Hello Boomer
1946 marks the beginning of the Baby Boom. Soldiers returning from war had put off spending, marriage, and families. They were ready. Sea Girt’s population rose to 1,178 in 1950 from 600 in 1940, and 1,789 by 1960. Babies were a big part of that growth.
1946 ad for modern appliances like hot water heaters.
There was a movement to have the state guard camp converted into a sea side park. The government at the federal level was disposing of assets. Everything that had been associated with the war effort was up for reuse. The wartime legislature in NJ had expanded powers to act fast, and the conversion could happen quickly. The Jersey Journal printed the opinion that the time for the camp at Sea Girt was over. But in the gubernatorial election year, it didn’t happen and Republican Alfred E Driscoll was voted in, breaking the power the Democrats and the Jersey City machine.
Sea Girt remained staunchly Republican. Elvin H. Lake of 414 Brooklyn Blvd was elected to borough council again. Lake, an executive with New Jersey Manufacturers Insurance in NY, was one of the hero life guards of the 1934 Morro Castle disaster. “Toots” as his friends called him, held the distinction as the first mother-son town leadership positions in Monmouth County. His mother, Edith, wife of Lighthouse Keeper William Lake was on Council in the 1920s.
Life guards on patrol 1930s noted as Elvin Lake
Elvin’s Lake’s background made him and fellow former lifeguard Thomas Black the natural leaders in the community during the next generation. Lake was both the fire chief and the police commissioner, served town council for 29 years with 11 of those as Council President. Thomas Black, who moved to Sea Girt in 1932 as a Rutgers college student, made a lifelong friend with Lake on the lifeguard chair. He worked with Lake at NJM after service in the Coast Guard during the war, and spent 14 years on Council and 14 more as Mayor. A. John Holthusen joined them. Jack was their captain and he had sailed around the world on a merchant ship in 1936, then landed a job with American Smelting before getting hired at NJM to work with his old buddies in the late 1940s. Lake and Black also got Jack involved in local politics, serving with the fire company, then school board, and eventually joined them on Council.
Heroes Holthusen, Black and Lake from left, served the town as adults on Council
The post-war period leadership, which had earned its title of “The Greatest Generation,” had come through depression and war in their youth and were focused on making Sea Girt comfortable for parents and their young children. Residential activity was preferred over hotels and rooming houses. In 1946 Mrs. Morris Bullock organized the Sea Girt Community Club to host the Children’s Christmas party at Saint Uriel’s Parish Hall. For the first time, over 100 people attended, for kids to get gifts from Santa under a large Christmas tree and to watch two motion pictures.