Jasper County Democrat, Volume 5, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 April 1902 — FIRE SWEEPS ATLANTIC CITY. [ARTICLE]

FIRE SWEEPS ATLANTIC CITY.

Blaze in New Jersey Resort Destroy* $2,000,000 Worth of Property. The most disastrous conflagration that has ever visited Atlantic City, N. J., raged along the beach fqr a distance of over three blocks Thursday. Eight hotel* were destroyed either entirely or partially destroyed. A strong southwest wind was blowing and the firemen were unable to cope with the flamefi. Assistance was asked from Philadelphia and Camden and the former city sent three engines. The estimated los* is $2,000,000. There was a report that six men bad lost thetf'lives in the flames. The fire originated in Brady’s bathhouse located on the lioard walk between New. York and Kentucky avenues and extending from Illinois avenue to Tennessee avenue—three blocks. The hotels destroyed are: The Windsor, the Berkley, the Stratford, the Stickney, the* Luray, the Tarlton, the Everard. The New Holland hotel on Kentucky avenue and Young’s pier caught fire and burned fiercely. Practically all of the property lost was attached to the board walk, a frame structure forty feet wide skirting the edge of the ocean, and consists mainly of flimsy wooden stores aud bathhouses. Fortunately the brisk wind which wai blowing-carried the flames away from the section of the city in which the most valuable hotels and colleges are located. Noted Among the Resorts. Atlantic City is one of the most noted resorts in the United States, visited by thousands of tourists from East and West every summer. Its board walk along the ocean is famous, all over the world. The population of Atlantic City is 29,000, but the largest number of it* people are those who occupy the immense hotels In the hot months. The location of Atlantic City i« peculiarly advantageous. It is virtually a city in the sea. The island on which it is situated lies five miles out from the mainland, across a marsh which is a network of salt water courses. All of the surrounding water is salt and no considerable stream of fresh water empties into the ocean within many miles of the city. The air at all times is consequently impregnated with salt and full of invigorating' freshness. On account of its advantageous kx-ation the summer temperature of Atlantic City is remarkably low. ! Forty million dollars have already been ? invested in Atlantic City. The city has been singularly free from disastrous fires.