This Is The Undeniable, Greatest Pier In Atlantic City, NJ History

There are so many iconic piers in the storied history of Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Certainly, it’s open for debate, however, in my view there is one pier that clearly stands out amongst all of the rest.

My selection for The Greatest Of All Time opened its doors on June 18, 1898.

i’m referring to the incomparable Steel Pier.

There has never been anything like it before or since.

The original Steel Pier was a wooden structure, reinforced with steel girders and concrete, which originally measured out at one thousand feet over the Atlantic Ocean.

It came to be known as "A City at Sea," "The Showplace of the Nation," and "A Vacation in Itself" among other descriptions of this magical place. Steel Pier would become the greatest mecca of entertainment for seven decades of the 20th Century.

STEEL PIER ATLANTIC CITY FUN FACT: 

On June 18, 1898, which was Day 1, sharpshooter and cowgirl Annie Oakley was billed as the star entertainment attraction.

The Steel Pier was not the first pier in Atlantic City history … but, it was the grandest of them all.

Howard Pier was the first to open in 1882.

The Original Steel Pier was a true marvel. For a nominal entrance fee, you could stay all day and watch multiple first-run movies, the water circus, The Diving Horse, The Diving Bell, top entertainment (Frank Sinatra and all the greats of the day) acts, and so much more.

A new century was right around the corner when they Steel Pier opened in the summer of 1898.

Steel Pier owner George Hamid, Jr. told me not long before he died that something like Steel Pier can never happen, ever again.

It was a magical moment in time, when all things are possible