Corlies Avenue through the decades: the story of our downtown
From horse-drawn delivery wagons to a historic-preservation grant program, a walk through Allenhurst's commercial heart
Looking across the intersection of Main Street and Corlies Avenue — the civic and commercial heart of Allenhurst for more than a century. — Photo by Mr. Matté, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Stand at the corner of Corlies and Main Street today and you can see the full sweep of Allenhurst's commercial history compressed into less than three blocks. A 1903 drugstore, a 1920s bank converted to a café, a 1950s bakery still owned by the same family, a 2021 boutique — all in walking distance of the Corlies Avenue train station.
1897–1920: A downtown from scratch
When the borough incorporated, Corlies Avenue was a dirt road lined with a handful of wood-frame shops serving summer residents. The first permanent structure, a Queen Anne-style general store, went up in 1898 at what is now 512 Corlies. That building still stands, though its ground floor has been subdivided into two retail bays.
1920s–1940s: The masonry era
Between 1921 and 1938 most of the wooden storefronts on Corlies were replaced with brick or stucco masonry buildings, many in the Colonial Revival and Art Deco styles popular up and down the shore. The Allenhurst National Bank, built in 1925 with its distinctive limestone facade, was the Borough's first three-story commercial building. It operated as a bank until 1974 and reopened last year as a café.
1950s–1990s: Decline and quiet persistence
Like most Jersey Shore downtowns, Corlies Avenue struggled as shoppers moved to regional malls in the postwar decades. Several storefronts sat vacant through the 1980s. What saved the street was its small scale — there was never enough square footage to attract big-box tenants, and the families who owned the buildings mostly chose to wait out the lean years rather than demolish.
2000s–today: A preservation-led revival
The Borough Council's 2026 historic preservation matching-grant program, approved last month, is the latest chapter in a 25-year effort to preserve Corlies Avenue's distinctive facades while supporting the small businesses that occupy them. Applications for the first round of façade-restoration grants open May 1.
"You can't manufacture a downtown like this," said Council President Michael Moeller. "Either you inherit it and take care of it, or it's gone. Allenhurst chose to take care of it."
Eleanor Brinton covers Allenhurst history, borough government, and life along Corlies Avenue. A longtime Jersey Shore resident, she writes a weekly column for The Allenhurst Press.
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