The Turn-of-the-20th Century snapshots of
the Blake & Clark Families
Atlantic City Boardwalk crowd in front of the Marlborough-Blenheim hotel, 1911
“The Marlborough Hotel built in 1902, and the Blenheim built in 1906, were located at Park Place and the Boardwalk. The Blenheim was the first fireproof Hotel built in Atlantic City. It was built of reinforced concrete, and it’s construction was supervised by Thomas Edison, who owned the concrete company. The Blenheim was the first hotel built with a private bath for every room. It also provided hot and cold running saltwater."
The Marlborough - Blenheim Hotel
Quite possibly where Adeline & Lucian stayed; referenced as the patio's location where they were standing for photo #3.
The Rolling Chairs & the Boardwalk
The Atlantic City boardwalk was the first in the world, and originally built in 1870. It was built to help keep sand out of the hotel lobbies. It ran a mile in length and 8 feet wide, and about a foot above the sand. The boardwalk was rebuilt 5 times with the most recent one in 1895. That one - at about 7 miles long - would be the one in Adeline's album.
1910 photo of the boardwalk and Steel Pier
The Roller Chairs were created in 1876 and became a central part of the boardwalk experience in 1887. First created to be used like wheel chairs the people coming for salt-air treatments, they soon became the fashionable way to get up and down the boardwalk. That the riders were well-dressed visitors can be seen in Adeline's photographs.
In 1905, the song Why Don't You Try or The Rolling Chair Song was written. Although visiting in 1910, I could imagine that Adeline and Lucian and the rest of their party would have known it and perhaps sang it while riding in their rolling chairs.
A 1908 photograph of the beach. Note the mix of formal dress & bathers. Like the photos in Adeline's album of the group sitting on the sand in suits and furs, this scene emphasizes the resort attraction of Atlantic City.
Fun Fact: Along with the first boardwalk in the world, Salt Water Taffy was created in Atlantic City. The story goes that David Bradley's taffy shop was flooded and the candy was soaked in salt water. Bradley decided to sell it anyway, and thus "salt water taffy" was born.