This is a copy of a page from the Library of Congress (LOC) website. It was featured on the LOC website on June 26, 2001, in honor of the birthday of the famed Atlantic City Boardwalk.

1. Atlantic City Boardwalk Facts Information
2. Is Harrah's On The Boardwalk In Atlantic City

The Boardwalk at Atlantic City, N.J. Italo2712 Atlantic City’s mild winter climate, tempered by the Gulf Stream, made it a popular resort. Its famous Boardwalk, initially 8 feet (2 metres) wide and 1 mile (1.6. Atlantic City, New Jersey, between 1905 and 1920. Touring Turn-of-the-Century America, 1880-1920 On June 26, 1870, the first section of the Atlantic City Boardwalk opened along the New Jersey beach. Atlantic City Boardwalk The backbone of Atlantic City, the Boardwalk is the world's first! Explore the great wooden way and learn about its history through walking tours, access the hotels, casinos, resorts. Settled in 1783, Atlantic City today has a year-round population of 38,000. Atlantic City is just 11.92 square miles long but boasts many historic firsts, such as being the site of the world’s first Boardwalk and salt-water taffy’s first development.

On the Boardwalk

Rolling Chairs on the Boardwalk,
Atlantic City, New Jersey,
between 1905 and 1920.
Touring Turn-of-the-Century America, 1880-1920

On June 26, 1870, the first section of the Atlantic City Boardwalk opened along the New Jersey beach. Dr. Jonathan Pitney and civil engineer Richard Osborne began developing the area on Absecon Island in 1850. Long before this time though, the Lenni-Lenape tribe were the first seasonal visitors to enjoy the summer splendor of the island.

Beautiful beaches, fresh sea air, luxurious hotels, fine restaurants, alluring shops, and a connecting railroad line from Camden, New Jersey drew visitors from all over the world. Atlantic City soon became a popular summer resort and winter health spa.

Alexander Boardman, a railroad conductor, conceived the idea of constructing a boardwalk as a means of keeping sand out of the railroad cars and hotels. The city used its tax revenues to build an eight-foot-wide temporary wooden walkway from the beach into town which could be dismantled during the winter.

In the Good Old Summertime,
Atlantic City, New Jersey,
© 1905.
Touring Turn-of-the-Century America, 1880-1920

The rolling chair, introduced in 1884, was the only vehicle allowed on the Boardwalk, which was soon extended by enormous amusement piers such as Steel Pier, visible in the background of the photograph above.1

Any consideration of the boardwalk demands at least a nod to salt water taffy, a favorite beach-side treat. Taffy is a candy made of corn syrup and white sugar: the boiled confection is pulled and folded, then rolled into a long strip from which shorter (about two inch long) strips are cut, wrapped in stick resistant paper, and sold. Along the Atlantic City Boardwalk folks have purchased the product since at least the early 1880s. In presenting its opinion on a case concerning the right to label one's product the 'original' salt water taffy, the Supreme Court long ago held that no one company might claim that right as salt water taffy, '. . . is born of the ocean and summer resorts and other ingredients that are the common property of all men everywhere.'

Early bathers wore bathing dresses of wool flannel with stockings, canvas shoes, and large straw hats. The more daring bloomer suits and stockings worn by these bathing beauties were not introduced until 1907. Censors roamed the beaches monitoring bathers' self-exposure and looking for offenders who showed more flesh than the local code allowed.

Search on Atlantic City in these collections to find more images of this summer attraction.

Bathing Beauties,
Atlantic City, New Jersey,
between 1890 and 1910.
Touring Turn-of-the-Century America, 1880-1920

• Search on Atlantic City in the Alexander Graham Bell Papers, 1862-1939 to find correspondence Bell wrote during a 1901 stay in Atlantic City.
• Inventing Entertainment: Early Motion Pictures and Sound Recordings from the Thomas A. Edison Companies contains two panoramic films of a moving boardwalk, or platform mobile, a novelty featured at the 1900 Paris Exposition. Search on boardwalk to find them.

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(William Thomas Cain/Getty Images News) The Trump Taj Mahal is just one of the 12 casinos in Atlantic City.
Don't let the flashing lights and fist-pumping clubs deceive you, Atlantic City is more than just the Las Vegas of the East. The city is rich with history — something that trivia buffs like me just love. As we gear up for a week spent in 'America's Playground,' here are some fun facts we learned about the coastal city.
1) You don't even have to leave your bed to gamble
Lucky for Lady Crawley, she wouldn't even have to leave her robe to gamble in Atlantic City.
It's really no secret that gambling is the main draw to Atlantic City, and one hotel is making sure you're always able to gamble. At the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, guests can place bets from the comfort of their beds via their TVs. As of Feb. 18, guests with player's cards can set up electronic accounts and risk up to $2,500 a day. Right now, slots and four kinds of video poker are the first games allowed. But just think, you don't EVER have to get dressed to place some bets. Hotel robes are totally appropriate gambling attire now!

2) Fralinger's produces 11,000 pounds of taffy...a day
(Photos Courtesy of the Atlantic City Convention & Visitors Bureau) Taffy is a Boardwalk staple in Atlantic City.
The chewy and delightful confection was created in Atlantic City in the 1880s and is still a boardwalk tradition today. Fralinger's, the largest and most famous producer of the candy, prides itself on being a family-owned business that still uses traditional ingredients. Today, the company produces 600 pieces of taffy a minute or 11,000 pounds a day. To put that into perspective, they make over 600,000 lbs. a year. This makes me feel slightly less guilty about consuming an entire one-pound box by myself.
3) Lucy the Elephant is older than the Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty
(Photo Courtesy of Lucytheelephant.org) Lucy's eyes overlook the beach. ot a bad view I'd say.
Ok, so you may not even know who Lucy is. In case you don't, Lucy the Elephant is a six-story high elephant building located in Margate, NJ. She has a spiral staircase that allows visitors to climb up and see a 360 degree view of the area. Built in 1881, Lucy is older than both the Eiffel Tower (built in 1889) and the Statue of Liberty (dedicated in 1886). Oddly enough though, she is only the second largest elephant building. An elephant tower in Bangkok claims the first place prize. Sorry, Lucy!
4) Miss America got its start in AC
(David Becker/Getty Images North America) Mallory Hytes Hagan, Miss New York, became Miss America 2013.
After a six-year hiatus, the Miss America Competition is returning to its home in Atlantic City. The pageant, which has been held in Las Vegas since 2006, will be returning to the place where it all began back in 1921. The Casino Reinvestment Development Authority and Atlantic City's convention bureau are paying a total of $7.3 million in financial aid over three years, with $2.5 million earmarked for the return of the pageant. Quite a hefty sum to get Miss America back, but AC knows she's worth it. You can catch the competition on Sept. 15 on ABC.
5) The Boardwalk Hall organ has over 33,000 pipes
(Courtesy of Boardwalkhall.com) The organ has more pipes than any other organ around.
Boardwalk Hall, previously Convention Hall, is a well-known convention hall in AC. It is not only known for being the original site of the Miss America Competition, but it known for housing the world's largest pipe organ. The organ has over 33,000 pipes and has the record for being the largest and loudest musical instrument the world has ever known. It was built between 1929 and 1932 by the Midmer-Losh Organ Company of Merrick, Long Island, N.Y. All of you music junkies can read all about the organ's different tones, pitches and other cool musical lingo we tone-deaf people don't understand here.

6) Diving horses used to be a thing
(Courtesy of Phawker.com) Yes, diving horses was a thing.
In the 1890s, William Frank 'Doc' Carver came up with the idea of training horses to dive from a platform into a pool of water. Say what?! You read that right. The idea was to take well-trained horses, with their riders situated on their backs, and teach them to jump from a 40-foot tower into a 12-foot pool of water. Call these horses the Evel Knievels of their time. This daredevil act came to Atlantic City in the 1920s and became a huge success. The Diving Horse at the Steel Pier was one of the most famous and loved attractions back in the day. If any of this sounds familiar, you may have seen the Disney movie from 1991 called, 'Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken,' which tells the story of Sonora Webster Carver, a rider who was blinded when she hit the water with her eyes open. Needless to say, New Jersey horses are sticking to galloping theses days.
7) The first US boardwalk EVER was built in Atlantic City
(Photos Courtesy of the Atlantic City Convention & Visitors Authority) The Atlantic City Boardwalk, built in 1870, is known as the world’s first and most famous Boardwalk.
Ok, so you might

Atlantic City Boardwalk Facts Information

have known this one, but did you know it only cost $5,000 to build in 1870? (Kudos to you if you did!) At its opening, the Atlantic City Boardwalk was eight feet wide, one mile long, and stood approximately one foot above the sand. No commerce was allowed within 30 feet of the walk. Today, the boardwalk is over four miles long and boasts a plethora of shops, restaurants and more. My how the times change!
8) The first casino opened in 1978
(William Thomas Cain/Getty Images News) The Trump Taj Mahal is just one of the 12 casinos in Atlantic City.
If you're like me, you assumed that the casinos have always been a part of the Atlantic City landscape. But then you'd be wrong. Just like me. It wasn't until 1978 that the first casino, Resorts International (now Resorts Atlantic City), opened. Prior to the gaming boom in the '70s and '80s, Atlantic City was known for being a resort spot for tourists. Today, gaming is the main attraction in Atlantic City, as the city boasts of 12 casinos. In 2011, AC has the second highes casino revenue, second only to Las Vegas, totaling $3.318 billion, according to the American Gambling Association. Not bad for an industry that has only been in the city 35 years.
9) There are 228 steps in the Absecon Lighthouse

First lit in 1857

Is Harrah's On The Boardwalk In Atlantic City

, the Absecon Lighthouse is New Jersey's tallest lighthouse with 228 steps, reaching a height of 171 feet. Although it was deactivated in 1933, the US's third tallest lighthouse, remains lit each night. Nerd alert: the lighthouse still has its original Fresnel lens! That's the cool lens in the lighthouse that allows its light to be seen from really far distances. A definite must-see for all history nerds...like moi.
10) The 2013 Atlantic City Beer and Music Festival featured an FU Sandy Beer
(Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images Europe) The FU Sandy Beer sold out of its 86 kegs.

The Flying Fish Brewing Co. out of Somerdale, NJ was one of 90 breweries at this year's AC Beer and Music Festival. But this local brewery had a special brew up its sleeve. They concocted a 'tasty brew with Jersey attitude,' titled Forever Unloved Sandy. But let's be real, the beer has cleverly and appropriately been nicknamed the FU Sandy Beer. The FU Sandy brew made 86 kegs and was distributed throughout Atlantic City and the rest of New Jersey (click here to see if you can still get a pint). Proceedes from the pale-ale totaled $45,000 and was split among Habitat for Humanity, Sandy New Jersey Relief Fund, and Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey. Now that's a cause to cheers to.

Stay tuned for more Atlantic City finds!