It is said by some that any publicity is good publicity, but in August and September 1959, Ocean County was hit with two tragedies that would not help bring the masses of tourists needed to support its economy.

The first would be a deadly fire in a government edifice in Toms River.

An April Department of Corrections report stated, “For some years now the population of the jail has reflected the county growth with the result that the institution has been so overcrowded that, at the time of the…