Ward, Delaware

Ward is located on Delaware Route 30 northeast of Delmar. It lies adjacent to Wards Branch, a stream which is {{convert|3.3|mi|km|abbr=on}} long.{{cite book | title=Delaware Place Names | publisher=US Department of the Interior | year=1966 | location=Washington, DC | page=114}} Ward is {{convert|2|mi|km|abbr=on}} north of the Maryland-Delaware boundary, which is known as the Transpeninsular Line.

File:Sussex County, Delaware, 1902.png

A post office operated in Ward beginning in 1886.{{cite web | access-date=2025-05-30 | url=https://www.postalhistory.com/postoffices.asp?task=display&searchtext=Ward&state=DE&county=&searchtype=word | title=Post Offices: Ward, Delaware | website=www.postalhistory.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210808043908/https://www.postalhistory.com/postoffices.asp?task=display&searchtext=Ward&state=DE&county=&searchtype=word | archive-date=2021-08-08 }} The community of Ward's population was just 25 residents in 1890;{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CPAwAQAAMAAJ&q=cram%2527s+1885+atlas&pg=PA356 | title=Cram's Universal Atlas: Geographical, Astronomical and Historical, Containing a Complete Series of Maps of Modern Geography, Illustrated by Numerous Views and Charts; the Whole Supplemented with Valuable Statistics, Diagrams, and a Complete Gazetteer of the United States | publisher=G.F. Cram | date=1891 | last=Cram | first=George Franklin | location=Chicago, IL | page=356 | language=en}} the number of residents had slightly increased to 35 residents in 1900.{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9AzrWecxN1wC | title=Cram's Modern Atlas: The New Unrivaled New Census Edition | publisher=J. R. Gray & Company | date=1902 | location=Chicago, IL | page=84 | language=en}}

In the early 20th century, Ward was the location of Ward's School and Ward's Store.{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u7EYAQAAIAAJ&q=Ward%2527s | title=Report | publisher=Delaware State Highway Department | year=1927 | pages=39, 43 | language=en}} This store was the site of a number of Democratic Party public events.{{cite news | access-date=2021-08-06 | url=https://newspaperarchive.com/wilmington-evening-journal-oct-29-1908-p-8/ | title=Democrats Talking down in Sussex | work=Wilmington Evening Journal | date=1908-10-29 | location=Wilmington, DE | language=en}}{{cite news | access-date=2021-08-06 | url=https://newspaperarchive.com/wilmington-evening-journal-oct-03-1908-p-2/ | title=Democratic Mass Meetings | work=Wilmington Evening Journal | date=1908-10-03 | language=en}}

The Ward post office closed in 1902.

In 1930, the state of Delaware announced a series of road upgrades to state highways. The road from Ward's School to Delmar was selected by the state that year for upgrade to a state highway.{{cite news | access-date=2025-05-30 | archive-date=2025-05-31 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250531030945/https://udspace.udel.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/71b94702-4448-4baa-97e6-6bd6748fa3bb/content | url=https://udspace.udel.edu/bitstream/handle/19716/18135/np_021_52.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y | title=Legal Advertisement | work=The Newark Post | location=Newark, Delaware | page=7}}

In 1937, the Ward and Whitesville areas were the site of severe wildfires, with the Delaware State Forestry Commission stating, "The largest forest fires of the period occurred in the Whitesville — Ward's Store — Pepper Box section of Little Creek and Gumboro Hundreds in Sussex County". State officials stated that high winds during the fires caused widespread damage to that part of the state of Delaware.{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j11LAQAAMAAJ&q=%2522ward%2522 | title=Annual Report of the State Forester | publisher=State Forestry Commission | last=Commission | first=Delaware State Forestry | year=1938 | language=en | access-date=2025-05-30}}

Ward was still considered a village of Sussex County by the US Geological Survey in 1949.{{cite web | url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Bulletin_of_the_United_States_Geological/klLnu-vH9U8C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22ward%22 | title=Gazetteer of Delaware | publisher=USGS | date=1949 | accessdate=30 May 2025 | pages=15}}

The Ward Family Cemetery is located just north of Wards Corners on Gathering Garden Lane. The gravestones range in date from 1847 to 1923.{{cite web | url=http://www.downstatedegenealogists.org/resources/Aug2018AllAdditionalCemeteriesDDGS.pdf | title=Miscellaneous Cemeteries | publisher=Downstate Delaware Historical Society | accessdate=2025-05-30 | year=2018 | page=29}}

{{Portal|Delaware}}

• Zoar, Delaware

{{reflist}}

{{Sussex County, Delaware}}

{{authority control}}

Category:Unincorporated communities in Sussex County, Delaware

Category:Unincorporated communities in Delaware