Exploring Early 20th Century Milton
 |
| Rear view of William Betts Building, now Milton Public Library |
A big part of what makes Milton a delightful stop on the Delaware Bayshore Byway is the diversity of his historic architecture. I have other blog posts on Milton’s oldest buildings and its Victorian architecture. In this post, I share some of the buildings from the early 1900s that we saw during our visit, plus some recent improvements that impressed us.
Like many other towns along the Delaware Bayshore Byway, Milton’s economy in the 1800s was largely water-based: shipbuilding, milling, and shipping ports. By the early 1900s, ships were made of steel instead of wood, and railroads and highways were used for shipping more than ports. So Milton’s shipping and shipbuilding industries closed, and today little trace remains of them.
In the first half of the 20th century, some of the mills persisted, and there were peach canning, scrapple, and button industries, but Milton never again prospered as much as it did during its shipping and shipbuilding heyday. The good news is that, as with many other towns along the Delaware Bayshore Byway, Milton’s economic stagnation left many of its early buildings preserved.
In 1909 a fire destroyed much of the downtown business district (the area near the intersection of Union and Federal Street). The businesses were rebuilt (many of them, sensibly, in brick), and many of the rebuilt buildings remain today.
The building at 102 Federal Street was built around 1910, right after the fire. It looks like the left third was designed as a home, and the center and right thirds were designed as shops, although this building may have been altered over the years.
 |
| 102 Federal Street in Milton |
Across the street is the former Sussex Trust Bank, now town offices. I’m not sure when it was built—sources say anywhere from 1901 to 1935, although I think it had to have been built after the 1909 fire.
 |
| Former Sussex Trust Bank at 101 Federal Street |
The building at 105-107 Union Street was also built right after the fire. The right half was once Samuel’s Department Store. Notice that the second floor windows are different on the left and right sides.
 |
| 105-107 Union Street |
The Delaware Archives has an undated vintage photo of this building.
 |
| Undated photo of 105-107 Union Street |
Next door at 109 Union Street is another commercial building built around the same time. It was once Milton Hardware.
 |
| 109 Union Street |
Across the street, at 108 Union Street, is Milton Theatre, built in 1915 as Fox Theatre to show silent movies.
 |
| Milton Theater at 108 Union Street |
Back across the street at 121 Union Street is my favorite building in downtown Milton: William Betts Building, now Milton Public Library. It was also built right after the 1909 fire.
 |
| Milton Public Library at 121 Union Street |
The Delaware Archives has an old photo of the library showing a glimpse of what it looked like in 1954, when it was a store.
 |
| Milton library building, on left, in 1954 |
I’d love to know more about William Betts and how he came to build such a striking building right on the Broadkill River. (In fact, I’d love to know more about many of the people who built Milton’s incredible homes and buildings, but I couldn’t find anything online for most of them.)
Milton has some interesting houses from the early 1900s, when simple Craftsman styles were in vogue. This house at 404 Chestnut Street was built around 1910.
 |
| 404 Chestnut Street |
This house, at 303 Federal Street, was built around 1916.
 |
| 303 Federal Street |
This house at 301 Chestnut Street is built of blocks called cast-sand—a popular construction material in the early 1900s.
 |
| 301 Chestnut Street |
Some of Milton’s ship carpenters were African American. The house at 313 Walnut Street was once occupied by African American ship carpenter James White and his wife Mariah. Several nearby houses were also occupied by African Americans and other people of color.
 |
| 313 Walnut Street |
Overall we were really impressed with Milton. There are several restaurants and ample free parking. This small town has a Chamber of Commerce! A lot has been invested in the historic downtown area. Governors Walk honors the five governors who came from Milton.
 |
| Lexie ready to enter the Governors Walk between 105 and 107 Union Street |
 |
| Milton Memorial Park along the Broadkill River |
Of course a big attraction in Milton is Dogfish Head Brewery, offering tours, tastings, and a restaurant.
 |
| Dogfish Head Brewery |
We had lunch at The Backyard at 211 Broadkill Road, including decadent crab fries.
 |
| Crab fries at The Backyard in Milton |
For more information on Milton, see the Chamber of Commerce’s visitors guide. Milton Historical Society offers self-guided walking tours covering many more historic buildings than I’ve been able to cover in these blog posts.
Comments
Post a Comment