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(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Hello, my name is Bonita Risley. I'm the Collections Coordinator at the Avalon History Center in Avalon, New Jersey. The following is a presentation on the history

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of Avalon from the 1940s through the Ash Wednesday storm of 1962. It's the second in a series of three covering the history of Avalon and I hope

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you have a chance to watch the first and the third. So, just what did Avalon look like at the time America entered World War II in

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December 1941? To give a good idea, we must first take a little look back at the 1920s and 30s, which, as it turns out, were

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a seesaw in the fortunes of Cape May County and of Avalon in particular. There was massive development, acceleration in the growth of Avalon's infrastructure, the demise of Avalon's three

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leading development companies, one of which was the Avalon Development Company, but also the Avalon Improvement Company and the South Jersey Realty Company. There was massive borrowing, recession, depression, foreclosures, the

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eventual beginnings of a financial recovery, the revival of house construction, borrower bankruptcy, and then booming lot sales. The whole of Cape May County had benefited,

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especially during the 1939 to 41 phase of FDR's New Deal, when the Public Works Administration Construction Program came into being. More locally, Mayor Bergner's legacy of getting the

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Ocean Drive bridges constructed in the late 30s brought in contractors, speculators, vacationers, anyone with means, mainly from Philadelphia. They had Avalon in their sights.

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Early 1941 really was the day of the developer in Avalon. The borough had in its possession thousands of empty lots due to the massive foreclosures for

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tax non-payment during the depression years, so Avalon sold them off at extreme reduced prices. With the provision that houses had to be constructed in one year of purchase, the housing

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boom was on. Houses sprang up all along the streets, which were graded, paved, sidewalked, and set up with sewer and water, which had been facilitated by

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the borough in the late 1920s. So it's no surprise that just about the whole county followed the countrywide trend of trying to ignore what was seen as the emergent

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European war. Despite the obvious signs of preparedness, especially along the coast, and even September 1940's first peacetime draft in American history, and Roosevelt's declaration of

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a state of unlimited emergency in May 1941, they wanted no part of it. They just wanted the growth and the prosperity to continue.

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But it all came to a crashing halt in December 1941. Development was suspended for the entirety of the war years.

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There was no more grading, no more gravelling, no paving of roads, and those houses that had sprang up as if overnight were suddenly scattered and solitary, or in spread out little

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groupings. Dune Drive itself only ran to 37th Street, and vegetation very quickly reclaimed the former railroad right of way.

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From 37th Street down to 80th was in effect an overgrown, unkempt trail, totally impassable by car. It was a virtual wilderness with just a

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few shacks and one house on 57th Street. This is the way Avalon was to remain, virtually unchanged from the beginning to the end of the war years, and even beyond.

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But this isn't to say that Avalon went to sleep during those years, far from it. Construction and development may have ceased, but the town was abuzz with war effort programmes, and

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especially with military personnel, all leading to local business and entertainment growth. Life had to go on, and Avalon was still a seaside town.

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Might as well make the most of it. Cape May County's use of blue dim outlights along the boardwalks were even advertised as adding a relaxed and romantic atmosphere for the wartime

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vacationer. Victory Gardens on the very many vacant lots were encouraged by the borough of Avalon, probably the only time fruit and vegetable growing took

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place on any sizable scale in Avalon. Red Cross and Civil Defence units began to organise in communities all over the country. Those who were unable to be drafted were

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certainly able to get involved in defence at a very local level. Some of you may recognise some of the faces in this photograph.

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Pop Geringer, Franklin Tew, Chestercobb Senior, Henry Armstrong, Chestercobb Junior, Bill Tozier, Frank Jumpey, Gilbert Smith, just a few individuals. Just as well they did organise as German

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convoys and especially U-boat activity had been increasing along the eastern seaboard coast, such as this German submarine U-858 which surrendered off the coast of Cape May on May 14,

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1945. Although the rumours of collaboration and nighttime raids were blown out of all proportion, still the threat was real enough to alarm the borough,

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who then employed local man Chestercobb Senior as special night patrolman along the beaches until such time as the U.S. Mounted Coast Guard took over in 1942.

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In fact during the war the three of us used to go up to 21st Street and it was the gazebo that they have now, of course it was a different one,

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you know, and we would sit there and we could see the convoys. One night I was coming from the movie and everything was blacked out and I'm walking

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down the boardwalk to 21st Street because then my mom and dad got a place up at 23rd Street. They sold that, the other one, and this

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soldier stepped out and he said hello. All I could think, he was a little guy and had a gun over his shoulder and I ran like the dickens and I

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thought that poor guy must think I'm crazy. All I thought is someone had landed here, you know. 1942 was coincidentally the same time that Chestercobb

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Senior's son, Chestercobb Junior, was inducted into the U.S. Army. So the U.S. Mounted Coast Guard took up residence in the old life-saving station

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at 15th Street with corrals and kennels across the street. That's right, corrals and kennels. And then they had the Coast Guards come

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and they had the horses and the dogs. Yeah, if you're walking on the boardwalk and you hear the horse going down there. As well as horses such as Boots here

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and Flash seen here with Spencer Windle who wrote this, there were also dogs such as Shep and Tuffy, Spencer's service dogs, and Pudgy, my particular favorite.

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You just got to look at that face. I could talk forever about Pudgy. Rumor has it that one of the Coast Guard dogs had a reputation for begging for

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ice cream while strolling along the boardwalk and I think it had to have been Pudgy. You can tell from the way he looks. With the influx of so many young men

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and women, but mostly men, and mostly serving in the Coast Guard into Avalon, where were they going to stay and what were they going to do during their downtime?

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Not to mention how were Avalon's permanent residents going to be affected? In a word, magnificently. The women of Avalon took the lead in

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manning the local chapter of the USO and no one was more active in that organization than Mabel Ballinger seen here several years later. She took many young servicemen under her motherly

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wing, not to mention looked after the junior hostesses who volunteered to befriend the newcomers to town. Some of the many servicemen were lucky to

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be lucky enough to be billeted at the Avalon Hotel. Others stayed with local families, all were made welcome at the USO club up on the

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second floor of Avalon Borough Hall. Mabel Ballinger again is seen here. They were especially made welcome at the dances at the Marine Ballroom on the second floor

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of the pier above the movie theater. Dances had been a focal point in the Marine Ballroom upstairs at the pier since 1929, but during the war years they became ever

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more important, maybe as a small sign of resistance. To the blackouts, which by the way caused ocean-facing windows to be completely blacked out,

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as were headlights. To the shortages, the hardships, the threats and the fears of the unknown. For the younger crowd the dances were a

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wonderful melting pot of locals, those from neighboring towns, visiting military personnel, anybody just wanting to forget the troubles of the war for an hour or two.

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Live bands played regularly but were later replaced by a jukebox. I even have the key to the jukebox that did play in the Marine Ballroom, so

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if anybody has that jukebox I've got the key and it could be time for a party. Live music played on Saturday nights when the

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dress code was formal. The most important night of the year had always been the lifeguards ball, a serious dress -up affair.

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Those too young to attend would just go down to the pier to catch a glimpse of the glamour and pizazz, and not to mention the fabulous dresses.

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The most important person in the Marine Ballroom was Harold Tex-Texter, who ran the dances. He stood for no nonsense and was beloved by all.

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The ballroom had no air conditioning but it did have a wraparound deck and sea breezes. What could be better? It also had Tex monitoring any inappropriate behavior

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and switching on the lights at will. Rumor has it that he had rigged up a cord from the light switch over to his chair by the door.

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He didn't even have to move an inch to put a halt to any shenanigans. He did have everybody's best interests at heart and ran the dances at the pier every

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summer for years. He was very much loved. We're lucky enough to have several of his ledgers from the dances.

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One of which is on display in the 1940s gallery at the History Center, donated by his daughter Linda Texter Hall. Of course I can't mention the pier without

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mentioning Clarence Popp Geringer with his famous brown cow root beer floats at 15 cents and Avalon famous hot dogs with buttered and grilled rolls for 10 cents.

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Oh and Popp Geringer's I guess you heard about him. Yeah and I always said I'd love to have what he had there.

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He had this little beer barrel he would pull the lever you get your root beer. We used to have what we called brown cow and he had this big glass and

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he put a dip of ice cream in there and then pour root beer over it. We call it a brown cow. Oh that sounds great.

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Yeah oh it was and he was famous for his hot dogs too. You know he used to slit them and put them on the grill with cheese on

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there. His peanut roaster was especially popular with moviegoers much to the dismay of the young kids employed to clean up in there.

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No such thing as child labor laws then. Shells were plenty. Popp and his wife Amelia rented store space in the pier from 1929 to 1946 when

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they gave up the lease and concentrated on their 8th street store famous for its penny candy. As well as the pier, the dances, the

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movie theater, the social aspect of the Border Walkers as a whole, there was also the Avalon Yacht Club at this time but this was mainly patronized by year-round residents and

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vacationers of a little older generation. The Avalon Yacht Club was originally formed out of the old casino club members. There were a group of men looking for

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a place to sit down and have a drink and take our wives to dance. They weren't too concerned with sailing at that point.

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Money was raised from family and friends and in 1941 they applied to the borough for a spot of land which they got at 7th street in the bay.

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The community dumped. Despite the war being ongoing with gas, food and alcohol rationing and shortages, not to mention the blackouts and security considerations, the official dedication

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of the Avalon Yacht Club went ahead in May of 1942 and not only was there somewhere to sit and drink but summer that year saw at least five inter-club regattas.

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By the end of the war the club had approximately 100 annual members, 60 propriety members and 45 junior members and was itself a member of the South Jersey Yacht Racing Association

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so they were serious about sailing after all. The 1950s saw the Yacht Club's swimming and sailing programs flourish with memberships ever growing. Today it has some of the best and

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most popular junior sailing programs in South Jersey. Anyway back to the 1940s. Gas rationing did hurt the resort business all over Cape May County but not as much

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as natural disasters did. The main one being the hurricane of September 14, 1944. While a Category 3 at landfall, the Great

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Atlantic Hurricane had been a Category 4 storm delivering sustained winds of 93 miles per hour and gusts up to 125. While estimates vary I'm going with this approximate

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estimate. It caused 36 million dollars worth of damage. That's upwards of 300 million dollars in today's money but only 200,000 of that were

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sustained. The second worst was from Avalon Stone Harbour. Although both towns lost their fishing piers and Stone Harbour's boardwalk was lost never to be

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replaced. This is a typical scene in Stone Harbour after the storm. Over the next couple of days children amused

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themselves during daylight hours by surveying the storm damage and treasure hunting through the storm debris on the beach once the flooding had subsided that is.

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Now I'm not at all sure that this is a photograph from 1944 I'm just assuming and it looks about right to me. By the way until late 1940s hurricanes were

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not officially named. The first US named hurricane, unofficially named that is, was George which hit in 1947. The next one given a name was Hurricane

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Bess named for the first lady Bess Truman in 1949. Between 1953 and 1979 only women's names were used to name tropical storms but since 1979

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men's and women's names have been alternated. Of course the 1944 hurricane was not the first or the last to affect the barrier island.

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I'm just going to put up a series of pictures they're few and far between. It was wartime and carrying cameras around was generally restricted.

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Also houses were still few and far between scattered and remote in a lot of cases. Remember there hadn't been much construction going on for three or four years and the roads

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had not been upgraded or maintained. Gravel and dust trails through Avalon into Stone Harbour were the norm. This is Captain Charlie Fort's rowboat rental in

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the back bays. These are all properties on 5th Street. This is on 6th Street much the same story and this is Dune Drive from 10th

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Street. This is Ocean Drive and again Ocean Drive a lot of people are very familiar with this photograph.

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But enough of the doom and gloom. Not so long after the Great Atlantic Hurricane the war at last ended. So war was over let's get back to

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development and construction but not in Avalon. Not in comparison with Ocean City, Stone Harbour and other South Jersey resorts that is. They were experiencing rapid post-war building construction

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and infrastructure booms. Avalon for some reason remains still a little sleepy from the war. Bayberry to the right of us, bayberry to

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the left of us with mosquitoes, rabbits and hoppy toads to quote Robert Penrose Senior. Some construction was happening in Avalon. 29 new homes were built in 1947, 39

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in 1949 and 53 in 1951. And most often they were these kind of pre-cut houses. They were advertised in Gimbel's department store in

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Philadelphia of all places. This is called the Starfish by its long -time owner Martha Crowley. It wasn't until 1955 that Avalon exceeded its

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pre-war construction pace. For a few years after the war foreclosures due to tax non-payment continued to be a burden for the borough until the law

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firm of Anthony J Caffieri and Maxwell J Hoffman offered to complete mass liquidation of the borough's almost 5,000 tax certificates for a flat $80 fee each.

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Delinquent tax non-payers were offered a chance to pay back taxes and recover their property or liquidate or failing that to foreclose. By January 1957 the foreclosure program was completed

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with over 4,000 properties being foreclosed. Opportunities in Avalon land sales were finally discovered. Lots started being bid on at $120 with $240 for a corner lot.

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They started to be sold in the dunes south of 37th street but the borough did forbid any removal of the dunes. This was a huge if sadly belated shift

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as was the move away from mass speculation to individual sales and current homeowners buying up lots to increase the lawn areas around their existing homes.

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It so happened that exchanges took place too. Property owners would offer the borough lots in exchange for more desirable ones in a different location.

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There was an awful lot of wheeling and dealing going on. The construction boom was definitely back on and certain building certain builders were well out front.

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Tito Macchia became a frequent buyer and builder of single-story bungalows. Toja Kerr, William Toja Jr and Betty Kerr became a big Avalon success story with their

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upside down architectural style and James Tracy was seen to be building all over Avalon. However hundreds of lots were being sold on streets that only existed on paper and those

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roads that were in existence were in a shocking state of repair after years of neglect. Taxes were raised, neglected roads were repaired at the same time as new ones were laid

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out. Road repair and building was a high priority. On the subject of roads, February 1955 saw the passing of ordinance 278 which renamed 2nd

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Avenue to Dune Drive. It all seems a little odd as even then most of 2nd Avenue was nowhere near any dunes.

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Just a very short section which was as now totally obscured by trees and bushes. A few months later ordinance 281 was introduced to rename 1st Avenue to Pennsylvania Avenue but

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thankfully that never passed. Back to the roads though. While there were more cars than ever coming into Avalon and struggling with the road construction,

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can you imagine today putting up with the dirt and the gravel tracks everywhere? It was still very safe out there on the streets.

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Uh I came down in 19, my dad built in 19, 1958. We built a home on 18th and 1st and there were no other houses on the

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street at the time. In the 100 block were the 200 block. 18th street as a matter of fact wasn't even through and between 18th street and 16th

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street there was a the remnants of an old park that was called Mosquito Park. Um there was a there was groundwater in the middle of the what would be the

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uh 200 100 block of 17th street which is where the epicenter of Mosquito Park was. We used to cut through all the bushes and weeds.

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We would go over to 20th street to meet up with the Sylvester's and played ball with them at 19th and 1st. Once again there may have been two or

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three houses around in that few square block area. That was it. Like I said no no streets, very few

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streets. The streets that we're in were dirt and the ones that were paved such as 2nd Avenue, 1st Avenue and Avalon Avenue were paved

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with liquid asphalt tar. Really the guy would come around with the wagon and just lay down hot tar oil and that's how the streets were.

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Kids would go off on their bikes in the mornings and not be seen at home again until dinner time. Avalon was their playground.

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Dads would drop the family off in town on Friday, hang out for the weekend and then take the car back to Philadelphia and go off to work for the weekend leaving

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mom and the kids transportless. But it wasn't the drama that it would be today. Much was delivered.

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Avalon had its own ice plant Otto Wonders on 3rd Avenue between 7th and 8th streets. It did burn down in 1956 unfortunately. It delivered ice blocks in various sizes and

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put them straight into the ice boxes outside of houses. Most houses had an ice sign to put up for the ice man.

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£25, £50, £75, £100 of ice needed depended on how many gin and tonics you wanted. Milk was delivered daily by Abbott's Dairy of Wildwood.

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Bread was delivered by either Bond and Fraehofer bakeries. Donuts and cookies were also delivered. Fruit and veg came via the Huckster's truck.

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Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays saw Jimmy Ludlam and later on Nippy Heaton and Whitey. They'd drive the old blue truck around town piled high with jersey fresh fruit and veg.

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Housewives and children gathered to bargain and also to catch up on the latest Avalon news. It was more of a social event. Meat came from Caster's meat market on the

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east side of Ocean Drive between 24th and 25th streets where Tony O's is now. Or from the south side of 21st street just over the bridge where Hohner's grocery and

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Gustafson's grocery stores had been. It moved from one location to the other but I don't know which way around it was.

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What I do know is Mr. Caster was from Goshen and made deliveries in a big refrigerated truck. Unlike these two gentlemen, fish came from them

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from Sprouse and Plank's fish markets and they had no refrigeration. Once a week Ganser's bakery from Wildwood would deliver baked goods.

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In the late 40s and 50s Ocean Breeze Laundry of 37th street run by Mrs. Eldrop and Mrs. Radcliffe would pick up and drop off laundry.

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Mrs. Eldrop's son Hop would do the deliveries in his 1936 Ford. There was even a shoe repair car that came in from Cape May Courthouse and a

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knife and scissor sharpener that came once or twice a season sharpened your utensils right in the back of a big truck and these were just the services that came to you.

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There was of course so many new local businesses opening up as Avalon's population increased. Stores such as Sullivan's department store seen here on 21st and June.

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It opened in 1956 and in 1965 it moved to 22nd and June. Edith Greenan's black cat gift shop. Frank's meat market on 69th and 3rd Avenue.

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It was in existence from May 1950 to May 1964. There was a pie lodge on the south side of 20th street and 5th Avenue.

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Rhoda's grocery on Ocean Drive between 33rd and 34th street. Gallagher's liquor store on Dune Drive. Jane's hardware also on Dune Drive and of

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course very many more. So let's round off with the storm of 62. The effects of the storm of March 6th,

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7th and 8th 1962 was so much more devastating than previous coastal storms, even hurricanes, because this time of year the storm was much more devastating.