Atlantic City's Shelburne Hotel was a Celebrity Sanctuary

An Atlantic City refuge for many world-famous celebrities, the elegant Shelburne was razed in 1984 and later replaced by Bally's Wild Wild West Casino.

Elisha Roberts, a Quaker from Philadelphia, was one of the earliest Atlantic City entrepreneurs. He and his wife, Elizabeth, opened the Chalfonte House on North Carolina Avenue in 1868. The following year, Elisha opened a second establishment on Michigan Avenue that he named the Shelburne Hotel after the Earl of Shelburne, British Prime Minister at the end of the Revolutionary War.

Both the Chalfonte and the Shelburne started out as wood-framed boardinghouses. After the Roberts family sold them, their new proprietors converted them to hotels and expanded them towards the ocean as the Boardwalk gained in popularity. They added wide porches and sun parlors to take advantage of the mid-Atlantic coastal weather.

From Wooden Boardinghouse to Brick Luxury Hotel

According to The Daily Union, the Shelburne’s capacity at the turn of the century was 300 guests. Rates were $3-$5 per day or $20-$35 per week. Increasingly popular for its excellent dining, the hotel served 226 Easter dinners in 1898, 250 in 1899, and 270 in 1900.

In 1904, Elisha Roberts gave ownership of the hotel to his daughter, E. R. Ramsay, who sold it to a lawyer named Willis Hall in 1905. More importantly, Jacob Weikel now managed the hotel. For more than two decades, he continually upgraded and improved the Shelburne. By 1909, the Atlantic City Publicity Bureau reports that the Shelburne had increased its capacity to 400 guests.

Weikel built a nine-story brick tower in 1922 that fronted on the Boardwalk. Behind it, in 1926, he added a twelve-story brick tower. This new addition included an ornate lobby with English baroque-style chandeliers and a 12th floor penthouse. The Shelburne was now an elegant Georgian Revival hotel located across the street from another beautiful property, the Dennis Hotel.

Celebrities at the Shelburne

Like all of the grand resorts of Atlantic City, the Hotel Shelburne attracted entertainers and celebrities. Foremost was "Diamond Jim" Brady, who rented an apartment facing the ocean for the exorbitant price of $1,000 per week. He entertained his longtime girlfriend, renowned singer Lillian Russell, at the Shelburne and died in his apartment in 1917.

Master showman and songwriter George M. Cohan stayed at the Shelburne, and some accounts claim that he wrote his famous World War I song, "Over There," at the hotel. Other celebrities included actors Ethel Barrymore, Al Jolson, Lily Langtry, and Tom Mix; opera star Enrico Caruso; and composers Victor Herbert and John Philip Sousa.
Celebrity interest increased when the famous Warner Theater opened in 1929, just steps away from the Shelburne. In 1933, Irving Berlin wrote "Easter Parade" while staying at the hotel, undoubtedly inspired by the annual Easter promenade on the Boardwalk.

The Shelburne's Struggle to Survive

Smaller than the other grand Atlantic City resorts like the Ambassador, Blenheim-Marlborough, Chalfonte-Haddon Hall, Dennis, and Traymore, the Shelburne Hotel declared bankruptcy in 1931, during the Great Depression. The gilded years were gone forever.
The Shelburne struggled until 1942, when the United States military took over the property as part of "Operation Boardwalk". For the remainder of World War II, the hotel housed American recruits training for service overseas.

The Shelburne Hotel enjoyed some success after the war. The new owners built a grand ballroom in 1953 and expanded again in 1958. Some attendees of the 1964 Democratic National Convention stayed at the Shelburne, and the hotel hosted several functions. In 1978, the National Register of Historic Places added Atlantic City’s Shelburne Hotel to its list of important landmarks worthy of preservation.

Bally’s Wild Wild West Casino Replaced the Shelburne

In November 1979, National Inns Ltd. and Benihana Corporation began a project to renovate the old Shelburne Hotel and build an adjoining casino hotel. After demolishing the Boardwalk arcade and gutting the interior, they abandoned the project in 1981. For three years, the Shelburne remained an empty shell and Boardwalk eyesore until a wrecking ball demolished it in 1984.

The Wild Wild West Casino, a part of Bally’s Atlantic City, now stands where the magnificent Shelburne Hotel once catered to world-famous celebrities. The façade of the old Warner Theater is the only remnant of those glorious bygone days.