[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 50 (Monday, April 29, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3502-S3503]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF SELBYVILLE, DELAWARE

 Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, there are times, it seems, when we 
celebrate ``small-town America'' as an idea, either in nostalgic 
longing or as an homage to traditional values and a spirit of community 
that seem elusive in the rush of modern life.
  But the values and spirit of our small towns is more than just an 
idea; it is real, it is alive, it not only endures but thrives, to the 
benefit of us all, in places across this country, and certainly in 
towns up and down my home State of Delaware.
  The Town of Selbyville, in Sussex County, the southernmost part of 
our State, is one such place. And it gives me great pleasure to pay 
tribute to Selbyville, as we celebrate the 100th anniversary of its 
incorporation.
  The history of the Town goes back much further than 1902, to the late 
1770s, when Benjamin Long, Arthur McCabe, John Murray, Reuben Stevens 
and Elijah Campbell bought a 250-acre tract at the head of the St. 
Martin's River, where a gristmill and sawmill operated.

[[Page S3503]]

  The tract had been known as Sandy Branch, but about 50 years after 
the purchase, a country store owner named Sampson Selby began to mark 
packages for delivery ``Selby-Ville.''
  In 1872, the Frankford and Breakwater Railroad reached the Town, so 
that its strawberries could be shipped to more distant markets. By 
1918, Selbyville was the East Coast's main supplier of strawberries, 
and strawberries remained an important commercial base for the Town 
through the late 1930s.
  Agriculture is still important to Selbyville, although now it's 
poultry and pork, corn and soybeans that occupy most of the farmers. 
And the Town has grown beyond its original business center, reaching 
out to US 113 with service industries and a shopping center.
  The highway has become more important than the railroad, Selbyville 
has grown, but it is still a small Town a place of living history, a 
place driven by the values that grow from long-time association and the 
work ethic of an agricultural community, a place that feels like home.
  We neighbors of Selbyville congratulate Mayor Clifton C. Murray; Town 
Council members Jay C. Murray, C. Frank Smith, III, Clarence W. Tingle, 
Jr., and Richard A. Duncan, Sr.; and all the citizens and friends of 
the Town, as they look forward to their official 100th anniversary 
celebration on May 25th.

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