As of today, all Milton News letters from the Milford Chronicle, 1901 – 1907, have been transcribed, annotated and posted to the blog. Here are a couple of highlights from the 1907 news that you might find interesting:

Milton, Sussex and Kent Counties go dry, from the November 15 issue: The “local option” written into Delaware state law allowed the counties of Kent and Sussex to “go dry” (sales of alcohol in bars and hotels was not permitted) while New Castle and the city of Wilmington remained “wet”. This would have some unforeseen near-term effects which were of mixed benefit to the town, as described in the November 22 issue.

The Milford Chronicle set up special sections, ranging in size from a full page to a quarter page or smaller, for merchants of the towns in Sussex and Kent to advertise for Christmas shoppers. Take a look at a clipping of the Milton merchants section, complete with the Milton News letter, for the week of December 13. The same ads were repeated the following week.

The December 6 issue mentions the arrival of the schooner James M. Carey with a load of coal for the residents. A photo of the painting of the James M. Carey in the Milton Historical Society collection is included along with the transcription. Also in that same issue, we get the first indication of what it may have cost to make the renovations of the Milton M. P. Church in 1905 – 1906.

Early in January, a visiting evangelist preaching in the M. E. Church got carried away and characterized the women of Milton, whether by accident or by intention, as “Magdalenes, profligates, and visitors of bawdy houses.” This triggered an unusual vehement, some would say aggressive, response on the part of the menfolk. Read about what happened in the January 11 issue, and how the issue persisted in the January 18 issue.