The 104 stockholders of The Atlantic Hotel Company, who had provided the financing for construction of the hotel, gathered on August 31 to select certain building lots for themselves, a benefit that came with their investment. One by one, names were drawn from a jar by a blindfolded boy. Upon hearing his or her name called out, that stockholder could then choose one of the available lots. The stockholder received a certificate redeemable for a deed upon the payment of $100. Predictably, the choicest lots along the oceanfront were among the first taken. Lot 48 remained available until the boy drew the sixteenth name, Hampden H. Dashiell, one of the seven stockholders representing Somerset County, who picked lot 48 for himself.

One of Dashiell’s sons, Hampden P. Dashiell, purchased lot 48 from his late father’s estate in 1898 for $250.

The lot sat vacant for nearly another decade, and Dashiell finally sold it for $800 in 1907 to Robert Fulton Powell, a banker and lumberman from Stockton, Maryland. Powell and his wife, Cora, were occasional summer visitors in Ocean City, and it’s possible that he was planning to build a cottage on the lot. But his mercantile and banking responsibilities in Cape Charles, Virginia, and Leonardtown, Maryland, kept him fully occupied.

Less than a year later he sold lot 48 to a young entrepreneur from Berlin, Charles Asher McGregor (1882-1970), who paid $400 for the unimproved property. Charlie began making plans for building his own store on that corner and was able to open his store in time for the 1911 summer season. However, In August of 1913, he was forced to sell the lot and buildings on Dorchester Street.

The first effort to open a bank in Ocean City was undertaken by a group of five local businessmen in the late summer of 1914. The five men represented a cross-section of the various business interests in the town. Irving Mumford was a real estate broker, George Conner operated a restaurant on the Boardwalk, John Mumford headed a fishing company, Lemuel Wyatt was a builder and boarding house operator, and Harry Cropper owned a hardware store. It isn’t known why, but the application was later withdrawn.

Another effort was made with an application to the State Bank Commissioner by Levin D. Lynch, John M. Mumford, William B. S. Powell, Thomas W. Taylor, and Charles T. Jackson, all of Ocean City. The bank is to be known as the Bank of Ocean City, and the capital is to be $20,000.

After a dispute with the bank commissioner over an employee and his salary, the Bank of Ocean City finally opened its doors for business on January 3, 1916. The bank shared space on the first floor of the former McGregor Building (of which two of the incorporators, Lynch and Powell, were part owners) with a general store. John Hallett, the other part-owner, ran his butcher shop next door.

The United States economy was sliding into the Great Depression. On Friday, October 2, the Bank of Ocean City closed its doors pending examination by the state. The bank was required to raise $15,000 in new capital, with the current stockholders accepting a 50% dilution in their ownership interests, and depositors’ withdrawals were limited for a period of 90 days. The necessary funds were raised, and the bank reopened on Saturday, November 14.

The Bank of Ocean City was closed again on Monday, March 6, 1933, following President Franklin Roosevelt’s declaration of a national “bank holiday” to halt widespread bank runs around the country. After an examination of its books, the bank was allowed to reopen on March 15.

Following the end of World War II, bank president L. D. Lynch decided that the bank building needed a new look. During the winter of 1946 and spring of 1947, the building was dramatically changed, both inside and out. The second-floor porch was removed and replaced with large columns. A brick façade was added.

L. D. Lynch passed away on July 4, 1965, and ownership of the Dorchester Street property passed to three of his children, Ellen Lynch Weaver, Sarah Lynch Purnell and Charles E. Lynch. The three siblings sold the property to the Bank of Ocean City in 1986. Lot 48 was subsequently subdivided into two parcels: lot 48A, the bank building property, and lot 48B, the adjoining commercial property. At the same time, the bank sold lot 48B to Sam Shrem, a developer from Brooklyn, New York, for $115,000.

The Bank of Ocean City decided in 2019 to close its branch on Dorchester Street. Rather than sell or demolish the over 100-year-old structure, the board of directors instead approved a plan to convey the building to the Town of Ocean City for the exclusive use of the Ocean City Museum Society.

The museum is growing physically as we begin to make plans for the future annex in the former Bank of Ocean City building. This building will add much-needed display space on the first floor. Additionally, plans for the second floor include archival storage space for many of the donated items to the museum. The State of Maryland has awarded the Town of Ocean City a grant to begin the process with the exterior demolition and restoration to the appearance of the building as it was when it first opened as a bank in 1916. Watch this corner as we travel back into the past!