Founding year: Wikidata; Wikipedia’s history section gives the same year. First post office: 1848.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Selbyville’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Selbyville is more historic than 46% of U.S. towns, #24 of 37 in Delaware. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Selbyville’s overall grade.
Delaware towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Delaware town has 29.4 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Selbyville’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (14% of Delaware towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to B. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.9 points). Two sources give 1778.
Founding year: Wikidata (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Selbyville’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
It was originally known as Sandy Branch, due to its location on a branch of that name emanating in the Cypress Swamp at the head of the St. Martin's River. A grist mill and saw mill opened there in the late 18th century. In 1842, Sampson Selby began marking packages for delivery to his country store, Selby-Ville.
By 1918, Selbyville was the major supplier of strawberries for the east coast, an industry that remained strong until the 1930s.
Today, one of its main employers is Mountaire Farms, a poultry company with a processing plant on Hosier Street.
The town is also home of the Mumford Sheet Metal Works, which held the world record for the largest frying pan in 1950.
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.
In 1778, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Selbyville’s post office opened in 1848, and the census of 1880 counted 149 people here.
How does Selbyville rank for history?
Selbyville is more historic than 46% of U.S. towns, #24 of 37 in Delaware. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
How old are the homes in Selbyville?
10% of Selbyville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.9 points), against a typical 5.9% for a Delaware town; the median home was built in 2006.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (9), the Library of Congress (1), Wikipedia, 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.
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