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(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Hello and thank you for taking the time to view the first in a three-part series of the History of Avalon. My name is Bill Mengel and I am

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a part-time interpreter at the Avalon History Center located at 215 39th Street in Avalon. I will be showing you photos of what the island looked like more than 100 years

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ago and this will be the first, I will be covering the first 50 years and again as I said this is the first in a three-part series.

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Also, I'll be going over the importance of the railroad and how that was to the start of the town. What you're looking at here are looking west

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from the island out towards the mainland. These trees were cedar trees, oak trees that were some 40-50 foot high. This is what really dominated the island from

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the north to the south down to what we now know as Stone Harbor. Again, here's some more trees and bush. There was holly bushes and large dunes 40

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-50 feet high, again going from the north end of the island all the way down to the south and again as I said you would find these cedar trees and bayberry

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bushes all throughout the island. Here we have a chronological list of the owners going back to 1722. The West Jersey Society, a six-member group

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out of London, sold to a gentleman by the name of Aaron Leeming for the amount of 79 pounds 10 shillings which would be about $380 in American dollars today.

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On 1226-1722, he finalized the agreement with the West Jersey Society and bought the entire island over 2,700 acres. The Leeming family would own this island for

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132 years. In 1854, the Leeming family though would sell the island to a gentleman by the name of Joseph Silver for approximately $12,000.

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Mr. Silver less than a year later would sell the island to a gentleman by the name of Henry Tatham for $5,500, a considerable loss at the time which we still

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do not have an answer for. Henry Tatham would then, just a little more than a year later, sell the island to his older brother George Tatham who was a

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very successful manufacturer of lead in Philadelphia. He would buy the island from his brother for $15,000. He would end up owning the island himself

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for 31 years. Next here we have a view of Avalon, what it looked like early on with this, as I said, with the cedar trees and

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oak trees and acres of plants and holly bushes, also many lakes and waterways. This photo was most likely taken around the top of George Tatham's farmhouse that he had

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constructed on the island with an observatory, and this would have been around southwest side of 22nd Street. This would be looking northwest and shows the

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boating canal that George Tatham, and this is the canal that we have right here, that he would dredge to use because he was an avid fisherman and people that he would

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invite to his home on the island would be able to be very close to a canal where they could actually do fishing from his home.

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George Tatham also earned a number of head of cattle and roughly about 300 sheep and lambs that he would let roam freely on the island.

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Again, this island, there was no need for any fence because it was all surrounded by water. This photo is from around probably 1889.

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The island was great for grazing cattle, as I said, because of the no boundaries with the water on all sides. Here we have a photo of a freshwater

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lake and this would have been around 14th Street. There are actually accounts of residents that stayed there in the winter that would go to

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the lake and cut out chunks of ice to store in made-up storage hunts in the dunes themselves. It's said, though, that this ice would last

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sometimes to the early spring and summer. This is the Old Leming Estate or as they refer to as just Old Limerick. It was built likely around probably 1780 and

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located on the southeast side of 2nd Avenue on the south corner of 31st Street. It was used later on as a 19th century temporary as a boarding house and also

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as a real estate office. After 1856, there was George Tatham's farmhouse that was just pictured here. The house was actually shipped on a barge

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to the island and constructed on the island itself. Mr. Tatham, as I said, would end up owning this island for about 31 years.

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He absolutely loved and enjoyed spending many days and summers here with his family. He would often invite church groups on the island to enjoy the pristine beaches and even

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build a beach house for the visitors to change into their beach outfits. He also employed a farmer to take care of his livestock and his property.

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Here we have a photo of one of those groups that he would invite onto the island. And pictured here on Tatham's, as they referred

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to it back then, is Tatham's Beach, just enjoying a welcome change from the mainland environment for the day. Sadly though, after 31 years, Mr. Tatham's health

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was failing and with no interest from either his two sons or his younger brother in taking on ownership of the island, he and his wife decided to sell their summer retreat.

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He would end up selling Sea Island, as they referred to it back then, his grandchildren, to the two entrepreneurs out of Philadelphia. Pictured here are the two gentlemen who are

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certainly people of importance in the creation and development of Seven Mile Island, now Avalon. Joseph Wells, on your left, was president of Seven Mile Beach Company, which will be the

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name of the company that he will use to develop the island. And Frank Siddall were both successful businessmen out of Philadelphia.

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They would end up entering into a deal and purchase the island from George Tatham on April 1st, 1887, for the grand total of $125,000.

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The deal was $25,000 down. In cash, another $25,000 due in six months and the balance to be paid in five years.

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One of the first of many items Joseph Wells plans for developing the island was to prepare the north end of the island for both streets and avenues, and for that he

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would need to fill and level the many creeks and waterways that Mother Nature had provided on the island. He would then need to hire a surveyor

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to lay out most of the efficient street plan. While doing all this, he would also start negotiations with the West Jersey Railroad, a subsidiary

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of the Pennsylvania Railroad, continuing train service onto Seven Mile Island. Here we have pictured our directors and stockholders that invested in the Seven Mile Beach Company,

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and they often held their meetings on the first in the Tatham Mansion, and soon after to be the new constructed in 1889, the newly built Hotel Avalon.

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Now to start with, in the early development of Seven Mile Beach Company, they would need to employ mostly Italian and German immigrants who would be coming over, who had again coming

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to America for the first time. Now keep in mind at this time Ellis Island was not open yet, so many of the new immigrants coming to America would have

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to be processed out of Philadelphia, which actually was closer in proximity to the Seven Mile Island today. Those employed would use just wheelbarrows to start

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dragging down the dunes to fill the many waterways and ponds and marshes and meadows. Hundreds of wheelbarrows, just by doing it with just wheelbarrows alone, to be used to make

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for a very long day in filling these waterways and marshes to make for level ground to prepare for lots and again, as I said, for preparing for streets and avenues.

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Most of the ground development and filling the waterways was supervised in the beginning by Joseph Wells himself. They would have at least 20 wagons all

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day long going back and forth from the high dunes going west. Hundreds of men from dawn to dusk for about a dollar a day per man filling

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these waterways and leveling the the island out. Now again, as I said, this island is covered all around by waterways, so back then before roadways or the railroad, the only way

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to get onto the mainland was by boat. Here we have pictured just that the gentleman that right here on the front of the boat, the bow boat, is someone who will

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become important to the island itself, the gentleman by the name of George Rummel. Again, this is probably one of the most important things in developing the island, the railroad

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itself. In 1887, the right-of-way and negotiations for the right-of-way onto the island would be dictated by the West Jersey Railroad.

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Keep in mind at this time, the height of the industrial revolution, the railroad was king. The negotiation was important to Seven Mile Beach Company as was the decision for the street

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layout of the island. It would be almost a year later, 1888, before the final deed was granted, most likely over final decisions for train stations, in other

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words, where they would place them and the size of the train station, the area ground it would cover. The railroad had certain requirements for lot coverage

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on these railroad stations. The cost to the railroad, though, zero dollars. Well, they would provide the tracks and materials, but they weren't paying anything for the right

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-of-way. This here is a map showing the proposed route that was decided on by West Jersey Railroad and Seven Mile Beach Company for the

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train route that would not only serve Sea Isle and Avalon, but also later on Stone Harbor. Although it was West Jersey Railroad's intention to

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continue its line on and into Anglesea, now North Wildwood, this planned extension into Hereford Inlet would never come to fruition. And again, this is the route that they

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would be taking here. This is where it would end up not really going any further, and their plan was to go through Hereford Inlet as you follow

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the arrow here and on to make a connection for the island, for the railroad, I'm sorry. Now, street planning and layout.

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While negotiations with the railroad were underway, Joseph Wells brought in surveyors to the island to start the task of laying out the avenues and the streets.

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Here we show a map of just what the street plot land would look like. This map shows the route that West Jersey Railroad would use to enter the island and

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the north end, coming across from Townsend's Inlet and out coming into the north end of the island. This would be around 6th Street and then

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heading down southeast towards and then finally going out south down the entire length of the island. It also shows a railroad crossing at Beach

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Creek Waterway, which is this area right here that I'm circling right now. However, to alleviate building a bridge over this waterway, this would be filled in with dredging

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material from the widening of the creek at Ingram's thoroughfare. So in other words, with the arrow here, they're going to take and they're going to

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dredge a canal from here to the western portion of Beach Creek and then use that dredging material to fill in this area here so that that would alleviate creating a bridge,

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another bridge for them going across. They will also be using this, and I'll touch on that in a minute, to fill in this tidal pond that we see here.

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Actually what this is doing also, it shows you the arrows of the flow of the ebb coming off from the west, coming off and creating what they referred to back then

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as the Camel's Hump. Many times in the History Center, I'll have people coming in asking me about whatever happened to 1st and 2nd Avenue.

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This next slide, next two slides, will show pretty much what I consider the answer to that question as to why those streets disappeared. Here again now we have the photo of

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the dredged canal off Ingram's thoroughfare down to the western portion of the Beach Creek. This will then also fill in this section so that the railroad can come across.

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Now what this will do after this is filled in, and as you see it's filled in there, and they're going to eventually fill all this area in, it's going to create

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a water flow that by blocking this off there won't be any tide or flow coming out from the tidal pond. So what we'll do, we'll end up taking

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this Camel Hump off that end of the island, which is this slide here. This is where these 1st Avenue, 2nd Avenue and all would have been located.

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You see now that's gone. So here's the route, here's the canal that they created, and that alleviated all this tidal pond and this section of Beach Creek.

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West Jersey Railroad and Seven Mile Beach Company entered into this agreement to bring to bridge the railroad over Townsend's Inlet and into the northern part of Seven Mile Island.

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The trestle bridge build will be supervised again by Joseph Wells along with a West Jersey Railroad engineer. West Jersey Railroad will enter the island and

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head southeast, as I said before, to the 2nd Avenue where it will then run south down the entire length of the island. The railroad will require 120 feet of right

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-of-way. This is all in anticipation of a dual tracking, which really will never happen. It'll only end up becoming a single track

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going into the island. Here we have a photo of the first steps of the construction of the swing bridge from Townsend's Inlet into the north end of

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Seven Mile Island. The A-shaped frame is what is referred to as a gallow, and that's this section here, section of the bridge.

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Notice the cables connected to the end of the bridge span. These cables are used to control the swing bridge, which actually opens perpendicular to the way

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the bridge is going. This apparatus here to the left isn't really nothing more than a pile driver driving pilings in.

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This first bridge here would be completed in July of 1888, but would end up washing out in September of the same year. This type of bridge would have been used

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only for short spans and opening required for marine vessels. There would be two types of these bridges constructed last, and final railroad trestle to Avalon

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and Townsend's Inlet, one at 88th Street, Sea Isle End, and Avalon. You can see how this bridge actually works if you go to Google and type in

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Poulsbury New Bridge or Swing Bridge, and actually it'll see you on there on YouTube of the bridge opening and closing. On July 14th, as I said, 1888, the

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first train rumbled across the inlet bridge. Another look also at the bridge referred to as bridge number 53. Notice the platform on the lower right of

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the photo. This was used here, and the platform here was used for maintenance of the bridge, and then they would use this as ladder to

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go up to grease the cables or whatever to make the bridge work and function properly. The only problem with this type of bridge or trestle was that it was constructed with

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wood pilings, and the alleviation of cross braces used in the construction of the bridge thought to create a better water flow would end up causing a problem.

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This was also the shortest span, only about 1,250 feet, of straight location layout from the south end of Sea Isle, or Townsend's Inlet, to the very northern tip of Avalon's

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so-called Leemings Bridge. What was not anticipated or factor in to the design of this railroad bridge by the engineers and by Seven Mile Beach Company was

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a tremendous tide flow, an ebb flow, that was created in Townsend's Inlet, not to mention the powerful nor'easter storms that often hit the island.

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So you can see from this slide, from approximately the first 48 months that the train was in service, this bridge was out of commission for 32 months.

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Not too much different than what it is today, I would say. So finally, what they did, after about four years, the engineers, and listening to locals on

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the island, they helped alleviate some of the dilemma by constructing the bridge referred to now as the Horseshoe Bridge, and that is because of the design here.

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The engineers' horseshoe solution trestle, or 4,000 foot long, and traveled further along the west, opened up in April of 1892. It was planned this way to spread the

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tidal surge over a longer span. This would supposedly reduce the tidal surge on the trestle by about almost 50 percent on any part of the bridge.

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The two different channels, as opposed to the two combined forces, would have two different swing bridges, one at the Avalon end and then one over here at the Sea Isle end

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for marine traffic. The railroad engineers actually followed the suggestions of the local fishermen, who knew these tides better than any of the railroad engineers.

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So again, this water flow coming in would now be spread out after it comes through to across this whole Horseshoe Bridge. Again, the pilings here were not wood.

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They were manufactured by Phoenix Steel Company. They were 12 inches in width and 70 feet long. The first official station stop in Avalon was

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built by Enos Williams, a builder out of Delaware County, Pennsylvania. The station would eventually be moved to 11th Street and built in 1889.

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This was a typical railroad station that was built with, this would be the ticket office this side here, this would be the freight section where they would store boxes and baggage

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coming in from the other trains, and this would be the waiting area, and then you have the common roof here, the A-roof, and pretty much all stations were built the

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same way. Notice here, you have the track here. A siding or additional railroad track would also allow the engineers to park extra cars alongside

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this train here, the station. Pictured here is a West Jersey Railroad steam engine parked at Piermont Station in Avalon. You can see the train siding by the

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green arrow on the right-hand side of the train with possible hours to wait while passengers and visitors enjoy the beach. The engine crew could uncouple the engine from

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the cars and would run the engine backwards to the Y in Sea Isle City to turn around and head back to Piermont to couple up the waiting cars for the trip

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back to Philadelphia. Notice the size of the large wheels on the train. It's right here.

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These train, these engine wheels would run as much as 70 inches in diameter, and the more the train was in diameter for the wheels, the faster the train would actually go.

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This train, given these wheels being about 70 inches in diameter, would be able to hit speeds up to 95 to 96 miles per hour.

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Now, one of the initial requests and requirements dictated by the West Jersey Railroad and Seven Mile Beach Company was to erect a hotel to accommodate train passengers as they arrive on

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the island for overnight stays. It was the railroad's thinking that as long as the Avalon promoted the town offering accommodations for their passengers, this would increase ridership on

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the railroad. Now, the hotels would have to be built, and what we have here to build these hotels, work would need to be housed.

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This was an Avalon crew shack for the workmen carpenters, and it was built by Enos Williams and also the painters, mechanics, and whatever. That would help with the building of the

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hotels. The building was approximately 16 by 28 feet and would be able to accommodate up to about 30 workmen.

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It was located around 7th and Dune. Here's another view of the temporary shelters built by the workers and for carpenters, painters, again, like I said, and makeshift bunks.

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On January 28, 1888, Joseph Wells and Mr. Sidall, under the separate corporation, the Townsend's Inlet Hotel Company of Seven Mile Beach, brought the group of investors to stake out a location

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for the first hotel in Avalon. On a bitterly cold day and night, it was between 7th and 8th Street. The location was determined by the large sand

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dunes starting at 8th Street. The hotel was to be built by Enos Williams again. He would win the contract to build the

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first hotel on the island for a grand total of $19,500. He would have the lumber barged over from Townsend's Inlet in February of 1888.

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Keep in mind, this was wider then, about 1,200 feet, than it is today at 750 feet. So this was a rough trip with the

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strong tides. The Hotel Avalon was completed, believe it or not, by May of 1888 on the Ocean Beach, east of First Avenue.

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Five years later, it will end up being moved back 400 feet to the northwest side of First Avenue due to the threats of storms and erosions.

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The hotel was considered one of the finest hotels on the east coast. It would advertise all beds included braided wire spring mattresses.

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Even though it did not have private baths, it did have a toilet or bathrooms for men on the first floor and ones for women on the second floor.

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It would also serve as the center for activity in the early years of Avalon. Often early religious workship services would be held there.

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This would be a recurring ad for the hotel placed in the round table, the first local island newspaper edited by the Reverend Charles Bond, the brother-in-law of Joseph Wells.

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You see there the rate of $2.50 a day, and we assume that includes room and board. So another photo of the Avalon Hotel would

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be at around the turn of the century. The famous tower is missing and not sure as to whether or not this was caused by fire or a major storm.

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The sidewalks also wooden and planks laid to enable pedestrians to cross the street without getting muddy. Sadly though, the hotel was demolished in 1987.

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Here's the front page of the copy of the round table of Avalon, a publication started in July of 1890 by Charles Bond. A particular section here that I enlarged that

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I thought was humorous. In attempting to help make up the mind of some not sure of making a reservation at the hotel, secure your rooms at once

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as the hotels are not very large and when the last key goes off the board there may be weeping and gnashing of teeth. The next hotel to be erected on the

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island would be the Piermont Hotel, built by George Rummel and the Avalon Beach Company. This would be located between 33rd and 34th Street.

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Its rooms were also rated at $2.50 a day to compete with the Avalon or Hotel Avalon. A two-story pavilion and bath houses would

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be constructed off to the right of the hotel. Construction started in May 1st of 1889 and it opened for business, believe it or not,

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by mid-July of that summer. A similar ad was also run in the round table, again at $2.50 a day for the hotel.

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The manager then was a Frank Chu. This is an early photo of the construction of the Piermont Hotel taking shape. Notice that the hotel will have two towers

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as opposed to the Hotel Avalon's one tower. The builder of this hotel was Francis K. Duke. This is a rear view of the Piermont

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Hotel during construction. View is from the south corner of 34th Street and First Avenue. This is a photo of the Piermont Hotel

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guests enjoying an afternoon on the side of the ports along 34th Street. The gentleman with the beard indicated by the downward arrow is Colonel Henry W.

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Sawyer, a war hero in the world of the War of the Rebellion and then the manager of this hotel. Here we have a group of ladies enjoying

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conversation in what looks to be a wonderful weather on the porch of the Piermont Pavilion. Notice the straw in the front for them laid down to help prevent sand from getting

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into their shoes. The beach pavilion part of the Hotel Piermont's complex with a large group of visitors. To the left of the photo and adjoining

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to the pavilion are the bathhouses. These sat on the west corner of 33rd Street. Sadly, both structures will be totally destroyed due

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to the storm of September of 1889. This is a photo of Leaming House, another hotel at the very north end of the island.

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Notice the railing in the foreground. It actually connected to the railroad platform built by George Rummel for the railroad as a flag stop.

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The Leaming Hotel was the first hotel in Avalon to acquire a license to serve liquor. This was one of the first law amendments passed by the council, which George Rummel just

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happened to be on as a council member. Another closer view of the Leaming Hotel with staff members on the front porch. It was so named for the small hamlet

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which was nestled on the banks of Townsend's Inlet. There was a larger hotel built by George Cates in 1891 for George Rummel, but that

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burned down in 1900. This was then rebuilt by Charles and Nellie Hagen. Here we have