Downtown Milford’s History 

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 and Milford was born. The city was incorporated in 1807.

In the 1770's, a ship building industry was already flourishing on the Mispillion River. Shipbuilding continued to be the major industry of Milford through World War I, bringing considerable prosperity to the town. The high point came in 1917 when the four-masted, 174 foot long Albert F. Paul was launched from the William G. Abbott shipyard.  At one point six shipyards were operating in the downtown area. When the last of the area’s giant white oaks was cut in the 1920s, the shipyards quickly went out of business, although the Mispillion ships sailed on for many years. (The Paul was sunk by a German torpedo in 1942 while sailing from the Bahamas.) The Vinyard shipyard was called into service in both WW I and II to build submarine chasers.

During much of the twentieth century Milford’s downtown served as the commercial center of a large agricultural community.  But in recent years most retail outlets and business have located outside the downtown area. Today Milford’s historic downtown is finding a new role as the center of community life.

To learn more about Milford’s history, contact these two great local resources:

The Milford Historical Society
The Milford Museum.

A great deal of information about Milford’s history is contained in the *National Register of Historic Places documentation for the North Milford Historic District and the Victorian South Milford Historic District.

*This file is rather large (8MB).