Monmouth County Timeline
September 8, 1934
SS Morro Castle: An Inferno at Sea, a Burning Hulk on the Beach, and Many Unanswered Questions
On September 8, 1934, the luxury passenger liner SS Morro Castle caught fire and burned during a raging storm off the coast of New Jersey, killing 137 passengers and crew members. The ship, en route from Havana to New York...
September 8, 1934
The First Separate Battalion to the Rescue
Editor’s note: On September 8, 1934, one of the worst maritime disasters in Monmouth County history occurred when the S.S. Morro Castle, a luxury passenger liner, caught fire during a raging storm that turned the ship into an inferno. Award-winning...
September 11, 1934
Two Doofuses from Long Island Go Souvenir Hunting on the Wreck of the SS Morro Castle
Editor’s note: On September 11, 1934, the S.S. Morro Castle was a blackened hulk resting just off the beach at Asbury Park, three days after coming to a rest there after a horrific fire at sea. The site of numerous...
January 24, 1935
45 Lives Lost after SS Mohawk Collision with SS Talisman off Sea Girt
On January 24, 1935, the SS Mohawk left New York City en route to Charlestown, S.C., and Jacksonville, Fla. The steel-hulled passenger ship, launched in October 1925, was 387' long, 54' in breadth, and listed at 5897 gross tons. About...
June 28, 1935
Vito and Anna Genovese Move to Middletown
On June 28, 1935, Vito Genovese purchased a 35-acre (other accounts set it at 42 and 24 acres) property at 152 Red Hill Road in Middletown from Mrs. Florence Sperling. The estate was originally part of a large farm owned by...
December 13, 1935
Vito Genovese, American Citizen of Good Moral Character
On December 13, 1935, while the family was living in Middletown, Vito filed a petition to become a naturalized U.S. citizen. On November 25, 1936, his petition was granted and Vito became a U.S. citizen in New York City. On...
October 24, 1936
Albert Einstein Visits Monmouth County’s New Utopian Community
Timeline story by Yvette Florio Lane, Ph.D. On October 24, 1936, Albert Einstein, arguably the world’s best-known scientist, was among a small group of public intellectuals and social influencers who attended the opening of an experiment in planned communal living...
February 23, 1937
The Genovese Middletown Mansion Burns While Vito is in Exile in Italy
On February 23, 1937, the Middletown mansion that was the weekend home to “king of the rackets” Vito Genovese and his wife Anna, and their children, burned down. An oil burner was thought to be at fault, but the exact...
April 22, 1937
Jack Nicholson
Legendary film actor John Joseph (Jack) Nicholson was born on April 22, 1937, in Neptune City. He lived there, then in Spring Lake, and attended Manasquan High School, where he was voted "Class Clown" by the Class of 1954. He...
June 22, 1938
The Soviet Spies of Fort Monmouth
Editor’s note: The story of Julius Rosenberg and the theft of the Manhattan Project atomic bomb secrets is one of the most chronicled events in American history. Most of that coverage is focused on Rosenberg and his wife, Ethel, and...
June 10, 1939
King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Visit Red Bank
On June 10, 1939, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth of the United Kingdom visited Monmouth County as part of a visit to Canada and the U.S. The royal couple, known colloquially by the U.S. press as "Bert and...
January 1, 1940
The Turf Club
Text courtesy of the Asbury Park African American Music Project, used with permission. In the 1960s, there were dozens of music venues on the west side of Asbury Park, all along Springwood Avenue. Today, only one structure remains that was...
May 27, 1941
Fort Monmouth in World War II
On May 27, 1941, U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt declared a state of unlimited national emergency in response to Nazi Germany’s threats of military aggression. The soldiers and civilians of the U.S. Signal Corps at Fort Monmouth had been very busy...
November 20, 1941
The Defining Technology of World War II is RADAR
On Thursday, November 20, 1941, Thanksgiving Day, a new mobile electronic detection system was set up at Opana Point on Oahu, Hawai'i. Just days later, on December 7, 1941, Japan launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, triggering the entry...
December 7, 1941
The Curious Story of the Two Men Who Detected the Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor and Their Connection to Monmouth County
Editor’s note: This article was first published in 2020; it has been updated as of December 2, 2022, and on December 16, 2024, adding information provided by George McDonald, son of Private Joseph McDonald, switchboard operator at the Opana Point...
February 27, 1942
The Oil Tanker R.P. Resor is Torpedoed and Sunk by U-578
Editor’s note: The following story is reprinted with the permission of the authors of A History of Submarine Warfare along the Jersey Shore (The History Press, ©2016, available from retail booksellers everywhere). By Joseph G. Bilby & Harry Ziegler It...
December 13, 1943
Naval Weapons Station Earle
On December 13, 1943, Naval Ammunition Depot Earle was commissioned. The facility, which sits on 11,000 acres in Monmouth County, was designed to provide for the safe and secure storage and transfer of ordnance – bombs, bullets, missiles, torpedoes, depth...
June 9, 1944
The USS Monmouth County: “Ever Ready – War and Peace”
On June 9, 1944, the USS Monmouth County (LST-1032) was launched, the only U.S. Naval vessel ever to bear that name. She was an LST-542-class tank landing ship that measured 328 feet in length with a 50-foot beam and 1625-ton...
August 27, 1944
Vito Genovese Returns to America, and to Monmouth County
On August 27, 1944, Vito Genovese was placed under arrest in Italy by U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division Agent Orange C. Dickey, who had recognized Vito from wanted posters. With the war nearing an end, Dickey had difficulty finding anyone who...
November 17, 1944
Danny DeVito
Daniel Michael "Danny" DeVito Jr. , an American actor and filmmaker, was born November 17, 1944 in Neptune City. He was raised in Asbury Park, and has been quoted as saying "Jersey is always with me. I was one of...