Originally settled in 1672 by the Dutch, Milton was the birthplace of sailors, soldiers and priests. It citizens fought with the Continental Army in the War with the British. Before the War of 1812 the town at the headwaters of the Broadkill was a small settlement that was re-named for the poet John Milton.
During the Civil War, Delaware was a State whose sympathies were divided. In fact, Lincoln sent a Battalion of men into Delaware to police the trade coming out of Delaware; to make certain that no weapons, supplies or food were sent to Richmond. Like the rest of Delaware the town of Milton had many Confederate sympathizers. Blocks were divided by families, which were home to both families with loyalties to both the North and South in the Civil War. Soldiers from Delaware fought well for the Union Army in many skirmishes but Union Generals never allowed the Delaware troops to fight in a major campaign. They feared that the known ambivalence of Delawareans could affect the outcome of a major battle.
Milton was best known for shipbuilding and was home to many small entrepreneurs and craftsman. Hundreds of ships that sailed the Atlantic and the world were built and launched in Milton. Waiting for the highest tide in the shallow Broadkill River, boat hands and horses would pull the tall ships along the twisting waterway nearly five miles to the ocean where the ships were launched. This path was the most direct route to the ocean for decades. Entrepreneurs built supply and general stores along the riverbank to sell wares to the walking traffic.
Known for its soybeans, corn and country chickens, the lower counties of Delaware are also well known for holly trees. Each Christmas season, farmers from Milton would prune their holly trees and send the holly to town craftsmen to make the boughs into festive red and green seasonal decorations. At one time Milton was the holly tree “capital of the world,” clipping. wrapping and sending its holly decorations to far away places. Other cottage industries in Milton included button manufacturing. Using chips from mother of pearl shells, button manufactures employed whole families to cut and polish the button blanks and send them to the garment districts in Philadelphia, Wilmington, New York and Boston.
