A landmark in peril: OC Boardwalk Dumser's faces demolition

A century-old iconic Boardwalk property is poised for demolition by the end of this year after a Worcester County Circuit Court judge ruled in favor of Ocean City last month. The decision ends a dispute over ownership of land the Dumser's Dairyland building sits upon.

Judge Dale Cathell ruled that Nathans Associates had no valid claim to the property after a previous lease with the town expired last year. Nathans Associates are the heirs to the original property owner of the location where Dumser's Dairyland ice cream parlor resides on the east side of the Boardwalk at South Division Street.

Unless an agreement between Nathans Associates and the town is reached by Dec. 31, the building must be physically removed or demolished by then.

One of the few buildings to stand on the east side of the Boardwalk, the original structure, rebuilt and now occupied by Dumser's, was first built around 1912 by Nathan Rapoport.

For Jay Seeks of Bridgeville, Pennsylvania, the looming possibility of a Boardwalk landmark disappearing is saddening.

"It's like so much else going on in America — history coming down everywhere you can see," said Seeks, who has been visiting family in the town since the 1970s.

"I think some things are more important than land rights for Ocean City, like keeping its landmarks where they've always been," he said.

Mona Strauss, granddaughter of Nathan Rapoport, declined to go on the record at length, offering only a brief comment on the matter.

"As long as we have been a part of the fabric of the Boardwalk, I never imagined that this could happen," Strauss said. "We are planning an appeal." 

A Facebook group called "Save Dumser’s on the Inlet and Nathan’s building in Ocean City, MD" was created and was nearing 1,000 members late Tuesday. 

Don Timmons, the owner of Dumser's Dairyland, could not be reached for comment. .

Ocean City Solicitor Guy Ayres said the town is unaware of any permission or permits the town granted Rapoport to construct the original building, which Rapoport and then Nathans Associates rented from the town for 50 years.

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In 1966, Rapoport came before the mayor and council, Ayres said, asking to construct a new building in the same location, which would have a commercial unit on the first floor (now Dumser's) and an apartment for Rapoport and his wife to reside in on the second floor.

The town agreed to a 25-year contract, which was later extended another 25 years through September 2016.

In May 2016, Ayres — at the direction of the mayor and council — wrote the Rapoport heirs demanding they vacate the property by Sept. 20, he said.

That's when the parties went to court.

"The Friday before the 20th of September, the Rapoport heirs, who had by then formed a partnership called Nathans Associates, filed a complaint in the Circuit Court for Worcester County, alleging that they owned the property by adverse possession," Ayres said.

"Adverse possession," Ayres explained, is when someone occupies someone else’s property under some claim of ownership for a period of at least 20 years. Nathans Associates had essentially said that the town had abandoned its interest in the property and, in doing so, abandoned its legal ownership.

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The town filed a counter-claim, asking the court to declare that Nathans Associates had no rights to the property and to adjoin them from further occupation.

Cathell, in a 27-page opinion dated July 18, sided with the town.

"(The) court finds that the town has never abandoned its interest in the use of Atlantic Avenue," Cathell's opinion reads, referring to the Boardwalk's actual street name.

"There is no evidence that the town ever expressed or implied that it intended to abandon its rights in Atlantic Avenue and all the evidence indicates a continuous public use of Atlantic Avenue since before 1904 until the present," it continues.

Additionally, Nathans Associates is responsible for the costs of the court proceedings, it reads.

In his written opinion, Cathell declared that Nathans Associates would be allowed to operate Dumser's Dairyland in the building until Oct. 31, saying that it would not serve the interests of Nathans Associates or the town to have them vacate the building during the area's busiest season.

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Joseph Dray, a manager at the nearby OC Cool Topics who has lived in town for more than 12 years echoed statements elsewhere that the disappearance of the Dumser's location would be like "history disappearing."

"I've walked up and down this Boardwalk many, many times and passed by that Dumser's more times than I can count," he said. "It's something special for the people that have come here every summer and it'll be a sad surprise if it isn't here next year."