Thank Thomas Edison For Being Able To See At Atlantic City Hall

The Historic Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey is a wonderful venue that was built in 1926. It was literally a first of its kind.

Former Atlantic City Mayor Edward L. Bader led the initiative to secure the land. Bader did not live to see it completed. He died while it was under construction.

The real star of The Atlantic City Historic Boardwalk Hall is New Jersey’s own late, great inventor, Thomas Edison.

It is the Edison fortified concrete that made all of unobstructed views possible.

Before fortified concrete, there was no way to construct a massive building like Boardwalk Hall without big, bulky support columns required throughout for structural support.

Older stadiums all had obstructed view seats. People actually bought seats, that in some cases either had a partial view or no view at all.

The Edison fortified concrete made it possible to have no support columns … hence Atlantic City Boardwalk Hall has 14,770 unobstructed seats when it is set for a concert.

Atlantic City Boardwalk Hall also houses another record-breaker … the largest musical instrument in the world. A pipe organ that consists of more than 33,000 pipes.

The Guinness Book of World Records describes it as "a pure trumpet note of ear-splitting volume, six times louder than the loudest train whistle."

Because of the size and design of Atlantic City Boardwalk Hall, the sound is not deafening and it plays like a concert symphony.

Here’s a nice look at Atlantic City Boardwalk Hall from the beach in this Don P. Hurley photo. It also features 17 former Miss America winners.

Atlantic City Boardwalk Hall was declared an official United States National Historic Landmark in 1987. It is considered to be one of the few enduring structures from the early days of Atlantic City as a destination seaside resort.

It has long been my considered opinion that Atlantic City Boardwalk Hall should have been named after former New Jersey Senator Bill Gormley.

Gormley delivered $ 90 million to fund a much-needed 2001 restoration of Atlantic City Boardwalk Hall.

The facility would not be viable at this time without the restoration from 22 years ago.

Since, it has received a number of nationally acclaimed preservation awards.

In the end, you have two people to thank. Edison for the ability to see (unobstructed) and Gormley, for the fact that Atlantic City Boardwalk Hall is still standing.