History

William T. Taber

Ocean City property owner and candidate for mayor · active 1898–1904

Ocean City landowner who headed the 'people's ticket' against the sitting administration in the municipal election of 1 August 1904 and lost to Capt. Christopher Ludlam. He had bought Ocean City property from Oliver D. Collins, trustee, by deed of 16 September 1898 — lot 183 on the plat of the original town, on the bay shore — and from Thomas T. Savage in January 1902. Both holdings appear in the Worcester County tax sales of 1904 for arrears of 1902 and 1903, and Sarah H. Taber was a purchaser at the same sale.

In the record (3)

  1. 1904 · 1904-08-01

    Two tickets, one warm but good-natured fight: Capt. Christopher Ludlam is re-elected mayor and the People's ticket loses.

    'The election for Mayor and City Council of Ocean City was held Monday afternoon. Two tickets were in the field, and the fight was a warm but good natured one, resulting in a victory for the regulars who represent the faction already in power, over the people's ticket, which was headed by Wm. T. Taber. Capt. Christopher Ludlam was re-elected Mayor and the following councilmen were also elected: James Z. Powell, Reverdy J. Dennis, Thomas J. Cropper, John D. Showell and John L. Johnson.' The paper adds that the Mayor and City Council 'will enter upon their new terms on September 1st'; the charter as re-enacted the same spring (Ch. 457 of 1904) says the term runs from the second Monday in September, which in 1904 was 12 September.

    This is the first Ocean City municipal election this campaign has been able to read as an election — two slates, a named challenger, and a full council. The town's own books had been stolen in 1896 and the eleven-year blank that followed is the reason a one-paragraph item in a Snow Hill weekly is the best surviving record of who governed the beach.

    The Commissioners of Ocean CityChristopher LudlamJames Z. PowellReverdy J. DennisThomas J. CropperJohn D. ShowellJohn L. Johnson

    Source · checked 2026-08-06

  2. 1904 · 1904-09-24

    The old Sinepuxent Beach Company plat comes apart at the courthouse door: Ocean City lots sold for 1902 taxes, one of them to the county itself.

    Through the summer of 1904 the county sheriff advertised, and in the autumn reported, a tax sale of Ocean City property for state and county taxes in arrear for 1902. The lots are described by their positions on 'the plat of the property formerly owned by the Sinepuxent Beach Co., of Baltimore City' and by the deeds out of that company: the west half of Block 3 South, 140 feet on Baltimore Avenue by 150 deep, assessed to John D. Cook's heirs, sold to Sarah H. Taber; two lots at South 7th Street, one on Baltimore Avenue and one on Atlantic Avenue, 50 by 142 feet each, assessed to Curtis W. Holcomb, sold to William David Knox; about nine acres in Sinepuxent Neck assessed to Caroline Hickman's heirs, sold to Zadok P. Henry; lot 1 in Block 6 South, 50 by 142 on Baltimore Avenue, assessed to Hennie Levi, bought in by the County Commissioners of Worcester County for want of a bidder; and lot 183 on the plat of the original town, on the bay shore, assessed to William T. Taber. A second sale advertised for 4 October 1904 covered part of lot 45 assessed to William T. Taber for 1902 and 1903. Separately, James H. Mumford, Collector of taxes for the Mayor and City Council of Ocean City, had sold town lots for municipal taxes, and the ratifications were still working through the Circuit Court in June 1904.

    Eight years after the Sinepuxent Beach Company told a Baltimore court it was insolvent, its plat is still the map everybody uses and its deeds are still the chain of title — and the lots it sold are being knocked down for unpaid taxes, one of them to the county because nobody bid.

    Sinepuxent Beach CompanyJames H. Mumford

    Source · checked 2026-08-06

  3. 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 CompanyRobert Lee PurnellChristopher LudlamCalvin B. TaylorThomas J. CropperJohn L. JohnsonJoseph SchaeferCapt. Joshua J. DuntonDavid J. AdkinsCol. L. L. Dirickson

    Source · checked 2026-08-06