Asbury Park Boardwalk
The heart of the Jersey Shore, the Asbury Park Boardwalk may bring back feelings reminiscent of old Bruce Springsteen songs and the romance of a summer at the shore. But even before Springsteen composed "Greetings From Asbury Park," the town was a popular vacation destination for the rich and famous. In the late-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the boardwalk was the focal point of this resort town.
The boardwalk is covered with buildings from the Gilded Age of tourism. In 1888, a carousel was built on the boardwalk, a feature of advanced technology during its time. Convention Hall was built in the late nineteen twenties and hosted the most popular artists even late into the twentieth century, from the big band scene through to the emergence of rock and roll in the nineteen seventies. The Paramount Theatre was also built as part of the same project but the architectural firm Mckim, Mead, and White. Connected to Convention Hall, the Paramount was built to resemble the newly erected Madison Square Garden in New York City. In the early twentieth century, Asbury was experiencing a prosperous era with its convenient location to train stations carrying people from New York City and Philadelphia. Woodrow Wilson was known to take strolls down the boardwalk, as Asbury Park was one of his favorite vacation destinations during his presidency.
The Asbury Park Boardwalk is one of the best places on the Jersey Shore to see tourism history. Its majestic architecture and fossilized attractions reveal the former glory of this destination. (Erik Hendricksen, Flagler College)
References:
Asbury Park Historical Society. “The History of Asbury Park.” 2010. Accessed March 4, 2013. http://www.aphistoricalsociety.org/history.html#.
City of Asbury Park. “History and Heritage.” 2013. Accessed March 4, 2013. http://www.cityofasburypark.com/en/history.
