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Octagonal SchoolhouseOctagonal Schoolhouse · Photo: http://memory.loc.gov/pnp/habshaer/de/de0000/de0023/photos/031186pv.jpg · Public domain
–Not graded
History · Little Creek

Little Creek’s post office opened in 1883, and 32% of its homes were built before 1940

5 places in town are on the National Register. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1936 on, and the census since 1890.

1883first post office
5on the National Register
32%homes built before 1940
6old photos & papers
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Little Creek’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Little Creek began

When was Little Creek founded?

1883

The Little Creek post office opened in 1883, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Little Creek Landing (1850) and Bayview (1883), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 285 in 18902020 census: 195143 years
Founding year: the first Little Creek post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Little Creek’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Little Creek, and 1 old place names are still on the map.Landmarks on the Register5 places on the National Register.Old housesHalf of Little Creek’s homes were built before 1958.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be

Lost post offices and old corners

Little Creek’s post office has been open since 1883. Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Little Creek Landing
1850–1883
Bayview
1883–1883
Little Creek
1883–today
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Little Creek Landing

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

On the National Register

5 historic places in Little Creek

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
5
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
5
each building in a district counts
first listed
1973
Old Stone Tavern
Old Stone TavernJonathan Woodley HouseLittle Creek Methodist ChurchElizabeth Stubbs House
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Georgian1
Vernacular1
Gothic Revival1
Second Empire1
Old Stone TavernGeorgian
Cherbourg Round BarnBuilt 1918
Jonathan Woodley HouseVernacular
Little Creek Methodist ChurchGothic Revival
All 5 listings
Elizabeth Stubbs HouseBuilding · listed 1982

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

The story

How Little Creek came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Little Creek.

Read it all →

John Woolman attended Quaker meeting at Little Creek in late summer 1748 during a visit to the Southern Counties of Delaware.

The Cherbourg Round Barn, Little Creek Hundred Rural Historic District, Little Creek Methodist Church, Old Stone Tavern, Port Mahon Lighthouse, Elizabeth Stubbs House, and Jonathan Woodley House are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Little Creek, 1764 to 1938

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 18th century
  2. 1764Born hereThomas Cooper is born here
  3. 19th century
  4. 1850Post officeThe Little Creek Landing post office opens
  5. 1883Post officeThe Little Creek Landing post office closes
  6. 1883Post officeThe Bayview post office opens
  7. 1883Post officeThe Bayview post office closes
  8. 1883Post officeThe Little Creek post office opens
  9. 20th century
  10. 1918BuiltCherbourg Round Barn is built
  11. 1936On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  12. 1938In the archiveLittle Creek, Delaware. A fishing village
By decade

Little Creek, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1930s3 items
Little Creek, Delaware. A fishing village1938Little Creek, Delaware. A fishing villageLittle Creek, Delaware. A fishing village1938Little Creek, Delaware. A fishing villageHouse1938House
1940s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Date unknown3 to date
Little Creek Friends Meetinghouse, State Road 340Date?Little Creek Friends Meetinghouse, State Road 340Port Mahon Lighthouse, Delaware Bay at mouth of Mahon River, on State Route 89Date?Port Mahon Lighthouse, Delaware Bay at mouth of Mahon…Octagonal School House, Route 9Date?Octagonal School House, Route 9
On the map

Little Creek on the map, 1936 to 1993

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Little Creek. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Little Creek on the 1936 USGS mapLittle Creek on the 1949 USGS mapLittle Creek on the 1956 USGS mapLittle Creek on the 1982 USGS mapLittle Creek on the 1993 USGS map1936Bowers sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Little Creek.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Little Creek, Delaware. A fishing village
Retake this viewLittle Creek, Delaware. A fishing village, 1938

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Little Creek’s page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Little Creek, census by census

01002003001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 306

Between 156 and 306 people in every census since 1890.

14 censuses, 1890–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Little Creek’s Wikipedia page.

Help out

Start Little Creek’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Little Creek’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo3 archive items have no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewLittle Creek, Delaware. A fishing villa…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about Little Creek’s history

What year was Little Creek founded?

The Little Creek post office opened in 1883, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Little Creek?

5 listings: 5 buildings, among them the Old Stone Tavern (listed 1973, the first).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From the Library of Congress (6), the National Register of Historic Places (5), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.