THE HISTORY OF THE BEACH EROSION BOARD, 

 U.S. ARMY, CORPS OF ENGINEERS, 1930-63 



by 



Mary-Louise Quinn 



1. Introduction. 



This document presents the history of the Beach Erosion Board (BEB). Consisting of a 

 seven-member Board and its staff, BEB was organized under the Federal Government's War 

 Department (now the Department of Defense), U.S. Army, and was a part of the civil works 

 program of the U.S. Army, Corps of Engineers. The life of tlie BEB spans a period of 33 

 years, beginning with its establishment in July 1930. In November of 1963, the BEB was 

 abolished, and the Coastal Engineering Research Center (CERC) was created in its place. 

 Thus, the history of the BEB ends with that date. 



The purpose of this history of the BEB is to preserve for the future an accurate record of 

 the evolution of the agency through time. The report consists of a discussion of the events 

 which led first to the creation of the Board and thereafter guided or had significant effects 

 upon the direction of its course. Also included in the history is reference to: The many 

 people who contributed to the formation and implementation of BEB programs; and the 

 major theoretical and technological advances made in the field of which the agency was such 

 an integral part— that of coastal engineering. 



Over the years, the BEB worked on a large number of beach erosion studies and research 

 investigations. Rather than mentioning each one of these within the text itself, it was 

 decided to single out a few of those deemed most illuminating in terms of the agency's 

 development. (A list of all BEB official publications can be found in Appendix C.) 



2. Early Developments which Preceded Establishment of the BEB. 



Seldom does the history of a government agency begin on one specific date. While it is 

 true that authorization in the form of an act of Congress or some other organizing action 

 will indicate a day upon which all formal activities commenced, the real beginning may have 

 been several months, years, or even decades before this official date. 



The BEB was estabUshed in 1930. However, several separate but related developments 

 which preceded the Board's formation laid the philosophical groundwork for the agency. 

 These predecessor developments extend back varying lengths of time and fall under three 

 general headings— seashore recreation, coastal theory, and organizational response to the 

 erosion problem. These three topics are not mutually exclusive and by examining them one 

 at a time, their interconnections will become more clear. The discussion of developments in 

 each of these topical areas will be concerned largely with the State of New Jersey. This 

 focus stems primarily from the fact that the New Jersey shoreline, being within reach of the 

 large populations of the New York and Philadelphia metropolitan areas, was really the first 

 to experience intense recreational development, with concomitant shore erosion problems. 



