This is an ongoing list, to which I will add frequently:

Bill Barham

• “Boss of the County” — It’s Monmouth County’s highest elective office. In December 2004, William Barham, then a borough commissioner, was appointed to the Monmouth County Board of Chosen Freeholders. Bill was elected in his own right in November 2005 and served as the Freeholder Director in 2006-07. He retired from the board in 2009. Born in Monmouth Beach, Bill also served as borough public works commissioner (1997-2005) and fire chief (1983). He was the unpaid project supervisor for the borough’s new $5 million school in 2001. Bill is a past president of the “200 Club” of Monmouth County and served on the World Trade Center Scholarship Committee. Today he is the president of The Barham Group, one of the state’s top mechanical contracting companies.

• Special Effects — She holds a share of cinema’s highest honor, the “Oscar.” Borough native Lisa Clarity and her special effects team from Los Angeles-based Rhythm & Hues Studios twice won the Academy Award for Achievement in Visual Effects — for The Golden Compass in 2007 and for Life of Pi in 2012. The 1984 borough school graduate — who now lives (and surfs) in California — has worked on many computer-generated animation films. Other film credits include hits such as Harry Potter, Night at the Museum, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and Along Came a Spider. Her father was James F. Clarity, III, a prominent New York Times journalist who died in September 2007. Her mom, Liz, a longtime local journalist, lived in town for many years.

• High & Dry — The town is slightly over one square mile in size — bracketed with river and ocean. Through seashore geographic chance some parts of the town are safe even during bad storms. Old-timers believe this is because an elevated ridge runs through town. Mostly unnoticeable, the higher, drier parts of Monmouth Beach include sections of Monmouth Parkway, Borden Street, Wesley Street, West Street, Beach Road, Columbus Drive, River Avenue-Club Circle and even Ocean Avenue. If those spots ever get swamped the town is already doomed.

• Why Us? — The Northeast Monmouth County Regional Sewerage Authority was formed in 1965. Thomas Barham and Raymond Tierney were the borough’s first commissioner representatives. The first member towns were Monmouth Beach, Oceanport, West Long Branch, Shrewsbury, Little Silver, and Fair Haven. Borough voters approved the construction of a Racoon Island-based plant in 1969 (the largest in NJ history). The year before the authority had acquired the 20-acre site from David Kaplus for $50,000 to build a plant. The final $32.5 million construction cost was twice the original estimate. D’annunzio Associates was the general contractor. After 200+ miles of underground sewer lines were installed throughout the borough, the plant started operations in 1971. Gov. William Cahill was there for the dedication. Michael Rafferty was the first chairman and William Rooney was the first executive director. Reports of “bad smells” started within a year. In 2001, the plant was renamed the Two Rivers Water Reclamation Authority. It now services 12 local communities. Recent plans call for a $111 million renovation project at the plant set to start in 2024.

• GOP Girl — He lost the 1964 US presidential election to Lyndon Johnson in a landslide, but won the hearts of the nation’s conservatives. US Senator Barry Goldwater also won the heart of Susan Shaffer Wechsler, a 1980s Monmouth Beach resident. They married in 1992 in Arizona when she was 51 and he was 83. Several of her daughters (Betsy, Samara, and Molly) attended the Monmouth Beach School. A rare “tell-it-like-it-is” politician, Goldwater died in 1998.

• In Command — US Army Major General George L. Van Deusen was the commanding officer at Fort Monmouth during World War II (1941-45) — when the post reached its peak of 30,00 troops. After retiring from the military he lived on Beach Road with his wife Effie, a former teacher. Born in Passaic, NJ, the general only stood 5’5” as an adult. He graduated from West Point in 1909 and was class president (George Patton was a classmate). He became a communications engineering expert and served in WW I earning a decoration for bravery during the Ypres‐Lys offensive. He also earned a Yale graduate degree and was president of RCA Industries after his service. When he died in January 1977 at age 88, the fort library was dedicated in his honor. Established in 1917, Fort Monmouth was closed in 2011.

• Fast Track — Warren “Jimmy” Croll, Jr., a Hall-of-Fame horse trainer was a borough home-owner since 1946. The Pennsylvania-born horseman had many talents, producing champion turf, dirt and sprinter horses over 60 years. In 1994, he trained an Eclipse Horse-of-the-Year winner, Holy Bull (who won his first race at Monmouth Park and later the Haskell Invitational). In 1987, he trained Bet Twice to a Triple Crown victory, the Belmont Stakes. Mr. Croll died in June 2008.

• Clerk Work —  Between them they served nearly 70 years as faithful Borough Clerks — Beatrice C. Ennis (1929-1931, 1933-1964) and Bonnie G. Moore (1969-2005). Known as a “symbol for the best in Monmouth Beach public service,” Bea was admired for her hard work, civility, and discretion. The borough native — she called herself “a real clamdigger” — died in 1980. Bonnie, “the real eyes and ears” of borough government, served with dedication under five mayors when the town’s population grew by more than 75%. Also a borough native, Bonnie passed away in 2005.

• Air Taxi — During the 1970s and 1980s, a commuter seaplane landed regularly on the Shrewsbury River in town and transported residents up to Manhattan on business. The flight from then Mihm’s Boat Works dock to Wall Street was a cool 17 minutes (it’s less than 25 miles by air). Capacity on the Cessna 206 was 5 passengers and the cost was $100 per flight. The MB borough commissioners ended the route run by Waterfront Airways due to noise complaints in 1982.

• Mud to Mod — The borough area that is now Shrewsbury Harbor Estates was once an enormous mudflat. When dry, it made for excellent ball fields. Minor development of the borough’s southwestern peninsula area began in the early 1960s. By 1972, the Shrewsbury Harbor Development Company had secured $2.7 million in financing to convert 30 acres along the Shrewsbury River (a tributary of Branchport Creek, actually) into 60 modern new homes set by bulk-headed lagoons 8-foot deep. Each home was custom built with 4 or 6 bedrooms starting at $59,000. By 1975 the area was thriving with many new homes and families. The sales pitch from realtor Paul Bragar Agency was: “For the boatman and his family.” Among the project’s early principals were George Daly and David Kaplus.

• Lincoln Bedroom — Robert Lincoln, the first son of America’s 16th President, summered in Monmouth Beach. According to July 1898 and August 1899 New York Times stories, Lincoln and his wife, Mary, stayed at a cottage on Clubhouse Circle (today’s Club Circle). A Chicago resident at the time, Lincoln was a wealthy corporate lawyer. In 1897 he was made president of the giant railroad car company founded by George Pullman (who owned a mansion in Long Branch) and held the position until 1911. Lincoln was also a member of the Monmouth Beach Country Club in 1899. He died in 1926.

• Real Sport — Bill Boylan, a longtime borough resident, made a huge impact on college athletics in our area. In addition to being a physical education professor at Monmouth College for 32 years, he was the WLB college’s Athletic Director for nearly 25 years and the men’s basketball head coach for 21 years (compiling an amazing 367-157 record). In 1992, the college gym was named in his honor. He also played an early leadership role is seeing that Title IX standards (equal funding for female athletics) gained at Monmouth. Born in Rahway, NJ, Coach Boylan died in August 1988 at age 70.

• Big Pharma — Philip B. Hofmann, a chairman and CEO of Johnson & Johnson, was a Monmouth Beach resident. In 1963 he became the first non-family member to head the NJ-based pharmaceutical giant ($100 billion in ’23 revenues). He also started the charitable Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The son of a pharmacist was born in 1909 and graduated from the Wharton School-University of Pennsylvania. Hoffman, “a towering, cigar-smoking native of Iowa, joined J&J in 1931 as a shipping clerk,” according to his New York Times obit. And avid horseman, he was a member of the Monmouth Park racetrack board of directors. He died in December 1986 at his Miami winter home.

• Machu Picchu Man — In 1931, borough resident Robert Shippee, was part of an eight-month pioneering aerial photography expedition to Peru (he was just 20 years old). Shippee and US Navy Lt. George “Tuck” Johnson took thousands of photos in South America and  filmed  a movie (The Wings Over the Andes). The photography continues to be an important resource for Peruvian scholars. Shippee, a Harvard-trained geologist, even survived a plane crash in the Andes.

• Bank It — It’s had a few name changes over the years — Colonial National, First Fidelity, Sovereign, Wachovia to mention a few — but the Wells Fargo Bank on the corner of Beach Road and Borden Street in Monmouth Beach got its start as the Monmouth County National Bank. The  brick exterior, colonial designed building had one of the area’s first drive-up windows. Opened for business in June 1968; Lauras Follansbee was the first branch manager.

• Puppet Person — Shari Lewis, the NYC-born ventriloquist, often visited Monmouth Beach. She stayed at the home of Sam and Aggie Smith on Valentine Street. Best known as the puppeteer for Lamb Chop, Lewis died in 1998. The act won 12 Emmy Awards and she appeared on TV for parts of 40 years. The famous jazz musician Eddie Condon, a family relative, also visited the Smiths.

• Gov Ground — Former NJ Governor Christine Todd Whitman has an interesting Monmouth Beach connection. In the late-1800s, her maternal great-grandparents, William and Ella Prentice, owned a large home on River Avenue in town. Her maternal grandparents, Reeve and Kate (Prentice) Schley, were married there in a large social wedding in September 1907. The Schleys were very active in Republican politics, once staying in the Lincoln Bedroom during President Warren Harding’s term. In 1933, their daughter, Eleanor, married Webster Todd and they had Christie in September 1946. Whitman, a Republican, was the first women to be elected NJ governor, serving from 1994 to 2001. She also served in the cabinet of President George W. Bush, as the nation’s EPA administrator until 2003. An interesting account of the Whitman’s family is recorded in Growing Up Republican, Christie Whitman: The Politics of Character (Harper Collins, 1996) by Patricia Beard.

• Ladies First — God called Joan Meyer home too early in June 1989, but she did “break a ceiling” in borough political history. She was the first woman ever elected to the Board of Commissioners in May 1981 (elected a commissioner three times, she served just two terms before her passing). Combining good business sense, plenty of friends and a supportive family, Joan ably directed borough finances when the town was first gaining notice as a fine place to live. She also did important groundwork for the vital 1994 beach restoration project which benefits the town today. Also a three-term school board member, Joan raised daughters Michelle and Jennifer with husband, Bill. It was Evelyn Yarosh, a borough school science teacher, to be the first woman to run for the board of commissioners; losing as part of a ticket in 1973. In May 2005, Susan Howard was elected to the borough commission and also that year became the first female mayor in Monmouth Beach history. She was re-elected three times before stepping down as mayor in 2020. Also winning a seat on the borough commission in 2005 was Kim Guadagno, who later rose to greater heights — elected the Monmouth County Sheriff (2008-2010) and the first Lt. Governor of New Jersey (2010-2018).

• A Glow On — According to a November 1980 Asbury Park Press story, three borough youths discovered radioactive vials in an abandoned Navesink Drive garage. The boys were briefly quarantined but suffered no ill effects although some clothing was found contaminated. Borough officials supposed that the material was left by Harry S. Jones, a British-born, Ivy League-trained theoretical physicist, who once owned the property. When he died in 1978, Professor Jones held over 50 patents for his inventions including a 3-D camera and an “un-sweepable” mine.

• Good Inconvenience — In 1976, Monmouth Beach almost had a 7-Eleven convenience store (proposed on Beach Road across from the MB First Aid building). Although the land was zoned for commercial use, the plan failed when local businesses and residents came together to vigorously block the project. Using clever tactics, resident and attorney James F. Norton proved that the convenience chain was not a suitable match for our small town by having three of his daughters (the youngest being only 8 years old) purchase “inappropriate” reading materials at every other 7-Eleven in Monmouth County without even being questioned by the store clerks about their purchases. While the story got plenty of local news coverage, the planning board rejected the deal and the borough became one of the few area towns to successfully discourage these 24/7 stores.

• AG to MB — Theodore Parsons, who was the NJ Attorney General from 1949-1954, was also a Monmouth Beach borough attorney. Newly elected Mayor Sidney Johnson made the appointment in May 1949. Born in Wisconsin in May 1894, Parsons graduated from Red Bank High School, Princeton University, and Columbia University Law School. He was a founder of the Boro Bus Company. A US Army test pilot during WW I, he died in October 1978 in Little Silver.

• Depressing Times — During 1940s war times, the borough of Monmouth Beach was about broke. In 1943, the NJ state Municipal Finance Commission assumed supervision of town financial affairs. The culprit was more than $400,000 in bonded debt and hundreds of vacant and abandoned properties (along with the taxes owed) all due to persistent Depression times. The town had a debt percent near 24%. Back then town land had a total taxable value of $1.3 million and the annual municipal budget was under $140,000. Many large property lots sold for as little as $100.

• Candy Land — Monmouth Beach was home to one of the nation’s leading candy-manufacturing families. Henry Heide, founder of the Heide Candy Company, and his family of 11 children lived on River Avenue in a house designed by the world-renowned architect, Stanford White. The German-born Heide founded the company in 1869. Their claim to fame was Jujyfruits candy, first developed in 1920, when Heide moved to town. The chewy candies, shaped like fruits and veggies, can be murder on dental work. Other Heide–brand products, known as “penny candies,” included Jujubes, Red Hot Dollars, and Gumi Bears. Hershey acquired the company when son Andrew Heide died in 1995, and Farley’s & Sathers took over in 2002.

• Mork’s Friend — In the 1950s, Robert Donner, a former borough resident, moved to Hollywood to pursue an acting career. He got help from screen legend Clint Eastwood, a California neighbor and friend. Donner, a busy character actor (he appeared in 100+ films and TV shows), made his mark in 1970s as Exidor on Mork & Mindy and Yancy on The Waltons. He died in 2006 in Los Angeles.

• Soap Star — Audrey Peters, one of daytime TV’s most enduring soap opera actresses, lived on River Avenue in town. She starred for over 20 years as Vanessa Dale Sterling, the lead character on the CBS-TV daytime drama, Love of Life. The NJ native and former dancer retired from acting in 2010.

• Mob Hit — An episode of the hit HBO-TV series, The Sopranos, was filmed in town in 2000. The Emmy Award-winning show (from 1999-2007) centered on mobster Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), as the “boss” of the most powerful criminal organization in New Jersey. Jason Minter, the assistant to the show’s location manger who had family in Monmouth Beach, promoted the Channel Club area for the shoot (the episode Funhouse was the murder of “Big Pussy”). An old borough rumor also tells that the boss of “Murder, Inc.” made Monmouth Beach a brief hide-out while on the  run in the late-1930s. Louis “Lepke” Buchalter, a ruthless Jewish-American mobster, was later caught and executed.

• Big Diet — During World War II years, you could have had your pick of most any Ocean Avenue mansion in town — for about $5,000. One who did that was Ella G. Ennis in the 1940s. Since 1929, Ella had been the head dietitian for all NYC hospitals and later a health advisor to Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia. She had managed a $4.2 million annual budget and directed the serving of 90,000 daily meals across 26 city hospitals. Born in Brooklyn in 1886, “Aunt Ella” (as she was popularly known) also raised from infancy, Michael Murray, who served for more than 30 years as a borough police officer. She died in 1981.

• Titan’s Troubles — Thomas W. Butts, the ambitious New York lawyer who built two of the borough’s most defining structures that still stand today (the MB Bath & Tennis Club and MB Borough Hall), also had some troubles. According to New York Times reporting, Butts was bankrupt and facing embezzlement charges in 1913 — right around the time the oceanfront club was under construction. He was sent to Sing Sing Prison in 1915 for grand larceny, according to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.

• Bank Boys — A borough homeowner in the late 1800s, James C. Fargo (along with his brother William) founded Well Fargo (the borough has a branch) and American Express.  While traveling in Europe, James found it difficult to obtain cash and upon his return to America pushed for the creation of American Express Travelers Cheques, which were launched in 1891.

• Named Right — Famous for its flooding, the town’s Riverdale Avenue was once a river, or rather, a pond. The roadway was known as Fresh Pond Road until a name change in 1908. In the spring of 1925 the borough’s road department filled in the pond — sand from nearby beaches was used for the fill. The dirt road was then paved. There was also once a small bridge on the road around Robbin Street.

• Big Law — Harlan Fiske Stone, a 20th century giant of American Constitutional law, has a Monmouth Beach connection. His grandson, Harlan Fiske Stone, II, is a borough resident. The senior Stone reached the pinnacle of American jurisprudence in 1941 when he was appointed to the lofty position of Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court by President Franklin Roosevelt. During his 21 years on the High Court he served with some legal giants — including Felix Frankfurter, Louis Brandies and Oliver Wendell Holmes.

• Kennedy Connection — Ethel Skakel, the wife of Robert F. Kennedy, lived in Monmouth Beach as a young girl. Her family rented a large home on Ocean Avenue in the early 1930s. Her husband (they wed in 1950) served as U.S. Attorney General and was a U.S. Senator from New York when he was assassinated in 1968 while seeking the Democratic nomination for president. Ethel, pregnant with her 11 child at the time, lives in Hyannisport, Massachusetts today.

• Net Gain — James Palumbo, Sr. was the first chairman of the MB Recreation Commission in the late 1960s. Among other recreation initiatives, he promoted tennis in town. Today there are five well-used public courts in Griffin Park. His son, James, Jr., the longtime respected Dean of Enrollment, Development and Students Affairs at Brookdale Community College in Lincroft, lived in the borough until his death in 2016.

• Presidential Presence — Two 1974 MB School graduates and friends, Walter “Buddy” Burns and Mark Anthony, once had “a talk about their Monmouth Beach hometown” in the early 1990s with President George H.W. Bush. The two men were then serving the nation — Buddy as a U.S. Secret Service agent in the Presidential Protection Division and Mark as U.S. Marine Corp sergeant in charge of communications on the presidential helicopter, Marine One.

• Famous Mayor — William L. Strong, the mayor of New York City from 1895-97, owned several large properties in town including a large summer home along Ocean Avenue during those years. A Republican reformer, he created the first city school board and corrections system and appointed Theodore Roosevelt the city’s police commissioner. And he was the last city mayor before it consolidated into five boroughs.

• We’re Here — The official geographic coordinates for Monmouth Beach, NJ are Latitude 40.3304° N, Longitude 73.9815° W. And according to the U.S. Census Bureau, the borough has a total area of 1.9 miles; about 44% of it is water.

• Big Broker — Washington E. Connor, the stockbroker for Jay Gould, built a $25,000 house on Ocean Avenue in southern Monmouth Beach, according to a March 1881 New York Times account. The property, 230 feet along the ocean and 400-feet deep, included a three-story house with a large glass skylight on the roof. Speaking of stock investing in 1898, Connor said the key was to “have an intimate knowledge of the inside facts connected with various corporations.” Then an okay practice, now a no-no. Gould, the utter symbol of Gilded Age excesses, also owned property and a house in town until 1897.

• Past “Mayberry” — When the borough’s annual municipal budget exceeded $5 million for the first time in 2005, the Revenue & Finance Commissioner Jim Cunniff quipped: “We’re not Mayberry anymore.” The first MB municipal budget in 1906 was $11,100. The town’s budget reached $100,000 in the early 1930s and by 1980 it cleared the $1 million mark.

• Safe Passage — The borough’s history is abundant with dedicated volunteers. One, Catherine “Winkie” Russo, was a tireless supporter for the renowned St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Over 20 years she helped raise more than $100,000 with an annual kid’s bike-a-thon in town. “Thanks to plenty of help from family, friends, and sponsors, the event made a big difference in the lives of a lot of kids,” said her late husband, Conrad, a longtime MB Fire Company and First Aid Squad member. Mrs. Russo, mother to 10 children, also watched over generations of borough youths as a trusted school crossing guard.

• All Wet — Over a 25-year period only one Monmouth County municipality suffered more in flood damages than Monmouth Beach. According to FEMA, from 1978 to 2005, borough property owners filed $10.9 million in flood insurance claims. Topping the list was our neighbor to the north, Sea Bright, which had $11.3 million in flood damages. The two shore communities constituted about one-third of all county flood damage claims over that period. The first attempt at a “seawall” in Monmouth Beach came in August 1925, when the Monmouth County Freeholders awarded a contract to Long Branch jetty contractor Thomas Proctor to place 10,500 tons of heavy rocks along 1,000-feet of wooden bulkhead at the borough’s shore front. The cost was $50,000 to protect the county highway.

• Victory Homes — The area that now encompasses Johnson Street and Anderson Street was first developed in 1919. Originally called called Victory Park, in recognition of America’s victory in World War I, the project included 12 acres and 70 building lots. Framing materials for “bungalows” came from the remains of a large Ocean Avenue home. The landowner was A.O. Johnson (then a realtor and the borough’s mayor) and the general contractors on the $50,000 development were Harry Chasey and Bill Heitzman (the borough’s first mayor).

• Raccoon Run — The earliest recorded property transaction in the area now known as Monmouth Beach was a 1688 deed to Nicholas Bowne for land on Raccoon Island, which was literally an island back then. The area has seen major changes over the years. In 1908, the borough council changed the name of Raccoon Island Road to Meadow Avenue. That same year their were complaints about “cattle running loose” on Raccoon Island. In the late 1920s, the area was used as a dump and a man living there was reported “squatted in a boathouse.” In 1969 voters approved the construction of a regional sewerage plant on Raccoon Island.

• Big Shots — In April 1957, borough resident Charles W. Kelly, MD, was commended by the MB Board of Commissioners for inoculating every preschool child in town with the polio vaccine. That illness was terrifying stuff for families in the 1950s. The nation was suffering a dreadful epidemic with polio as one of the most serious communicable diseases among U.S. children.

• Family Foundation — In the early 1920s, Nicholas Tocci came to Monmouth Beach and purchased a large tract of land in the town’s northwest section. Once a farm (the farmhouse stood on Bayonne Avenue), he began development of the surrounding neighborhood and Tocci Avenue is named for the family. His grandson Louis still lives in the area on Columbus Drive. A true outdoors man, Lou and the local Ducks Unlimited chapter helped to restore several islands out in northeast Shrewsbury River. Until the early 1970s, the small islands belonged to Ocean Township, which included the Monmouth Beach area from 1849 to 1906.

• Army Area — For many years the Salvation Army owned a large Tudor house and 13 acres of land on West Street. It was a “Home of Rest” for SA officers. Today, the Channel Club Tower and its parking garage cover the grounds. According to the 1941 Plat Book of Monmouth County, the Salvation Army owned most of the land in the area all the way to the river.

• Commission Government — In September 1929, borough voters approved a change (by a 184 to 163 count) in the town’s form of government — from a mayor and six-member council to a nonpartisan three-member commission. Then Councilman Edward McDuffy, who had strongly advocated the change, finished last in a field of seven candidates. Under the new government, the mayor was paid $750 per year, and the commissioners got $500. John J. Campbell was the first mayor after the change.

• Taken Too Early — Local shore communities gave more than most during the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, 147 victims called Monmouth County home. The list includes a borough resident, Keith D. McHeffey, a 31-year-old employee of Cantor Fitzgerald. The Keith McHeffey Foundation and annual race/walk were created in his honor. Several other borough residents also lost family members and friends during the attack on the World Trade Center.

• Shore Cowboy — He’s the former Head Coach of “America’s Team” — the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys. Jason Garrett, known as one of “the smartest guys in pro football,” has Monmouth Beach roots. His parents, Jim and Jane, raised their eight children in town. His dad’s 50-year NFL career included stints as the defensive coordinator for the NY Giants and a scout for the Dallas Cowboys. Born in 1966, Jason also played quarterback for the Cowboys and the Giants and starred at Princeton University. He became Cowboy head coach in 2010 and has won several NFC East division titles. Once a favorite of the Cowboy’s billionaire owner Jerry Jones, Jason’s annual salary was $6 million. He was fired in 2020 after a 85-67 record with Dallas. He also served as the Offensive Coordinator for the New York Giants for two seasons.

• Super Saver — In February 1959, borough firemen responded to a hot fire at the McConville home on Navesink Drive. Hampered by poor water pressure, firefighters and neighbors risked serious harm to remove the home’s contents and its five residents — including a future borough mayor (age 7 at the time) and a future chief of police (age 5 at the time). The two-story house burned to the ground. Harold Peterson, a borough commissioner at the time and neighbor, is credited with saving the family.

• Deadly Drive — It was an accident that shook the borough to its very foundation. In February 1992, a Lincroft dentist and his wife accidentally drove into the Shrewsbury River on a bitterly cold rainy night. Apparently, the couple was lost and went down the boat ramp at the foot of West Street into icy waters. Borough emergency personnel fought valiantly in horrible weather conditions to rescue them; he died and she was left permanently disabled. The family was awarded a $10.5 million settlement — at the time, the largest wrongful death case in state history. The borough’s insurance company ($3.8 million), Nissan Motors, the maker of the couple’s car ($3 million), and their auto insurance company ($2.3 million) paid the bulk of the settlement.

• Shore Senator — Only two people have held both of New Jersey’s United States Senate seats. It was first done by a Monmouth Beach native, William Warren Barbour. Born in the borough in July 1888, he later moved to Rumson where he served as mayor from 1923 to 1928. Appointed a US Senate seat in 1931 as a Republican, he served until 1937. After Barbour was defeated, he was elected to the state’s other Senator in 1938 and served until his death in November 1943. The other person to do it was Democrat Frank Lautenberg who held one New Jersey US Senate seat from 1983 to 2001 and the other from 2003 to 2013. Barbour was a USA and Canadian amateur heavyweight boxing champion (from 1910 to 1911). His father, Colonel William Barbour, owned the Barbour Linen Thread Company, which manufactured linen treads for fishing lines and nets. The family’s large shore house was on Ocean Avenue where the Admiralty now stands.

• More MB? — Cornfields to the east of the borough’s coast? That’s a persistent rumor about Monmouth Beach. There are some people who claim, or were so told through their relatives, that a great deal of land (if not cornfields) once lay east of the seawall. Marguerite Sweeney, a former borough clerk who died in 2006 at age 95, was told by her father, Perrine Cooper (born in the 1870s in town) that there was spacious land east of Ocean Avenue.

• MB-Rumson Club — The ritzy Rumson Country Club has Monmouth Beach origins. The town was once a part of a boat club on the banks of the Shrewsbury River along Ocean Avenue. Called the Meadow Yacht Club, it included a clubhouse and a very active sailing membership. According to a December 1908 New York Times report, the yacht club merged with the Sea Bright Golf Club and Rumson Polo Club (the Sea Bright Tennis Club was later added to the deal) to form the Rumson Country Club. Edward Adams was the first president. The group purchased 300 acres along the Shrewsbury River for $75,000 and built a large clubhouse (burned in 1945) and golf course that operates today.

• Governing Style — The town operated under the mayor-council type of government from 1906 until 1929, when borough voters agreed to change to a non-partisan commission form of government, which still operates today. The town runs under the Walsh Act, where a three-member commission rules municipal government. Each commissioner oversees a department; currently: Public Affairs, Public Safety & Public Property; Public Works & Parks; and Revenue and Finance. The first town budget in 1906 was $11,100. Borough commissioners serve for 4 years and the mayor is selected by a majority vote of the commissioners. Today, the mayor is paid $3,000 per year and the two commissioners each earn $1,500 annually. Commissioner salaries have only increased two times: in 1935 and 1974.