Baker House: Woodrow Wilson Slept Here

WILDWOOD — Long before there was Doo-Wop there was history being made in Wildwood.
Consider the J. Thompson Baker house on Atlantic Avenue. Built by the Philadelphia lawyer in 1904 as a summer home, the house has hosted a U.S. President, Speakers of the House, Congressmen, suffragettes, artists, as well as a plethora of early 20th century hoi polloi.
Baker came to the island along with his brothers Philip and Latimer from Lewisburg, Pa in the late 19th century.
“They came from a family of nine,” said Theresa Williams, President of The Friends of the J. Thompson Baker house. “The three brothers wanted to be frontiersmen, so they came here”
Williams shared that the brothers subdivided the land in the 1880’s and J. Thompson Baker built his home on the 3008 Atlantic Ave. site in 1094, where it still stands.
All three brothers were involved in local politics. Philip became the first mayor of Wildwood Crest, Latimer the first mayor of North Wildwood and J. Thompson the first mayor of the incorporated city of Wildwood.
President Woodrow Wilson was a guest in the Baker house on several occasions, including a stay on October 30, 1912, five days before he was elected to the presidency.
Baker’s relationship with Wilson was a close one, according to Williams. “He nominated him (Wilson) from the floor to be governor of the state,” she said. “And J. Thompson Baker seconded his nomination to the presidency.”
While the house can’t boast a Lincoln bedroom, it can boast that Wilson slept in it at least three times.
“He’s the only President who came to Wildwood,” said Williams.
Wilson also visited the home in order to urge Baker to run for Congress. Baker was elected to Congress in 1913 and served one term. In 1915 he returned to Wildwood.
Baker and his wife, Margaret, were the parents of four daughters. Two daughters, Katherine and Frances, served as nurses during World War I. Each of their daughters was educated; none married.
According to Williams, Katherine contracted tuberculosis and spent time in a hospital in New York. She returned to New Jersey and died in February 1919.Baker died ten months later.
“Some say he died of a broken heart after losing his oldest daughter,” she said.
His widow, along with his daughter Mary, continued to occupy the home until 1934 when it was sold to the Wildwood Civic Club for $6,000. Margaret Baker was a member of the organization and knew that the club was looking for a clubhouse. With only $5,000 in the bank, the club’s youngest members, its high school girls, raised the needed $1,000 in a year.
Margaret and Mary, moved to Wildwood Crest to live with Philip’s widow.
While the property is steeped in local, state and national history, it also gives a glimpse into life in a Victorian seashore home.
The house stands virtually intact, with much of the original carpentry and fixtures. A servants’ quarters with two bedrooms is secreted off a set of steps that run from the kitchen to the second floor. A grand staircase with the original pale blue stained glass windows greets visitors as they enter.
The house’s five bathrooms have original fixtures and the bedrooms have been decorated with period pieces. A large attic is intact and climbing the stairs a visitor can see peeks of lathe beneath the horsehair plaster.
Stored in the attic are rocking chairs that are original to the house and perhaps shared by Wilson and Baker while sitting on the house’s expansive front porch.
Baker was a forward thinker when he designed his home. The house was built with electricity, natural gas, and indoor plumbing. The house also has a telephone room” tucked beneath the main staircase.
According to Williams, the house was painted white when it was built.
“Some say he had presidential aspirations,” said Williams, “and he built this to look like the White House.”
The home was placed on the N.J. State Register of Historical Houses as well as the National Register of Historical Homes in 1996.
Still owned by the Wildwood Civic Club, a group, The Friends of J. Thompson
Baker House was organized on April 3, 1997 for the “sole purpose of restring
the first historic home on the island.”
The 99th anniversary of Wilson’s stay will be celebrated this weekend. A “Wildwood Weekend with Woodrow Wilson” will take place Oct. 21, 22 and 23.
Events such as a soup and sandwich supper with a Woodrow Wilson reenactor will take place at the George Boyer Museum from 5 – 7 p.m. The event costs $12 per person.
Tours of the Baker House will begin at 9 a.m. on Sat. Oct. 22. The Mid-Atlantic Center will hold a tea at the house from noon until 1:30 andwill present John Philip Sousa as the afternoon’s entertainment. The event costs $15 per person.
Later that evening a Woodrow Wilson dinner will be served from 5 – 8 p.m. along a presentation of “Helpful Hints,” starring Susan Tischler. Keynote speaker for the dinner is Cape May County Clerk Rita Fulginiti who will
speak about the president’s wife, Edith Wilson and her role in the presidency during her husband’s illness.
The event costs $35 per person.
A brunch, along with tours of the house, is available Sun, Oct. 23 from 9 a.m. until noon. The brunch costs $12 per person.
Those wishing to attend all events may purchase an all-inclusive package for $50.
“This is a chance for us to show off our beautiful gem in the Wildwoods,” said Williams. “And you can eat good food and be entertained!”
Information about the event, or about the house can be obtained by calling the Friends of the Thomas J. Baker House at 609-729-4515 or by calling the Wildwood Civic Club at 609-522-8914.