(photo
©
2000-2001-rjratner)
"Lucy the Elephant" is how all who grew up in her shadow,and played childhood
games around and under and with her, know her.
Everyone on Absecon Island knows her, child or adult.
She stands 65 feet high, 60 feet long and 18 feet wide. She was originally
built in the 1800's as a sales gimmick to lure buyers to properties on
the Jersey shore in South Atlantic City (now known as Margate).
Over the years, Lucy also "performed" as a hotel, someone's private
summer home and even as a tavern.
In 1887, she was sold to John and Sophie Gertzen. It's widely held that it was they who gave her the name "Lucy."
Three like her had been constructed in the late 19th century.
Colossus, the largest at 122 feet tall, burned down at his home on
Coney Island, N.Y. in 1896.
Closer to Lucy's home was the "Light of Asia". Affectionately referred
to as "Old Jumbo" by her human neighbors, in her home of what was then,
South Cape May.
Jumbo was constructed in 1884. records of materials used in her hefty
frame included some "250 kegs of nails, five tons of bolts, bars, lathing,
plaster and over 13,000 square feet of tin"(her hide!).
It was also reported that it took more than a million pieces of wood
to erect her.
(photo copyright© 2000-2001-rjratner)
Neglect and sea churned storms took its toll on Jumbo and she was torn
down in 1900.
She has stood along the beach gazing intently out to sea for over a hundred years now, despite the ravages of time and weather and the neglect and disregard of her human neighbors.
In the late 1960s, Lucy was in danger of being demolished. A new condominium building was slated to be built where she stood for so long on Cedar Grove Avenue.
In 1970, Lucy was moved to her current location at Atlantic
and Decatur avenues in Margate, and restored. In 1976, she was declared
a national historic landmark.
(photo
copyright© 2000-2001-rjratner)
Her reprieve from demolition and the move and restoration of this unique
wood and tin creature with her "gastric pink" painted interior is due most
especially to the unflagging efforts of Josephine Harron and other members
of the "Save Lucy Committee." The members of the "Save Lucy Committee"
have worked against the ravages time and weather took upon Lucy, as well
as the icy hearts of those many uncaring politicians who thought a condo
filled with voters might be more useful in her stead. They have lobbied
for funds, and amassed matching funds when necessary.
As politicians go, Lucy's home senator is credited with coming to her rescue.
In 1966, Sen. John P. Scott, R-Bergen, opposed a $305,190 job to repair
the elephant. He "specifically cite(d) the pachyderm payment as a financial
waste of elephantine proportions."
Sen. William L. Gormley, R-Atlantic, who sat in the last row of the
Senate chambers, began chanting: "Lucy, Lucy, Lucy ..." The other
lawmakers chimed in, and Scott's diatribe was drowned out by a level of
noise that "observers likened to the sound of a thundering herd of ...
elephants."
But Lucy's repairs are ongoing.
If you'd like to make a tax-deductible contribution to the committee
to Save Lucy please send it to: Box 3000, Margate, 08402.
Photos by R.J.Ratner -copyright© 2000-2001-R.Jon Ratner-All Rights reserved.
Copyright © 2000-2001 floydcountyinview.com