Vanishing Ocean City With Bunk Mann

The Dispatch

St. Rose’s Summer Home for Orphans was built by the Sisters of Charity of Washington, DC in 1898. It was far outside of city limits at the time (Ocean City ended at 7th Street in that era) and the road to 14th Street was unpaved. Supplies were delivered by ox cart and horse drawn wagon and it would be over 30 years before the Boardwalk was extended that far north.
In 1911, the building was sold to the Dominican Fathers of Catholic University and used as a summer home for students preparing for the priesthood. In 1946, the property and land around it was sold again in what was the largest real estate auction in Ocean City history up to that time and the building divided into two attached hotels -- the LaGrande and the Broadripple.
The LaGrande was damaged in the March Storm of ’62 and subsequently demolished while the Broadripple was torn down in 2009. Today the site is a parking lot for the Beach Plaza Hotel.
Photo courtesy Bill and Kitt Matthews