A Ponderous Pachyderm: Rick Klepfer

A Ponderous Pachyderm

by Rick Klepfer

A huge elephant has been lurking around the intersection of Atlantic Avenue and South Decatur Street in Margate, New Jersey. Have you seen it? Many people have, as it has been grazing there for the last 140 years. Standing 65 feet tall and weighing about 90 tons, it is difficult to miss. Rumors are that it can be seen from eight miles offshore. No, it is not an escapee from Jurassic Park or from some biological experiment gone off the rails; it is Lucy, The Margate Elephant.

This whimsical and unique structure was the idea of a gentleman named James V. Lafferty, who was a land speculator in what was, at the time, South Atlantic City. Since it was no easy day trip from the mid-Atlantic urban areas of the late 19th century to Mr. Lafferty’s land, he decided to create something to draw people there and to hopefully sell them one of his house-lots. So, why not an elephant that you could “go through and come out alive,” as was printed on early postcards of the elephant? Construction was com-

pleted in 1881. Originally called the Elephant Bazaar, its name was changed by one of the subsequent owners to Lucy, and the name stuck.

Lucy was designed by the Philadelphia architect William Free and is constructed much the way ships of the day were made. She has wooden ribs ~ as many as 8,500 of them ~ and her exterior is formed of shaped wood pieces. There are over a million bits of wood creating her curvaceous elephantine body, each one a unique size and shape. To make a watertight skin for her, 12,000 square feet of tin were

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used, followed by many gallons of elephant-gray paint.

Sitting atop Lucy is a large howdah, similar to those used by affluent Indian gentlemen to protect themselves from the weather while riding their elephants. Lucy’s original howdah was destroyed in 1929 by a storm, and a new, but less finely detailed, replacement was later constructed, followed by the historically accurate one that exists today. This part of the structure had a functional use as an observation platform, from which prospective buyers could survey the specific patch of the frog farm they were considering purchasing.

Mr. Lafferty was proud of his creation and received a patent for it. As if Lucy was not a sufficient accomplishment, Lafferty went on to build an even larger sister to her at Coney Island, New York. This one, called The Elephantine Colossus, lived up to its name handily, as it was twice the size of Lucy, at 122 feet tall. This building was completed in 1884 but was destroyed by fire only 12 years later. Lucy

nearly met a similar fate when she caught fire from oil lamps in 1904. Apparently, elephant flambé was becoming a thing.

Lucy had a varied career over her long lifespan. After serving as the land developer’s attraction, she was used as a tavern around 1902. This to me seems the most intriguing use ~ imagine all the things that could happen while getting tipsy inside an elephant. . . Next in her varied service, Lucy became a summer residence for a doctor and his family; what a perfect abode!

Alas, the old pachyderm fell on hard times. Battered by storms, suffering a rusting epidermis and creaking from elephantine arthritis in her ancient wooden frame, she was slated for demolition in 1969. She had become an eyesore and was in danger of total collapse with the next big storm. But not everyone was anxious to see the old girl carted off to the boneyard. Spearheaded by Josephine Harron and Sylvia Carpenter, the Save Lucy Committee was formed. This steadfast group worked diligently to rescue Lucy and restore her to her former glory. It wouldn’t be an easy task.

The Save Lucy Committee secured ownership of the remains and set about raising funds. The first problem was that the previous owner wanted Lucy removed from the property she sat on. Happily, the city of Margate had a piece of

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land, just off the beach, that they would donate to the cause. All the Save Lucy Committee had to do was to pick up the 90 tons of elephant and move it down the street; how hard could it be? They were given a set time to get Lucy moved and a warning that if she fell to pieces on the trip, the Save Lucy Committee would have full responsibility for damages and removal of the wreck.

Further problems arose. Despite high interest of the local citizens, not enough money could be raised for the move. Sylvia and Josephine stepped up and signed a note for what was, at the time, a lot of money. They were just about to return to the work of moving Lucy, when the Atlantic Beach Corporation produced an injunction against the move, saying that placing the decrepit structure on the new lot would depress home values in the surrounding neighborhood. Considering the physical appearance of the building at that time, their concerns were not completely illfounded.

An emergency hearing on the matter was held on the following Saturday morning, and the court found for the defendant: Lucy! The big move was planned, and a lot of effort was required to pull the relocation off. A new concrete foundation had to be constructed for her to sit on, utility lines along her route had to be moved, traffic had to be blocked off for the duration of the move and her internal structure had to be reinforced so that she wouldn’t end up as a pile of old timber in the street before she got to her new home. Withlittle funding to accomplish this elephantine task, the actual move was accomplished by rolling the whole thing down the street in one piece ~ pulled by a pickup truck!

The Save Lucy Committee began the never-ending task of restoring and maintaining the six-story elephant. I was fortunate to be part of this work in the 1970s. By that time, Lucy had been designated a National Historic Landmark. This

protected her from future demolition attempts and enabled her to get some much-needed funding. My part in the eff ort was as a member of John Milner Associates, Architects, who had done much of the design work for her reconstruction. When I fi rst became involved in the project, the exterior tin plating had all been replaced, but she was still leaking at many of the joints in the metal. This needed to be resolved.

I took a ride up on a high-reach cherry picker to assess the situation. As the machine operator and I rose up the fl anks of the old girl, we noticed that she had an arrow sticking out of her ~ apparently, she was not popular in all quarters. We continued up until we were well above the top of her haunches, whereupon the cherry picker stalled and we found ourselves stranded 50 feet above the ground. The operator surprised me by shinnying down the arm of the machine and restarting it. While this was happening, I had the opportunity to study, in detail, the voluptuous curves of the immense elephant. Later we devised a way to resolve the leaks by covering all the joints in her skin with a metal-faced mastic tape.

Lucy is still receiving visitors, and it would make an interesting day trip from the Eastern Shore. There is a little period gift shop on site where you can purchase

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