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LUCY ELEPHANT's NEAR DESTRUCTION

Historic Photographs

Lucy Elephant 1895

Constructed of wood, tin and iron bar, Lucy Elephant was always a high maintenance structure in an oceanfront environment of high humidity and salt air. In 1895 (above), she was a unique attraction just a buggy ride south of the booming new Atlantic City with its boardwalk and oppulent beachfront hotels.

Lucy Elephant 1920s

By the 1920s, Lucy was a beachside bar abandoned to hard times as prohibition laws made it illegal to sell liquor and beer. Without a revenue source, she was left to the elements.

Lucy Elephant 1969

By 1969, the abandoned Lucy Elephant had become a public safety hazard with much of her tin sheeting rusted through and her wooden timbers rotted away. It was at this point and in the face of tentative demolition plans that the "Save Lucy" Committee was formed and ultimately achieved the Herculean task of raising enough money to completely restore the elephant building and relocate the 90-ton structure to its current site in Margate, New Jersey.


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