Asbury Park

Asbury Park is a beachfront city situated along the Jersey Shore in Monmouth County, New Jersey, approximately 55 miles south of New York City. A city located on the Jersey Shore in Monmouth County, Asbury Park is part of the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city's population was 15,188, a decrease of 928 from the 2010 census count of 16,116. Once called the "Jewel of the Jersey Shore," Asbury Park has endured a remarkable arc over its 150-plus years of existence — rising from a planned Methodist resort community to one of the East Coast's most celebrated summer destinations, descending through decades of urban crisis, and re-emerging in the 21st century as a hub of arts, music, and LGBTQ+ culture. In 2022, Asbury Park's beach was named one of the best in the world by Money magazine and one of the best in the country by Travel + Leisure.

Founding and Early Development

The city of Asbury Park was founded in 1871 by James A. Bradley, a New York City-based industrialist and devout convert to Methodism. Inspired by the teachings of Bishop Francis Asbury as well as the Methodist camp community established at Ocean Grove, Bradley purchased a large tract of unincorporated and sparsely settled coastal land. Bradley visited a summer camp meeting in Ocean Grove to the south, and paid $90,000 for approximately 500 acres of oceanfront land in 1871. He named the settlement after Francis Asbury, one of the first two bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church in North America.

From the very beginning, Bradley instituted progressive and innovative designs into Asbury Park, including a boardwalk with pavilions, electrical systems, trolley systems, and an artesian well. Other implementations included wide streets lined with trees, parks, churches, and a thriving business district at the oceanfront. The founding of Ocean Grove, a Methodist camp meeting to the south in 1869, encouraged the development of Asbury Park and led to its status as a "dry town."

Asbury Park was originally incorporated as a borough by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 26, 1874, from portions of Ocean Township. The borough was reincorporated on February 28, 1893, and was incorporated as a city — its current type of government — as of March 25, 1897.

In the early years, as many as 600,000 people spent their summer vacations in Asbury Park, riding the New York and Long Branch Railroad from New York City and Philadelphia to experience the mile-and-a-quarter of oceanfront. The New York Times estimated in 1912 that the summer population could reach two hundred thousand. The first noteworthy boom era was the 1890s, characterized by a housing surge — examples of which can still be seen in a wide variety of Victorian architecture — and Asbury Park's downtown prospered well into the 20th century alongside the national retail trend.

The Boardwalk, Landmarks, and the Golden Age

The Asbury Park Boardwalk stands as the city's most enduring landmark. Bradley constructed the Asbury Park Boardwalk, an orchestra pavilion, public changing rooms, and a pier at the southern extremity of the boardwalk along the waterfront. This infrastructure attracted a wave of private enterprise. Ernest Schnitzler constructed the Palace Merry-Go-Round at the southwest corner of Lake Avenue and Kingsley Street in 1888, laying the foundation for what would become the Palace Amusements complex.

In the 1920s, the Asbury Boardwalk area witnessed the construction of the Paramount Theatre and Convention Hall complex, the Casino Arena and Carousel House, and two elegant red-brick pavilions. New York-based Beaux Arts architect Warren Whitney was the designer, and he was also contracted to design the Berkeley-Carteret Hotel, diagonally opposite the theater and hall.

Today the boardwalk hosts various restaurants and shops, along with the 3,600-seat Asbury Park Convention Hall and 1,600-seat Paramount Theater, which are both connected via an arcade.

In September 1934, the cruise ship SS Morro Castle caught fire and beached itself just yards from the Asbury Park Convention Hall, becoming a popular — if macabre — attraction unto itself. The disaster killed 122 persons.

In 1943, the New York Yankees held their spring training in Asbury Park instead of Florida, because rail transport had to be conserved during the war and Major League Baseball's spring training was limited to an area east of the Mississippi River and north of the Ohio River.

Racial History and Social Tensions

The history of Asbury Park is inseparable from the story of racial segregation. Naming many of the streets in his planned community for Methodist pioneers and clergy, Bradley retained private ownership and full control of the beachfront. Even as thousands of white tourists flocked to the oceanfront, a separate influx of Black people came seeking employment in the hotels, shops, and restaurants of Bradley's service economy.

The West Side, which was officially annexed as part of Asbury Park in 1906, was often short-changed when it came to such services as the city's electric trolley line and celebrated water and sewer system. It would come to develop its own businesses, stores, churches, fire departments, and entertainment venues along its main thoroughfare, Springwood Avenue.

Clubs along Springwood Avenue on the city's West Side were frequented by the likes of Billie Holiday, Count Basie, Lionel Hampton, and many other jazz and blues icons. Josephine Baker was one of many African American musicians that either played or was inspired by the Springwood Avenue music club circuit, and Fats Waller wrote "Honeysuckle Rose" with Andy Razaf on 119 Atkins Avenue.

Riots that broke out on July 4, 1970, resulted in the destruction of aging buildings along Springwood Avenue, one of three main east–west corridors into Asbury Park and the central shopping and entertainment district for those living in the city's southwest quadrant. Many of those city blocks have yet to be redeveloped into the 21st century.

Decline and Revival

Like many urban areas, the advent of the Garden State Parkway, Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, and major shopping malls took tourists, businesses, and shoppers away from Asbury Park, and the city saw hard times from around 1970 to the turn of the century. In the decades following World War II, adjacent farm communities gave way to suburban housing developments, prompting the city's middle class to relocate to newer houses with expansive yards.

Palace Amusements, which had been listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was closed in 1988 and demolished in 2004, despite efforts to save it. The complex had displayed the iconic Jersey Shore image known as Tillie's visage.

Since 2002, Asbury Park has been experiencing a cultural, political, and economic revival. The city's LGBTQ+ community has been a significant driver of that resurgence. Asbury Park has a tradition of lesbian bars stretching back to the 1930s. In the late 1930s, 208 Bond Street was the location of a women's bar, and in 1965, former nun Margaret "Maggie the Cat" Hogan opened the groundbreaking lesbian club Chez Elle, eventually joining a lawsuit that defeated efforts to discriminate against gay patrons at New Jersey nightclubs.

The City of Asbury Park has earned a perfect score of 100 points on the 2025 Municipal Equality Index (MEI), a nationwide evaluation that measures how effectively municipalities support, protect, and include LGBTQ+ residents, employees, and visitors.

Throughout the year, Asbury Park hosts a variety of festivals and events that celebrate its culture and community. The Asbury Park Film Festival showcases independent cinema, while the Asbury Park Zombie Walk attracts thousands of participants. The LGBTQ+ community is embraced with events like the Jersey Gay Pride Festival and the annual QSpot LGBTQ+ Film Series.

After Hurricane Sandy, Asbury Park was one of the few communities on the Jersey Shore to reopen successfully for the 2013 summer season. Governor Chris Christie and President Barack Obama participated in an official ceremony commemorating the reopening of Asbury Park and other areas of the Jersey Shore during the 2013 Memorial Day weekend, with the "Stronger Than The Storm" motto emphasized.

Music Heritage

Few cities in New Jersey carry a musical legacy as deep as Asbury Park's. From the early days of John Philip Sousa and Arthur Pryor through the big band and jazz eras, the city has more than its fair share of musical history. Contemporary musicians like Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi, and Southside Johnny all played at Asbury Park.

In 1973, Bruce Springsteen released his first album, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. Another song, "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)," is also about the city. The music video for Springsteen's song "Tunnel of Love" was filmed at the city's Palace Amusements and on the boardwalk in 1987.

The New Jersey Music Hall of Fame was started in Asbury Park in 2005. WJLK, broadcasting out of the Press Building on Mattison Avenue, became the first FCC-licensed New Jersey station and one of 75 FM stations nationwide. The Stone Pony, a live music club that opened on Ocean Avenue in 1974, became one of the most storied rock-and-roll venues in the country, serving as the launching pad for Springsteen, Southside Johnny Lyon, and scores of other artists from what became known as the Asbury Park sound.

Geography and Government

Asbury Park covers about 1.61 square miles. Most of this is land, with a small part being water. The city is bordered by other towns in Monmouth County, including Interlaken, Loch Arbour, Neptune Township, and Ocean Township. Deal Lake borders Asbury Park to the north; it is about 158 acres and is managed by the Deal Lake Commission. Sunset Lake is another lake in the city, covering about 16 acres.

The city is accessible by rail via NJ Transit's North Jersey Coast Line, which connects Asbury Park directly to New York Penn Station. The City of Asbury Park has been awarded a Transit Village Grant from the New Jersey Department of Transportation to rehabilitate the existing canopies surrounding the Asbury Park Transportation Center.

See Also

• Ocean Grove, New Jersey
• Jersey Shore
• Monmouth County, New Jersey
• Bruce Springsteen
• Stone Pony