A history of Milford,
since 1680
Postcards, papers and photographs of Milford from public archives, woven together by decade. Neighbors fill in the gaps.
The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗The Kent County side of Milford was first settled in 1680 by Henry Bowan 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. Around the same time, Joseph Oliver laid out the first city streets and plots nearby on a part of his plantation. Soon a number of homes and businesses appeared along Front Street. The city was incorporated February 5, 1807.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Timeline
built from the dates on the items belowFinish Milford’s story
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
1 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🔁Retake an old viewRecto Bank of Milford (Delaware) …, 1854: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Famous people from Milford
See all 22 →
Milford, decade by decade
1990s
Then & now
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as Recto Bank of Milford (Delaware) 1 dollar 1854 (1854) and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom Wikimedia Commons (4) and the Library of Congress (2). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.