Chelsea Baths Button

Maker Sommer Badge Manufacturing Company

Periodca. 1930

MediumEnameled metal

Dimensions1.5 in. (3.8 cm)

InscribedPrinted on a paper insert on the back, "SOMMER / BADGE / MFG. CO. / BADGES, BUTTONS / PREMIUM RIBBONS, BANNERS, ETC. / 71 LIBERTY ST. / NEWARK, N.J."; smaller printed maker's mark on paper, "ALLIED PRINTING / TRADES COUNCIL / UNION LABEL / NEWARK, N.J." with a "5" to the right of the mark (which represents the shop number)

ClassificationsBadges, Buttons, Medals, & Ribbons

Credit LineMuseum Collection

Object numberB-523

DescriptionThis round button features a white back with dark blue enamel design. In the center is a blue line-drawing image of a woman in a one-piece bathing suit, stockings, and a bathing cap standing on a dock, watching another woman swim in open water. A sailboat floats in the background, and there are puffy clouds in the sky. Printed in blue around the image, "BATHE AT CHELSEA BATHS / LONG BRANCH, N.J."
Curatorial RemarksBy the 1930's, there were many permanent structures built near the boardwalk in Long Branch, Monmouth County, and one of these was the Chelsea Baths. It was located across Ocean Avenue from the end of the pier dating from 1908, not far from the Long Branch Stadium. Bathhouses were functional in Long Branch as early as the 1870's.

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