Top of page

Notice
Monday, January 26, 2026: Due to inclement weather, all Library of Congress buildings are closed to the public.
Chronicling America
National Endowment for the Humanities

Newspaper Five Mile Beach Journal (Wildwood, N.J.) 1890-1906

View All Front Pages

About Five Mile Beach Journal (Wildwood, N.J.) 1890-1906

The Five Mile Beach Journal of Wildwood, New Jersey was established in 1890 by Samuel P. Foster, who trained to be a journalist with the Camden Temperance Gazette. In 1884, Foster bought the Elmer Times, located in Salem County, New Jersey. A day trip to Wildwood in 1890 led to the creation of the Five Mile Beach Journal, which, until 1895, Foster printed in Elmer, making weekly trips to Wildwood. In 1890, when the Journal began, Jerediah (Jed) DuBois was an employee of the Elmer Times. In 1895, DuBois moved to Wildwood and purchased the Five Mile Beach Journal from Foster, becoming its editor and proprietor, a position he retained until he sold the paper in 1923.

DuBois was born into a farming family in Salem County, New Jersey in 1869. Prior to his apprenticeship with the Elmer Times, he studied at Peirce’s Business College in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. DuBois was a Republican who served as city tax collector and treasurer for Wildwood, held a position on the Wildwood Board of Trade, and was the director of the Marine National Bank.

The Journal‘s masthead stated that the paper was “Devoted to the development of Holly Beach, Wildwood and Anglesea.” The June 17, 1903 issue of the paper devoted 23 pages to the promotion of the area. DuBois hoped that it would help “…convince the public that this is the favored spot on the New Jersey coast. It is the ideal resort for those seeking either recreation or investment.”

The development of Five Mile Island began in 1879 when the land was purchased by Frederick Swope who began selling lots to investors to build housing for wealthy Philadelphia and New Jersey residents. Travel to the island was initially challenging, but by 1903, railroads connected Philadelphia and South Jersey towns. A bridge was built across the inlet in 1903. The newspaper regularly covered these transportation access struggles.

One of the newspaper’s advertisements was “Personals about you and your friends mixed with a batch of interesting local news.” Each town had a social column devoted to the activities of its residents and visitors, along with who was visiting from Philadelphia and the surrounding area.

The paper was published on Fridays until June of 1903, when the publication day was moved to Wednesdays. Though the paper was Independent it gave fuller coverage to Republican issues and candidates than to Democratic concerns and later became Independent Republican. Along with local political and social news, the paper covered railroad timetables and shipping news.

The paper was published as the Five Mile Beach Journal until 1906 when it was re-named the FFive Mile Beach Weekly Journal.

Provided By: Rutgers University Libraries

About this Newspaper

Title

  • Five Mile Beach Journal (Wildwood, N.J.) 1890-1906

Dates of Publication

  • 1890-1906

Created / Published

  • Wildwood, N.J. : Jed Dubois, -1906.

Headings

  • -  Wildwood (N.J.)--Newspapers
  • -  New Jersey--Wildwood
  • -  United States--New Jersey--Cape May--Wildwood
  • -  United States--New Jersey--Cape May--Five Mile Beach
  • -  United States--New Jersey--Cape May--Holly Beach
  • -  United States--New Jersey--Cape May--Anglesea

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Weekly
  • -  Began in 1890.
  • -  -v. 17, no. 4 (July 18, 1906).
  • -  Archived issues are available in digital format from the Library of Congress Chronicling America online collection.
  • -  Five Mile Beach weekly journal 2835-2084 (DLC)sn 90063041 (OCoLC)22411850

Medium

  • v.

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn90063040

OCLC Number

  • 22411749

ISSN Number

  • 2835-2106

Succeeding Titles

Additional Metadata Formats

Availability

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress believes that the newspapers in Chronicling America are in the public domain or have no known copyright restrictions. Newspapers published in the United States more than 95 years ago are in the public domain in their entirety. Any newspapers in Chronicling America that were published less than 95 years ago are also believed to be in the public domain, but may contain some copyrighted third party materials. Researchers using newspapers published less than 95 years ago should be alert for modern content (for example, registered and renewed for copyright and published with notice) that may be copyrighted. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item.

The NEH awardee responsible for producing each digital object is presented in the Chronicling America page display, below the page image – e.g. Image produced by the Library of Congress. For more information on current NDNP awardees, see https://aj.sunback.homes/ndnp/listawardees.html.

For more information on Library of Congress policies and disclaimers regarding rights and reproductions, see https://aj.sunback.homes/homepage/legal.html

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Five Mile Beach Journal Wildwood, N.J. -1906. (Wildwood, NJ), Jan. 1 1890. https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn90063040/.

APA citation style:

(1890, January 1) Five Mile Beach Journal Wildwood, N.J. -1906. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn90063040/.

MLA citation style:

Five Mile Beach Journal Wildwood, N.J. -1906. (Wildwood, NJ) 1 Jan. 1890. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, aj.sunback.homes/item/sn90063040/.