Dry Sunday in Atlantic City

When 220 saloons shut down in Atlantic City, the residents experience “a real blue Sunday,” as it was the fourth time in over forty years that there was a drinkless day.

A real blue Sunday came to Atlantic City. Many persons familiar with the history of this far-famed resort have been inclined to doubt the possibility of such a thing, but Sunday every one of the 220 saloons and hotel bars were closed. They were closed alike to bonafide guests as well as to strangers just arrived within the gates. It is said that this was the fourth time in the fifty-four years of its existence that a drinkless day had been experienced in Atlantic City. A bulletin posted at headquarters stated: “Saloons all closed. No troops in town.” Another bulletin, officially signed by the chief of police, consisted of a card on which was printed: “In 1861 it was (hold the fort). Today it’s Fort holds you.” Governor Fort’s proclamation of last week containing his threat to send troops to the seashore in the event of a further violation of the Sunday closing law had its effect. Saloonkeepers and hotel men reluctantly accepted the advice of the mayor and of the more conservative men in their organization and closed their places of business as tightly as they knew how. Screens came tumbling down Saturday midnight and remained down all day. Boardwalk cafes that on Sundays past have been thronged to their utmost capacity, serving liquors and food, were all deserted. White-aproned waiters stood idly by the vacant chairs surrounding the once cozy little tables and thought regretfully of the gala Sundays that were gone. A visit during the height of the afternoon crush on the boardwalk to one of the most widely known cafes facing the famous seaside thoroughfare disclosed the fact that not a single patron was in the place. The proprietors declared that the loss of the drink privilege had carried with it a nearly equal loss in the sale of foodstuffs. There was a decided decrease in the size of the visiting throng, though many persons came from Philadelphia and New York out of sheer curiosity to see what Atlantic City looked like on a dry Sunday. The majority of the boardwalk multitude here, however, seemed not to mind the change of conditions and enjoyed themselves in other ways during the morning and afternoon. The gay night scenes in the cafes, the music and the singing were perhaps missed more than any other feature of the resort’s changed Sunday life. There was indeed an air of Sabbath quietude all the way from the Inlet to Chelsea.

“Dry Sunday in Atlantic City,” Black Virginia: The Richmond Planet, 1894-1909, accessed January 23, 2026, https://blackvirginia.richmond.edu/items/show/712.