service himself, arguing that the work of the men at the existing stations 'is the most arduous in the service,' that men had quit from overwork, and that the stretch was 'the scene of many wrecks.' Kemble promised to make an examination of the beach. In October the paper reported that John Walter Smith was 'already using his influence to have another Life Saving Station erected along our coast.'
United States Life-Saving ServiceCapt. Joshua J. DuntonFrancis Henry Purnell
Source · checked 2026-08-11
1896 · 1896-03-16
Congressman Miles introduces a bill for a life-saving station between the Fenwick Island and Ocean City stations, and gets it favourably reported out of House Commerce in May.
The campaign the county had been running since 1890 reached Congress in 1896. The Messenger of 11 January reported that "Senator Smith, A. Lee Carey, Francis Henry Purnell and other gentlemen of this county, who have for a year or more been petitioning the Government to establish a Life Saving Station between Ocean City and Fenwicks Island are still at work on the project. The number of life-saving stations along the Maryland coast are inadequate for the protection of the thousands of lives annually passing that point and they will petition Congress to authorize another station. The suggestion will be approved by Superintendent Kimball, of the life saving service." On 21 March: "Representative Miles, Monday, introduced a bill for the establishment of a life saving station on the coast of Maryland between the Fenwick Island and Ocean City life saving stations, at such point as the Superintendent of the Life Saving Service may recommend" — the Monday being 16 March 1896. The paper claimed a share of the credit: "we are gratified at the apparent success that is crowning the efforts of Messrs. John Walter Smith, W. Lee Carey, Francis Henry Purnell and the MESSENGER in securing this much needed station. Since 1890 we have advocated it." On 23 May: "Congressman Miles has secured a favorable report from the Committee on Commerce on his bill establishing a life-saving station on the Atlantic coast in Worcester county, midway between Fenwick Island and Ocean City." Nothing read for 1896 shows the bill passing. The need had been argued in blood the previous August, when seven drowned in Isle of Wight Bay opposite the proposed site [fact:1895-drowning-argues-for-a-new-life-saving-station].
United States Life-Saving ServiceSumner Increase KimballJohn Walter Smith
Source · checked 2026-08-11
1900 · 1900-04-10
Chapter 682 charters the Ocean City Steel Pier Railway and Amusement Company — an ocean pier plus an electric railway the whole length of the beach.
Approved 10 April 1900, Chapter 682 of the Acts of 1900 incorporates George J. Records, John F. Waggaman, William Lee Carey, Henry J. Anderson, William J. Warrington and John M. Carter, Jr. of Maryland; Louis F. Doyle of New York; Claud M. Johnson of the District of Columbia; and Nathaniel F. Wilds of Delaware. The company may build "a steel or iron, or partly steel or iron, and partly wooden pier, projecting into the Atlantic Ocean from the shore, beginning ... from some suitable point south of Wicomico street, in said Ocean City, above high-water mark," fit it with "such appliances for amusement or use as the said incorporators may determine," and charge for them. It may also build an electric or compressed-air railway that "shall begin within the corporate limits of Ocean City, and shall run north and south from such points of beginning, the northern terminus to be at or near Fenwick's Island Lighthouse ... and the southern terminus to be at or near North Beach Life-Saving Station" — roughly the entire Maryland barrier beach, with powers of condemnation. Capital: 1,000 shares of $50, expandable by vote to 4,000. Two guards were written in: no use of Ocean City's streets or public property without "the consent and authority of the Mayor and City Council of Ocean City," and if only part of the works were ever built the charter would not be forfeited. The bill was introduced by Mr. Anderson of Worcester and reported from Annapolis on 1 March: "A new amusement pier and railroad will probably be the outcome." Neither the pier nor the railway was built; this is the third Ocean City pier company in five years to be chartered and vanish. — 1900 FULL PASS, 2026-08-11 [reviewed]: Adds the act's substance, read off the volume. Chapter 682, pp. 1074-1079, approved 10 April 1900. Incorporators: George J. Records, John F. Waggaman, William Lee Carey, Henry J. Anderson, William J. Warrington and John M. Carter Jr. of Maryland; Louis F. Doyle of New York; Claud M. Johnson of the District of Columbia; Nathaniel F. Wilds of Delaware. Section 2 authorises "a steel or iron, or partly steel or iron, and partly wooden pier, projecting into the Atlantic Ocean from the shore, beginning… from some suitable point south of Wicomico street, in said Ocean City, above high-water mark", with amusement appliances and tolls — AND an electric or compressed-air railway whose "northern terminus [is] to be at or near Fenwick's Island Lighthouse, in Worcester County, and the southern terminus to be at or near North Beach Life-Saving Station": a trolley the whole length of the barrier island. Capital 1,000 shares at $50, expandable to 4,000; organisable on 100 shares subscribed and $1 a share paid; nine directors; power to borrow, mortgage, consolidate with or lease to connecting railways; and nothing touching Ocean City's streets or public property effective "until the consent and authority of the Mayor and City Council of Ocean City are first obtained." That North Beach reference is the only mention of a life-saving station in the entire 1900 session-law volume.
Ocean City Steel Pier Railway and Amusement CompanyJohn F. WaggamanWilliam J. Warrington
Source · checked 2026-08-06
1902 · 1902-07-27
Three rescues off Ocean City in a month, and not one of them by the Life-Saving crew: bystanders in bathing suits went in every time.
On Sunday 3 August, Mr. and Mrs. George R. Harrison of Baltimore "had a narrow escape from drowning in the surf at Ocean City ... They were rescued by G. Somers White, of Scranton, Pa., and two other men whose names could not be learned." There were "probably a hundred bathers in the surf at the time of the accident. The tide was high and the current very strong on account of the northeast wind, which had been blowing for the past two or three days." The following Sunday, under the head "OVERCOME IN SURF — W. Lee Carey, of Berlin, Acts Role of Rescuer," a Mr. Romaine, "who is an excellent swimmer, swam far out beyond the other bathers and suddenly threw up his hands and cried for help. John B. Myers, William T. Bell and Fred Bell, who had their bathing suits on and were standing on the porch of Rayne's Hotel, saw that he was in trouble and rushed to his assistance. They succeeded in holding his head above water, but could not bring him ashore. In the meantime, W. Lee Carey had gone into one of the bath houses and dressed for the surf, and with his assistance they were enabled to bring him ashore." And on 14 June, in the Life-Saving Service's own annual report: "While on leave of absence at his residence at Ocean City, Keeper Jones saw a rowboat containing 3 men capsize in the breakers. He instantly started to the rescue, calling for assistance as he ran. Mustering a volunteer crew, which manned a boat lying at hand, he went to the drowning men and rescued all three. They were almost exhausted." Jones kept the Isle of Wight station, a few miles north. DATE CORRECTED 2026-08-06: the draft dated the rescue 3 August, which cannot be right — the Messenger issue reporting it is dated 2 August. The Washington Times' dispatch, datelined Ocean City 27 July, gives the true date, and adds a third victim.
Twenty-eight years before the Beach Patrol existed, the arrangement was that somebody on a hotel porch would notice.
United States Life-Saving Service
Source · checked 2026-08-06
1902 · 1902-09-04
Both parties nominated their First District congressional candidates at Ocean City in 1902, a week apart — Republicans on 28 August, Democrats on 4 September.
The Republicans of Maryland's First Congressional District met at Ocean City on Thursday 28 August and renominated Congressman William H. Jackson. The Messenger, a Democratic paper, was sour about it: "It was a very large and enthusiastic convention, made so by the leaders in the various counties, who were instructed that it would be necessary to make a big showing at Ocean City to impress the people of the First Congressional District of the popularity of their candidate ... The colored delegate was very much in evidence, as he always is." The Democratic convention followed at Ocean City on Thursday 4 September, called by district chairman Col. John P. Moore of Snow Hill; Worcester's delegates (Edgar W. McMaster, Clayton J. Purnell, W. Lee Carey and Samuel J. Twilley) were instructed for Moore, who declined at the county convention and asked to be sent unpledged. The Ocean City convention nominated James E. Ellegood of Wicomico County, and Salisbury turned out with a band that night to congratulate him at his house on Division Street. EXPANDED: the Republican convention is confirmed to 28 August 1902 by the Delaware Gazette's Ocean City dispatch — renominated "with a standing vote, after which three cheers were given," the convention "practically a cut and dried affair" since every county had instructed its delegates.
Clayton J. PurnellJames E. Ellegood
Source · checked 2026-08-06
1908 · 1908-03-07
Fighting the dry vote, the hotel men publish Ocean City's books: $1,256 a year in liquor money, a $400,000 tax base, and a $1.25 rate the mayor says prohibition would push up 30 cents.
The Hotel Association of Worcester County bought a full page of the Democratic Messenger on 7 March 1908 to argue against local option, and in doing so printed the only municipal balance-sheet figures this campaign has for Ocean City in the decade. Under "Local Option and Taxes — OCEAN CITY": "Ocean City receives one-half of the liquor license fees from licenses granted for that place. The city's share of these fees for 1907 amounted to $1256. The taxable basis of Ocean City is $400,000." And then, quoted directly: "The Mayor and City Council of Ocean City formally announce that in their estimation 'prohibition will reduce rental values of properties south of Talbot Street 60 to 75 per cent; north of Talbot Street it would reduce rental values but probably not in proportion to properties at South end of town. We are further of the opinion that should the city become dry there would be a decided decrease in our summer visitors, and on these we are entirely dependent.' The Mayor and City Council officially estimate that if the County goes dry the TAX RATE of Ocean City will be INCREASED over 30 cents on the $100. It is already $1.25 on the $100." The county figures printed alongside: $6,460 of liquor licence money went to the Worcester school fund in 1907, against a county taxable basis of $6,283,546. Ocean City's half-share of the licence fees is the revenue stream the Assembly granted it by Chapter 631 of 1904; four years on it was worth about a fifth of a cent on the dollar of the town's whole assessment, and the council said losing it would cost them a quarter of their rate. Talbot Street is named as the line between the town's high-rent southern end and everything north of it.
Source · checked 2026-08-06
1908 · 1908-08-03
W. Lee Carey is elected mayor of Ocean City — nominated in the Atlantic Casino a week earlier, and elected without a contest.
The Democratic Messenger of 1 August 1908 reported that "at a meeting Monday night in the Atlantic Casino, Ocean City, W. Lee Carey was nominated for Mayor, and T. J. Cropper, James Z. Powell, Samuel J. Massey, William Taylor, of Ocean City, and John L. Johnson, of Frederick, Md., for Councilmen, to serve a term of two years each." The meeting was Monday 27 July; the election followed on the first Monday in August, 3 August 1908, as the charter required. The paper's Berlin column a week later: "The election at Ocean City passed quietly resulting in Mr. Lee Carey becoming Mayor. No one is more interested in the progress of the 'City by the Sea' than he, and we predict good government and a boom under his administration." No opposing ticket is mentioned — unlike 1904, when two tickets fought a "warm but good natured" contest. Carey was a Berlin man: he sat as an East Berlin District delegate in the county convention that June, and in July he was laid up at his parents' home in Berlin with inflammatory rheumatism, recovering only days before his nomination. Three weeks after the election the real-estate transfers column recorded "W. Lee Carey from Cornelius F. Coffin, parcel of land in Ocean City. Consideration, $10 etc." — the charter required the mayor and every councilman to be a real-estate owner in the town. This is the first contemporary confirmation of the Maryland Manual's 1908-1912 term for Carey, and the first time in this campaign the Manual has been corroborated rather than corrected.
Atlantic Casino CompanyThomas J. CropperJames Z. PowellJohn L. JohnsonCornelius F. Coffin
Source · checked 2026-08-06
1908 · 1908-10-31
The Mayor and City Council advertise for sealed bids to build the boardwalk across four street ends — the first documented boardwalk built at the town's own expense.
Running three times in the Democratic Messenger from 31 October 1908: "PROPOSALS FOR BOARDWALK AT OCEAN CITY. Sealed bids for constructing that part of the boardwalk on Atlantic Avenue, Ocean City, Maryland, which crosses Somerset, Dorchester, Talbot and Caroline Streets will be received by the Mayor and City Council of Ocean City up to twelve o'clock noon Wednesday, November 18th, 1908. Plans, specifications and details of requirements will be furnished on application to Francis J. Townsend, President, Ocean City, Maryland. All bids must be marked 'Proposals for Boardwalk' … The right to reject any and all bids is reserved. By order of the Mayor and City Council of Ocean City. FRANCIS J. TOWNSEND, President." This matters to the campaign's long-running boardwalk question. Every earlier notice found — 1894, 1903 — has the town *compelling owners* to lay or renew plank walk in front of their own lots at their own expense. Here the corporation is the builder and the payer, for the four blocks where the walk crosses a public street and no abutting owner exists. It is also the earliest use of the single word "boardwalk" in an official Ocean City document this campaign has found, and it establishes that by the autumn of 1908 a continuous Atlantic Avenue promenade existed on both sides of those crossings. No award was printed in the 1908 corpus. "President" here is the president of the City Council, an office the notice reveals for the first time.
Source · checked 2026-08-06
1909 · 1909-03-22
Ocean City passes Ordinance No. 302 — boardwalks on Atlantic Avenue, cement pavements on Baltimore Avenue, billed to the abutting owners.
The town's answer to the boardwalk question it left open in November 1908 was an ordinance, not a single contract. Ordinance No. 302 provided for improving the sidewalks on Baltimore Avenue, Somerset, Wicomico, South First, South Second, South Division, Dorchester, Talbot, Caroline, North Division, North First, North Second, North Third and Worcester Streets and Philadelphia Avenue "by cement pavements," and those on Atlantic Avenue and the same cross-streets "by boardwalks, according to specifications and plans referred to in said ordinance," and it assessed the cost "to the abutting property owners, (except where the same cross the public streets), in proportion to the frontage of such property." The enacting notice, passed 22 March 1909 over the signatures of FRANCIS J. TOWNSEND, President, and W. LEE CAREY, Mayor, called a special session for Saturday 10 April 1909 at 1.30 p.m. "at Fire Department Room in Ocean City" to consider passage and to hear "all persons that may be interested therein," and required publication in a Worcester County newspaper in two successive issues at least ten days beforehand. A first contractors' notice, published 13 March, had already invited sealed proposals "to build boardwalks at Ocean City" up to noon 22 March. Two things follow. The 1908 model — the corporation paying for the four blocks where the walk crosses a public street — is now the exception written into a general assessment scheme; and the ordinance names a "Fire Department Room" as the council's meeting place, five months before a report that the town had no organised fire company.
The document the whole boardwalk thread has been walking toward: a numbered municipal ordinance, a street list, and a rule for who pays.
Source · checked 2026-08-06
1909 · 1909-05-01
The boardwalk goes out to tender in fifty-foot sections — bids closing 2 p.m., Saturday 1 May 1909.
"CONTRACTORS, TAKE NOTICE. OCEAN CITY BOARD WALK AND PAVEMENT PROPOSALS. Pursuant to an Ordinance passed April 10th, 1909, sealed proposals are invited and will be received by the Mayor and City Council of Ocean City up to 2 o'clock P. M., Saturday, May 1st, 1909, for building board walks at Ocean City, Worcester County, Maryland, on parts of Atlantic avenue, Somerset street, Wicomico street, South First street, South Second street, South Division street, Dorchester street, Talbot street, Caroline street, North Division street, North First street, North Second street, North Third street, and Worcester street, and cement pavements on parts of Baltimore avenue … All proposals must be for sections of 50 feet in length each and must designate the bounds within which each applies. The proposal for each section of 50 feet in length will be considered a separate and distinct proposal and the right is reserved to accept or reject any or all bids." Ordinance No. 302 therefore passed at the special session of 10 April. The fifty-foot rule is the mechanism that ties each length of walk to the frontage assessed for it, and it explains why no single award for "the boardwalk" was ever printed: the work was let in dozens of small lots.
Nobody won the boardwalk contract, because there wasn't one — the town sold the beach front off in fifty-foot pieces.
Source · checked 2026-08-06
1909 · 1909-07-10
By July the walk is built: "an almost entirely new boardwalk," Baltimore Avenue cemented end to end, and the town preparing for its biggest season.
"With one new hotel, a half dozen new cottages, an almost entirely new boardwalk, the sidewalks on the principal thoroughfare, Baltimore avenue, cemented from one end of the town to the other, and with a big advance registration, Ocean City, Md., is preparing for the biggest season in its history. The Town Council and Mayor elected last summer from the younger and more pushing element of the town have worked wonders, and if the same rate of progress is kept up, in two more years the town will be entirely transformed." The same notice records the pier "entirely remodeled … now the equal, as an amusement feature, of any pier on the coast"; a semi-professional ball team to play the Eastern Shore League; a new hotel built by Mrs. Dashiell of Baltimore and named **Wetipquin Hall**, standing between the Plimhimmon and the Hamilton; Congress Hall — "at one time the hotel premiere of Ocean City, but which was almost demolished in a storm some years ago" — almost entirely rebuilt and run that season by Mr. John Kelly of Baltimore; and Bishop Monaghan of Wilmington again summering at the Atlantic Hotel, which kept a resident physician, Dr. Luetscher. The cement had a side effect the writer thought worth recording: property owners "have taken considerable pride in the general appearance of the abutting houses and as a result most of the cottages on this thoroughfare have beautiful grass plots around them."
The answer to 1908's last open question, in eight words: an almost entirely new boardwalk, built in 1909.
Source · checked 2026-08-06
1909 · 1909-09-25
Ocean City publishes its accounts for the first time in the campaign's record: $9,709.58 in, $9,348.63 out, $360.95 left in the bank.
"FINANCIAL REPORT OF OCEAN CITY, MD. From September 16th, 1908 to September 16th, 1909," signed JOHN HAGAN, Treasurer, printed in the *Democratic Messenger* of 25 September 1909. Total receipts $9,709.58; total expenses $9,348.63; balance in bank $360.95. This is the itemised August-term accounting that Chapters 561 and 658 of 1904 required of the town, and it is the first time in campaign 2 that a published Ocean City statement has actually been found. Receipts came from three tax collectors working three different tax years simultaneously — E. M. Scott still collecting 1906 and 1907, Chas. Ludlam collecting 1908 and 1909 — plus water rent, $40 of stand licences in August, a $2,947.08 note from the Ocean City Beach Company, and $61.30 from the Ocean City Pier Company for lights for 1907 and 1908. Expenses run gasoline for the water works ($878.77), police salary ($445), water-works engineer ($315), $1,200 of bond interest in two payments of $600, hose, ladders and rent for the Fire Company, quarantine groceries, garbage hauling at $60, lamp-lighting, and one line reading "Thomas Taylor, taxing account of bath tub and toilets 5.00."
A whole town's year of government fits on one newspaper column, and it balances to within $360.
Ocean City Beach CompanyOcean City Pier and Improvement CompanyJohn HaganFrancis J. Townsend
Source · checked 2026-08-06
1910
Congressman Covington introduces a bill for a new life-saving station between Ocean City and North Beach — at Mayor Carey's prompting.
'Member of Congress from the First Congressional District of Maryland, has introduced a bill in Congress providing for a life saving station between Ocean City, Maryland, and North Beach on the coast of Worcester County. Mr. Covington writes the Messenger that he has had an interview with Superintendent Kimball of the U. S. Life Saving Service in connection with this measure and the Committee of Interstate Commerce of the House of Representatives has promised to give him a special hearing on the bill. Mr. Covington is making a vigorous effort to secure the construction of this life saving station. Mr. W. Lee Carey is very much interested in the matter and brought it to the attention of Mr. Covington. Of course Senator Smith will use his influence in the Senate to the same end.' Ocean City's mayor lobbying his congressman for federal coastal infrastructure, with the state's senior senator in reserve, is the earliest instance of that pattern the campaign has documented — and the superintendent named is Sumner I. Kimball, who had run the Life-Saving Service since 1878.
Unverified — sourced but not confirmed against a primary record.
United States Life-Saving ServiceJohn Walter Smith
Source · checked 2026-08-06
1911 · 1911-07-08
U.S. Senator John Walter Smith flees the Baltimore heat for the Atlantic Hotel and talks governor-making on the porch.
On Saturday, July 8, 1911 — in the middle of the historic July heat wave — U.S. Senator John Walter Smith of Snow Hill, Maryland's political boss of the Eastern Shore, left broiling Baltimore and came down to Ocean City on the evening train with Mayor W. Lee Carey, staying several days at the Atlantic Hotel. The Democratic Messenger reported he 'held conferences with many of his Eastern Shore friends and lieutenants,' pressing the candidacy of Buchanan Schley for Governor of Maryland between discussions of 'the outlook for party success, and hot weather.' CONFIRMED. Messenger, 15 July 1911, under the head 'Senator Smith at Ocean City': 'The intense heat in Baltimore last Saturday morning drove Senator Smith to the Seashore. He came down to Ocean City with Mayor Lee Carey on the Saturday evening train and remained with him at the Atlantic Hotel several days.' The paper says the heat drove him out on Saturday MORNING and that he travelled on the Saturday EVENING train; the existing detail's 'fled Baltimore on the evening train' is right. ADD, from 29 July: 'Mr. and Mrs. Lee Carey, who are spending the summer at the Atlantic, Ocean City' - the mayor was not merely meeting the senator there, he was living at the hotel for the season. The gubernatorial conversation is as described: 'They discussed the availability of various gentlemen for gubernatorial honors, the outlook for party success, and hot weather.'
In 1911 the Atlantic Hotel porch was as close as the Eastern Shore got to a smoke-filled room.
Atlantic HotelJohn Walter Smith
Source · checked 2026-08-11
1912 · 1912-08-05
Capt. William B. S. Powell beats council president Francis J. Townsend for mayor in "a warm municipal election" — and Daniel Trimper, Sr. takes a council seat.
W. Lee Carey, mayor since 1908, signed the notice of his own succession: "an election will be held at the usual place for holding municipal elections in Ocean City, Maryland, on MONDAY, August 5th, 1912, for the purpose of electing a Mayor and five City Councilmen. The polls will be open at 1 o'clock P. M. and close at 6 o'clock P. M. W. LEE CAREY, Mayor." The Democratic Messenger reported the result on 10 August: "A warm municipal election was held at Ocean City last Monday... The principal contest was for the Mayoralty, the candidates being Captain William B. S. Powell and Mr. Francis J. Townsend. Captain Powell won out, although the contest was close. The election was non-partisan, both candidates for Mayor being Republicans and the Councilmen being mixed." The council elected was Daniel Trimper, Sr., Ashley M. Gould, William J. Laws, Levin D. Lynch and John M. Mumford — "all residents of Ocean City with the exception of Judge Gould, who is Judge of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia." Powell, the paper said, "is a well-known citizen and a large property holder and will no doubt make a good mayor of Maryland's only seaside resort." Two things are worth noticing: the town elected FIVE councilmen, where the 1908 slate had six names for four or five seats; and it was a contest between two Republicans in a county the Democratic Messenger spoke for.
William B. S. PowellFrancis J. TownsendLevin D. Lynch
Source · checked 2026-08-06
1921
E. E. Collins is named Mayor of Ocean City in a contemporary newspaper - the first primary source the campaign has for Collins in office.
The Democratic Messenger of 23 April 1921 reports an Ocean City delegation before the Maryland State Board of Health in Baltimore and names it: "E. E. Collins, Mayor of Ocean City; W. Lee Carey, Jefferson D. Staton and Dr. F. J. Townsend represented Ocean City at this conference." Governor Ritchie attended the meeting. Until now the campaign's only authority for Elbridge E. Collins's 1920-1922 mayoralty was the Maryland State Archives' retrospective roster of mayors. This is a contemporary Worcester County newspaper naming him in office, in the middle of the term, doing municipal business - and it also supplies three of the men who acted with him.
Elbridge E. CollinsFrancis J. Townsend
Source · checked 2026-08-10
1933 · 1933-08-03
W. Lee Carey, the Eastern Shore's 'old school' Democratic boss, died at his Ocean City home three weeks before the storm
'OCEAN CITY, Md., Aug. 4. Funeral services were being arranged today for W. Lee Carey, probably the best known of the "old school" Democrats, who died here suddenly yesterday, aged 71. Leaving the high school at Berlin, where he was principal, Carey years ago cast his lot in politics with the late John Walter Smith, who became Governor and Senator. He was the powerful leader's highest lieutenant and confidential advisor.' The Smyrna Times adds that his health had been failing for eight years, that a heart attack was given as the cause, that he was a native of Worcester County, and that after the classroom he represented a firm publishing school books and supplies.
Source · checked 2026-08-10
1934 · 1934-12-24
The town secretary sat down and wrote out every mayor Ocean City had ever had — 1892 to 1934, on one page
On 24 December 1934, on Mayor and Council letterhead, secretary and treasurer J. M. Mumford typed a circular beginning: 'I occasionly have an inquiry as to who had served our city as Mayor and their election. So thinking probally others might be interested I have carefully gone over our old records and listed the names and years each served.' What follows is the town's own succession list: three commissioners elected 2 May 1892 — John F. Waggamon, William C. Franklin and William B. Wilson, with Wilson president of the board and Franklin secretary-treasurer; then Wilson elected mayor 7 May 1894; George M. Upshur 1 May 1896; James Z. Powell 1 August 1898; Clayton J. Purnell 6 August 1900; John F. Waggamon 1902, 'Resigned Oct. 20th 1903 remainder of term filled by Capt. Cristropher Ludlam'; Ludlam 1904 and 1906; W. Lee Carey 3 August 1908 and 1 August 1910; William B. S. Powell 1912 and 3 August 1914; Capt. John B. Jones 7 August 1916; Edward M. Scott 5 August 1918; E. E. Collins 2 August 1920; 'William C. McCabe served to Sept 1934'; and 'Aug. 6th 1934 William T. Elliott, 2 years.' The document survives because Mumford filed a copy in the minute book, where it sits as the last item of the 1934 record.
The most useful thing in the 1934 minute book is not a decision at all. It is a clerk answering the same question often enough that he finally wrote the answer down — and in doing so he left the campaign a primary-source succession list for forty-two years of a town whose own books were supposed to have been mutilated in 1896.
John M. MumfordWilliam W. McCabeClayton J. PurnellWilliam B. S. PowellEdward M. ScottElbridge E. CollinsJames Z. PowellJohn F. Waggaman
Source · checked 2026-08-11