Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Mardela Springs

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Mardela Springs

Mardela Springs’ post office opened in 1893, and 41% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1903 on and the census since 1930.

1893first post office
0on the National Register
41%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Acroterion · CC BY-SA 4.0
Quick answers

How Mardela Springs began

When was Mardela Springs founded?

1893

The Mardela Springs post office opened in 1893, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1906. Two smaller post offices, Barren Creek Springs (1824) and Russum (1880), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 370 in 19302020 census: 357133 years
Founding year: the first Mardela Springs post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1906.The full story ↓

What stands out about Mardela Springs’ past

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

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Mardela Springs are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 19033 editions of the USGS map, 1903 to 1982. Watch Mardela Springs change.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Mardela Springs.Old housesHalf of Mardela Springs’ homes were built before 1956.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Mardela Springs’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Mardela Springs’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Mardela Springs on the map, 1903 to 1982

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

Mardela Springs on the 1903 USGS mapMardela Springs on the 1942 USGS mapMardela Springs on the 1982 USGS map1903Nanticoke 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 Mardela Springs.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds

Mardela Springs’s post office has been open since 1893. Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Barren Creek Springs
1824–1893
Russum
1880–1884
Mardela Springs
1893–today
18201920today
Gone or out of use
First Pilgrim Holiness Churchchurch
1cemetery inside Mardela Springs
Barren Creek Springs Presbyterian

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

The story

How Mardela Springs came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Mardela Springs.

Read it all →

The area around Mardela Springs was home to indigenous tribes. Europeans brought fur trading to the area. Mineral springs attracted tourists in the 19th century and a spring water company.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Mardela Springs, 1824 to 1976

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1824Post officeThe Barren Creek Springs post office opens
  3. 1880Post officeThe Russum post office opens
  4. 1884Post officeThe Russum post office closes
  5. 1893Post officeThe Barren Creek Springs post office closes
  6. 1893Post officeThe Mardela Springs post office opens
  7. 20th century
  8. 1903On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  9. 1976Born hereErin Burnett is born here
By decade

Mardela Springs, decade by decade

Today6 recent
Graham-Whitelock house at the Adkins Historical Museum complex MD12021Graham-Whitelock house at the Adkins Historical Museu…EF2 damage to a home in2020EF2 damage to a home inDelaware cornerstone MD-DE12020Delaware cornerstone MD-DE1Mardela Springs MD12019Mardela Springs MD1Barren Creek Springs Mardela Springs MD12019Barren Creek Springs Mardela Springs MD1Going Home - panoramio (31)2015Going Home - panoramio (31)
People over time

Mardela Springs, census by census

010020030040019401960198020002020Peak: 428

Between 320 and 428 people in every census since 1930.

10 censuses, 1930–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Mardela Springs’ Wikipedia page.

Questions about Mardela Springs’ history

What year was Mardela Springs founded?

The Mardela Springs post office opened in 1893, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1906.

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 Wikimedia Commons (6), 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.