Atlantic City hotel / casino timeline & pivotal dates in the city’s past. As seen in the soon-to-be published Boardwalk Playground.
- 1854: Atlantic City founded; Chalkey Leeds elected first mayor
- 1854: United States Hotel opens
- 1860: Dennis Cottage opens
- 1869: Shelburne opens
- 1870: First Boardwalk built
- 1876: Brighton Cottage opens
- 1879: Traymore opens
- 1880: Second Boardwalk built
- 1884: Third Boardwalk built
- 1884: Applegate’s Pier opens (today Central Pier)
- 1890: Fourth Boardwalk built
- 1892: Dennis Hotel expands to 250 rooms
- 1896: Fifth Boardwalk built
- 1898: United States Hotel closes
- 1898: Traymore enlarged to 450 rooms
- 1898: Steel Pier opens
- 1902: Marlborough House opens
- 1906: Blenheim opens
- 1906: Million Dollar Pier opens
- 1911: Dennis Hotel is 450 rooms
- 1913: Garden Pier opens
- 1915: Concrete Traymore opens
- 1927: Knife and Fork restaurant opens
- 1929: Convention (Boardwalk) Hall opens
- 1930: Claridge opens
- 1935: Club Harlem opens
- 1936: 500 Club opens
- 1940: Captain Starn’s restaurant opens
- 1946: White House Subs opens
- 1973: 500 Club burns, is never reopened
- Nov 5, 1974: First NJ casino legalization referendum defeated
- 1976: Ram’s Head Inn opens
- Nov 2, 1976: Second NJ casino legalization referendum approved
- 1978: Shelburne Hotel closes
- May 26, 1978: Resorts International opens
- 1979: Captain Starn’s closes
- June 26, 1979: Caesars Boardwalk Regency opens
- Dec 27, 1979: Bally’s Park Place (Atlantic City) opens
- Aug 13, 1980: Brighton (Sands) opens
- Nov 23, 1980: Harrah’s Marina (Atlantic City) opens
- Dec 12, 1980: Golden Nugget (Bally’s Grand, AC Hilton, Atlantic Club) opens
- April 14, 1981: Elsinore’s Playboy (Atlantis, Trump Regency/World’s Fair) opens
- July 23, 1981: Claridge opens
- Nov 26, 1981: Tropicana opens
- May 26, 1984: Harrah’s at Trump Plaza opens
- June 19, 1985: Trump Castle (Trump Marina, Golden Nugget) opens
- 1986: Club Harlem closes
- April 2, 1987: Showboat opens
- May 22, 1989: Elsinore’s Atlantis closes
- April 4, 1990: Trump Taj Mahal opens
- May 5, 1996: Trump World’s Fair opens in former Regency/Atlantis
- July 2, 1997: Bally’s Wild Wild West Casino opens
- 1998; Harrah’s Entertainment purchases the Showboat
- October 3, 1999: Trump World’s Fair closes
- May 31, 2001: Park Place Entertainment buys Claridge, merges with Bally’s
- July 3, 2003: Borgata opens
- April 26, 2005: Caesars Entertainment sells AC Hilton to Colony Capital, LLC
- June 13, 2005: Harrah’s Ent. buys Caesars Ent., (Bally’s, Caesars, Showboat)
- November 11, 2006: Sands closes
- February 7, 2012: Claridge casino closed
- April 2, 2012: Revel opens
- Feb 24, 2014: TJM Properties buys Claridge from Caesars, creates non-gaming hotel
- Jan 13, 2014: Atlantic Club closes
- Aug 31, 2014: Showboat closes
- September 2, 2014: Revel closes
- September 16, 2014: Trump Plaza closes