Lucy The Elephant - 1900s

1900s

Over the years, Lucy had served as a hotel, restaurant, business office, cottage, and tavern (the last closed by Prohibition). The building was depicted on many souvenir postcards, often as "The Elephant Hotel of Atlantic City."

By the 1960s, Lucy had fallen into disrepair and was scheduled for demolition. In 1969, Edwin T. Carpenter and a group of Margate citizens formed the Margate Civic Association, which later became the Save Lucy Committee under Josephine Harron and Sylvia Carpenter. They were given a 30-day deadline to move the edifice or pay for its demolition. Various fund-raising events, the most successful a door-to-door canvass by volunteers, raised money. In 1970, the building was moved about 100 yards to the west-southwest and a bit inward from the shoreline. The building was also completely refurbished. The building's original wooden frame buttressed by a steel one, and the deteriorated howdah was replaced with a replica. A plug of green glass set into the howdah platform refracts light into Lucy's interior.

In 1976, Lucy was designated a National Historic Landmark.