DELMARVA
PENINSULA ROADS HISTORY
A
DUSTY ROAD TO OCEAN CITY
The
1st of July, in 1904, Evertt Jackson, in his
horseless carriage, aka
an
automobile, finally got to the west side of Sinepuxent Bay with
his
friends
Allen Benjamin of Salisbury, J Edgar Imams, Ocean City,
hotel
owner. The only way to get across the bay to the ocean was by
using
the railroad bridge, which they did, before any train arrived,
and
in
seconds were the first automobile on Ocean City streets.
In
1904 the 30 mile trip from Salisbury to Ocean City could be
made
in
only 4 hours and 18 minutes, that's with tire repair stops and stops
to cool
overheated
engines between Willards and Whaleyville. The roads then
were
for horse and ox drawn vehicles and Everett evidently ran off the
road
a
time or two. Bicycles were also in trend and roads were obsessed
with
them.
1904
roads were sometimes covered with a layer of crushed stone or oyster
and
clam shells. This improved roads for slow moving auto's but when
“speeding" became the game, flaws occurred, like dust. As fast as 20
mph
left a dust cloud behind. The dust called for auto drivers and
passengers
to wear 'dusters” , a heavy long coat. Then came speed
control,
engine governor's and speed bumps in the road.
Ocean
City officials found a “bituminous” surface over the crushed
stone
kept
the dust down. Soon Ocean city street and roads were covered by the
black
top material and road to the resort also became covered.
Maintenance
of these road became necessary and this is when “ district
engineer's”
were created. These new state employee's rode around to
look
for 'pot holes' on motorcycles and called “State Patrolmen”
earning
$2
a day. They lasted until 1930. Snow removal was another problem,
it
was
found the cost of repair to roads that did not remove the snow was
much
more
that the cost of removing the snow. So 'snow plows' became part
of
road maintenance.
Abstract:
Salisbury Daily Times, January 20, 1999, a Michael Morgan
offering.
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