Cedar Creek Hundred in Ellendale in Sussex County, Delaware — The American Northeast (Mid-Atlantic)

Ellendale's Railroad Square

Photographed by Beverly Pfingsten, November 12, 2010

1. Ellendale's Railroad Square Marker

Inscription. Ellendale’s Railroad Square was a major rail junction and a beehive of economic activity in Sussex County. The first section of the Junction and Breakwater Railroad from Harrington to Milford was completed in 1859. In March 1860, the Company’s Survey Team, consisting of T.F. Tilghman as chief engineer, 1 surveyor, 1 rodman, 2 chainmen and 4 axemen, worked south through forest and farmland from Milford to Georgetown. This portion of the tracks would parallel the Federalist-era “Old State Road.” Construction was delayed by the Civil War and did not begin until 1867. By 1869 the line was completed through Ellendale and Georgetown to Lewes. It was extended from there to Rehoboth in 1878. There were 14 stations and regular passenger, mail, and freight service on the 44-mile line from Harrington to Rehoboth. Through its junctions, the J. & B. was a part of the first rail network to serve all three peninsular states – Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. In the 1890s the Queen Anne’s Railroad was built from Queenstown on Chesapeake Bay through Ellendale to Milton and Lewes on Delaware Bay. Connections were made with steamboats crossing

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the Chesapeake to Baltimore and the Delaware to Cape May. Around this square and the rail siding to the north were a watch box, pump house, water tower, 2 stations, stores, a cannery, the Ellendale Excelsior Company, and the R. J. Clendaniel Sawmill. In 1916 the DuPont Boulevard, now US 113, was built a mile to the west. With the improvement of roadways and their increasing use, the “golden days” of the railroad were over.

Erected 2004 by Delaware Public Archives. (Marker Number SC-184A.)

Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: Railroads & Streetcars. In addition, it is included in the Delaware Public Archives series list. A significant historical month for this entry is March 1860.

Location. 38° 48.413′ N, 75° 25.372′ W. Marker is in Ellendale, Delaware, in Sussex County. It is in Cedar Creek Hundred. It is on E. Railroad Avenue close to Main Street (Delaware Road 16), on the right when traveling south. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Ellendale DE 19941, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in the American Mid-Atlantic,

on the Delmarva Peninsula,

Ellendale's Railroad Square image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Beverly Pfingsten, November 12, 2010

2. Ellendale's Railroad Square

and on the Eastern Seaboard. Globally, it is in the North Atlantic Region,

North America,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once New Netherland,

one of the original Thirteen Colonies,

and the Antebellum South.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 6 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: Town of Ellendale (about 500 feet away, measured in a direct line); Ellendale War Memorial (about 600 feet away); Site of Reynold's Church (approx. 4.3 miles away); Reynolds M.E. Church (approx. 4.3 miles away); McColley's Chapel (approx. 4.4 miles away); John Sudler Isaacs (approx. 4½ miles away); Absalom Jones (approx. 5 miles away); Milton (approx. 5.9 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Ellendale.

Also see . . . Delaware Public Archives. Though the marker itself is listed as "SC-184", the Delaware Public Archives has re-numbered it as "SC-184A". (Submitted on April 30, 2024, by Pete Skillman of Wilmington, Delaware.)

Additional commentary.
1. The old button factory
I still have some raw shells

Tracks running through town. image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Beverly Pfingsten, November 12, 2010

3. Tracks running through town.

from the Ellendale Excelsior button factory. They used shells from the bay and ocean and would stamp the button blanks from the shells. I have original shell blanks with the button holes stamped out from the beginning of that process and will post pictures to this commentary as proof of our economic history. Note To Editor only visible by Contributor and editor

— Submitted January 22, 2023, by Raymond Sisson of Midway, Georgia.

Ellendale's Railroad Square Marker, left, along Main Street, State Road 16 image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Mike Stroud, October 16, 2012

4. Ellendale's Railroad Square Marker, left, along Main Street, State Road 16

Ellendale Excelsior Company image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Raymond Sisson, January 22, 2023

5. Ellendale Excelsior Company

Button blanks from factory made from mother of pearl

Photographed by Raymond Sisson, January 22, 2023

6. Ellendale Excelsior Company

Button blanks made from mother of pearl. Dug up in Ellendale, DE in the late 90s off Ponder Rd.

Credits. This page was last revised on June 5, 2026. It was originally submitted on December 2, 2010, by Bill Pfingsten of Bel Air, Maryland. This page has been viewed 1,378 times since then and 29 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3. submitted on December 2, 2010, by Bill Pfingsten of Bel Air, Maryland. 4. submitted on October 22, 2012, by Mike Stroud of Bluffton, South Carolina. 5, 6. submitted on January 22, 2023, by Raymond Sisson of Midway, Georgia.