Like Atlantic City history? This hotel and casino timeline has some of the pivotal dates in the city’s past. You can learn all about the significance of these dates–and much more–in Boardwalk Playground.
1854: Atlantic City founded; Chalkey Leeds elected first mayor
1854: United States Hotel opens
1860: Dennis Cottage opens
1869: Shelburne opens
1870: First Boardwalk built
1876: Brighton Cottage opens
1879: Traymore opens
1880: Second Boardwalk built
1884: Third Boardwalk built
1884: Applegate’s Pier opens (today Central Pier)
1890: Fourth Boardwalk built
1892: Dennis Hotel expands to 250 rooms
1896: Fifth Boardwalk built
1898: United States Hotel closes
1898: Traymore enlarged to 450 rooms
1898: Steel Pier opens
1902: Marlborough House opens
1906: Blenheim opens
1906: Million Dollar Pier opens
1911: Dennis Hotel is 450 rooms
1913: Garden Pier opens
1915: Concrete Traymore opens
1927: Knife and Fork restaurant opens
1929: Convention (Boardwalk) Hall opens
1930: Claridge opens
1935: Club Harlem opens
1936: 500 Club opens
1940: Captain Starn’s restaurant opens
1946: White House Subs opens
1973: 500 Club burns, is never reopened
November 5, 1974: First New Jersey casino legalization referendum is defeated
1976: Ram’s Head Inn opens
November 2, 1976: Second New Jersey casino legalization referendum is approved
1978: Shelburne Hotel closes
May 26, 1978: Resorts International opens
1979: Captain Starn’s closes
June 26, 1979: Caesars Boardwalk Regency opens
December 27, 1979: Bally’s Park Place (Atlantic City) opens
August 13, 1980: Brighton (Sands) opens
November 23, 1980: Harrah’s Marina (Atlantic City) opens
December 12, 1980: Golden Nugget (Bally’s Grand, Atlantic City Hilton, Atlantic Club) opens
April 14, 1981: Elsinore’s Playboy (Atlantis, Trump Regency, Trump World’s Fair) opens
July 23, 1981: Claridge opens
November 26, 1981: Tropicana opens
May 26, 1984: Harrah’s at Trump Plaza opens
June 19, 1985: Trump Castle (Trump Marina, Golden Nugget) opens
1986: Club Harlem closes
April 2, 1987: Showboat opens
May 22, 1989: Elsinore’s Atlantis closes
April 4, 1990: Trump Taj Mahal opens
May 5, 1996: Trump World’s Fair opens in former Regency/Atlantis
July 2, 1997: Bally’s Wild Wild West Casino opens
1998: Harrah’s Entertainment purchases the Showboat
October 3, 1999: Trump World’s Fair closes
May 31, 2001: Park Place Entertainment buys the Claridge, merges it with Bally’s
July 3, 2003: Borgata opens
April 26, 2005: Caesars Entertainment sells the Atlantic City Hilton to Colony Capital, LLC
June 13, 2005: Harrah’s Entertainment acquires Caesars Entertainment , making it the owner of Bally’s, Caesars, the Showboat, and Harrah’s casinos
November 11, 2006: Sands closes
February 7, 2012: Claridge casino closed
April 2, 2012: Revel opens
February 24, 2014: TJM Properties buys the Claridge from Caesars Entertainment, runs it as a non-gaming hotel
January 13, 2014: Atlantic Club closes
August 31, 2014: Showboat closes
September 2, 2014: Revel closes
September 16, 2014: Trump Plaza closes
October 10, 2016: Trump Taj Mahal closes
March 1, 2017: Trump Taj Mahal sold to Hard Rock International