First Amusement Pier Built Over The Ocean Was In Atlantic City, NJ

Once again, you only have to go as far as New Jersey for a major first in American history.

Specifically, Atlantic City is the home of the first amusement pier ever to be built in America over the ocean.

However, it may not be the amusement pier that you’re thinking of.

The Legendary Steel Pier was not the first amusement pier in America that was built over the ocean.

Steel Pier opened on June 18, 1898. It was one of the early ones. But, not the first.

The original Steel Pier is the most famous of all of the piers in Atlantic City history … and, there have been a number of great ones over the years.

Steel Pier was known by some great catch phrases “The Showplace of the Nation” … "An Amusement City at Sea” and "A Vacation in Itself.”

However, it is the lesser known Howard’s Pier that was the first amusement pier in American history to be built over the ocean in 1882.

Howard’s Pier was built on Kentucky Avenue and it featured vaudeville acts and concerts.

While we’re talking about firsts in American history, Atlantic City, New Jersey is responsible for another major first.

Atlantic City built the first boardwalk in America in 1870. To give you an idea about how long ago that was, Ulysses S. Grant was President of the United States at the time of the first boardwalk.

Specifically, the first section of Atlantic City Boardwalk opened on June 26, 1870.

Dr. Jonathan Pitney and Richard Osborne, a local civil engineer began developing Absecon Island and what would become Atlantic City in 1850.

Counting the new Historic Gardner’s Basin section, the Atlantic City Boardwalk is 4.8 miles long … also making Atlantic City the largest boardwalk in America.

The original Atlantic City boardwalk in 1870 was 1 mile long.