History Seaside Park, New Jersey

first boardwalk in seaside park (early 1900s)

what seaside park section of dover township (now known toms river township) until creation of berkeley township in 1875. area became known sea side park section of berkeley township. on next 25 years, lots sold, houses , roads built, , population of seaside park began grow.

on march 3, 1898, new jersey senate president foster m. voorhees, acting governor of new jersey, signed bill incorporating sea side park independent borough, created portions of berkeley township. originally, town ran 14th avenue north avenue, half present size. area known berkeley tract, north of original area of borough, annexed on or may 12, 1900. borough named location on atlantic ocean.

as community grew, name of borough lost space. in 1914, newly appointed municipal clerk wrote name of borough seaside park in council minutes, combining first 2 words. practice continues day.

while sea side park going through process of being incorporated, senate amusement company of philadelphia working on plans build oceanside attraction in seaside heights within feet of border sea side park. plan build covered pier house carousel. structure built in 1915 under direction of joseph vanderslice of senate amusement company. budget issues caused business not open in 1916, , amusement ride , building subsequently sold frank freeman. combination of completion of toms river bridge on october 23, 1914, , dupont avenue carousel , boardwalk led 219% population growth shown between 1910 , 1920 censuses in sea side park.

disasters

on june 9, 1955, malfunctioning neon sign component caused fire @ shop on corner of ocean terrace , dupont avenue. fire driven winds estimated @ 50 miles per hour (80 km/h), blowing fire south , engulfing entire pier. fire stopped @ stockton avenue due in part fact boardwalk , pier ended there. in became known freeman s fire, total of 85 buildings destroyed estimated $4 million in damage conflagration.

on march 8, 1962, seaside park affected nor easter had churned offshore 2 days. storm, destroyed learge section of borough s boardwalk, variously referred ash wednesday storm, 5 high storm , great march storm of 1962.

on september 12, 2013, ten-alarm fire swept funtown pier northward. fire believed have started under boardwalk, below kohr s kustard stand @ southern end of pier. wind pushed northward, , fire crews able make stand @ lincoln avenue tearing newly replaced boardwalk destroyed less year before hurricane sandy. jack & bill s bar , kohr s kustard 2 businesses both destroyed in 1955 , 2013 fires.

on september 17, 2016, suspected pipe bomb placed in trashcan , detonated, causing small explosion, no injuries or deaths. unclear placed bomb , under motivation, believed bomb s intended target usmc 5k run taking place in surrounding area. run had been delayed due unforeseen circumstances regardless, canceled after details of explosion became clear.