Milford High School - Milfordian Yearbook (Milford, DE)

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History Of Milford Schools For over one hundred seventy-five years the doors of Milford schools have swung open to inquiring youth. Through these doors have passed five governors of Delaware (Joseph Haslet. Peter S. Causey, William Burton. William Tharp, and William Watson) John Loftland, the Milford Bard. John M. Clayton, statesman and diplomat, and the Revolu- tionary hero. Captain Johnathan Caldwell, among the men whose company originated the name Blue Hens Chickens.” One interested in exploring the history of education in Milford will find himself tracing the course of numerous private and free schools. For many years there were two Milfords, divided by the Mispillion River. Each town had its own school system. Early records relate to a Select (pay) School,” operated by Reverend Alex Husten in 1777. Other information tells that the first free school in all Milford was in a small frame house on Washington Street. All records consistently mention The Academy, a school sponsored by the Masons as early as 1817, on Second Street between North and Church, where it still stands after having annexes built on the north and south sides and east end. Other early schools were a free school building in North Milford, the Milford Female Institute, founded in 1849, a select school conducted by the Reverend J. Leighton McKim, one conducted by five scholarly gentlemen, and the Classical Academy in 1883. In 1899 an Act of Legislature consolidated the schools of the two Milfords into one system, having a school board with members elected from both sides of the river. Following the Act, new sections were added to the Academy in order to accomodate the combined schools. Here one of the first home making courses was introduced. Two other interesting firsts are that the first Milford school teacher was probably William Jackson in 1787, and that the first class to be graduated was in 1901 with one graduate, Miss Effie Davidson. In 1919 Milford was made a special school district. Meanwhile, overcrowding led to the erection of brick school building on North Street. Further expansion took place in 1930 when the present high school building was construct- ed on Lakeview Avenue. Still larger accomodations were needed for an ever-increasing enrollment, resulting in a recent, modern 20-classroom addition with facilities for music, art, shop, home economics, physical education, and agriculture. And now, Class of 1955, as the doors of our Alma Mater swing closed behind us, let us remember that Lives of great men all remind us We can make our lives sublime. And in parting, leave behind us Foot-prints in the sands of time. 4

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MILFORD, DELAWARE

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ADMINISTRATION