1916 fire nearly ended Selbyville's berry shipping boom
“Selbyville is at the southern boundary of Delaware, being at the Maryland line,” the Wilmington Evening Journal reported in 1916, “and it enjoys the reputation of being the greatest berry shipping center of the United States, and is an unusually prosperous community.”
“It has many civic improvements, but somehow has never established a fire company,' the newspaper added.
In February 1916, the lack of an organized fire department nearly proved fatal to Selbyville.
When Samson Selby opened his general store in 1842 at Sandy Branch near the Maryland border, he had ordered merchandise from Philadelphia, but the roads in southern Delaware were notoriously bad.
Selby directed his supplier to ship his goods by water through the Indian River Inlet, where his goods could be landed and hauled to his new store. When his supplier asked for the address, Selby replied, “Just mark it ‘Selbyville.’ ”
For several decades, the town remained a small collection of farmhouses clustered around Samson Selby’s general store, until the railroad arrived in 1874.
While the railroad was under construction, farmers in the Selbyville area experimented with growing strawberries. They discovered that conditions in southern Delaware were excellent for the large scale cultivation of strawberries, and the arrival of the railroad provided a way to ship the berries to Philadelphia, New York and other distant markets.
When strawberries were being harvested, buyers from the major cities flooded into town and wagons lined up on Church Street waiting their turn at the auction block, where the auctioneer knocked down the price of the berries.
From there, the berries were taken to the railroad station for shipment. At harvest time in the first years of the 20th century, Selbyville was crammed with long lines of wagons, crowds of berry buyers, and throngs of onlookers. Strawberries transformed Selbyville into one of the principal towns of southern Delaware.
On Sunday evening, Feb. 13, 1916, strawberry season was five months away, and there were no lines of wagons or crowds of people on Church Street, when someone yelled, “Fire!”
According to the Evening Journal, “So far as can be traced, the fire started in the restaurant of Long Brothers, on south side of Church street, about 8 o’clock … An alarm immediately was given, and men poured from church and from their homes to fight the flames.
"Washington Long, one of the proprietors of the restaurant, was in his home above the business place at the time and he managed to save a few of his effects.”
Without an organized fire department, Selbyville residents formed a bucket brigade, but a stiff wind spread the flames rapidly along Church Street. Except for the brick Baltimore Trust Company, all of the buildings were wooden, providing ample fuel for the fire.
The Harrington Fire Company was notified and loaded on to a special train headed to Selbyville. The Wilmington fire department was also notified and was ready to respond if needed.
When the Harrington firefighters arrived at midnight, both sides of Church Street were in embers, and the fire had burnt itself out. The Harrington firefighters, however, remained in Selbyville until the morning in case of any flare-ups.
The fire had burned the heart out of Selbyville, and the town finally realized the wisdom of having an organized fire brigade.
On May 6, 1919, the town obtained its first piece of firefighting equipment, and Selbyville no longer had to depend on informal bucket brigades or fire departments from other towns.
Principal sources
Newark Post, Feb. 16, 1916.
Evening Journal, Feb. 14, 1916.
Selbyville Volunteer Fire Company, Inc. http://www.selbyville88.com/page/history
Richard B. Carter, Clearing New Ground, The Life of John G. Townsend, Jr., Wilmington: The Delaware Heritage Press, 2001, pp. 51-54, 125-126, 182.