| Seaside Heights is one of the beach
communities on the Barnegat Peninsula. Its land area is about
a half square mile and it is located between Seaside Park to
the south and the Ortley Beach of Dover Township to the north.
In the early years of the 1900s, a land development
company envisioned Seaside Heights as a resort and promoted
it to Philadelphia area residents as an ideal location to
build summer homes. So that prospective buyers could see the
lots available (a 40-foot beachfront lot cost only $100.00)
as well as breathe the cool, refreshing ocean air, the development
company began running train excursions in 1909 and continued
them seasonally for several years.
In 1913, Seaside Heights was incorporated
as a borough formed from sections of Berkeley and Dover townships.
Investor and manufacturer Christian Hiering
played a key role in nourishing this newborn borough. In 1913,
Hiering started the Barnegat Power and Cold Storage Company
bringing electricity to Seaside Heights for the first time.
On December 1, 1915, the first toll bridge
was opened across Barnegat Bay, linking Seaside Heights with
Toms River and the mainland. The bridge was built by the Island
Heights and Seaside Heights Bridge Company at a cost of $153,477.90.
The tolls varied; a horse and buggy was 25 | 
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