Days Gone by

Lots of excitement in the county last fall when Cooper University Health Systems acquired Cape Regional Hospital. But long before Cape Regional and Burdette Tomlin, Sea Isle City had two of its own, very local hospitals. The Sea Isle City Hospital and Training School opened here 99 years ago in 1926 at 48th Street and Pleasure Avenue. It was the brainchild of Claude Van Hook, who would become mayor of Sea Isle City in March of 1956. Sea Isle Hospital would be replaced in 1946 by Frank Dealy’s Surf Hospital, which would become Mercy Hospital in 1953. Mercy Hospital would operate in our community until Oct. 15, 1969.