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===19th century=== Before the European colonization of what is now Maryland in the 17th century, the shoreline of the [[Delmarva Peninsula]] had been populated for thousands of years by Indigenous peoples including the [[Algonquian languages|Algonquian-speaking]] [[Assateague people|Assateague]] and [[Nanticoke people|Nanticoke]] peoples.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.oceancity.com/brief-history-of-ocean-city-maryland/ |title=A Brief History of Ocean City Maryland |publisher=OceanCity.com |accessdate=August 31, 2023}}</ref> The land on which the city was built and much of the surrounding area was obtained by Thomas Fenwick, an Englishman, from the [[Indigenous peoples of Maryland|Indigenous peoples of the region]]. In 1869, businessman Isaac Coffin built the first beach-front cottage to receive paying guests. During those days, guests arrived by stagecoach and ferry. Soon after, other simple boarding houses were built on the strip of sand, with the activity attracting prominent businessmen from the [[Maryland Eastern Shore]], [[Baltimore]], [[Philadelphia]], and [[Wilmington, Delaware]]. They came not so much to visit as to survey the [[spit (landform)|spit]]. A decision was made to develop it and 250 lots were cut into it. A corporation was formed to help with the development of the land. The corporation’s stock of 4,000 shares sold for $25 each. Before 1870, what is now Ocean City was known as "The Ladies' Resort to the Ocean".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Myers |first=Christopher |date=July 21, 2021 |title=Despite a Century of Changes, Ocean City is Still All About Family and Fun |url=https://www.baltimoremagazine.com/section/historypolitics/ocean-city-maryland-beach-history-despite-century-of-changes-family-fun-remains/ |access-date=April 16, 2023 |website=Baltimore Magazine |language=en-US}}</ref> The Atlantic Hotel, the first major hotel in the town, opened July 4, 1875. The Atlantic Hotel originally was owned by the Atlantic Hotel Company, but eventually Charles W. Purnell bought it in 1923. {{As of|2025}}, it is still owned and operated by the Purnell family.<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.atlantichotelocmd.com/about|title = About|date = 2014|access-date = November 21, 2014|website =Atlantic Hotel }}</ref> Besides the beach and ocean, it offered dancing and billiard rooms to the visitors of its more than 400 rooms, and for years it was the northernmost attraction in Ocean City. By 1878, tourists could come by the [[Baltimore, Chesapeake and Atlantic Railway#Wicomico & Pocomoke Railroad Company (1848–1890)|Wicomico & Pocomoke Railroad]] from [[Berlin, Maryland|Berlin]] to the shores of [[Sinepuxent Bay]] across from the town. By 1881, a line was completed from across Sinepuxent Bay to the shore, bringing rail passengers on the [[Baltimore, Chesapeake and Atlantic Railroad]] directly into the town to a train station and returning to larger city markets with locally caught fish from Ocean City.
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