City in Delaware, United States
City in Delaware, United States
Harrington
is a city in
Kent County
,
Delaware
, United States. It is part of the
Dover metropolitan statistical area
. Harrington hosts the annual
Delaware State Fair
each July. The population was 3,774 in 2020.
History
[
edit
]
Harrington was named for Hon.
Samuel Maxwell Harrington
, a former chancellor of the state.
[3]
The town developed at a railroad junction along the
Delaware Railroad
and served as a rural trading center.
[4]
[
when?
]
Geography
[
edit
]
Harrington is located at
38°55′25″N
75°34′40″W
/
38.92361°N 75.57778°W
/
38.92361; -75.57778
(38.9237244, ?75.5777033).
[5]
According to the
United States Census Bureau
, the city has a total area of 2.0 square miles (5.2 km
2
), of which 2.0 square miles (5.2 km
2
) is land and 0.04 square miles (0.10 km
2
) (1.48%) is water.
Government
[
edit
]
Harrington has a
mayor-council
system of government. As of 2017, the mayor of Harrington is Duane Bivans. The mayor of Harrington has a term limit of eight consecutive years while city council members have term limits of nine consecutive years. Term limits were implemented in 2017 and Harrington is one of only a few municipalities in Delaware with term limits for municipal officials.
[6]
Infrastructure
[
edit
]
Transportation
[
edit
]
Highway and bus
[
edit
]
US 13 southbound in Harrington
U.S. Route 13
(Dupont Highway) serves as the main north?south road in Harrington, heading north toward
Dover
and south toward
Salisbury, Maryland
.
Delaware Route 14
serves as the main east?west road in Harrington, heading west toward
Denton, Maryland
and east toward
Milford
.
[7]
DART First State
provides bus service to Harrington along Route 117, which heads north toward
Camden
and connects to the local bus routes serving the Dover area.
[8]
Railroad
[
edit
]
Harrington is a railroad junction of the north?south running
Delmarva Central Railroad
that runs between
Porter
, near Wilmington to
Pocomoke City, Maryland
. The Indian River Subdivision branches at Harrington from the Delmarva Subdivision toward the coast then turns south and runs through Georgetown to
Frankford, Delaware
. The Delmarva Central Railroad, which is based in
Oakmont, Pennsylvania
, is locally managed from offices in Harrington and some of its freight operations are based out of the town.
[9]
As of 2019, the former
Pennsylvania Railroad
(PRR) tower adjacent to the Harrington depot that at one time manually controlled the junction's switches and signals is now a preserved heritage item along with an adjacent PRR caboose in its original Tuscan Red color. Into the 1950s, the PRR's
Del-Mar-Va Express
steam powered passenger train that ran between
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
and
Cape Charles, Virginia
stopped at Harrington.
[10]
Utilities
[
edit
]
Delmarva Power
, a subsidiary of
Exelon
, provides electricity to Harrington.
[11]
Chesapeake Utilities
provides natural gas to the city.
[12]
The City of Harrington Public Works Department provides water and sewer service to Harrington.
[13]
The city formerly had its own wastewater treatment plant but now transports its sewage to the Kent County wastewater treatment plant in
Frederica
.
[14]
Charlie's Waste Services provides trash and recycling collection in Harrington.
[15]
Education
[
edit
]
Harrington is within the
Lake Forest School District
.
[16]
The zoned high school is
Lake Forest High School
.
Demographics
[
edit
]
Historical population
Census
| Pop.
| Note
| %±
|
1880
| 745
| | ?
|
---|
1900
| 1,242
| | ?
|
---|
1910
| 1,500
| | 20.8%
|
---|
1920
| 1,617
| | 7.8%
|
---|
1930
| 1,812
| | 12.1%
|
---|
1940
| 2,113
| | 16.6%
|
---|
1950
| 2,241
| | 6.1%
|
---|
1960
| 2,495
| | 11.3%
|
---|
1970
| 2,407
| | ?3.5%
|
---|
1980
| 2,405
| | ?0.1%
|
---|
1990
| 2,311
| | ?3.9%
|
---|
2000
| 3,174
| | 37.3%
|
---|
2010
| 3,562
| | 12.2%
|
---|
2020
| 3,774
| | 6.0%
|
---|
As of the
census
[18]
of 2000, there were 3,174 people, 1,223 households, and 825 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,587.1 inhabitants per square mile (612.8/km
2
). There were 1,328 housing units at an average density of 664.0 per square mile (256.4/km
2
). The racial makeup of the city was 75.2%
White
, 21.6%
African American
, 0.3%
Native American
, 0.4%
Asian
, 0.1%
Pacific Islander
, 0.7% from
other races
, and 1.7% from two or more races.
Hispanic
or
Latino
of any race were 2.5% of the population.
There were 1,223 households, out of which 37.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.9% were
married couples
living together, 18.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.5% were non-families. 27.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.60 and the average family size was 3.13.
In the city, the population was spread out, with 31.3% under the age of 18, 9.0% from 18 to 24, 27.7% from 25 to 44, 18.4% from 45 to 64, and 13.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females, there were 84.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 81.8 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $30,945, and the median income for a family was $36,815. Males had a median income of $32,064 versus $20,801 for females. The
per capita income
for the city was $15,049. About 12.1% of families and 16.5% of the population were below the
poverty line
, including 26.7% of those under age 18 and 13.3% of those age 65 or over.
Places of attraction and Famous Residents
[
edit
]
South of Harrington is the
Harrington Raceway & Casino
, which is located on the Delaware State Fairgrounds. The
Delaware State Fair
holds a 10-day event in July annually and celebrated its centennial in 2019. The fair has been a venue for top national entertainment in recent years with acts such as Taylor Swift,
Reba McEntire
,
Carrie Underwood
,
Little Big Town
,
Gladys Knight
and
Brad Paisley
among many more artists who have performed on the M&T Bank Grandstand stage. The fairgrounds also features the
Centre Ice Rink
.
Harrington Raceway has been the home of a harness racing meet for over 75 years. Despite the town's diminutive size, some of Harrington's most famous residents have been the horses, including three recent
Dan Patch Award
honorees. In 2004, Rainbow Blue and 2015
Wiggle It Jiggleit
both received that distinguished title of Horse of the Year and in 2019, Shartin N accomplished the impressive feat. Many other horses from the 19952 ZIP code have received divisional honors and throughout 2019, the aforementioned Shartin N was ranked the #1 horse in the country, prior to winning top honors. Amidst Shartin's ascent, yet another Harrington horse, Lather Up, was making headlines as he equaled harness racing's all-time fastest time of 1:46 in July 2019 at the
Meadowlands Racetrack
in
New Jersey
. Coincidentally, Lather Up was stabled 4 miles to the east of Harrington Raceway at George Teague Jr's farm, while Shartin N's training base was 4 miles west of the racetrack at the farm of Jo Ann Looney and Jim King Jr. The town's rich harness racing history dates back to the 1950s when Adios Harry was named aged pacer of the year and was one of the town's first nationally recognized horses. He was even on the cover of the July 23, 1956
Sports Illustrated
, with the headline, Adios Harry: World's Fastest Pacer! In 2021, yet another horse hailing from Harrington was making headlines - as Lyons Sentinel was ranked the #1 in the country as of October 5.
The town post office contains a wax tempera mural,
Men Hoeing
, painted in 1941 by
Eve Salisbury
. Federally commissioned murals were produced from 1934 to 1943 in the United States through the
Section of Painting and Sculpture
, later called the
Section of Fine Arts
, of the
Treasury Department
.
[19]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"2020 U.S. Gazetteer Files"
. United States Census Bureau
. Retrieved
October 31,
2021
.
- ^
a
b
U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Harrington, Delaware
- ^
Gannett, Henry (1905).
The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States
. Govt. Print. Off. p. 150.
- ^
Federal Writers' Project
(1938).
The ocean highway: New Brunswick, New Jersey to Jacksonville, Florida
. American Guide Series.
New York
: Modern Age Books.
ISBN
9780403022144
. Retrieved
April 10,
2009
.
- ^
"US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990"
.
United States Census Bureau
. February 12, 2011
. Retrieved
April 23,
2011
.
- ^
"Harrington Mayor Leads Successful Push for Term Limits"
. Salisbury, MD: WBOC-TV. Associated Press. May 15, 2017
. Retrieved
May 15,
2017
.
- ^
Delaware Department of Transportation (2008).
Delaware Official Transportation Map
(PDF)
(Map). Dover: Delaware Department of Transportation.
- ^
"Kent County Bus System Guide"
(PDF)
. DART First State
. Retrieved
April 9,
2018
.
- ^
"Delmarva Central Railroad"
. Carload Express. November 8, 2016
. Retrieved
March 27,
2017
.
- ^
"Pennsylvania Railroad, Table 65".
Official Guide of the Railways
.
87
(7). National Railway Publication Company. December 1954.
- ^
"Service Territory"
. Delmarva Power. Archived from
the original
on May 25, 2014
. Retrieved
August 15,
2017
.
- ^
"Delmarva Service Territory"
. Chesapeake Utilities
. Retrieved
August 14,
2017
.
- ^
"Public Works"
. City of Harrington, Delaware
. Retrieved
August 16,
2017
.
- ^
"Waste Water"
. City of Harrington, Delaware
. Retrieved
August 16,
2017
.
- ^
"Waste Removal"
. City of Harrington, Delaware
. Retrieved
August 16,
2017
.
- ^
"2020 CENSUS - SCHOOL DISTRICT REFERENCE MAP: Kent County, DE"
(PDF)
.
U.S. Census Bureau
. Retrieved
June 16,
2021
.
- ^
"Census of Population and Housing"
. Census.gov
. Retrieved
June 4,
2016
.
- ^
"U.S. Census website"
.
United States Census Bureau
. Retrieved
January 31,
2008
.
- ^
Arnesen, Eric (2007).
Encyclopedia of U.S. Labor and Working-Class History
. Vol. 1. New York: Routledge. p. 1540.
ISBN
9780415968263
.
External links
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