Wildwood, New Jersey facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Wildwood, New Jersey
City
City of Wildwood
Sunrise in Wildwood
Map of Wildwood in Cape May County. Inset: Location of Cape May County highlighted in the State of New Jersey.
Census Bureau map of Wildwood, New Jersey
Wildwood, New Jersey Location in Cape May County, New Jersey Show map of Cape May County, New Jersey Wildwood, New Jersey Location in New Jersey Show map of New Jersey Wildwood, New Jersey Location in the United States Show map of the United States
Country	United States
State	New Jersey
County	Cape May
Incorporated	May 1, 1895 (as borough) January 1, 1912 (as city)
Government
• Type	Walsh Act
• Body	Board of Commissioners
Area
• Total	1.65 sq mi (4.28 km2)
• Land	1.54 sq mi (3.99 km2)
• Water	0.11 sq mi (0.29 km2)  6.79%
Area rank	434th of 565 in state 12th of 16 in county
Elevation	7 ft (2 m)
Population  (2010 Census)
• Total	5,325
• Estimate  (2019)	4,948
• Rank	367th of 566 in state 6th of 16 in county
• Density	4,082.0/sq mi (1,576.1/km2)
• Density rank	151st of 566 in state 1st of 16 in county
Time zone	UTC−05:00 (Eastern (EST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC−04:00 (Eastern (EDT))
ZIP Code	08260
Area code(s)	609 exchanges: 522, 523, 729, 846
FIPS code	3400981170
GNIS feature ID	0885444

Wildwood is a city in Cape May County, New Jersey, United States. It is part of the Ocean City Metropolitan Statistical Area and is a popular summer resort destination along the Jersey Shore. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's year-round population was 5,325, reflecting a decline of 111 (-2.0%) from the 5,436 counted in the 2000 Census, which had in turn increased by 952 (+21.2%) from the 4,484 counted in the 1990 Census. With visitors, the population can swell to 250,000 during the summer months. Wildwood was the first city in New Jersey to have a female mayor, Doris W. Bradway, who was ousted in a 1938 recall election.

The Wildwoods is used as a collective term for the four communities located on Wildwood island that have "Wildwood" as part of the municipality name — the Borough of Wildwood Crest, City of Wildwood, Borough of West Wildwood and the City of North Wildwood — together with Diamond Beach, a portion of Lower Township situated on the island. The city, and the surrounding communities that share the name, derives its name from the wild flowers found in the area.

History

Wildwood was originally incorporated as a borough by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on May 1, 1895, from portions of Middle Township, based on the results of a referendum held the previous day. On January 1, 1912, Wildwood was incorporated as a city, replacing both Wildwood borough and Holly Beach City.

The Wildwoods began developing as a resort in the last decade of the 19th century. A building boom began in the 1950s, due partially to the construction and completion of the Garden State Parkway in 1955.

"Rock Around the Clock", often credited as the first rock and roll record, was first performed on Memorial Day weekend in 1954 at the HofBrau Hotel in Wildwood by Bill Haley & His Comets. The song's status as one of the first rock and roll hits has given rise to the city's claim as "the birthplace of rock and roll".

Wildwoods Shore Resort Historic District

The Caribbean Motel

Wildwood is home to over 200 motels, built during the Doo-Wop era of the 1950s and 1960s, in an area recognized by the state of New Jersey, known as the Wildwoods Shore Resort Historic District. The term "doo-wop" was coined by Cape May's Mid-Atlantic Center For The Arts in the early 1990s to describe the unique, space-age architectural style, which is also referred to as the Googie or populuxe style.

The motels are unique in appearance, with Vegas-like neon signs and fantastic architecture. New construction in the area has seen the demolition of several motels to make room for larger condominiums. The Wildwood Doo Wop Preservation League has taken action to help save and restore these historic buildings. The Caribbean Motel in Wildwood Crest, and the Chateau Bleu Motel in North Wildwoods are both listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

A 1950s Doo Wop museum includes property from demolished motels such as neon signs and furniture. Neo-Doo Wop buildings in the area feature a neon lit Wawa and a 1950s styled Acme Supermarket.

Geography

Beach in Wildwood

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city had a total area of 1.394 square miles (3.613 km²), including 1.304 square miles (3.379 km²) of land and 0.090 square miles (0.234 km²) of water (6.49%).

The city is located on a barrier island facing the Atlantic Ocean. On the same island are the towns of North Wildwood, Wildwood Crest and Diamond Beach, a place in Lower Township. Collectively with the town of West Wildwood (located on a separate, adjacent island), these communities form "The Wildwoods" resort. Wildwood also borders Middle Township.

Unincorporated communities, localities and place names located partially or completely within the city include Five Mile Beach.

	West Wildwood Middle Township	North Wildwood	Atlantic Ocean
	Lower Township		Atlantic Ocean
		Wildwood
	Lower Township	Wildwood Crest Cape May	Atlantic Ocean

Demographics

Census 2010

As of the census of 2010, there were 5,325 people, 2,251 households, and 1,146 families residing in the city. The population density was 4,082.0 per square mile (1,576.1/km²). There were 6,843 housing units at an average density of 5,245.7 per square mile (2,025.4/km²)^*. The racial makeup of the city was 68.04% (3,623) White, 11.15% (594) Black or African American, 0.73% (39) Native American, 0.79% (42) Asian, 0.13% (7) Pacific Islander, 16.24% (865) from other races, and 2.91% (155) from two or more races. [[Hispanic (U.S. Census)|Hispanic or Latino of any race were 31.21% (1,662) of the population.

There were 2,251 households out of which 22.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 29.5% were married couples living together, 15.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 49.1% were non-families. 40.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 14.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.27 and the average family size was 3.03.

In the city, the population was spread out with 20.5% under the age of 18, 10.4% from 18 to 24, 28.2% from 25 to 44, 27.3% from 45 to 64, and 13.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38.0 years. For every 100 females there were 105.6 males. For every 100 females ages 18 and old there were 104.8 males.

The Census Bureau's 2006-2010 American Community Survey showed that (in 2010 inflation-adjusted dollars) median household income was $32,783 (with a margin of error of +/- $9,471) and the median family income was $45,125 (+/- $24,251). Males had a median income of $24,416 (+/- $1,945) versus $26,043 (+/- $7,007) for females. The per capita income for the borough was $25,118 (+/- $3,877). About 16.2% of families and 23.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 25.4% of those under age 18 and 8.7% of those age 65 or over.

Transportation

Route 47 northbound in Wildwood

Roads and highways

The city had a total of 32.38 miles (52.11 km) of roadways, of which 29.93 miles (48.17 km) were maintained by the municipality, 2.37 miles (3.81 km) by Cape May County and 0.08 miles (0.13 km) by the New Jersey Department of Transportation.

Route 47 (Rio Grande Avenue) has its southern terminus in Wildwood and continues into Lower Township via the George Reading Wildwood Bridge, which provides access to the Garden State Parkway. County Route 621 (New Jersey Avenue) runs for 1.3 miles (2.1 km) through the city, from Wildwood Crest to the south to North Wildwood in the north, and serves as part of Ocean Drive.

Parking in the beach and downtown areas of Wildwood is regulated by on-street parking meters and paid parking lots. Parking meters in Wildwood are in effect from May 15 to October 31. Wildwood has 24 paid parking lots in the beach area that are privately owned and charge varying rates based on demand. Among these lots is a 719-space lot operated by the Wildwoods Convention Center. There is also a public parking lot along Schellenger Avenue in the downtown area. In 2018, Wildwood began offering paid parking on the beach for vehicles with four-wheel drive at Baker Avenue, with space for 1,000 vehicles.

Public transportation

NJ Transit provides bus service to Philadelphia on the 313 and 315 routes and to Atlantic City on the 552 route, with seasonal service to Philadelphia on the 316 route, to the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan on the 319 route, and to Rio Grande on the 510 route. NJ Transit buses stop at the Wildwood Bus Terminal, which is located on Washington Avenue between Burk Avenue and Davis Avenue.

The Great American Trolley Company operates trolley service in Wildwood during the summer months. There are two trolley routes that provide service to the boardwalk at Schellenger Avenue in Wildwood during the evening hours, with one route serving Wildwood and Wildwood Crest daily and the other route serving North Wildwood on Fridays and Saturdays. Another trolley route runs from North Wildwood and Wildwood to shopping centers in Rio Grande, operating Mondays through Fridays. The Great American Trolley Company also runs trolley service to the Irish Fall Festival in North Wildwood, with a route connecting Wildwood Crest and Wildwood to the festival site during the weekend of the festival.

The Tramcar is a trackless train service running along the entire length of the Wildwoods boardwalk from Cresse Avenue in Wildwood to 16th Avenue in North Wildwood during the summer season.

In popular culture

• Bruce Willis worked as a bartender in Wildwood in his early days and can be seen on the Wildwood Days documentary.
• Cozy Morley, a once popular entertainer and club owner here, recorded a song called On The Way To Cape May.
• Wildwood is home to the beverage known as the "Lime Rickey".
• The song "Wildwood Days" by Bobby Rydell is about the shore town.
• The song "Everything's Wild in Wildwood" by The Treniers was inspired by summers in the early '50s during which they played residencies at a night club in the town.
• "Wildwood Blues", the 1967 song by the psychedelic rock band Nazz, is based on the Wildwood scene.

Wildwoods Convention Center

• A portion of the rock band Kiss's 1975 album Alive! was recorded from a July 23, 1975 concert at the old Wildwoods Convention Center.
• In the 1987 movie Wall Street, when Charlie Sheen's character tells Daryl Hannah's character she could have bought a beach house for four hundred thousand dollars (the value of a painting they were looking at) she sardonically replies, "Sure you could, in Wildwood New Jersey".
• WWE Raw came to the Wildwood Convention Center late summer of 2005. WWE SmackDown came to the Wildwood Convention Center late summer of 2006. WWE Raw broke an attendance record at the Wildwood convention center on August 10, 2007.
• A CKY song entitled "The Boardwalk Body" was written about a body found under the boardwalk on one of lead singer Deron Miller's childhood trips to Wildwood.
• The video for Jason Aldean's song "Laughed Until We Cried" is set in Wildwood.
• In the 2008 movie Wipe Out, the beach scenes were shot in Wildwood.
• A season 4 episode of Hoarders features Randy Senna, the owner of "Randyland" based out of Wildwood.
• On June 20, 2012, Kenny Chesney performed a free concert sponsored by American Express as part of their Unstaged series. The event took place on the Wildwood beach with 20,000 in attendance.
• In early 2016, filming began for a movie titled Wetlands, featuring actress Heather Graham.

Economy

Commerce

An iconic sign lights up a liquor store in Wildwood, which has more than 60 active liquor licenses

Portions of the city—together with areas in North Wildwood, West Wildwood and Wildwood Crest—are part of a joint Urban Enterprise Zone (UEZ), one of 32 zones covering 37 municipalities statewide. The four municipalities in The Wildwoods were selected in 2002 as one of a group of three zones added to participate in the program as part of a joint zone with. In addition to other benefits to encourage employment and investment within the Zone, shoppers can take advantage of a reduced 3.3125% sales tax rate (half of the 6+5⁄8% rate charged statewide) at eligible merchants. Established in September 2002, the city's Urban Enterprise Zone status expires in December 2023. The joint UEZ is overseen by the Enterprise Zone Development Corporation of the Wildwoods Board, which includes representatives from all four municipalities.

Tourism

North facing view of Wildwood

Wildwood is a resort city that is very popular with vacationers and tourists mostly from New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, and even nearby parts of Canada (particularly Ontario and Quebec) during the summer months. The year-round population of Wildwood of over 5,300 grows to as many as 250,000 or more during the peak tourist season during the summer. Its most notable features are its beach and 1.8 miles (2.9 km) boardwalk, home to the Morey's Piers amusement complex and Raging Waters and Ocean Oasis waterparks owned by Morey's Piers. The boardwalk features a trolley called the "Tramcar", which runs from end to end. In June 2006, its Doo-Wop-style motels were placed on the National Trust for Historic Preservation's annual Eleven Most Endangered List, described as "irreplaceable icons of popular culture." In June, thousands of recently graduated high school seniors come to Wildwood for Senior Week.

The Quebec motel, one of several hotels in Wildwood named to attract French Canadian tourists from Quebec

Wildwood was ranked the best beach in New Jersey in the 2008 Top 10 Beaches Contest sponsored by the New Jersey Marine Sciences Consortium. Wildwood is one of five municipalities in the state that offer free public access to oceanfront beaches monitored by lifeguards, joining Atlantic City, North Wildwood, Wildwood Crest and Upper Township's Strathmere section.

Wildwood is home to the New Jersey Firefighter's Convention, held annually every September since the 1970s. Known for its parade featuring fire company apparatus from across the state, it moved from Atlantic City due in part to rising crime and the disallowing of the parade on city streets. Wildwood is also home to an annual co-ed beach Ultimate Frisbee tournament drawing teams from all over the country that attracted 430 teams and over 5,000 players to its 19th annual event in 2011.

French Canadian tourists from Quebec visit Wildwood during the summer. There are motels in the Wildwoods named to attract tourists from Quebec, including Chateau Bleu, Fleur de Lis, Le Voyageur, Royal Canadian, and Quebec. Several hotels in Wildwood have signs in both English and French. The French Canadian tourists primarily vacation in Wildwood in July when Canada takes a two-week construction holiday.

Boardwalk

Shops on the boardwalk in Wildwood

The Wildwood Boardwalk features several amusement parks, water parks, an aquarium, and shops, most notably three piers collectively known as Morey's Piers. Due to the distance of the ocean from the boardwalk, the beach is home to many sporting events, concerts, and monster truck rallies in view of the boardwalk. Wildwood is the tenth most popular boardwalk in the United States. A stage is set off to the side of the boardwalk near Mariner's Landing Pier where several performances are held throughout the summer.

Wildwood Boardwalk, from the front of the Boardwalk Chapel

In 2008–09, a section of the boardwalk was rebuilt using ipe tropical hardwood, even though the town had made a commitment to use domestic black locust as a more environmentally friendly option. The black locust wood shipped by the supplier was deemed unacceptable and the commissioners decided to use ipe wood to ensure that the project could be completed in time for the upcoming season.

Boardwalk Chapel is a summertime Christian Gospel outreach on the boardwalk, sandwiched between a pizzeria and a gift shop. Visitors to the boardwalk are invited to attend any of its 77 consecutive evening services held during June, July and August.

Sports

Beach racing, featuring motorcycles and hot rods, takes place every year.

Over a four-day period each June, Wildwood hosts the National Marbles Tournament at Ringer Stadium, an event that dates back to 1922.

The Wildwood Aces were a professional basketball team that played in the United States Basketball League in 1985 and 1986. Their home court was the Wildwood Convention Hall.

Education

Wildwood High School

The Wildwood Public School District serves students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade. As of the 2019–20 school year, the district, comprised of three schools, had an enrollment of 938 students and 92.3 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 10.2:1. Schools in the district (with 2019–20 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics) are Glenwood Elementary School with 470 students in grades PreK-5, Wildwood Middle School with 186 students in grades 6-8 and Wildwood High School with 245 students in grades 9-12. For ninth through twelfth grades, students from North Wildwood and Wildwood Crest attend Wildwood High School as part of sending/receiving relationships. Public school students from West Wildwood, a non-operating school district, attend the district's schools for grades 9-12 as part of a sending/receiving relationship.

Students are also eligible to attend Cape May County Technical High School in the Cape May Court House area, which serves students from the entire county in its comprehensive and vocational programs, which are offered without charge to students who are county residents. Special needs students may be referred to Cape May County Special Services School District in the Cape May Court House area.

There is one Catholic school on the island, Wildwood Catholic Academy (PreK-12) in North Wildwood, which operates under the auspices of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Camden. There was previously a Catholic elementary school in Wildwood, St. Ann's School, which operated until 2010, when it merged into Cape Trinity Regional School (PreK – 8) in North Wildwood. Upon its creation Cape Trinity Catholic Regional School operated separately from Wildwood Catholic High School but shared a common building. On April 17, 2020, the Diocese of Camden announced that both of its Wildwood schools would permanently close at the end of the school year, which is June 30, 2020. However, both schools avoided closure after agreeing to merge to create Wildwood Catholic Academy. Additionally As of 2020^[update] Bishop McHugh Regional School in Dennis Township takes students from Wildwood.

Notable people

People who were born in, residents of, or otherwise closely associated with Wildwood include:

• Joseph R. Applegate (1925-2003), linguistics expert who was the first black faculty member at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
• J. Thompson Baker (1847–1919), represented New Jersey's 2nd congressional district from 1913 to 1915, and was the first mayor of the consolidated city of Wildwood.
• Randy Beverly (born 1944), former NFL cornerback who played for the New York Jets.
• Edwin Corle (1906-1956), author.
• Ace Darling (born 1975), professional wrestler.
• Remy Hamilton (born 1974), Arena Football League player, Los Angeles Avengers.
• Joy Bright Hancock (1898–1986), one of the first female U.S. Navy officers.
• Wes Hills (born 1995), American football running back who has played in the NFL for the Detroit Lions.
• Sue Lowden (born 1952), former member of the Nevada Senate who was Miss New Jersey in 1973.
• Joey Maggs (1969–2006), professional wrestler.
• Guy F. Muziani (1925-1988), politician who served in the New Jersey General Assembly from the 1st Legislative District from 1982 to 1988 and served 11 years as mayor of Wildwood.
• Bernie Parent (born 1945), goalie for Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs and most notably Philadelphia Flyers where he back-stopped the team to two consecutive Stanley Cups.
• Mickey Shaughnessy (1920-1985), actor.
• George Sheldon (1947-2018), Acting Assistant Secretary for the Administration for Children and Families who served in the Florida House of Representatives.

See also

In Spanish: Wildwood (Nueva Jersey) para niños