Monmouth Beach Clubhouse Hotel Images …
Back in the day…
It’s the spot where Monmouth Beach all began. Eliakim Wardell, a Boston-born Quaker who first settled the area, broke ground on a farmhouse in the area what’s now Beach Road, River Avenue and Club Circle — probably in the late 1670s.
Later on in the late 1800s the sea-view farm would become a “vacation place of notables” and “one of the most popular hotels on the Jersey coast.” The rich and famous guests who would stay there frequently earned mention in New York newspaper society pages.
It may even have been an early “Summer White House.” According to press accounts, at least two American Presidents (Benjamin Harrison and William McKinley) stayed there. Back then the place shinned: “Monmouth Beach is an aristocratic colony of aristocratic cottages inhabited by aristocratic people,” according to a 1878 New York Times report when the hotel was at its peak.
The facility went by several names over the years (the Monmouth Beach Clubhouse Hotel, the Monmouth Beach Country Club, and the Monmouth Beach Inn) while offering the best in fashionable shore living (the hotel offered tennis, golf, music, dancing, bowling, swimming, fine dining, sleeping, croquet and horseback riding).
Just as the Roaring 20s were concluding, the facility was mostly consumed in a great fire. Only a small section remains today. Following are some area images I’ve located — and I’m always looking for more. Here’s my e-mail.
“Monmouth Beach Club House,” 1870s (G.W. Pach Photo).
Monmouth Beach Clubhouse Hotel on Beach Road, September 1905.
One of the last pieces of the original hotel left standing. A private home at 17 Beach Road now offered for rental by O’Brien Realty — HERE.
MB Clubhouse Hotel, 1900.
First Monmouth Beach hotel?
Dr. Arthur Conover’s house that replaced the Wardell farmhouse.
A remnant of the MB Clubhouse Hotel on Beach Road.
MB Clubhouse Hotel, 1905
MB Clubhouse Hotel, early 1910s.
MB Clubhouse Hotel, 1907.
MB Clubhouse Hotel, 1905.
“Up for Sale,” Red Bank Register, Feb. 1898.
MB Clubhouse Hotel, early 1900s.
MB Clubhouse Hotel, 1918.
Beach Road looking east, early 1900s.
The Newcombe Cottage, May 1914. (NY Historical Society photo)
MB Inn ad, 1910.
MB Inn ad. Long Branch Daily Record, August 1910.
MB “Millionaire’s Row,” 1905.
MB Inn season opening ad, 1913.
By one name … Brooklyn Daily Eagle ad, August 1909.
… and another. Brooklyn Daily Eagle ad, June 1926.
Letter from Robert Lincoln confirming his membership in the MB Country Club, July 1899.
MB Clubhouse Hotel, early 1900s.
MB Clubhouse Hotel painting by Gail Gannon.
MB Clubhouse Hotel ad, 1908.
MB Clubhouse Hotel, 1908.
MB Clubhouse Hotel sketch, 1910.
Letter from Vice President Garret Hobart confirming his membership in the MB Country Club, June 1899.
Club Circle area, early 1900s.
Map of MB Clubhouse Hotel area, Wolverton Atlas 1889.
View from the MB Clubhouse Hotel looking west, 1920s.
MB Clubhouse Hotel front view, late 1800s.
MB Clubhouse Hotel back view, late 1800s.
Red Bank Register ad, July 1917.
Looking west on Beach Road, early 1900s.
MB firefighters battle a blaze on Beach Road-Club Circle, early 2000s.
View from MB Clubhouse Hotel looking east, 1920s.
Playing tennis by the MB Clubhouse Hotel, early 1900s.
MB Clubhouse Hotel cottages, 1905.
MB Clubhouse Hotel, early 1900s.
Asbury Park Press, July 1924.
MB Clubhouse Hotel, 19010.
Asbury Park Press ad, August 1920.
MB Clubhouse Hotel, 1910.
Asbury Park Press ad, April 1916.
MB Clubhouse Hotel sketch.
Sanborn map centered on MB Clubhouse Hotel, 1890.
Sanborn map centered on MB Clubhouse Hotel, 1907
MB Clubhouse Hotel foyer, 1915.
New York Herald ad, July 1921.
MB Clubhouse Hotel fire remains, December 1929.
MB Clubhouse Hotel, 1910.
MB Clubhouse Hotel area, 1919.
MB Clubhouse Hotel, 1920.
