This Week in Ocean County, 1922! (Summer-Fall Catchup)

Miss us? We missed you! Here are some news briefs to catch us all up and bring us back to our normal weekly schedule. Enjoy!

Let your mind wander as you consider life around summer and autumn 1922, courtesy the New Jersey Courier weekly newspaper and Ocean County Library archives, and peppered with items of maritime interest (around an 8 minute read).

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

Airship Construction Begins!
Construction of the U.S.S. Shenandoah airship began at Naval Air Station Lakehurst.

Surf City Sells 1218 Building Lots
One of the largest lot sales on the shore in recent years happened when Surf City sold off 1218 50x100 ft lots on July 3rd. The lots were taken back by the municipality due to outstanding taxes. The lots mostly belonged to the old Wright and Culver estates.

Fire!
Late springtime fires continued to do damage to area lands, including cranberry bogs.

Five Escape Stalled Car on Railroad Tracks
Death was dodged by five individuals who bolted from their stalled car on the Pennsylvania Railroad line near Beachwood station in late June. When the train struck, it cut off the back end and a door went flying, striking one former passenger, who was cut on mouth and chin.

Baseball Fever
The great American pasttime enjoyed a renaissance in the area, with many towns and organizations forming nine-player teams to compete.

Save Barnegat Light
The battle to save Ol' Barney continued, with area Congressmen battling a largely indifferent Washington, D.C.

Toms River High School Seniors Graduate
A total of 22 seniors from area towns up and down Ocean County graduated in mid-June.

Smashing Independence Day Records
Crowds visiting from the cities and elsewhere shattered tourism records to date for the shore area over the July 4th holiday.

Oyster Planters
Large quantities of oysters were planted in Barnegat Bay from the Pennsylvania Railroad bridge (which carried passengers across between Good Luck Point and Seaside Park) to Cedar Creek. Many other areas were also staked out and received new plantings.

Prohibition
Continued as the law of the land, though rumrunners (on land and water) and illicit liquor sales carried on, with area authorities sometimes making lucky busts that likely didn't put much of a dent in the overall trade.

Machine Planting
A new machine was used to plant sweet potatoes as an experiment that proved much faster than by hand.

First New Cruiser Built Since World War
The first new locally-built cruiser, a 55 ft. keel with 16 ft. beam craft, was launched out of Island Heights, built by Mayor William D. Rote from his shop there, for Charles K. Haddon of Haddonfield. It was christened Mary D.

Sneakbox Racing Hitting Its Stride
Starting with the purchase of the first fleet of 15-foot racing sneakboxes by Polyhue Yacht Club, Beachwood, other clubs in the Barnegat Bay Yacht Racing Association had been following suit with orders all spring, leading to many new races of the design on the river and bay.

Circus Train Held for Stealing by Employees
The train of the Walter L. Main Circus was halted at Lakehurst in early August upon accusations that its employees had been stealing and eating produce from roadside farm stands in Toms River. The show the night before had been a smashing success but a torrential downpour ended the night, with most of the 2,500 spectators leaving drenched.

West Virginians Visit Toms River Poultrymen
Farmers from that state arrived to look at how our area chicken farmers handled their industry.

Return of Horse Disease Feared
Inoculations for hundreds of horses between Toms River and Burlington County took place to try and dodge the dreaded sickness, botalinus, that had taken so many animal lives in recent prior years and had started up again.

All Night Regatta
Toms River Yacht Club held an all-night sailing regatta with race course running from the Crabbe Boathouse on Toms River (still there, 2022) to a stakeboat off Barnegat Lighthouse (also still there!). The sloop Viking, sailed by the Schofield boys of Island Heights, took the win. Race started at 10:30 pm (delayed due to a storm) Saturday, August 18th and Viking crossed the finish line at 6:28 am the following morning. Gem, a catboat owned by the Crabbes, took second at 6:56 am, with Hawk, a sneakbox owned by the Doan family, in third at 7:14 am.

A-Cat Mary Ann Sweeping Bay Races
The biggest yachting trophy events of the summer went to the Mary Ann, the new catboat that resulted in the dawn of the A-Cat fleet.

Highway Robberies
Authorities warned the public not to stop on the highways (faster roads running through wooded and farm areas, of the time) to pick up stray tires, as they were often bait for thieves to hold up motorists and rob them, steal their cars or both.

Pennsylvania Railroad Wants Off LBI
The company, in mid-September, asked permission from the state to abandon the line from the bridge at Barnegat City Junction, below Surf City, to Barnegat City [now Barnegat Light]. The proliferation of passenger cars and trucks had cut into its bottom line too much on the largely summer island.

United Feed Company Builds New Plant Below Toms River
A new plant was constructed on the Central Railroad line in Berkeley Township, in what would eventually become South Toms River borough, in an area roughly across from what today is Mathis Plaza. Its features included a grain elevator, bins and mill.

Frost Damages Cranberry Harvest
Regional growers of the crop were upset to find that early autumn frosts had ruined about 20 percent of their unpicked crop. Picking continued at a fast pace to beat the weather.

Railroad Sparks Burn Mantoloking Lumber Yard
The coal, lumber yards and ice house of the Stillwell's at Mantoloking were damaged by a fire that began from sparks of a passing Pennsylvania Railroad train headed to that city. Damage was estimated to be $15,000 [$265,000 in 2022 dollars].

Halloween Parade Canceled
The annual Toms River Halloween Parade, put on by the volunteer fire department, was canceled for the year as the organization was too busy raising funds for its new La France pumper truck and the parade was too large an expense to carry at the time. Another literal roadblock to the parade was that much of downtown was torn up as part of a project to pave its main thoroughfares for the first time.

Seaside Park Amusement Properties Sold at Auction
In early October, the Casino and bath house property on the beach front at North Avenue, Seaside Park, were sold by the county sheriff for $6900 [$122,000 in 2022 dollars] to V. Claude Palmer, a Mount Holly lawyer. The buildings had been owned by Amos K. Dubell, Margaret E. Dubell and Charles J. McCready, who bought them two years earlier and attempted to start an amusement center there.

Jersey Cranberries Open at $10 to $13 Per Barrel
The Jersey cranberries were put on the market for the first on Wednesday, October 25. The opening prices quoted in New York Market were $5 for the ordinary Jerseys and $6.50 for the Howes, for the half barrel box or from $10 to $13 per barrel [$177 to $230 in 2022 dollars]. Early blacks were still selling from $8 to $10.50 per barrel [$141 to $186 in 2022 dollars].

Next Week: Return to 1922 with our weekly installments!

Toms River Seaport Society presents our new Holiday Bonus 50/50 Fundraising Raffle, where one winner can win ​​up to $5,000!

JUST IN TIME FOR THE HOLIDAYS!

Tickets are $100 each and limited to 100 tickets sold. Once they sell out - no more will be sold.
Drawing will take place on the deck of the A-Cat Spy in its museum shed located at 78 East Water Street, Toms River, on Saturday, December 17th at 2 pm. Winner need not be present. No substitution of offered prize will be made. Total of prize monies equal to 50% of all proceeds collected.
All proceeds will benefit the Toms River Seaport Society's ongoing mission to preserve and celebrate Toms River and Barnegat Bay's rich maritime history.

Purchasing tickets can be made online below ($100 plus $2 processing fee), by visiting our museum during open hours on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 10 am to 2 pm with cash or check, or by mailing a check CLEARLY INDICATING 50/50 ON THE CHECK for $100 to:

Toms River Seaport Society
P.O. Box 1111
Toms River, N.J. 08754

CLICK HERE TO ORDER TICKET(S) ONLINE