By BOB THIBAULT
It began as a collection of photographs in an old wooden display case in the local post office. It evolved to become a major Sea Isle City attraction – a five-star TripAdvisor destination eliciting comments such as “a wonderful array of artifacts” and “a great look back into history.” Over its 37 years of existence, the Sea Isle City Historical Museum has had four homes. This is what happened …
Beginnings
Two years after Charles Kline Landis purchased the land for Sea Isle City in 1880, he successfully applied to make it a formal borough. A hundred eventful years later, in 1982, a Centennial Celebration was held to commemorate the event. The Centennial Committee borrowed photographs from residents, had them copied, included them in the official souvenir book of the centennial, and set up their first display in the Sea Isle City Post Office.
The celebration lasted from May through September. Then, when it was over, the committee decided that it would be a neat idea to preserve their photos as a way of preserving the town’s history. The result was the beginning of the Sea Isle Historical Society and Museum.
On April 27, 1982, a meeting was attended by a dozen enthusiasts at Harriett Reardon’s home to plan the founding of a historical society. The group must have been persuasive as well as enthusiastic, because it was only a month later that the City Commissioners, led by Mayor Dominic Raffa, passed a resolution creating the Sea Isle City Historical Society. They named Harriett Reardon as curator of the museum, a position she held for more than 30 years. Harriet also became the first president of the society, Lee Evans the first vice president and treasurer, and Doris Coulter the first secretary.
That same city resolution designated a garage building behind City Hall at 4500 Landis Avenue as the future home of the museum – “future” because the old garage was kind of a museum piece itself and needed more than a few simple upgrades to make it habitable. So a short-term solution was needed.
The Sea Isle City Public School came to the rescue. With students gone for the summer, space was found in a vacated classroom – and the museum celebrated its grand opening there on June 24, 1983.
There was a drawback, however. For the next two years, the entire collection had to be packed up and stored in Harriett’s garage each fall, then dragged out again at the end of each school year. But by 1985 the museum was ready to move into its own garage.
The garage behind City Hall
On June 29, 1985, the renovated one-car garage behind City Hall (promised by the city commissioners three years earlier) finally became the official home of the Sea Isle City Historical Museum.
There was no bathroom, no running water, no screen door to keep the flies and the occasional bird or cat out – and no air conditioning. According to Sis Bonitt, a trustee of the museum, “We didn’t have a clock until someone gave us one or even a telephone in case of emergencies, but still we were open.”
A new home on Landis Avenue
In 1990, Mike Stafford was elected president of the museum. Together with his wife, Marie, and a slew of volunteers, he kept the garage-museum humming along in the shadow of City Hall. But by 1995, it was time to escape from that shadow and move to much larger and much more visible quarters at 4208 Landis Avenue. (People had a hard time finding the little garage.) The “new” building, constructed shortly after the turn of the century, had been a parsonage, a hair salon, a tailor shop, and most recently a storage annex for Pfeiffer’s hardware store.
There was much work needed to get the building ready (wiring, plumbing, painting, decorating and the like) and then to transport and set up the accumulation of the past 12 years. But finally it was ready. And on June 29, 1995, Mayor Leonard Desiderio presided over the grand opening – ten years to the day after the garage museum had opened.
The new museum was a palace compared with its previous home. It had two full levels and an attic. It even provided running water and restrooms – a welcome improvement for visitors, and especially for volunteers. There were many rooms for individually themed exhibits, along with a porch for greeting visitors and a gift shop, an office, a research room, and shelf space for the growing volume of photo albums and family histories. Stafford called the new facility “a hodgepodge of delights.”
The next (and hopefully last) move
It was a monumental day when Cape May County decided to build a new Sea Isle City Library at the corner of 48th Street and Central Avenue. It was an even greater day when a portion of the library building was allotted to the Sea Isle City Historical Museum. At last, the museum was ready to jump into the 21st century.
To prepare for the move, the museum closed up shop for a year in September, 2010. Through the prodigious efforts of Stafford and his cadre of volunteers, the bright new facility was all set to go the next year. The grand opening was held on December 13, 2011, along with the dedication of the museum’s unique Bridal Exhibit in honor of Marie Stafford.
In just 15 months, the new museum had welcomed its 10,000th visitor, and has never stopped growing. New exhibits such as the military-themed “Home for the Holidays,” historical presentations such as Mike McHale’s “History of Sea Isle City,” and special events such as “Here Comes Summer” continue to be added. It’s still a work in progress.
In 2014, Stafford retired after 25 years as president, although he enthusiastically embraced his new role as “official consultant.” McHale was elected and served for three years until the current president, Abby Powell, was elected in November 2017.
This “Spotlight on History” was written by Sea Isle City Historical Society volunteer Bob Thibault.
A special “thank you” goes to Harriett Reardon Bailey for providing unique insights into the early days of the museum.
Photos were provided courtesy of the Sea Isle City Historical Museum.
The Sea Isle City Historical Museum is located at 48th Street and Central Avenue. It is currently closed to the public due to the coronavirus pandemic. Access the website at www.seaislemuseum.com. Call 609-263-2992.
Normal hours are 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. From May through September, the museum is also open on Saturday, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
