The Making Of The Atlantic City Casinos
Much effort, much thought, and many people contribute to the making of the Atlantic City casino. From respectful Native American inhabitants to wealthy land owners, the people behind the Atlantic City casino make it what it is today, a bustling and dynamic place for people to let loose, let off steam, let down their hair, and let it all ride, to hopefully bring back home a little of the Atlantic City legacy. The Atlantic City casino didn't always have a home on Absecon Island-where Atlantic City sits. Before the industry and the immigrating of hundreds, the Lenni-Lenape tribe inhabited the land, setting up camp especially in the warmest summer months. True to Native American belief systems, the Lenni-Lenape natives of the mainland didn't own the area: they merely settled it in summer and then left it to grow wild again in winter, when they returned to mainland dwellings. One man was said to first own the island, however. Coming from England in the late 1600's to settle a claim he had made, Thomas Budd became the first owner of a land mass that was then valued at 40 cents an acre-according to atlantic-city-online's Barbara Kozek. One might speculate how Mr. Budd would respond if he learned of today's Atlantic City casino activities bringing in millions of dollars on that same 40-cent acre. While Budd was the first to own acreage, it was Jeremiah Leeds who in the mid- 1700's built on the land the first permanent housing, with hunters, mainlanders, and others following suite and even Leeds' relatives adding to commerce after his death, when Leeds' second wife set up the first business in Atlantic City after his death. While this business was no Atlantic City casino, it was a popular tavern and boarding house, which not only changed the landscape of the island but contributed to the ambitions of the fellow inhabitants. Dr. Jonathan Pitney, for instance, believed the island had, as Kozek tells us, "much to offer", and made moves toward improving the area, along with engineers like Richard Osborne and conductors like Alexander Boardman, for such ideas and innovations as a health spa facility, a railroad, a church, a lighthouse, and a boardwalk (which Boardman and a man named Jacob Keim designed to keep the tourists from tracking the sand of the beaches into the trains and hotels that were by then flourishing throughout the island). The men and women had thought of much to build up the area, but they weren't quite ready with any ideas for an Atlantic City casino. Not then, anyway. The people of Atlantic City had to make it through World War I, immigration debacles, toll roads, mid-1800's commerce-hotels, restaurants, and the like, and had