Editing Bethany Beach, Delaware (section)

==History==

===Before 1900===
[[File:Ocean View church group future Bethany Beach 1880.jpg|upright=1.2|thumb|A church group from [[Ocean View, Delaware|Ocean View]], Delaware, at a fish fry along the uninhabited Atlantic coast east of Ocean View in 1880. Bethany Beach would be founded in this area 21 years later. This may be the first photograph ever taken of what was to become Bethany Beach.<ref>{{cite book|title=Bethany Beach Memoirs: A Long Look Back|year=1998|publisher=Harold E. Dukes|page=160|author=James D. Meehan|edition=Fourth Printing|author2=Harold E. Dukes}}</ref>]]
There is a lack of evidence of Native American activity in the Bethany Beach area. Prior to the arrival of European settlers in North America, Native American settlements appear to have been limited to the area north of the [[Indian River (Delaware)|Indian River]], north of what is now Bethany Beach; even after Europeans pushed the Native Americans—mostly [[Nanticoke Indian Tribe|Nanticokes]]—out of their coastal settlements in the mid-17th century, the Native Americans moved west to settle around [[Oak Orchard, Delaware|Oak Orchard]], Delaware, and in the [[Millsboro, Delaware|Millsboro]], Delaware, area rather than south toward what would become Bethany Beach.<ref name="Meehan, p. 15">{{cite book|title=Bethany Beach Memoirs: A Long Look Back|year=1998|publisher=Harold E. Dukes|author=James D. Meehan|edition=Fourth Printing|author2=Harold E. Dukes|page=15}}</ref> However, Native Americans are known to have visited the bays and rivers of the Atlantic coast of Delaware during the summer to fish, and it is possible that this included visits to the Bethany Beach area.<ref>Walter, Laura, "Past," ''The Story of South Bethany, Delaware'', Ocean View, Delaware: Coastal Point LLC, 2015, p. 13.</ref>

Europeans also did not settle the area prior to 1900, probably because [[Indian River Inlet]] cut the area off from their settlements to the north and because the town of [[Ocean View, Delaware|Ocean View]], founded in 1889 and now Bethany Beach's neighbor to the west, did not expand its boundaries eastward toward the coast.<ref name="Meehan, p. 15"/>

The portion of Delaware in which Bethany Beach lies was subject to a lengthy legal dispute as to whether the land belonged to the [[Province of Maryland]] or the [[Province of Pennsylvania]], [[Penn–Calvert Boundary Dispute|''Penn vs. Baltimore'']], that broke out in 1683. While it dragged on, [[William Penn]] granted the [[Delaware Colony]] its own legislature in 1701, establishing it as a separate colony. The dispute over the boundaries of the three colonies was not resolved until 1759, when the parties to the dispute agreed that the area where Bethany Beach now lies was part of Delaware.

===The founding of Bethany Beach===
In 1898, F. D. Powers—a minister at the Vermont Avenue Christian Church (today the [[National City Christian Church]]), a congregation of the [[Disciples of Christ]] in Washington, D.C.—was serving as president of the annual convention of Washington-area Disciples when he suggested that a Christian meeting place be established on the Atlantic coast of the United States. He envisioned it as analogous to the [[Chatauqua]] adult-education summer-camp movement popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and played a key role in selecting the site of what would become Bethany Beach.  The Christian Missionary Society endorsed his idea in 1898 and established a committee to study the matter; under his leadership, it recommended the [[Delmarva Peninsula]] as a suitable location for such a settlement, and later selected the empty coastal area east of Ocean View owned by the Ocean View landowner Ezekiel Evans as the specific site for the community.<ref>{{cite book|title=Bethany Beach Memoirs: A Long Look Back|year=1998|publisher=Harold E. Dukes|author=James D. Meehan|edition=Fourth Printing|author2=Harold E. Dukes|pages=17, 154}}</ref>

In 1900, the Disciples of Christ held a nationwide contest to name the proposed community, the winner to receive an oceanside lot there. A committee of three men from [[Scranton, Pennsylvania|Scranton]], Pennsylvania, was responsible for choosing a name from among the entries; although it considered the names "Wellington" and "Gladmere", it chose the name "Bethany Beach" suggested by H. L. Atkinson of the [[University of Chicago]]. Powers supposedly also suggested the name "Bethany Beach", but the committee received Powers' entry two weeks after Atkinson's and thus Atkinson was deemed the winner.<ref>{{cite book|title=Bethany Beach Memoirs: A Long Look Back|year=1998|publisher=Harold E. Dukes|author=James D. Meehan|edition=Fourth Printing|author2=Harold E. Dukes|page=19}}</ref>
[[File:Bethany Beach Tabernacle.jpg|upright=1.2|thumb|The original [[Tabernacle (Methodist)|Tabernacle]] in its early years. It stood from 1903 to 1961, and served as Bethany Beach's [[auditorium]] and religious and cultural center.<ref>{{cite book|title=Bethany Beach Memoirs: A Long Look Back|year=1998|publisher=Harold E. Dukes|author=James D. Meehan|edition=Fourth Printing|author2=Harold E. Dukes|page=23}}</ref>]]
Also in 1900, the Disciples of Christ formed the Bethany Beach Improvement Company,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5837874/bethany_beach_improvement_company/|date=November 17, 1900|work=Denton Journal|title=The Local Department|location=Denton, Maryland|page=3|url-access=subscription |access-date=July 9, 2016|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> which raised the money to purchase the land for the new town from Evans. Marketing the new community aggressively, the company sold 150 lots in Bethany Beach, mostly to families from Washington, D.C., [[Pittsburgh]], Pennsylvania, and Scranton. It laid out streets and began the construction of the [[Tabernacle (Methodist)|Tabernacle]], an octagonal [[auditorium]] which was dedicated on July 24, 1901, while still under construction and would serve as the town's central meeting place and cultural center, hosting both church services and entertainment events. The company also made plans to build cottages on the lots it had sold and to establish a railroad branch line passing through Ocean View and Millville that would connect Bethany Beach with the main line to the west at either [[Dagsboro, Delaware|Dagsboro]] or [[Frankford, Delaware|Frankford]], Delaware,<ref name="Meehan, p. 17">{{cite book|title=Bethany Beach Memoirs: A Long Look Back|year=1998|publisher=Harold E. Dukes|author=James D. Meehan|edition=Fourth Printing|author2=Harold E. Dukes|page=17}}</ref><ref name=morgan20160524>Morgan, Michael, "Not Enough Traffic For a Train to Bethany," ''Delaware Wave'', May 24, 2016, p. 52.</ref> promising that the railroad would begin operations on July 4, 1901;<ref name=history>{{cite web|title=History|url=http://www.bethany-beach.net/history.htm|publisher=Bethany-Beach.net|access-date=July 16, 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921053441/http://www.bethany-beach.net/history.htm|archive-date=September 21, 2013}}</ref> however, the 1901 season came and went with no railroad in operation.

A temporary town government began to operate in 1901. This event is celebrated as the founding of Bethany Beach, although the town would not be incorporated for another eight years.<ref name="Meehan, p. 147">{{cite book|title=Bethany Beach Memoirs: A Long Look Back|year=1998|publisher=Harold E. Dukes|author=James D. Meehan|edition=Fourth Printing|author2=Harold E. Dukes|page=147}}</ref>

On July 12, 1901, Bethany Beach's inaugural summer season officially began with a crowd at the incomplete Tabernacle singing a song written especially for the occasion and sung to the tune of "[[Marching Through Georgia]]".<ref name=morgan20160524/><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=yEu4bKkJzOoC&pg=PA147 Morgan, Michael, ''Pirates and Patriots: Tales of the Delaware Coast''], New York: Algora Publishing, 2004, {{ISBN|0-87586-338-8}}, p. 147.</ref>

===The financial crisis of 1902–1903===
Bethany Beach soon encountered financial problems which threatened to bring the planned town to an end almost before it could begin. Bankers in [[Georgetown, Delaware|Georgetown]], Delaware, hesitated to loan money for the development of Bethany Beach because they had lost money on the development of [[Rehoboth Beach, Delaware|Rehoboth Beach]] to the north. Without sufficient financial backing, the Bethany Beach Improvement Company was unable to act on its plans, and little development occurred in Bethany Beach; basic services were lacking, construction stalled, work on the hoped-for railroad never began, and there was little agreement on how to address the new community's problems. In May 1902 the Christian Missionary Society withdrew its endorsement of Bethany Beach.<ref name="Meehan, p. 17"/><ref name=history/>
[[File:Bethany Beach boardwalk pre-1920.jpg|upright=1.2|thumb|A view looking north of the original, surface-level boardwalk at Bethany Beach that was completed in 1903. It was destroyed by a storm in 1920.<ref name="Meehan, p. 64">{{cite book|title=Bethany Beach Memoirs: A Long Look Back|year=1998|publisher=Harold E. Dukes|author=James D. Meehan|edition=Fourth Printing|author2=Harold E. Dukes|page=64}}</ref>]]
Twenty-three landowners, mostly from the Pittsburgh area, concerned that the value of their Bethany Beach lots would drop, selected a committee to address the situation. The committee studied the problem, communicated with the Christian Missionary Society, and in September 1902 organized a meeting in Washington, D.C., which led to lengthy negotiations about putting Bethany Beach on a firm financial footing.  The negotiations dragged on until 1903, when six Pittsburgh-area investors agreed to buy all of the Bethany Beach Improvement Company's stock, selling three shares to a Delaware resident so that there would be at least some local ownership. This put the company on a firm financial footing and allowed the development of Bethany Beach to resume.<ref name="Meehan, p. 17"/>
[[File:Steamer Atlantic.jpg|upright=1.3|left|thumb|The [[Steamboat|steamer]] ''Atlantic'', which until 1910 transported passengers bound for Bethany Beach between [[Rehoboth Beach, Delaware|Rehoboth Beach]], Delaware, and [[Ocean View, Delaware|Ocean View]], Delaware.<ref>{{cite book|title=Bethany Beach Memoirs: A Long Look Back|year=1998|publisher=Harold E. Dukes|author=James D. Meehan|edition=Fourth Printing|author2=Harold E. Dukes|page=42}}</ref>]]

The Christian Missionary Society eventually restored its endorsement of Bethany Beach, and summer programs modeled on the Chatauqua movement began in the town,<ref name="Meehan, p. 17"/> meeting with modest success.<ref name="Meehan, p. 127">{{cite book|title=Bethany Beach Memoirs: A Long Look Back|year=1998|publisher=Harold E. Dukes|author=James D. Meehan|edition=Fourth Printing|author2=Harold E. Dukes|page=127}}</ref> Soon, the Bethany Beach Improvement Company dug a well to provide the town with fresh water.<ref name="Meehan, p. 17"/> In 1903, the company completed the [[Tabernacle (Methodist)|Tabernacle]] and built a surface-level [[List of boardwalks in the United States#Delaware|boardwalk]] along the beach.<ref name="Meehan, p. 147"/>

===The "Quiet Years"===
[[File:Motorboat Allie May.jpg|upright=1.15|thumb|The [[motorboat]] ''Allie May'', which transported passengers between [[Rehoboth Beach, Delaware|Rehoboth Beach]] and Bethany Beach from 1910 to 1912.<ref name="Meehan, p. 44">{{cite book|title=Bethany Beach Memoirs: A Long Look Back|year=1998|publisher=Harold E. Dukes|author=James D. Meehan|edition=Fourth Printing|author2=Harold E. Dukes|page=44}}</ref>]]
[[File:Motorboat Helen Marie II.jpg|upright=1.15|thumb|The motorboat ''Helen Marie II'', which replaced the ''Allie May'' on the Rehoboth Beach-Bethany Beach run in 1912.<ref name="Meehan, p. 44"/>]]
Longtime residents and regular visitors came to refer to Bethany Beach's history prior to the early 1950s as the "Quiet Years". Despite the plans of the town's founders to build one, no railroad ever came to Bethany Beach<ref name=history/> because traffic was insufficient to make such a railroad profitable,<ref name=morgan20160524/> so visitors typically had to travel by train to [[Baltimore]], Maryland, spend the night there, then travel by boat across the [[Chesapeake Bay]] to the Delmarva Peninsula and by train across the peninsula to Rehoboth Beach. Until 1910, they then had to take the [[Steamboat|steamer]] ''Atlantic'' across [[Rehoboth Bay]] and Indian River Bay to Ocean View, and then travel by horsedrawn carriage to Bethany Beach. On July 8, 1910,<ref name="Meehan, p. 44-45">{{cite book|title=Bethany Beach Memoirs: A Long Look Back|year=1998|publisher=Harold E. Dukes|author=James D. Meehan|edition=Fourth Printing|author2=Harold E. Dukes|pages=44–45}}</ref> the Loop Canal was completed in Bethany Beach, allowing the [[motorboat]] ''Allie May''—replaced in 1912 by the motorboat ''Helen Marie II''—to dock at the town itself.<ref name="Meehan, p. 44-45"/> Even with this improvement, however, the trip to Bethany Beach was uncomfortable and exhausting and from anywhere outside Delaware took at least a full day; from Pittsburgh it took two.<ref name="Meehan, p. 41">{{cite book|title=Bethany Beach Memoirs: A Long Look Back|year=1998|publisher=Harold E. Dukes|author=James D. Meehan|edition=Fourth Printing|author2=Harold E. Dukes|page=41}}</ref>

Bethany Beach's remote location meant that most beachgoers preferred to visit Rehoboth Beach to the north or [[Ocean City, Maryland|Ocean City]], Maryland, to the south, both of which they could reach directly by train.  The small population of permanent residents of and regular visitors to Bethany Beach came to know one another well, and the town remained a quiet place that contrasted with the busier and more crowded atmosphere of Rehoboth Beach and Ocean City. Throughout the Quiet Years, it was unusual to find more than 20 people on Bethany Beach's wide beach at any one time.<ref name="Meehan, p. 41"/> Bethany Beach's origin as a Christian community also tended to favor a quieter lifestyle; in its early years, for example, the religious character of Bethany Beach was expressed through the prohibition of non-religious activities on Sunday, although swimming in the ocean was permitted on Sundays between 3:00 and 6:00&nbsp;pm.<ref name="Meehan, p. 127"/> Although Bethany Beach became more and more secular and more developed over the years, it retains its "Quiet Resort" reputation to this day.

Many of the property owners during the Quiet Years were from Washington, D.C., and Pittsburgh. Those from Pittsburgh tended to have homes in the northern part of Bethany Beach—at least part of which became known as "Little Pittsburgh"<ref>{{cite book|title=Bethany Beach Memoirs: A Long Look Back|year=1998|publisher=Harold E. Dukes|author=James D. Meehan|edition=Fourth Printing|author2=Harold E. Dukes|page=51}}</ref> for a time—while Washingtonians tended to build their houses on properties in the southern part of town.<ref>{{cite book|title=Bethany Beach Memoirs: A Long Look Back|year=1998|publisher=Harold E. Dukes|author=James D. Meehan|edition=Fourth Printing|author2=Harold E. Dukes|page=30}}</ref>
[[File:Bethany Beach north pre-1920.jpg|upright=1.15|thumb|Northern Bethany Beach in the town's early years, with the lifesaving station in the distance. The dark-colored cottage second from right was destroyed by a storm in 1920.<ref>{{cite book|title=Bethany Beach Memoirs: A Long Look Back|year=1998|publisher=Harold E. Dukes|author=James D. Meehan|edition=Fourth Printing|author2=Harold E. Dukes|page=50}}</ref>]]

During the Quiet Years, Bethany Beach gradually acquired more and more amenities and its government provided more and more services. The Ocean View Post Office established a branch in Bethany Beach in 1904,<ref name="Meehan, p. 147"/> though it appears that a regular mail route including the town was not available until 1922.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5835617/mail_routes_in_sussex_enlarged/|title=Mail Routes in Sussex Enlarged|last=Staff|date=September 30, 1922|work=[[News J.|The News Journal]]|location=Wilmington, Delaware|page=2|url-access=subscription |access-date=July 9, 2016|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> A town newspaper, the ''Bethany Herald'', began publication in 1904; later renamed the ''Bethany Booster'', its name eventually was switched back to ''Bethany Herald'', and it published until the late 1980s.<ref>{{cite book|title=Bethany Beach Memoirs: A Long Look Back|year=1998|publisher=Harold E. Dukes|author=James D. Meehan|edition=Fourth Printing|author2=Harold E. Dukes|page=149}}</ref> The boardwalk was reconstructed in 1905,<ref name=history/> a [[United States Lifesaving Service]] station began operations in the town in 1907,<ref>{{Cite book|title=Bethany Beach Memoirs: A Long Look Back|last1=Meehan|first1=James D.|last2=Dukes|first2=Harold E.|publisher=Harold E. Dukes|year=1998|edition=Fourth Printing|pages=29}}</ref> and the Town of Bethany Beach was incorporated in 1909.<ref name="Meehan, p. 17"/> The Bethany Beach School was established for students in grades one through six; after the sixth grade they had to attend Lord Baltimore School in Ocean View.<ref name=Meehanp62>{{cite book|title=Bethany Beach Memoirs: A Long Look Back|year=1998|publisher=Harold E. Dukes|author=James D. Meehan|edition=Fourth Printing|author2=Harold E. Dukes|page=62}}</ref> The boardwalk underwent yet another reconstruction in 1912.<ref name=history/>

When the U.S. Lifesaving Service merged with the [[United States Revenue Cutter Service]] to form the [[United States Coast Guard]] in 1915, the town's lifesaving station became a Coast Guard station. The [[Delaware National Guard]] established a summer training camp just north of town in the early 1920s.<ref>{{cite book|title=Bethany Beach Memoirs: A Long Look Back|year=1998|publisher=Harold E. Dukes|author=James D. Meehan|edition=Fourth Printing|author2=Harold E. Dukes|pages=70, 153}}</ref> The Ringler Theater, which showed movies and hosted dance parties, opened on the boardwalk in 1923; generally considered to be the first commercial enterprise on the boardwalk, it became one of the town's major attractions.<ref>{{cite book|title=Bethany Beach Memoirs: A Long Look Back|year=1998|publisher=Harold E. Dukes|author=James D. Meehan|edition=Fourth Printing|author2=Harold E. Dukes|pages=56, 154}}</ref> A privately owned electric lighting plant began operations in 1924, lighting the town hall and street lamps; in 1926, the town bought the plant and began garbage collection. The town's lone bowling alley opened in 1930 and became a popular social attraction,<ref>{{cite book|title=Bethany Beach Memoirs: A Long Look Back|year=1998|publisher=Harold E. Dukes|author=James D. Meehan|edition=Fourth Printing|author2=Harold E. Dukes|page=77}}</ref> The first restaurant on the boardwalk that was not part of a hotel opened in 1933 and stood until destroyed by a fire in 1953.<ref>{{cite book|title=Bethany Beach Memoirs: A Long Look Back|year=1998|publisher=Harold E. Dukes|author=James D. Meehan|edition=Fourth Printing|author2=Harold E. Dukes|page=156}}</ref> Bethany Beach's first tennis court was completed in the mid-1930s.<ref name="Meehan, p. 41"/> A dirt road between Rehoboth Beach and Bethany Beach, the first road between the two towns, opened in 1934.<ref name="Meehan, p. 147"/>
[[File:O.D. Witherell aground.jpg|upright=1.1|left|thumb|The ship ''O. D. Witherell'' aground 3½ miles (5.6 kilometers) south of Bethany Beach on April 21, 1911. Built in 1874, she had been on a voyage from New York City to [[Philadelphia]], Pennsylvania.<ref>{{cite book|title=Bethany Beach Memoirs: A Long Look Back|year=1998|publisher=Harold E. Dukes|author=James D. Meehan|edition=Fourth Printing|author2=Harold E. Dukes|page=58}}</ref>]]
[[File:Bethany Beach boardwalk pre-1920 with surf.jpg|upright=1.15|thumb|A wave breaks across the original, surface-level boardwalk at Bethany Beach. After the 1920 storm destroyed it, it was replaced by an elevated boardwalk in 1923.<ref name="Meehan, p. 64"/>]]
The Quiet Years were not without dramatic events. Shipwrecks had occurred along the Delaware coast for centuries, and were not uncommon in Bethany Beach's area even in the early 20th century.  A 1920 storm destroyed some beachfront houses<ref name="Meehan, p. 41"/> and the original surface-level boardwalk,<ref name="Meehan, p. 64"/> which soon was replaced by a new, elevated boardwalk.<ref>{{cite book|title=Bethany Beach Memoirs: A Long Look Back|year=1998|publisher=Harold E. Dukes|author=James D. Meehan|edition=Fourth Printing|author2=Harold E. Dukes|page=65}}</ref> Another damaging storm struck in 1927.<ref>{{cite book|title=Bethany Beach Memoirs: A Long Look Back|year=1998|publisher=Harold E. Dukes|author=James D. Meehan|edition=Fourth Printing|author2=Harold E. Dukes|page=32}}</ref> The intense [[1933 Chesapeake–Potomac hurricane]] passed through the area in August 1933, causing flooding in Bethany Beach but no deaths anywhere in Delaware.

No church came to Bethany Beach other than that of its founders, the Disciples of Christ, until 1940, when an [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopalian]] church opened in the town.<ref>{{cite book|title=Bethany Beach Memoirs: A Long Look Back|year=1998|publisher=Harold E. Dukes|author=James D. Meehan|edition=Fourth Printing|author2=Harold E. Dukes|page=133}}</ref> A [[Roman Catholicism|Roman Catholic]] church opened in Bethany Beach in 1956.<ref>{{cite book|title=Bethany Beach Memoirs: A Long Look Back|year=1998|publisher=Harold E. Dukes|author=James D. Meehan|edition=Fourth Printing|author2=Harold E. Dukes|page=134}}</ref>

====World War II era====
[[World War II]] temporarily interrupted the Quiet Years. The [[United States government]] took an increasing interest in defending the Delaware coast after war broke out in Europe in 1939 and paved the road from Rehoboth Beach to a point south of Bethany Beach in 1940. The impact of the war on the area increased after the United States entered the war in December 1941: the town was blacked out at night beginning in 1942 to reduce the chance of German submarine attacks on ships offshore, and the beach and boardwalk closed at 9:00&nbsp;p.m. to make it easier for military personnel to patrol against landings by enemy agents and saboteurs. Many personnel of the various armed forces were billeted in the town or based nearby, German [[Prisoner of war|prisoners of war]] were held in the area, a radar station was built nearby to the west, and the [[United States Army]] built a gunnery control tower south of town to support the [[Coast Artillery]] guns at [[Fort Miles]] on [[Cape Henlopen]]. Patrol dogs intended for use along the entire [[United States East Coast]] were trained just north of Bethany Beach. Wartime gasoline rationing made frequent short trips to Bethany Beach impractical, and many of the visitors during the war years spent entire summers at Bethany Beach instead.<ref>{{cite book|title=Bethany Beach Memoirs: A Long Look Back|year=1998|publisher=Harold E. Dukes|author=James D. Meehan|edition=Fourth Printing|author2=Harold E. Dukes|page=85}}</ref>

During the war, a destructive storm struck Bethany Beach in mid-September 1944. It destroyed the Ringler Theater, which was not rebuilt, and badly damaged the boardwalk and the town's pavilion.<ref name="Meehan, p. 147"/> The boardwalk was rebuilt later that year.<ref name=history/>

The customary atmosphere of the Quiet Years resumed soon after World War II ended in 1945. By 1946, all Bethany Beach residents received water service.<ref name="Meehan, p. 147"/> In 1948, the all-volunteer Bethany Beach Fire Department was established, and the town acquired property for a fire station in 1949.<ref name="Meehan, p. 126"/>

===Bethany Beach's growth years===

====The 1950s and early 1960s====
In 1952, the first span of the [[Chesapeake Bay Bridge]] opened, heralding the end of the Quiet Years and the beginning of accelerated development of the area as a beach resort. The bridge allowed motorists for the first time to drive from Washington, D.C., and Baltimore to the Delmarva Peninsula without a lengthy drive circling around the northern tip of the [[Chesapeake Bay]]. This made the Delaware coast a more popular vacation destination, and the development of real estate in and around Bethany Beach began in earnest. A real estate boom began, and was in full swing by the late 1960s;<ref name="Meehan, p. 93">{{cite book|title=Bethany Beach Memoirs: A Long Look Back|year=1998|publisher=Harold E. Dukes|author=James D. Meehan|edition=Fourth Printing|author2=Harold E. Dukes|page=93}}</ref> banking flourished in the area.<ref>{{cite book|title=Bethany Beach Memoirs: A Long Look Back|year=1998|publisher=Harold E. Dukes|author=James D. Meehan|edition=Fourth Printing|author2=Harold E. Dukes|page=117}}</ref> The opening of the bridge's second span in 1973 made access even easier and, if anything, accelerated development further. Bethany Beach residents generally opposed the development of the area sparked by the opening of the bridge, and much political fighting occurred over the various real estate projects proposed for the area. Ultimately, economic pressure to develop the area was too great, and the Quiet Years came to end.<ref name="Meehan, p. 93"/>

The first development north of Bethany Beach, [[Sussex Shores, Delaware|Sussex Shores]], opened in either 1953 or 1958.<ref name="Meehan, p. 93, 155">{{cite book|title=Bethany Beach Memoirs: A Long Look Back|year=1998|publisher=Harold E. Dukes|author=James D. Meehan|edition=Fourth Printing|author2=Harold E. Dukes|pages=93, 155}}</ref> South of town, the [[Middlesex Beach, Delaware|Middlesex Beach]] community was built in 1958–1959. [[South Bethany, Delaware|South Bethany]], to the south of Middlesex Beach, considered the first major new development in the area, was built in 1962 and incorporated as a town in its own right in 1969.<ref name="Meehan, p. 93"/>

In 1961, the original Tabernacle, which had deteriorated badly since its completion 58 years earlier, was demolished.<ref name="Meehan, p. 155">{{cite book|title=Bethany Beach Memoirs: A Long Look Back|year=1998|publisher=Harold E. Dukes|author=James D. Meehan|edition=Fourth Printing|author2=Harold E. Dukes|page=155}}</ref>

The most destructive storm in Bethany Beach's history, the [[Ash Wednesday Storm of 1962]], was a surprise [[nor'easter]] that struck in March 1962. Created by the combination of what had been two separate storms, the nor'easter arrived on the evening of March 5, with 80-mile-per-hour (129-kilometer-per-hour) winds and 30-foot (9.1-meter) waves. The storm continued through three high tides while the tides were at their monthly peak before abating on March 7. Destruction was widespread; many of the beachfront structures that had stood since Bethany Beach's early decades were destroyed, including the bowling alley and many of the inns and houses, as were the boardwalk and town pavilion. Only one beachfront house in the southern part of town survived. Flood waters penetrated as far inland as Ocean View, and only three houses anywhere in Bethany Beach escaped flooding. Extensive [[coastal erosion|beach erosion]] occurred, and sand several feet (over a meter) deep buried streets and cars and filled entire rooms in some houses. Damages along the Delmarva Peninsula's Atlantic coastline exceeded $50&nbsp;million (USD).<ref name="Meehan, p. 103">{{cite book|title=Bethany Beach Memoirs: A Long Look Back|year=1998|publisher=Harold E. Dukes|author=James D. Meehan|edition=Fourth Printing|author2=Harold E. Dukes|page=103}}</ref> After the storm, the town rebuilt the boardwalk and put new regulations in place requiring that beach houses be built on 30-foot (9.1-meter) pilings.<ref name=history/><ref name="Meehan, p. 103"/> The 1962 storm had a lasting effect on Bethany Beach. Some longtime residents left Bethany Beach for good, while others noted that much of the old Bethany Beach of the Quiet Years had been destroyed, changing the character of the town forever.
<ref name="Meehan, p. 103"/>

====1962–1979====
Development of the area resumed after the 1962 storm. A new post office opened in 1965 and the town's first bank in 1966.<ref name="Meehan, p. 147"/> Construction of Bethany West, a major new development in the western part of Bethany Beach proper, began in 1966–1967.<ref name="Meehan, p. 93"/> A new town hall and police station opened in 1970.<ref name="Meehan, p. 147"/>

Plans for a beach and tennis community, Sea Colony, centered on nine high-rise condominiums situated on a private beach between Bethany Beach and South Bethany, began in 1969; these buildings, the Bethany Beach area's first and only high-rises, opened in the early 1970s. The 1,200-[[townhome]] Sea Colony West low-rise beach and [[tennis]] resort development later was added just inland.<ref name="Meehan, p. 93, 155"/> Plans for Sea Colony met bitter opposition from longtime Bethany Beach residents, who were dismayed at the thought of high-rises and large crowds in the area;<ref name="Meehan, p. 96">{{cite book|title=Bethany Beach Memoirs: A Long Look Back|year=1998|publisher=Harold E. Dukes|author=James D. Meehan|edition=Fourth Printing|author2=Harold E. Dukes|page=96}}</ref> town regulations had been designed to prevent the construction of high-rises within town limits.<ref>{{cite book|title=Bethany Beach Memoirs: A Long Look Back|year=1998|publisher=Harold E. Dukes|author=James D. Meehan|edition=Fourth Printing|author2=Harold E. Dukes|page=95}}</ref> Opponents of Sea Colony marched in protest and engaged in protracted legal efforts to block construction of the resort, but the property lay outside the town limits and their efforts to block the construction of Sea Colony failed.<ref name="Meehan, p. 96"/> Sea Colony went on to become a very successful resort.<ref name="Meehan, p. 155"/>

Bethany Beach installed its first [[parking meter]]s in 1974, and they have become a major source of seasonal revenue for the town. In 1975, Bethany Beach installed a [[sewerage]] system and repaved its roads.<ref name="Meehan, p. 147"/> A [[bandstand]] was built on the boardwalk in 1976, and serves to this day as the venue for musical performances and cultural events.<ref>{{cite book|title=Bethany Beach Memoirs: A Long Look Back|year=1998|publisher=Harold E. Dukes|author=James D. Meehan|edition=Fourth Printing|author2=Harold E. Dukes|page=99}}</ref> The Bethany Beach-Fenwick Area Chamber of Commerce began operations in 1976.

On December 22, 1976, a sculpture (widely but incorrectly referred to as a "[[totem pole]]") created by Hungarian sculptor [[Peter Wolf Toth|Peter Toth]] – who donated at least one sculpture to each of the 50 [[State (United States)|U.S. states]] as well as to locations in [[Canada]] in his "Trail of the Whispering Giants" project, a tribute to [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] – was dedicated at the intersection of Delaware Avenue (Route 1) and Garfield Parkway.<ref name="Meehan, p. 147"/><ref name=chieflittleowl>{{cite web |author=<!-- not stated --> |date=<!-- not stated --> |title=Totem Pole: "Chief Little Owl" |url=https://www.townofbethanybeach.com/325/Totem-Pole |website=Town of Bethany Beach |location= |publisher=Town of Bethany Beach |access-date=May 11, 2025}}</ref> The installation of the sculpture was controversial; many residents viewed it as irrelevant to Bethany Beach, where no history of Native American activity has been found. Although opponents of the sculpture suggested that its installation at Oak Orchard, the hub of Nanticoke settlement since the mid-17th century, would be much more appropriate, Toth wanted a more visible location and the sculpture was erected in Bethany Beach.<ref name="Meehan, p. 15"/><ref name=history/> The sculpture was named "Chief Little Owl" in honor of a Nanticoke chief of that name.<ref name=chieflittleowl/>

====1980s and 1990s====
Given its Christian roots and its secular desire to remain a "Quiet Resort", Bethany Beach historically had resisted the sale of alcoholic beverages within its jurisdiction. In 1982, the State of Delaware granted the Holiday House in Bethany Beach a liquor license, the first to an establishment in the town, prompting a lawsuit by the town and local landowners.<ref>{{cite book|title=Bethany Beach Memoirs: A Long Look Back|year=1998|publisher=Harold E. Dukes|author=James D. Meehan|edition=Fourth Printing|author2=Harold E. Dukes|pages=147, 149}}</ref> Ultimately, Bethany Beach accepted the sale of alcohol, but the town strictly limits the number of bars within town limits, generally limits alcohol sales to restaurants, and permits no sale of alcoholic beverages after 11:30&nbsp;pm.<ref>{{cite book|title=Bethany Beach Memoirs: A Long Look Back|year=1998|publisher=Harold E. Dukes|author=James D. Meehan|edition=Fourth Printing|author2=Harold E. Dukes|page=141}}</ref>

In the early 1980s, the Bethany Beach Fire Department offered the town's first emergency medical center, operated for the fire department by the [[Beebe Medical Center]] of [[Lewes, Delaware|Lewes]], Delaware.<ref name="Meehan, p. 126"/>

[[Hurricane Gloria]] struck Bethany Beach in September 1985, badly damaging the boardwalk.<ref>{{cite book|title=Bethany Beach Memoirs: A Long Look Back|year=1998|publisher=Harold E. Dukes|author=James D. Meehan|edition=Fourth Printing|author2=Harold E. Dukes|page=115}}</ref>

In July 1987, the Bethany Beach Fire Department opened a substation in [[Fenwick Island, Delaware|Fenwick Island]], Delaware, on the coast a few miles south of Bethany Beach.<ref name="Meehan, p. 126"/> A major [[beach nourishment|beach replenishment]] project took place in 1989.<ref name="Meehan, p. 147"/>

On January 4, 1992, a destructive nor'easter struck Bethany Beach with 85-mile-per-hour (137-kilometer-per-hour) winds. It inflicted $250,000 in damage to the boardwalk, severely damaged beachfront structures, flooded eastern Bethany Beach and the fire station, and caused Toth's 1976 sculpture "Chief Little Owl" — which [[termite]]s already had damaged badly — to lean over dangerously.<ref name=chieflittleowl/><ref>{{cite book|title=Bethany Beach Memoirs: A Long Look Back|year=1998|publisher=Harold E. Dukes|author=James D. Meehan|edition=Fourth Printing|author2=Harold E. Dukes|pages=112, 147}}</ref> The remains of Toth's sculpture were removed and donated to the [[Nanticoke Indian Museum]] in [[Millsboro, Delaware|Millsboro]], Delaware.<ref name=chieflittleowl/> In 1994, a new sculpture created by Dennis Beach and also known as "Chief Little Owl" was installed as a replacement for Toth's 1976 sculpture.<ref name=history/><ref name=chieflittleowl/>

The town's library, the South Coastal Library, opened on January 17, 1994. The town inaugurated a "Concerts at the Beach" program in 1995. On September 11, 1996, Bethany Beach broke ground for its new town hall and community center on what had been the site of its [[water tower]]. The building was dedicated on May 24, 1997.<ref name="Meehan, p. 41"/>

Severe nor'easters struck a week apart in 1998. The first, on January 28, was damaging, but the second, on February 4, was worse, and prompted the evacuation of low-lying areas due to the danger of flooding, those areas not having recovered from the first storm a week earlier. Severe beach erosion resulted from the 1998 storms.<ref>{{cite book|title=Bethany Beach Memoirs: A Long Look Back|year=1998|publisher=Harold E. Dukes|author=James D. Meehan|edition=Fourth Printing|author2=Harold E. Dukes|pages=115, 147}}</ref>

====Since 2000====

By 2000, Dennis Beach's 1994 "Chief Little Owl" sculpture had rotted, and it was removed that year. The creator of the original 1976 sculpture, Peter Toth, crafted a third version of the "Chief Little Owl" sculpture in 2001 using [[red cedar]] imported from the [[Pacific Northwest]]. Designed to last between 50 and 150 years, it was dedicated on July 15, 2002, in a ceremony in which one of Little Owl's descendants blessed the sculpture in traditional Nanticoke fashion with song, prayer, and [[tobacco]].<ref name=history/><ref name=chieflittleowl/>

In 2001, Bethany Beach celebrated its centennial and completed a new tabernacle.<ref name="Meehan, p. 147"/>

Over the winter of 2008–2009, the town's beaches underwent a vast beach replenishment program that cost the [[Federal government of the United States|U.S. federal government]] approximately $20&nbsp;million.<ref>{{cite news|title=$20&nbsp;million expansion of Bethany Beach, Del., yields dramatic change|url=http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/sectionfront/life/20-million-expansion-of-bethany-beach-del-yields-dramatic-change-386133/|newspaper=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette|access-date=July 16, 2012|first=Margi|last=Shrum|date=March 23, 2008}}</ref> The [[dunes]] put in place with the program are controversial because they reach over the height of the boardwalk, blocking most views of the ocean. Much of the criticism of them came from editorials in newspapers such as the local ''[[Delaware Wave]]'' and ''Coastal Point'', along with Washington, D.C. media outlets. 
Remnants of [[Hurricane Ida (2009)|Tropical Storm Ida]] hit the town in November 2009, destroying most of the dunes, leaving cliffs, making the beach significantly narrower, and revealing old [[Jetty|jetties]]. Losses were estimated to cost the state of [[Delaware]] $40&nbsp;million {USD} and repairs were not made until after the 2010 summer beach season.[https://web.archive.org/web/20151211042903/http://www.delmarvanow.com/article/20100119/DW01/1190303]

By 2011, Bethany Beach had joined a growing number of communities in instituting a [[smoking ban]], covering most of the beach and boardwalk areas.<ref>{{cite news
 |title=Delaware cities: Smoking still legal on Rehoboth Beach |author=Molly Murray
 |url=http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20110416/NEWS02/104160354/-1/NLETTER01/Smoking-still-legal-on-Rehoboth-Beach
 |newspaper=The News Journal  |date=April 16, 2011 |at=DelawareOnline |access-date=April 16, 2011 }}</ref>

A [[October 2015 North American storm complex|nor'easter]] hit Bethany Beach from October 2 to 4, 2015, and severely eroded the beach and dune and flooded parts of the town, especially in its northern section.<ref>[http://www.bestofbethany.com/blog/october-2015-noreaster.html Anonymous, "October 2015 Nor'easter," Leslie Kopp Group, November 12, 2015.]</ref> A [[January 2016 United States blizzard|winter storm]] that struck the town from January 22 to 24, 2016, washed away major sections of what was left of the town's dune and breached it in some places, again causing flooding.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.delaware1059.com/story/21737-bethany-beach-dunes-take-a-hit-from-winter-storm |title=Fowser, Mark, "Bethany Beach Dunes Take A Hit from Winter Storm," delaware1059.com, January 25, 2016, 3:01 a.m EST. |access-date=May 30, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160624182903/http://www.delaware1059.com/story/21737-bethany-beach-dunes-take-a-hit-from-winter-storm |archive-date=June 24, 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In February 2016, officials announced that there was no funding available for replenishment of Bethany Beach's dune and beach during 2016, and that replenishment would not take place until 2017, in accordance with the schedule established before the two storms hit.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.coastalpoint.com/content/poststorm_beach_repair_not_cards_present_02_26_2016 |title=Magill, Kevin, "Post-storm beach repair not in the cards at present," coastalpoint.com, February 26, 2016. |access-date=May 30, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160529035008/http://www.coastalpoint.com/content/poststorm_beach_repair_not_cards_present_02_26_2016 |archive-date=May 29, 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref>