Sign 3 - Administration Building

The two-story tall administration building was one of the largest support structures erected along present day State Route 50. It was staffed by roughly thirty Bethlehem Loading Company employees who moved to the Mays Landing area from the company’s headquarters in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

The first building to be completed, it measured 150-feet long by 40-feet deep and contained various offices on two floors. Poured concrete foundation walls seen today reflect the center hall plan with offices on each side of the hallway. Modestly Colonial Revival in style with only a cross gable and a small portico marking the front entrance, its lack of architectural detail was common in military buildings. Other support buildings along Route 50 included the police barracks, the US Army office, the stables, the executive staff building, the general staff headquarters, and a restaurant. All were built of wood and most were two-stories tall like this building. Only concrete floors and foundation walls like those found here mark their locations.

Not seen in historic photographs but prominently visible today is the two-story brick vault located in the northeast corner of the administration building’s rear wall. It was used to safeguard important papers and locals recall seeing employee records scattered about on the second floor as recently as the 1980s.

Many of the bricks used in the foundation walls, and throughout the plant site, are marked “SB Co.” which stands for the Somers Brick Company. The company’s clay pits and brick kilns were located in Northfield, a small town in the eastern part of Atlantic County about 12 miles from the loading company. Founded in 1900, Somers Brick Company produced millions of bricks used to during Atlantic City’s building boom in the early 1900s. In 1918, 100 workers were on the company’s payroll, up from 75 employed there in 1906.