Asbury Park () is a beachfront city located on the Jersey Shore in Monmouth County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the New York metropolitan area.Lasky, Julie. "Living In Asbury Park, N.J.: Asbury Park, N.J.: A Seaside Community Reborn" The New York Times, May 15, 2019. Accessed June 20, 2022. As of the 2020 United States census, the city's population was 15,188, a decrease of 5.8% from the 2010 census count of 16,116, which in turn reflected a decline of 4.8% from the 16,930 in the 2000 census.Table 7. Population for the Counties and Municipalities in New Jersey: 1990, 2000 and 2010, New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development, February 2011. Accessed May 1, 2023.
In 2022, Asbury Park's beach was named one of the best in the world by Money and one of the best in the country by Travel + Leisure.Ryan, Matt. "New Jersey Beach Named the Second Best in the Entire World", WJLK, April 25, 2022. Accessed June 13, 2022. "Congratulations to the legendary Asbury Park named the second-best beach in the world!"Urgo, Jacqueline L. "Sandy laurels for South Jersey; Seven of the Top 10 N.J. beaches are in Cape May County", The Philadelphia Inquirer, May 23, 2008. Accessed July 18, 2012. "Neighboring Wildwood Crest came in second, followed by Ocean City, North Wildwood, Cape May, Asbury Park in Monmouth County, Avalon, Point Pleasant Beach in northern Ocean County, Beach Haven in southern Ocean County and Stone Harbor."
Asbury Park was originally incorporated as a borough by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 26, 1874, from portions of Ocean Township. The borough was reincorporated on February 28, 1893. Asbury Park was incorporated as a city, its current type of government, as of March 25, 1897.Snyder, John P. The Story of New Jersey's Civil Boundaries: 1606–1968, Bureau of Geology and Topography; Trenton, New Jersey; 1969. p. 177. Accessed May 1, 2026.
History Early years
A seaside community, Asbury Park is located on New Jersey's central coast. Developed in 1871 as a residential resort by New York brush manufacturer James A. Bradley, the city was named for Francis Asbury, the first American bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States.Cullinane, Bob. "A tale of two towns: One Asbury not like the other", Asbury Park Press, July 31, 2002. Accessed March 27, 2025, via Newspapers.com. "Further reducing the degrees of separation between the two Asburys, Horner said he believed both towns were named after Francis Asbury, the first bishop of the American Methodist church."Gannett, Henry. The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States, p. 29. United States Government Printing Office, 1905. Accessed August 27, 2015.Hutchinson, Viola L. The Origin of New Jersey Place Names, New Jersey Public Library Commission, May 1945. Accessed August 27, 2015. The founding of Ocean Grove in 1869, a Methodist camp meeting to the south, encouraged the development of Asbury Park and led to its being a "dry town".
Bradley was active in the development of much of the city's infrastructure, and despite his preference for gas light, he allowed the Atlantic Coast Electric Company (precursor to today's Jersey Central Power & Light) to offer electric service.Pike, Helen-Chantal (2005). Asbury Park's Glory Days: The Story of an American Resort. Rutgers University Press, pp 8 Along the waterfront, Bradley installed the Asbury Park Boardwalk, an orchestra pavilion, public changing rooms, and a pier at the south end of that boardwalk. Such success attracted other businessmen. In 1888, Ernest Schnitzler built the Palace Merry-Go-Round on the southwest corner of Lake Avenue and Kingsley Street, the cornerstone of what would become the Palace Amusements complex; other attractions followed.1888 Palace Amusements Online Museum. Accessed 2007-08-17. During these early decades in Asbury Park, a number of grand hotels were built, including the Plaza Hotel. Side O'Lamb: Urban Exploration of the Jersey Shore. Accessed August 17, 2007.
Uriah White, an Asbury Park pioneer, installed the first artesian well water system.Pike, Helen-Chantal (1997, 2003). Images of America: Asbury Park., Arcadia Publishing, p 13. . Accessed August 23, 2013. As many as 600,000 people a year vacationed in Asbury Park during the summer season in the early years, riding the New York and Long Branch Railroad from New York City and Philadelphia to enjoy the mile-and-a-quarter stretch of oceanfront Asbury Park. By 1912, The New York Times estimated that the summer population could reach 200,000, some 20 times the city's year-round population.Staff. "Asbury Park.; Popular Jersey Shore Resort Rapidly Filling with Visitors.", The New York Times, June 9, 2012. Accessed August 23, 2013. "Asbury Park is undergoing its annual transformation from a quiet Winter community of 10,000 inhabitants into a lively metropolitan Summer city with a changing population that sometimes exceeds 200,000 persons."
The "country by the sea" destination experienced several key periods of popularity. The first notable era was the 1890s, marked by a housing growth, examples of which can still be found today in a full range of Victorian architecture. Coinciding with the nationwide trend in retail shopping, Asbury Park's downtown flourished during this period and well into the 20th century.
1920s and modern development
1920s In the 1920s, Paramount Theatre and Convention Hall complex, the Casino Arena and Carousel House, and two red-brick pavilions were built in the Asbury Boardwalk area. Beaux Arts architect Whitney Warren of New York was the designer. He had also been hired to design the Berkeley-Carteret Hotel located diagonally across from the theater and hall. At the same time, Asbury Park High School was constructed, overlooking Deal Lake.
1930s On September 8, 1934, the wreck of the ocean liner SS Morro Castle, which caught fire and burned, beached itself near the city just yards away from the Asbury Park Convention Hall; the city capitalized on the event, turning the wreck into a tourist attraction.Staff. "Asbury to Claim Morro Castle as Museum; Sightseeing Fees Bring $2,800 in a Day", The New York Times, September 11, 1934. Accessed August 4, 2012. "The great hulk of the wrecked Morro Castle has proved to be such a good thing for Asbury Park business that the city authorities decided today to attempt to make the fire-blackened vessel a permanent addition to the beach attractions."
In 1935, the newly founded Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) called Asbury Park's Mayor Clarence F. Hetrick to testify about $6 million in "beach improvement bonds" that had gone into default. At the same time, the SEC also inquired about rental rates on the beach front and why the mayor reduced the lease of a bathhouse from $85,000 to $40,000, among many other discrepancies that could have offset debt.Staff. "Asbury Park Debt Linked To Politics; Costly Temporary Financing Tied to Boardwalk and Rental 'Iniquities.' Mayor Hetrick On Stand He Tells SEC of $6,000,000, Mostly in Default -- High Interest Rate Defended.", The New York Times, October 26, 1935. Accessed September 17, 2013. The interests of Asbury Park's bond investors led Senator Frank Durand (Monmouth County) to add a last-minute "Beach Commission" amendment to a municipal debt bill in the New Jersey Legislature. When the bill became law, it ceded control of the Asbury Park beach to Governor Harold Hoffman and a governor's commission.Staff. "Asbury Park To Sue For Beach Control; Writ to Be Applied For Today to Prevent Commission Taking Jurisdiction.", The New York Times, June 22, 1936. Accessed September 17, 2013.Staff. "Asbury Wins Stay On Beach Control; Jurisdiction of Board Named by Hoffman Held Up Pending Ruling on New Law.", The New York Times, June 24, 1936. Accessed September 17, 2013. The city of Asbury Park sued to restore control of the beach to the municipal council, but the New Jersey Court of Errors and Appeals (until 1947, the state's highest court) upheld the validity of the law in 1937.Staff. "Beach Control Act For Asbury Upheld; Jersey High Court Sustains the Validity of the Law Curbing the City's Authority", The New York Times, September 23, 1937. Accessed September 17, 2013. When Durand pressed New Jersey's legislature to extend the state's control of Asbury Park's beach in 1938, the lower house staged a walk out and the Senate soon adjourned, a disruption that also prevented a vote for funding New Jersey's participation in the 1939 New York World's Fair.Staff. "Jersey Assembly Stages 'Walkout'; Rebels at Upper House's Tactics--Senate Also Adjourns", The New York Times, June 9, 1938. Accessed September 17, 2013.Staff. "World's Fair Fund Loses In Jersey; Last-Minute Dispute Before Legislative Recess Leaves $150,000 Unappropriated Veto' Session Thursday Lawmakers to Meet Then to Act on Bills Disapproved by Governor Moore", The New York Times, June 10, 1938. Accessed September 17, 2013. In December 1938, the court returned control of the beach to the municipal council under the proviso that a bond repayment agreement was created; Asbury Park was the only beach in New Jersey affected by the Beach Commission law.Staff. "Asbury Park Freed of Fiscal Control; State's Commission Had Been in Charge Two Years", The New York Times, December 11, 1938. Accessed September 17, 2013. Extensive and lush floral plantings were present in Asbury Park's Bradley Park during the 1930s, as can be seen in archival footage.Asbury Park - Late 1930's - Part 1, YouTube. Accessed October 22, 2021.
1940s In 1943, the New York Yankees held their spring training in Asbury Park instead of Florida.Staff. "Spring Baseball Training Brings Visitors To Asbury Park—Poconos Events; Asbury Park's Season", The New York Times, March 28, 1943. Accessed August 4, 2012. "Asbury Park, N.J.—Spring training of the New York Yankees baseball team has quickened the arrival of visitors this year, many of them bent on watching the conditioning of professional athletes north of the Mason–Dixon line." This was because rail transport had to be conserved during the war, and Major League Baseball's spring training was limited to an area east of the Mississippi River and north of the Ohio River.Suehsdorf, A. D. (1978). The Great American Baseball Scrapbook, p. 103. Random House. .
With the opening of the Garden State Parkway in 1947, Asbury Park saw the travel market change, as fewer vacationers took trains to the seashore. While the Asbury Park exit on the Parkway opened in 1956 and provided a means for drivers to reach Asbury Park more easily, additional exits further south allowed drivers access to new alternative vacation destinations, particularly on Long Beach Island.
1950s and beyond In the decades that followed the war, surrounding farm communities gave way to tracts of suburban houses, encouraging the city's middle-class blacks as well as whites to move into newer houses with spacious yards.
With the above-mentioned change in the travel market, prompted by the opening of the Garden State Parkway in 1947 and the opening of Monmouth Mall away in Eatontown in 1960, Asbury Park's downtown became less of an attraction to shoppers. Office parks built outside the city resulted in the relocation of accountants, dentists, doctors, lawyers, and other professionals. Moreover, the opening of Great Adventure (on July 1, 1974), a combination theme park and drive-through safari located on a lake in Jackson Township—and close to a New Jersey Turnpike exit—proved to be stiff competition for a mile-long stretch of aging boardwalk amusements.Pike, Helen-Chantal. Asbury Park's Glory Days: The Story of an American Resort, p. 81. Rutgers University Press, 2007. . Accessed January 23, 2018.
On June 20, 1956, Linea Aeropostal Venezolana Flight 253 crashed off Asbury Park, killing all 74 people on board in what was the deadliest accident involving a scheduled commercial flight at the time.