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    AREA HISTORY 5
                            Harrington Restaurant—undated
                                                                                Picking Berries, Harrington 1907
     Harrington
Visit: harrington.delaware.gov
Milford
Visit: www.cityofmilford.com
Henry Bowan first settled the Kent County
side of Milford in 1680 on what was known
as the Saw Mill Range. A century later the Reverend Sydenham Thorne built a dam across the Mispillion River to generate power for his gristmill and sawmill. Soon a number of homes and businesses appeared along Front Street and Milford was born. In the 1770s a ship building industry was already flourishing on the Mispillion River. Shipbuilding continued to be the major industry of Milford through World War I. When the last of the area's giant white oaks were cut down in the 1920s, the shipyards quickly went out of business, although the Mispillion ships sailed on for many years.
Smyrna
Visit: smyrna.delaware.gov
According to early history, Smyrna was first settled before the American Revolution
on the southern bank of Duck Creek. Duck
Creek soon became a thriving community of merchant vessels and shipbuilding. Two major thoroughfares formed what was known as “Duck Creek Crossroads” and later came to be called the “Four Corners” of the town. In 1806, the Delaware Assembly changed the name of the town to “Smyrna.”The original boundaries were one- fourth of a mile in each direction from the Four Corners. In 1857, the town limits were extended another one-fourth mile in each direction, making the town equivalent to one square mile.
Wyoming
Visit: wyoming.delaware.gov
The construction of the Delaware Railroad in the 1850s led to the establishment of the Delmarva Peninsula's first and most important north-south railway. Proximity to the nearby community of Camden resulted in the location of a station there when the railroad arrived in 1856. Settlement
of “West Camden” quickly expanded with the
construction of homes and businesses. In 1865
the Rev. John J. Pierce migrated here from the
Wyoming Valley in Pennsylvania. Rev. Pierce
purchased lands and subdivided them into
building lots. Other residents of Wyoming Valley
followed Rev. Pierce and settled in and around
the thriving village. Desiring to sever any shared
connection with Camden, residents chose to
honor the new citizens by changing the name of
the community to Wyoming. Surrounded by some 2018 of the state's most productive farmlands, the Town
of Wyoming was a major point for the shipping of peaches and other agricultural products.
  Formerly known as Clark's Corner, the roots of this community can be traced to settlement
by the Clark family in the 1730s, and the subsequent establishment of an inn, tavern, store, and mill nearby. The village was little more than a country crossroads before the coming of the railroad in 1856. In that same year Matthew
J. Clark subdivided a portion of his lands into town lots, which would form the nucleus of the growing community. In 1859 the state legislature renamed the town in honor of Judge Samuel M. Harrington, a prime mover in the effort to bring the railroad to southern Delaware.
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         Visit: kenton.delaware.gov
Wyoming - Alsace Hotel—undated
 The origin of this community can be traced
to the mid-18th-century when growing travel between Dover and the head of the Chester River resulted in establishment of a “Public House” to support the needs of travelers. First known as Grog-Town and Lewis' Crossroads,
the village was formally named Kenton in 1806. With the arrival of the Maryland and Delaware Railroad following the Civil War, the town became an important shipping point for local goods and products. By the 1880s, the town was home to 300 residents and a number of thriving businesses. The Town of Kenton was formally incorporated by the Delaware General Assembly on April 22, 1887.
  University of Delaware
Delaware Public Archives
AREA HISTORY
School Building, Kenton—undated
















































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