Atlantic City, New Jersey
Atlantic City is a resort city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, known for its casinos, boardwalk and beach. In 2010, it had a population of 39,558.
Atlantic City was the inspiration for the original version of the board game Monopoly, especially the street names.
It is on Absecon Island, on the Atlantic coast. Atlantic City was incorporated on May 1, 1854, from portions of Egg Harbor Township and Galloway Township. The city borders Absecon, Brigantine, Pleasantville, Ventnor City and West Atlantic City.
History
Early days
Because of its location in South Jersey, hugging the Atlantic Ocean between marshlands and islands, Atlantic City was viewed by developers as prime real estate and a potential resort town. In 1853, the first commercial hotel, The Belloe House, located at Massachusetts and Atlantic Avenue, was built.
The city was incorporated in 1854, the same year in which the Camden and Atlantic Railroad train service began. Built on the edge of the bay, this served as the direct link of this remote parcel of land with Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. That same year, construction of the Absecon Lighthouse, designed by George Meade of the Corps of Topographical Engineers, was approved, with work initiated the next year. By 1874, almost 500,000 passengers a year were coming to Atlantic City by rail. In Boardwalk Empire: The Birth, High Times, and Corruption of Atlantic City, "Atlantic City's Godfather" Nelson Johnson describes the inspiration of Dr. Jonathan Pitney (the "Father of Atlantic City") to develop Atlantic City as a health resort, his efforts to convince the municipal authorities that a railroad to the beach would be beneficial, his successful alliance with Samuel Richards (entrepreneur and member of the most influential family in southern New Jersey at the time) to achieve that goal, the actual building of the railroad, and the experience of the first 600 riders, who "were chosen carefully by Samuel Richards and Jonathan Pitney":