History

William Taylor

Ocean City property owner and councilman · active 1908

Ocean City property owner elected to the City Council on W. Lee Carey's ticket in August 1908. In the spring of the same year he offered two of his Ocean City properties at public auction on the premises on Saturday 25 April 1908 — "the property known as the 'Sinepuxent House,' situate at the corner of Baltimore Avenue and Worcester Street," eighty feet on the avenue by fifty deep, and the nine-room cottage then occupied by Irving Mumford, Lot No. 105 on the plat of Ocean City, fifty feet on Caroline Street by a hundred deep — on terms of twenty-five per cent down. — 1896 FULL PASS, 2026-08-11: The bio has him as an Ocean City property owner who offered the Sinepuxent House at auction in 1908 and was elected to the council that year. It should record how he came by it and what he did for a living: on 19 December 1896 the Messenger reported that 'Mr. William Taylor, of Ocean City Life Saving Station, purchased the Sinepuxent House and lot, also the livery stable and lot, each 40x80 feet, at Ocean City of Calvin B. Taylor at public sale last Saturday. He paid $2470 for the two lots, which was considered a good price.' He was a serving surfman of the Ocean City Life-Saving Station who bought the property he would sell twelve years later — and, on the same name, station and residence, is very likely the surfman William Taylor whom the 1894 column shows off duty with a sore foot in January and moving his family down from Berlin in December 'so long as he stays in the Life saving service.'

In the record (2)

  1. 1896

    Four names for the Maryland beach's life-saving establishment in 1896: surfman William Taylor at Ocean City, Al. Watson at Green Run, Capt. J. T. Tracey resigning after twenty years at Assateague, and Dr. Edward J. Dirickson examining recruits.

    The county paper does not print a station roster, but four 1896 items add names to one the campaign has never had. (1) On 19 December: "Mr. William Taylor, of Ocean City Life Saving Station, purchased the Sinepuxent House and lot, also the livery stable and lot, each 40x80 feet, at Ocean City of Calvin B. Taylor at public sale last Saturday. He paid $2470 for the two lots, which was considered a good price." That places a serving surfman of the Ocean City station as a substantial Ocean City property owner — and it is the same William Taylor whom the 1894 column shows off duty with a sore foot in January and moving his family down from Berlin in December "so long as he stays in the Life saving service." (2) On 22 August: "Mr. Al. Watson, of Green Row [Green Run] Life Saving Station, spent last Friday with his family in Girdletree." (3) On 11 January, from the Chincoteague correspondent: "Capt. J. T. Tracey for twenty years the faithful and efficient Keeper of Assateague Life Saving Station has recently resigned on account of physical disability. This is to be regretted as Capt. Tracy has been one of the best officers in the service on the whole Atlantic coast." His wife died at Salisbury of paralysis on Tuesday 14 April, the paper reported on 18 April. Assateague Beach station is in Virginia, not Maryland, and Tracey is recorded here as an adjacent officer, not as part of the Maryland establishment. (4) On 5 December: "Dr. Edward J. Dirickson examined men for the Life Saving Service while at Chincoteague one day last week" — the district's medical examinations were held at Chincoteague, as they had been in 1895 [fact:1895-surfmen-examined-at-chincoteague].

    United States Life-Saving ServiceCalvin B. Taylor

    Source · checked 2026-08-11

  2. 1917

    Ten cents to walk out on the Ocean City pier in 1917; the pavilion is free, and William Taylor is manager.

    The pier advertised weekly in the Democratic Messenger through the 1917 season: "The Pier — Ocean City's Greatest Attraction. OPEN DAY AND NIGHT. New Bowling Alleys, Pool Tables, Soda Fountain and Museum. Go out on the Pier and enjoy the best fishing to be found anywhere in this section. Admission to the Pier is only 10 cents. Admission to the Pavilion is Free. PIER SEASON TICKETS AT SPECIAL PRICES. William Taylor, MANAGER." The same page carries the other boardwalk trade: "Dolle's Original Salt Water Taffy... does not stick to the teeth. Guaranteed Pure and Clean. Made Fresh Every Hour at Ocean City, Maryland. Rudolph Dolle, Board Walk, Opposite Pier"; Schaefer's Ocean City Bakery, "supplied to hotels, cottages, private families, picnics, parties, and retailed at our table"; a gents' furnishing shop "in New Perskie Building, Opposite Pier"; and Red Hills, "open July 4th, 1917, for the season — Baseball and Other Amusements." This is the first admission price for the pier in the campaign's record.

    Dolle's CandylandRudolph Dolle

    Source · checked 2026-08-06