Another in the continuing tales of people who summered in our area. This is tale of two shore families; one amassed a steel fortune, and the other was into boardwalk amusements.
Gail
Gail Morrison Kerr split her time between Spring Lake and Palm Beach, Florida. Gail grew up as a millionaire steel magnate's daughter.
Harry
Harry A. Stock Jr. was the son of an amusement operator in Seaside Park. He lived with his dad on Curtis Ave in Manasquan. He also split time between the Jersey Shore and Lake Worth, Florida.
They were the most unlikely two people to meet.
Gail
Gail Morrison's father, Thomas, was the first cousin of Andrew Carnegie. He arrived from Scotland with his wife, Elizabeth Graham Morrison, and began working as an apprentice machinist at his cousin's Homestead steel mill. By the 1890's Carnegie had purchased the Duquesne mill in Western Pa, and promoted Thomas to manager. Morrison excelled and innovated several rail-making techniques, including the slow-cooling process, which enabled heavier train engines to run on stronger rails. Thomas Morrison amassed a huge fortune. His mansion in Pittsburgh, Ru-Na-Craig, was one of the most elaborate of its day.
Gail grew up traveling to four different homes, one nicer than the other. The Pittsburgh Mansion
Morrison found Sea Girt through Thomas Scott, President of the Pennsylvania Railroad, and the Stockton Beach House Hotel. Morrison purchased an oceanfront home in Crescent Park in the late 1890s. Later, he had a mansion built in the north end of Spring Lake, at Pitney and Lorraine. Professionally, he retired in 1901 with the sale of Carnegie Steel to J.P. Morgan. Morgan formed US Steel, and Thomas was on the board of directors for 34 years. Gail, born when her father retired at age 38, was entertained from one mansion to another. At Palm Beach, Spring Lake, and Pinehurst, NC, she was an accomplished golfer. In 1933, she and her sister Helen won the Pinehurst Silver Foils Tournament.
Gail Morrison in 1915 in Sea Girt (Monmouth County Historical Society)
Harry
Harry Stock's father operated dance halls, card parlors, bingo, and children's rides in Seaside Park. Harry Jr. was just 16 months old when his parents separated. His mother took young Harry and hid him from his father in the home of a friend in Elizabeth, NJ. Police assisted in recovering the boy and returning him to the custody of his father in Manasquan. Harry also owned several theaters and wanted to open a competing theater to the new Algonquin, called the Curtis. He was rejected by the local council.
Harry Jr. stayed with his dad and grew up around the amusements of Jersey Shore and on the water in Florida. His father died when Harry was 16. He inherited his father's portion of the boardwalk operations. His uncle William ran the amusement pier, while Harry boated and entered fishing tournaments.
Vintage postcard of the kiddie rides at Funtown USA Pier, Seaside Park
Gail
In 1921, Gail Morrison married an advertising heir and playboy, Harry V. Maxwell, whose father ran R.C. Maxwell, the Trenton innovator in electric billboards. Gail sued him for divorce in 1932, citing cruelty. Maxwell was later murdered gangland style in his car in NY in 1941, with a 24-year-old blonde fashion model sitting next to him in the passenger seat.
Gail remarried in 1937 to a less flashy man. Stockbroker Lewis Sayre Kerr worked in NY and was well respected in Spring Lake. Gail did not have any children but was invited to all the best social events in town. Lew was a councilman from 1947 until just before he died in 1956, leaving Gail a widow. Gail inherited 1/5 of her father’s large estate when he died in 1946.
Harry
Harry Stock Jr. was arrested for reckless driving in Mantaloking in 1950 and sentenced to five days in prison. His sentence was suspended because he volunteered for military service. The amusements continued to generate an income of about $5,000 per month for Harry, and after the service, he bought a yacht.
But fires followed Harry. Harry was alone piloting his $16,000 yacht in 1954 when it caught fire in Barnegat Bay near the Mantaloking Bridge, and he was forced to swim ashore. He claimed to have been preparing to sail the yacht to Florida.
When he returned to the Seaside Park business in 1955, three and a half blocks of boardwalk were burned down in a fire. Harry resolved to rebuild and launch Funtown Pier, with a significant extension of the amusement park east into the ocean. It would compete with Seaside Heights Casino Pier, making the Seaside boardwalk area the largest amusement area outside of Atlantic City.
Harry and Gail?
Harry, only 30 in 1958, began to hang around the 57-year-old childless widow. Gail Morrisson Kerr was a socialite with a large circle of well-connected friends, but Harry Stock did not fit the mold. She maintained an open house in Palm Beach. The servants never questioned familiar guests who came by the house when Mrs. Kerr was out or guests who stayed over after a party. For a short time in the winter of 1958-1959, Harry was a regular guest at the Kerr home.
In February 1959, Gail called the police. While she was out, she had been burglarized. $50,000 of her family jewels were stolen from the top of her dresser.
The FBI was called in. They set up a sting. They had an insurance company advertise in the Palm Beach newspapers a $20,000 reward for the stolen jewels. This was likely above their fencing value. The Insurance agent met Harry Stock Jr. at a marina. Harry showed the jewels, and the FBI agents pounced. Harry brandished a gun, but was subdued. He pleaded guilty to burglary and grand larceny. His sentence was suspended after a psychological evaluation noted he was a danger to himself.
The skeleton of the Duquesne Steel Plant, the source of Gloria’s wealth
The FBI claimed to have a 3-page dossier on Harry. He faded into obscurity. The Funtown Pier changed hands, continuing to offer fun and games to millions.
The new owners opened a log flume in the late 1970s. The pier burned down from salt-damaged wiring in 2013, almost a year after the Casino Pier was severely damaged in Hurricane Sandy.
Gail died of a heart attack at her home at 52 Pitney in 1967 at 68 years old. Her two-acre estate was sold to a California stockbroker for $100,000 in 1967. Gail’s sister Bessie inherited the jewels.