Two famous Hotel Managers at Sea Girt
In 1883, the Presbyterian church was built in Spring Lake at a cost of $16,500, on land donated by Anna Baird, between her Hastings Square and the Lake. It solidified the Presbyterian connections at the Monmouth House.
The lake and new church from the Monmouth House. Librrary Company of Philadelphia, Marriott Morris Collection
The first American roller coaster, the Switchback Railway opened at Coney Island. While Sea Girt was far closer to Spring Lake than Coney Island in attitude, Richard Canfield made the Beach House just a little more fun than the Monmouth House.
In 1883 Richard Canfield finished his four-year run working for L.U. Maltby. He started as a clerk in the Monmouth House. Mrs. Mattie Maltby had died unexpectedly in 1882 leaving a void in the management of the Maltby hotels.
Canfield, a gambler who had grown up playing faro and other card games in and around Providence RI had earned $20,000 ($350,000 in 2017 dollars) by playing as the bank in a faro game out of Manhattan in 1873 when he was only 20 years old. He had blown all of his winnings on a yearlong trip to Europe. What he lost at the tables of Monte Carlo and Paris on cards, fine food, and women he gained in experience for luxury and customer service. Penniless, he returned to the States where a friend, Andrew Dam introduced him to the Colonel.
Col. Maltby thought his new protégé would make a great general manager. So while Maltby held court at the Monmouth House, he tutored Canfield on the best ways to keep happy guests at the Beach House in Sea Girt. Canfield was more than up to the task, and for the next three seasons, he held the standard of service at the Beach House above its more glamorous lodgings to the north. With its storied history, and connection to Stockton, the location on the sand, and Canfield's touch, it succeeded in drawing the right crowd despite its more rustic setting. Patrons returned each year and called it affectionately, “Our Beach House”.
Stockton’s mansion was the common area of the Beach House, while guest rooms were in the wings. During storms, patron’s on the piazza would be sprayed by the ocean (Marriott Morris Collection)
Much to the dismay of Colonel Maltby, Richard Canfield had his eyes on the Newport money. In the fall he left his employ at the Beach House, and returned to the gambling tables vowing to repeat his success as “The House”. He opened Canfield’s Clubhouse next to Delmonico’s in Manhattan after the summer season of 1880, inviting former patrons from the Shore. He had learned in Europe that simply running a fair game with odds in his favor, in an elegant setting, was a winning formula. Most gambling in the country was in dangerous locations and often run by cheaters.
He left Sea Git for good in 1883 and re-invested the money made in Manhattan into the Saratoga Clubhouse, the nicest gaming parlor in the small upstate New York town known for its mineral baths, for which he paid $250,000. He changed its name to “The Casino” and over time he would put another $800,000 into upgrades of the property to attract the highest of rollers. Surrounding Congress Spring Park was beautified.
Canfield’s gardens outside the Casino in Congress Park Saratoga Springs NY (Library of Congress)
Because he ran an honest game, he attracted the likes of Vanderbilt, Morgan and Whitney as well as “Bet-a-million” John Wayne Gates, a gambler and executive who founded two companies: Republic Steel, which made its fortune promoting the use of barbed wire to fence for cattle and Texas Oil (Texaco).
Canfield offered credit, (men in formal wear did not like the look of bulging wads of cash), and he stored $1,000,000 in his safe to be sure he could pay a large winner.
Dick Canfield, the Gambler (Public Domain)
It was the American Monte Carlo. But Canfield had better wine and higher limits than Monte Carlo. He insisted patrons dress in evening wear and treated them to the finest food, drink and cigars. He made it all back and more on the tables. Canfield set the model for modern commercial gambling, and put Saratoga on the map, taking more of the wealthy out of the Shore until he was shut down by the authorities in the early 1900s. After all, gambling was still illegal. Unfortunately, shutting down Canfield’s honest game only led to mobsters moving in and the area around Saratoga Springs launched the careers of Lucky Luciano, Meyer Lansky, Joe Adonis, and Arnold Rothstein.
It’s not often that a mentor gets a protégé who becomes world famous. L.U. Maltby had two. Rattled by Canfield’s defection, Maltby looked for a first-class replacement. He knew the tradition of the Philadelphia elite was to summer at the Shore and he sought the hotelier that had the best relationships with the wealthy.
George C. Boldt, the hotelier to the wealthiest (Library of Congress)
He found it in George C. Boldt. Boldt, a German immigrant who had started as the steward of the tony Philadelphia Club, added as extra help for the Centennial. Boldt, a most personable man met and married Louise Augusta Kehrer, the daughter of his boss.
In 1881, backed by some of the club members, the couple opened their own hotel in Philadelphia, the Bellevue, which was outrageously priced, but with impeccable service. It had the effect of attracting the most wealthy patrons visiting Philadelphia, as Boldt had discovered it was the height of 1880’s social standing to not have to care about price. He had his employees learn the names and wishes of his partons before they asked, and served them in their rooms if they chose not to dine in his first-class restaurant.
Summers young Boldt was attracted away to follow the moneyed as they spent time at the beach. Boldt had run the Berkeley Arms in Seaside Park the summer before for George Dorrance, but clouds of mosquitoes chased the rich patrons off the barrier island, ruining Bolt’s profits for that summer and so Maltby attracted him to do a sublet of the Beach House to great success in the mid- 1880s. He focused on making the mothers and children happy during the week, and the fathers on the weekend. Bolt’s young son rode a goat cart around the hotel grounds and took children for rides along the beach. He cleared some of the trees in front of the hotel, kept penned deer, sponsored games like lawn checkers, and put on elaborate shows for the guests.
Ultimately William Waldorf Astor was so impressed with the way Boldt ran hotels that he sought him out when he was building his own Waldorf Hotel in Manhattan at the present site of the Empire State Building.
The Waldorf Astoria’s carriage entrance on 33rd Street Manhattan (Library of Congress)
Through a smart lease agreement, Boldt earned a fair share of the profits. He then convinced John Jacob Astor IV to end his feud with first cousin William. Astor’s Astoria House was next door to the Waldorf. Boldt proposed a merger of the two hotels under his management for a piece of the profits.
He ran the Waldorf-Astoria until his death. He recruited maitre d'hotel Oscar Tschirky from Delmonico's and "Oscar of the Waldorf" became world-renowned for his Waldorf salad, Thousand Island dressing, and Eggs Benedict.
Boldt would amass a $15 million estate from his hotel profits. He left a mansion in California and an unfinished castle on Heart Island in the Thousand Islands, an abandoned monument to his wife who passed away in 1904.
Boldt’s strategy was reflected this a quote,
"We must make this hotel a haven for the well-to-do. Pad on the luxury and ease of living. There are always enough people willing to pay for these privileges. Just give them the chance.”