[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 36 (Wednesday, March 19, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E518]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              TRIBUTE ASBURY PARK ON ITS 100TH ANNIVERSARY

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                        HON. FRANK PALLONE, JR.

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 19, 1997

  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I am very honored to represent the city of 
Asbury Park, NJ, which this week is celebrating its 100th anniversary.
  If you mention Asbury Park to anyone in this country under the age of 
45, they will often recognize it as the city Bruce Springsteen put on 
the map.
  I am a great fan of Bruce Springsteen whom I consider a true musical 
talent and whose album ``Greetings from Asbury Park,'' did indeed 
familiarize millions with our city. But I am quick to point out that 
Asbury Park was a famous seashore resort for almost a century before 
Bruce Springsteen entered the musical scene.
  In fact, Asbury Park was attracting great musical talent starting 
perhaps in 1904 when Arthur Pryer, a member of the John Philip Sousa 
band, began a series of concerts on the boardwalk. According to a 
history compiled by Florence Moss, ``Men in white straw hats and women 
in white-linen bustled dresses, carrying lace-trimmed umbrellas, would 
promenade the length of the mile long boardwalk.''
  Founded decades earlier by James A. Bradley, a developer with great 
foresight, and named after Francis Asbury, the father of Methodism in 
the United States, Asbury Park changed from sand dunes and forests to 
an exclusive seashore resort during the latter part of the 1800's. 
Until the rail line was extended farther south, wealthy residents of 
Newark and New York would take the train to Long Branch and then be 
picked up by horse and carriage and transported to Asbury Park.
  The twenties was a rip-roaring era at the Jersey Shore featuring a 
rather booming and lucrative prohibition period. This in turn was 
followed some years later by the big bands and the likes of Count Basie 
and Frank Sinatra and other music greats.
  During World War II, the British Navy took residence in the Monterey 
and Berkeley Carteret hotels and the British Army inhabited the 
Kingsley Arms Hotel. This presence enabled local residents to survive 
gas rationing and other wartime shortages.
  On the nearby boardwalk, the Casino and Convention Hall were utilized 
for other purposes. Since the twenties, entertainers performed and 
trade shows and folk festivals were held in these massive structures 
which were designed by architects Warren and Wetmore, who also designed 
New York's Grand Central Station.
  Asbury Park can also claim the distinction of being the first seaside 
resort in the country to adopt a sanitary sewer system and its trolley 
system was only the second electric system built in the United States.
  Mr. Speaker, while Asbury Park has suffered from a loss of revenues 
in recent years and the relocation of many stores to the shopping 
malls, it still boasts wonderful beaches, a great boardwalk, wide 
streets, historic architecture and a corps of dedicated citizens and 
public officials dedicated to its rebirth. In my mind, the restoration 
of Asbury Park to its position as a premier vacation and cultural 
center is well within our grasp and I pledge to work hard to see that 
this dream of ours is realized.

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