Horn family members attend Rehoboth history lecture
The Horn family’s Rehoboth Beach roots run deep, dating back to when Charles Solomon Horn and his wife Anna Ritchie settled in town in the 1890s.
They leased the pavilion at the end of Rehoboth Avenue and expanded the structure into what might resemble a modern-day mall. Extending directly over the beach, the complex included a photography studio, drugstore, restaurant, billiards room, candy counter, cigar and tobacco counter, souvenir section, fancy goods counter with jewelry and china, and a large ballroom for dancing, meetings and roller skating.
Horn also extended his reach by investing in several buildings on the north side of ocean-block Rehoboth Avenue. A series of fires and storms devastated his empire in the mid-1910s. Horn’s Pavilion over the beach was destroyed in December 1914, ending forever any building permits on the beach. However, Horn survived to rebuild his businesses on the north side of the Avenue. The Horns continued to reside in Rehoboth, and hosted numerous holiday and vacation gatherings in their house at 10 Baltimore Ave., known as Gaylawn.
Several Horn family descendants attended the May 9 lecture covering the story of Horn’s Pavilion, led by local historian Paul Lovett. They later posed for a photo beside a prominent painting of Horn’s Pavilion as it existed in 1910. The painting is by Dana Pyle, a nephew of noted painter, illustrator and author Howard Pyle, a Delaware native. The Pyles maintained a home on the Rehoboth Boardwalk in the late 1890s and early 1900s. The painting is part of the Rehoboth Beach Museum archives.
