As the Roaring ’20s were coming to an end, it appeared that what is today Island Beach State Park would become another Jersey Shore community linked to LBI, by a toll bridge. Henry Phipps, a millionaire ex-partner of Andrew Carnegie, had purchased the parcel with the purpose of developing an exclusive resort while Ocean County Sen. Thomas A. Mathis was pushing for the bridge as part of a coastal highway stretching from Sandy Hook to Cape May.

As the Asbury Park Press of Aug. 24, 1929, described, “Plans for the bridge provide for steel and concrete…