Atlantic City has seen generations of public officials and interested citizens, but few residents have left a legacy as monumental as Alfred Miller Heston, a newspaper publisher, historian and city official.

Heston descended from Zebulon Heston, a conscientious Quaker who fled England in 1684 to avoid persecution. Isaiah Heston, Zebulon’s grandson and Alfred’s great-grandfather, fought for the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War and was killed at the Battle of Monmouth in 1778. Another ancestor, Edward, survived the conflict and founded Hestonville, a small village that has since been incorporated into Philadelphia. 

Alfred was born in Hestonville on April 30, 1854, the same year Atlantic City was incorporated. He attended Central High in Philadelphia, then began learning the newspaper business. At age 20, he became editor of the West Jersey Press, a Camden-based paper.

It was a busy time for Heston. In 1875, he married Abbie Mitchell. The two ultimately had three daughters. Yet he was soon on the move, becoming the editor and manager of the Salem Standard in 1878, then buying the Bridgeton Chronicle.

But Heston’s destiny wasn’t in the western part of South Jersey. He moved to Atlantic City in 1884, bought a share in the Atlantic City Review, and went to work as an editor. Three years later, he sold his interest in the Review, and while waiting to get back into the newspaper business decided to write a guidebook for his new home town.

Heston’s Handbook: Atlantic City Illustrated, a 250-page guide to Atlantic City, went through numerous editions, and was even sold in Europe. Packed with statistics both useful and trivial (the Boardwalk is 3.5 miles long; there are 600,000 bricks in the Lighthouse Tower), the book was a compendium of photographs of then-current and historic Atlantic City, with detailed information about the Native Americans who once lived on Absecon Island.

While the Handbook itself earns Heston a mention in the Atlantic City hall of fame, he wrote several other books, including an account of slavery in New Jersey and a biography of Joseph Bonaparte, elder brother of Napoleon, who lived in New Jersey for a time. Heston also bought an interest in the Atlantic Journal, another local newspaper, and edited it from 1888 to 1891.

In addition to his passion for history (Heston researched his own lineage back to 1277, and his Handbook is peppered with historical and literary references), Heston had a commitment to his community. In 1895, he was elected first comptroller of the city, and faithfully discharged his duties as a fiscal conservative opposed to corruption. The following year he was appointed commissioner of the Sinking Fund, and also served as clerk of the House of Representatives during the 51st Congress. Heston worked tirelessly to promote the city, both through his Handbook and by the creation of a press bureau.

Heston’s insistence on running the city’s business on a strictly square basis ruffled feathers; Atlantic City even then was known for its political corruption. It was estimated that he saved the city hundreds of thousands of dollars by rejecting bogus bills and claims during his tenure in office. That fortune should have ended up in the pockets of friends of the city’s political bosses, and those bosses resolved to get rid of Heston.

In 1912, City Council refused to allow him to run for re-election. When asked the reason for his ouster, Heston said that over the past two months, he’d rejected $100,000 worth of bills that “the boss” wanted paid.  Paying those bills would have been a condition of his re-election.

“I would rather go out of office with a clean record,” Heston declared, “than have it said I was the tool of a political boss.”

Later that year, Heston ran for the city commission, but alleged voting irregularities kept him from claiming office. Without the assistance of one or another of the factions that dominated local politics, he had little chance of winning public office again. His 1914 election as city treasurer was ultimately subverted by his political enemies. Yet his reputation was secure. 

Heston made his greatest impact, however, by founding and supporting public organizations. In 1898, he was instrumental in raising money to open Atlantic City Hospital (which became today’s AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center). And he served as secretary of the hospital’s board of governors for the next 25 years.

Heston also parlayed his personal interest in history into an institution that would benefit the public. When Atlantic City received a $71,000 grant from Andrew Carnegie to build a library, Heston was one of the founding members of the board of trustees that opened the library in 1905. He donated his private collection of books and notes on Atlantic City’s history to the fledgling institution. This provided a core of material on local history that has been an invaluable aid to researchers for more than a century.

Heston died on November 10, 1937, at the age of 83. He had been an Atlantic City resident for more than a half century, and left an impact on the city that few could rival. 

In his honor, the Atlantic City Free Public Library has named its extensive collection of unique and rare materials documenting the cultural, economic, social and historical development of Atlantic City the Alfred M. Heston Collection—a fitting tribute to a public-minded man who never ceased to be fascinated by history.

By David Schwartz

David G. Schwartz is the Director of the Center for Gaming Research at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and a noted author, speaker and consultant. You can learn more about his work at http://www.dgschwartz.com.