William Warrington

In the record (5)

1. 1893

   Three hotels open the eighteenth season, and the Atlantic Hotel company rents Congress Hall as well.

   "The Atlantic Hotel, at Ocean City, was opened for the reception of guests on the first day of June," the Democratic Messenger reported on June 3. "The hotel company have rented Congress Hotel for the season, and will run it on the European plan." Theodore L. Page managed the Atlantic and a Baltimore Sun correspondent singled him out in July as a man who "has put his house on the same plane as the best houses at any" resort. The Sea Side Hotel "was opened to guests by Proprietor John Tracey" on Tuesday June 13; the Sun's man called Tracy "the veteran Salisbury hotel keeper... who has been doing business every summer at Ocean City with success, for the past fifteen or twenty years." Congress Hall's arrangement changed hands over the summer: on June 24 "Will Rayne has leased Congress Hall, Ocean City, for the season," and on July 8 "Congress Hall, Ocean City, opened on Saturday last with William E. Rayne proprietor and John L. Nock clerk." Billy McKew took the Hotel de Purnell. By July 1 there were "about two hundred people at the various hotels, more than usually found at Ocean City so early in the season," four cottages were building, and "many improvements have been made about the beach." George W. Purnell announced he would build "a handsome cottage at Ocean City between now and next season" on "one of the choicest lots on the beach," and William Warrington, secretary of the Sinepuxent Beach Company, meant to put up a cottage on Atlantic Avenue. — 1893 FULL PASS, 2026-08-11 [corrected]: The Congress Hall conflict has a third state that resolves the shape of it: Rayne did not only lease, he bought. A Baltimore Sun correspondent reprinted in the Messenger of 15 July 1893 names "Mr. William R. Rayne, who has just bought of William B. R. Selby's estate the large hotel known as Congress Hall and proposes to put $10,000 worth of improvements on it." So the sequence is: the Atlantic Hotel company rented Congress Hall for the season on 3 June; Will Rayne leased it on 24 June and opened it on 1 July; and within a fortnight of opening he bought the freehold out of the Selby estate. The two claims in the conflict are both true and sequential. Add also that by late October the hotel was in winter care: "Mr John Willet moved his family to Ocean City Wednesday, and will take care of Congress Hall during the winter." And in March 1893 the Baltimore & Ohio had sent an agent to Ocean City "to examine the Congress Hall property with a view to purchasing the same" — a railroad nearly bought the hotel five months before Rayne did.

   Congress Hall changed hands between June and July 1893 — the hotel company took it first, Will Rayne ran it

   Atlantic Hotel CompanySinepuxent Beach CompanyTheodore L. PageJohn TracyWilliam E. RayneGeorge W. Purnell

   Source · checked 2026-08-06

2. 1893 · 1893-11-25

   A public school is to be opened at Ocean City, with Miss Virgie Warrington as its teacher.

   The Democratic Messenger's beach column of November 25, 1893 carried the whole announcement in two sentences: "A public school is to be opened at Ocean City. Miss Virgie Warrington is to be the teacher." Virgilyn Warrington appears in the same paper in April as the local young woman hosting a visitor from Wilmington; her family ran the town's real-estate office — "W. Warrington, Real Estate Agent, Ocean City, Md." advertised weekly — and William Warrington was secretary of the Sinepuxent Beach Company. A town whose year-round population had been eighty-five at the 1890 census was, in the eighteenth year after its founding, getting its first public schoolroom, and the developer's family supplied the teacher. — 1893 FULL PASS, 2026-08-11 [confirmed]: The prospective notice can be moved forward. The Messenger of 30 December 1893 reports "Much credit is due Mr. and Mrs. Warrington and Miss Virgie for their great interest in the Ocean City school" — so an Ocean City school existed and had a constituency by Christmas 1893, five weeks after the announcement. It does not establish an opening date and it does not establish 'first'; the Christmas cantata in the same paragraph is the Presbyterian Sunday School's, which is a different body and must not be merged with the public school.

   Unverified — sourced but not confirmed against a primary record.

   Sinepuxent Beach CompanyVirgie Warrington

   Source · checked 2026-08-06

3. 1893 · 1893-12-26

   The Ocean City school is real by Christmas: a cantata, a special train, and thanks to Miss Virgie.

   The 25 November notice that "a public school is to be opened at Ocean City" with Miss Virgie Warrington as teacher is prospective, and the campaign has carried it as unverified for that reason. The last issue of the year closes the gap: "Much credit is due Mr. and Mrs. Warrington and Miss Virgie for their great interest in the Ocean City school. The cantata 'Santa Claus' Mistake and the Happy Ending' given by the Presbyterian Sunday School Christmas night was excellent... A special train was run to Ocean City Tuesday evening for the entertainment given by the Presbyterian Sunday School at that place." A school with an interest to take credit for, a Christmas entertainment, and the railroad running a special out to a town of eighty-five people in the last week of December to see it.

   Virgie Warrington

   Source · checked 2026-08-11

4. 1897 · 1897-09-08

   William Warrington, Sr., manager of the Atlantic Hotel, dies suddenly in his room — weeks after a sunstroke taken while laying out street and lot lines.

   "SUDDEN DEATH AT OCEAN CITY. Ocean City, Md., Sept. 9. — All Ocean City was startled about 4 o'clock yesterday afternoon by the announcement of the sudden death of William Warrington, Sr., manager of the Atlantic Hotel, who had been sick for nearly two [weeks] from the effects of a slight sunstroke [taken] while out with an engineer locating some street and lot lines. Mr. Warrington seemingly enjoyed dinner with his family about 2 o'clock. Then he went to his room, saying that he would lie down for a while. About 4 o'clock his son, William, had occasion to go to the room and found it locked... The room was opened, however, by the son, who was startled by seeing his father stretched upon the bed lifeless. Dr. Paul Jones examined the remains, pronouncing death from paralysis of the heart... Every one here seemed to sadly feel the shock, for Mr. Warrington was a man beloved."

   He caught the sun surveying streets that had not been built yet, for a beach company that owned the hotel he ran. Ocean City in 1897 was still small enough that the man who managed the Atlantic also walked the lot lines.

   Sinepuxent Beach Company

   Source · checked 2026-08-06

5. 1900

   Board at the Dennis House costs $6 to $8 a week, and a Washington man builds a new hotel on the board walk.

   The Evening Star's summer-resort columns and the town's own correspondents give the fullest hotel roster this project holds for the turn of the century. The Atlantic Hotel opened Saturday 23 June, "thoroughly refurnished and refitted, private baths attached," rates from Geo. D. De Shields at 700 14th St NW, Washington — John F. Waggaman's address of the year before, and Waggaman himself was abroad for much of the summer. The Plimhimmon Hotel and Casino opened 9 June "greatly enlarged": ocean front, dining room capacity 200, "orchestra and ball room; surf bathing, sailing, fishing, gunning, etc.; bath houses connected with hotel; bowling alleys, pool tables, etc.; Chattolanee spring water served," over Mrs. R. T. Shreve's name, with a large ocean-front dining room added as an annex that spring. The one house that printed a price was the Dennis House, Mrs. R. J. Dennis: "Unobstructed view of ocean and bay; excellent table. Terms, $6 to $8 per week. Also furnished cottage for rent." Also advertising: the Seaside Hotel (Mrs. A. B. Showell, proprietor; John L. Streeper, manager), Ocean Swell Cottage (J. D. Showell, open from 1 May, "one of the best places at Ocean City, Md., to have a royal good time"), the Colonial (W. J. Warrington), Sutton Lodge (Mrs. M. K. Michael), Tarry Awhile Cottage (Mrs. Mason), and Neptune Villa, advertised in the Washington Times as "direct on sea ... fruits, vegetables, butter and milk from Eastern Shore. Terms moderate. Address Manager, Box 45." John F. Waggaman advertised the town itself over his own name in the Evening Star through June — "Spend the summer in the cool breezes at Ocean City, Md. Directly on the Atlantic. Always cool ... splendid bathing, fishing and boating. Living is remarkably cheap" — with furnished cottages for rent, cottages and lots for sale and "money loaned to build." Congress Hall, the Gordon and the Ocean Wave appear in the Black correspondence. And new for the season: "Mr. W. E. Buell of Washington has erected a large hotel on the board walks near the United States life saving station, to be known as the Mt. Pleasant" — opening 20 June, "directly on the beach; comfortable rooms, wide verandas, ocean front, dining room, sun parlor, bath rooms" — one of "as many as a dozen smaller buildings ... built this spring." By late July it was "thinking about putting out the 'standing room only' sign."

   Atlantic HotelPlimhimmon Hotel / Plim PlazaOcean City BoardwalkMaj. George D. De ShieldsRosalie Tilghman ShreveJohn F. Waggaman

   Source · checked 2026-08-06