, now housed in
Brooklyn Museum Prior to Atlantic City's founding, the region served as a summer home for the
Lenape, a
Native American tribe. While the date of European settlement in present-day Atlantic City is not precisely determined, it is commonly thought that it was in 1783, when Jeremiah Leeds built and occupied a year-round home there.
19th century In 1850, present-day Atlantic City was developed into a
resort town. Three years later, in early 1853, it was named Atlantic City. Because of its location in
South Jersey, which hugs the
Atlantic Ocean between
marshlands and islands, Atlantic City was then viewed by developers as prime real estate and a potential resort town. In 1853, the city's first commercial hotel, the Belloe House, was built at the intersection of Massachusetts and Atlantic Avenues. The following year, in 1854, the city was incorporated. The same year, train service began on the
Camden and Atlantic Railroad. Built on the edge of the bay, this served as the direct link of this remote parcel of land with
Philadelphia, the second-most populous city in the United States at the time and the largest city in
Pennsylvania. The same year, construction of the
Absecon Lighthouse, designed by
George Meade of the
Corps of Topographical Engineers, was approved, with work initiated the next year. By 1874, almost 500,000 passengers a year were coming to Atlantic City by rail. In
Boardwalk Empire: The Birth, High Times, and Corruption of Atlantic City, "Atlantic City's Godfather"
Jonathan Pitney, known as the "Father of Atlantic City", initially sought to develop Atlantic City as a health resort. Pitney persuaded municipal authorities that a railroad to the beach in Atlantic City would be beneficial. His successful business relationship with Samuel Richards, an entrepreneur and member of what was then the most influential family in
South Jersey, was designed to construct the railroad with the first 600 riders, who "were chosen carefully by Samuel Richards and Jonathan Pitney": After arriving in Atlantic City, a second train brought the visitors to the door of the resort's first public lodging, the United States Hotel. The hotel was owned by the railroad. It was a sprawling, four-story structure built to house 2,000 guests. It opened while it was still under construction, with only one wing standing, and even that wasn't completed. By year's end, when it was fully constructed, the United States Hotel was not only the first hotel in Atlantic City but also the largest in the nation. Its rooms totaled more than 600, and its grounds covered some 14 acres. The first
boardwalk was built in 1870 along a portion of the beach in an effort to help hotel owners keep sand out of their lobbies. Businesses were restricted and the boardwalk was removed each year at the end of the peak season. Because of its effectiveness and popularity, the boardwalk was expanded in length and width, and modified several times in subsequent years. Prior to the destructive
1944 Great Atlantic Hurricane, the historic length of the boardwalk was about and it extended from Atlantic City to
Longport, through
Ventnor and
Margate. The first road connecting the city to the mainland at
Pleasantville was completed in 1870 and charged a 30-cent toll. Albany Avenue was the first road to the mainland available without a toll. By 1878, because of the growing popularity of the city, one railroad line could no longer keep up with demand. Soon, the
Philadelphia and Atlantic City Railway was also constructed to transport tourists to Atlantic City. At this point massive hotels like the United States Hotel and Surf House, as well as smaller rooming houses, had sprung up all over town. The United States Hotel took up a full city block between Atlantic, Pacific, Delaware, and Maryland Avenues. These hotels were not only impressive in size, but featured the most up-to-date amenities, and were considered quite luxurious for their time. In 1883,
salt water taffy was conceived in Atlantic City by David Bradley. The traditional story is that Bradley's shop close to the beach was flooded with ocean water after a storm, soaking his taffy. He sold the "salt water taffy" to a girl, who walked down to the beach to show her friends. Bradley's mother was in the back of the store when the sale was made, and loved the name, giving the candy its name.
20th century in 1911 , built during
prohibition, which lasted from 1919 to 1933 depicted on a mid-1930s postcard In the early 20th century, Atlantic City experienced a radical building boom. Many of the modest boarding houses that dotted the boardwalk were replaced with large hotels. Two of the city's most distinctive hotels were the
Marlborough-Blenheim Hotel and the
Traymore Hotel. In 1902, Josiah White III bought a parcel of land near Ohio Avenue and the boardwalk, where he started construction and built the
Queen Anne style Marlborough House. The hotel was a success. In 1905, he chose to expand the hotel and bought another parcel of land adjacent to his Marlborough House. In an effort to make his new hotel a source of conversation, White hired the architectural firm of Price and McLanahan. The firm made use of
reinforced concrete, a new building material invented by Jean-Louis Lambot in 1848, and Joseph Monier received the patent in 1867. The hotel's Spanish and Moorish themes, capped off with its signature dome and chimneys, represented a step forward from other hotels that had a classically designed influence. White named the new hotel the Blenheim and merged the two hotels into the Marlborough-Blenheim.
Bally's Atlantic City was later constructed at this location. The Traymore Hotel was located at the corner of Illinois Avenue and the boardwalk. Constructed in 1879 as a small boarding house, the hotel grew through a series of uncoordinated expansions. By 1914, the hotel's owner, Daniel White, Josiah White's half-brother, taking a hint from the Marlborough-Blenheim, commissioned the firm of Price and McLanahan to build an even bigger hotel to replace the original wooden structure. Rising 16 stories, the tan brick and gold-capped hotel would become one of the city's best-known landmarks. The hotel made use of ocean-facing hotel rooms by jutting its wings farther from the main portion of the hotel along Pacific Avenue. It was demolished in 1972. One by one, additional large hotels were constructed along the boardwalk, including the Brighton, Chelsea, Shelburne, Ambassador, Ritz Carlton, Mayflower, Madison House, and the Breakers. The
Quaker-owned Chalfonte House, opened in 1868, and Haddon House, opened in 1869, flanked North Carolina Avenue at the beach end. Over the years, their original wood-frame structures would be enlarged, and even moved closer to the beach. The modern Chalfonte Hotel, eight stories tall, opened in 1904. The modern Haddon Hall was built in stages and was completed in 1929, at eleven stories. By this time, they were under the same ownership and merged into the
Chalfonte-Haddon Hall Hotel, becoming the city's largest hotel with nearly 1,000 rooms. By 1930,
The Claridge Hotel, the city's last large hotel constructed before the casino era, opened its doors. The 480-room Claridge was built by a partnership that included renowned Philadelphia contractor
John McShain. At 24 stories and in height, it would become known as the "Skyscraper by the Sea". With tourism peaking in the 1920s, the period is often considered by historians to be Atlantic City's golden age. During
Prohibition, which was enacted nationally in 1919 and lasted until 1933, much liquor was consumed and gambling regularly took place in the back rooms of nightclubs and restaurants. During Prohibition,
racketeer and political boss
Enoch L. "Nucky" Johnson rose to power. Prohibition was largely unenforced in Atlantic City. Because alcohol that had been smuggled into the city with the implicit approval of local officials, it was easily obtained at restaurants and other establishments, and the resort's popularity grew further. The city then dubbed itself as "The World's Playground". Nucky Johnson's income, which reached as much as $500,000 annually, came from the
kickbacks he took on illegal liquor, gambling and prostitution operating in the city, as well as from kickbacks on construction projects. During this time, Atlantic City was led by mayor
Edward L. Bader, known for his contributions to the construction, athletics and aviation of Atlantic City. Despite opposition, he had Atlantic City purchase the land that became the city's municipal airport and high school football stadium, both of which were later named
Bader Field in his honor. He led the initiative, in 1923, to construct the
Atlantic City High School at Albany and Atlantic Avenues. Bader was also a driving force behind the creation of the
Miss America competition. In May 1929, Johnson hosted a
conference for
organized crime figures from all across America that created a
National Crime Syndicate. The men who called this meeting were
Masseria family lieutenant Charles "Lucky" Luciano and former Chicago
South Side Gang boss Johnny "the Fox" Torrio, with heads of the
Bugs and Meyer Mob,
Meyer Lansky and
Benjamin Siegel, being used as muscle for the meeting. Gangster and businessman
Al Capone attended the conference and was photographed walking along the Atlantic City boardwalk with Johnson. The 1930s through the 1960s were a heyday for nightclub entertainment. Popular venues on the white-populated south side included the
500 Club, the
Clicquot Club, and the
Jockey Club. In the
Northside neighborhood, home to African Americans in the racially segregated city, a black entertainment district reigned on Kentucky Avenue. Four major nightclubs,
Club Harlem, the
Paradise Club,
Grace's Little Belmont, and
Wonder Gardens, drew both black and white patrons. During the summer tourist season, jazz and R&B music could be heard into the wee hours of the morning.
Soul food restaurants and
ribs joints also lined Kentucky Avenue, including
Wash's Restaurant, Jerry's and Sap's. Like many older
East Coast cities after
World War II, Atlantic City became plagued with poverty, crime, corruption, and general economic decline in the mid-to-late 20th century. The neighborhood known as the "Inlet" became particularly impoverished. The reasons for the resort's decline were multi-layered. First, the automobile became more readily available to many Americans after the war. Atlantic City had initially relied upon visitors coming by train and staying for a couple of weeks. The car allowed them to come and go as they pleased, and many people would spend only a few days, rather than weeks. The
advent of suburbia also played a significant role. With many families moving to their own private houses, luxuries such as home air conditioning and swimming pools diminished their interest in flocking to the luxury beach resorts during the hot summer. Finally, the rise of relatively cheap jet airline service allowed visitors to travel to year-round resort places such as
Miami Beach and the
Bahamas. The city hosted the
1964 Democratic National Convention which nominated
Lyndon Johnson for president and
Hubert Humphrey as vice president. The convention and the press coverage it generated, however, cast a harsh light on Atlantic City, which by then was in the midst of a long period of economic decline. Many felt that the friendship between Johnson and
Governor of New Jersey Richard J. Hughes led Atlantic City to host the Democratic Convention. By the late 1960s, many of the resort's once great hotels were suffering from high vacancy rates. Most of them were either shut down, converted to cheap apartments, or converted to nursing home facilities by the end of the decade. Prior to and during the advent of legalized gambling, many of these hotels were demolished. The Breakers,
The Chelsea, the Brighton, the Shelburne, the Mayflower, the
Traymore and the
Marlborough-Blenheim were demolished in the 1970s and 1980s. Of the many pre-casino resorts that bordered the boardwalk, only the Claridge, the Dennis, the
Ritz-Carlton, and the Haddon Hall survive to this day as parts of
Bally's Atlantic City, a condo complex, and
Resorts Atlantic City. The old Ambassador Hotel was purchased by Ramada in 1978 and was gutted to become the
Tropicana Casino and Resort Atlantic City, only reusing the steelwork of the original building. Smaller hotels off the boardwalk, such as the
Madison also survived.
Legalized gambling In an effort at revitalizing the city, New Jersey voters in 1976 passed a referendum, approving
casino gambling for Atlantic City; this came after a 1974 referendum on legalized gambling failed to pass. Immediately after the legislation passed, the owners of the
Chalfonte-Haddon Hall Hotel began converting it into the Resorts International. It was the first legal casino in the eastern United States when it opened on May 26, 1978. Other casinos were soon constructed along the Boardwalk and, later, in the marina district for a total of nine today. The introduction of gambling did not, however, quickly eliminate many of the urban problems that plagued Atlantic City. Many people have suggested that it only served to exacerbate those problems, as attested to by the stark contrast between tourism intensive areas and the adjacent impoverished working-class neighborhoods. While Atlantic City has been less popular than
Las Vegas as a gambling city in the United States, other events such as live music, boxing matches, and performances like
Cirque du Soleil became popular at hotel casinos.
Mike Tyson fought most of his fights in Atlantic City in the 1980s, which helped Atlantic City achieve national attention as a gambling resort and vacation destination. Several
highrise condominiums were built for use as permanent residences or second homes. By end of the decade, it was one of the most popular tourist destinations in the United States.
21st century Legalized sports betting , Atlantic City's highest-grossing casino With the redevelopment of the
Las Vegas Strip and the opening of
Foxwoods Resort Casino and
Mohegan Sun in
Connecticut in the early 1990s, along with newly built casinos in the nearby
Philadelphia metro area in the 2000s, Atlantic City's tourism began to decline due to its failure to diversify away from gambling. In 1999 the Atlantic City Redevelopment Authority partnered with Las Vegas casino mogul
Steve Wynn to develop a new roadway to a barren section of the city near the Marina. Nicknamed "The Tunnel Project", Steve Wynn planned the proposed 'Mirage Atlantic City' around the idea that he would connect the $330 million tunnel stretching from the
Atlantic City Expressway to his new resort. The roadway was later officially named the
Atlantic City-Brigantine Connector, and funnels incoming traffic off of the expressway into the city's marina district and the city of
Brigantine. Although Wynn's plans for development in the city were scrapped in 2002, the tunnel opened in 2001. The new roadway prompted Boyd Gaming in partnership with MGM/Mirage to build Atlantic City's newest casino.
Borgata opened in July 2003, and its success brought an influx of developers to Atlantic City with plans for building grand, Las Vegas-style mega casinos to revitalize the aging city. Owing to economic conditions and the
late 2000s recession, many of the proposed mega casinos never advanced further than the initial planning stage. One of these developers was
Pinnacle Entertainment, which purchased the
Sands Atlantic City for $250–$270 million and closed it on November 11, 2006 with plans to replace it with a larger casino.
MGM Resorts International announced in October 2007 that it would pull out of all development for Atlantic City, effectively ending its plans for the MGM Grand Atlantic City. In 2006,
Morgan Stanley purchased directly north of the
Showboat Atlantic City for a new $2-billion-plus casino resort.
Revel Entertainment Group was named as the project's developer for the
Revel Casino. Revel was hindered with many problems, the biggest setback occurring in April 2010 when Morgan Stanley, the owner of 90% of Revel Entertainment Group, decided to discontinue funding for continued construction and put its stake in Revel up for sale. Early in 2010, the New Jersey state legislature passed a bill offering tax incentives to attract new investors and complete the job, but a poll by
Fairleigh Dickinson University's
PublicMind released in March 2010 showed that 60% of voters opposed the legislation, and two of three of those who opposed it "strongly" opposed it. Ultimately, Governor
Chris Christie offered Revel $261 million in state tax credits to assist the casino once it opened. Revel completed all of the exterior work and had continued work on the interior after finally receiving the funding necessary to complete construction, and had a soft opening in April 2012 before being fully open the next month. Ten months later, in February 2013, after serious losses and a write-down in the value of the resort from $2.4 billion to $450 million, Revel filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. It was restructured but still could not carry on and re-entered bankruptcy on June 19, 2014. It was put up for sale, however as no suitable bids were received the resort closed its doors in September 2014. The property was bought by AC Ocean Walk, LLC for $200 million in 2017, and reopened in 2018 as Ocean Casino Resort. On October 29, 2012, "
Superstorm Sandy" struck Atlantic City and caused flooding and power-outages but left minimal damage to any of the tourist areas. The storm produced an all-time record low barometric pressure reading of 943 mb (27.85") for not only Atlantic City, but the state of New Jersey. In the wake of the closures and declining revenue from casinos, Governor Christie said in September 2014 that the state would consider a 2015 referendum to end the 40-year-old monopoly that Atlantic City holds on casino gambling and allowing gambling in other municipalities. With casino revenue declining from $5.2 billion in 2006 to $2.9 billion in 2013, the state saw a drop in money from its 8% tax on those earnings, which is used to fund programs for senior citizens and the disabled. In May 2018, the
United States Supreme Court ruled in
Murphy v. National Collegiate Athletic Association that the
Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act was unconstitutional. The act was overturned, allowing New Jersey to move ahead with plans to implement legalized sports betting. Despite being the state to initiate the landmark ruling, New Jersey was actually the third state to legalize sports betting after
Nevada and
Delaware. In June 2018,
New Jersey governor Phil Murphy signed the legislation into law, and several New Jersey–based casino brands subsequently opened
sportsbooks, especially in Atlantic City. In 2019, the Atlantic City area had the highest rates of foreclosures in the nation. This has disproportionately affected Black residents in neighborhoods segregated by
redlining, a legacy that is mirrored by the values of properties on the Monopoly game board. After several casino closures and the
COVID-19 pandemic, strikes and pickets were being threatened in June 2022 by casino employees which were short-staffed and wanted pay raises.
Food desert In 2022, the
New Jersey Economic Development Authority ranked Atlantic City second on its list of the state's
food desert communities (behind
Camden). Atlantic City was one of a dozen municipalities statewide on the list where the entire municipality was a food desert community. As of 2024, there was only one functioning supermarket in Atlantic City, the
Save-A-Lot food store located in Renaissance Plaza, an area of the city known for its significant homeless population and drug use. The nearest full-service supermarket being located in neighboring
Ventnor City, which is away from the majority of Atlantic City's population. In an area with unemployment 50% above the statewide average and with 87% of area residents lacking a car, getting access to a supermarket for city residents has been difficult, requiring long rides on public transportation. To remedy this, proposals for a supermarket were floated beginning in May 2021, and Atlantic City's City Council authorized the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority to look for developers to build a supermarket. The Casino Reinvestment Development Authority proposed a new supermarket that would be located on an empty parking lot behind the Tanger Outlets and near the
Atlantic City Expressway. Groundbreaking for a
ShopRite supermarket had taken place in October 2021, after Village Super Market received $18.7 million from the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority to construct the store. The supermarket was expected to be completed by December 2022, although no construction or building had happened on the site. After the time for the contract expired, the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority (CRDA) announced that the deal with Village Super Market was dead and that they were looking for new contenders. VSM created a new plan for CRDA and the city's Council to review and by July 2023, it and a Chinese conglomerate headquartered in Hong Kong emerged as the two candidates to build the supermarket. In October 2025, after the effort to address the city's food desert status by constructing the proposed ShopRite had fizzled out, the city announced a $20 million deal to redevelop Renaissance Plaza centered around an expanded Sav-A-Lot supermarket, using funds from the
Casino Reinvestment Development Authority and the
New Jersey Economic Development Authority. The project, expected to be completed by the end of 2026, would increase the size of the existing store by 50% to more than , allowing the expansion of fresh fruit, vegetable and meat options to shoppers. ==Geography==