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Atlantic City is in Atlantic county, along the southeastern New Jersey shore. It is situated on Absecon Island, a 10 mile long sea-level sand bar that is separated from the mainland by a narrow strait and several miles of marshes. Atlantic City shares this island with the seaside towns of Ventnor, Margate, and Longport. In 1820 Jonathan Pitney developed the island as a summer health resort. Soon the Camden and Atlantic Railroad made the resort its eastern terminus. Its famous Boardwalk was built in 1870. Convention Hall (Boardwalk) with its 40,000 plus-seat auditorium makes this resort a popular convention site as well as the home of the Miss America Pageant. Atlantic City's general declined began in the late 1950s. The regal resort’s elegant hotels and and other attractions had greatly deteriorated by 1976 when the first legal gambling casino in the United States located outside Nevada opened. The development of gambling resorts provided an influx of jobs and money. Today over 37 million people visit Atlanti