Milford chronicle., 1933-03-31
Brief History OF The Efforts
For NeuU Schools In Milford
The Delaware School Survey

, conditions in Delaware. In 1919 the
school buildings were surveyed as
part Of the activities of this Com
mission. This was done by disinter-
ested people who were expert at
that work. They used a point sys-
, TEN for scoring the buildings under
which it was possible for a perfect
building to score 1000. Our old
school building which we are still
using was rated by them at 349
points. The defects and objections
to the building were pointed out
definitely in the report. Just ten
years later, in the summer of 1929,
ground was broken for a new Jun
ior-Senior High School in the Mil
ford district.
The Legislative Appropriation For
Building Schools
In August, 1927, the Board of Ed
Ucation received notice that the
State Board of Education had decid-
ed to allot to this district, $135,038
for the erection of new school
building. This was from the first
school building appropriation of the
Delaware Legislature. There were,
however, two conditions attached to
this appropriation. One was that
Milford Special School District and
the several rural districts surround
ing IL must consolidate before the
appropriation would become avail
able. This called for Special Ref
erendum Election on the subject.
both in the Milford District and in
the respective districts specified for
consolidation. The second condition
was that the law creating the build
| ing fund had specified that dis
trict receiving State aid for build
ings must issue bonds of the dis |
trict to the amount of two per cent |
of the assessed valuation of the |
real and personal property as it was
in the year 1919 The amount of
the bonds to be issued under this
law would be $27,S24.OO.
The Meeting OF Boards OF
Education
In order to get all these cOndi-
tiOns and facts clearly before the
people, who would be called upon to
lead in these matters, the Milford
bOdIu vi I4uuNdllOH etilsSGu u
ncr meeting in the Grange Hall on
June II, 1928, to which were invited
the Boards of Trustees of the sever
al districts together with their
wives. The Milford Board OF Educa-
tiOn and certain representatives Of
the State Board of Education also
attended the meeting. The unofficial
action resulting from this meeting
was that the movement for cOnsOli-
datiOn should begin in these dis
tricts, and that the people should be |
given an opportunity of expressing
their wishes both in the matter of
consolidation and in the matter OF
participation in the Milford School
Building Program. '
Special Referendum Elections On l
Consolidation OF School Districts '
On March 3, 1928, Special Refer
ondum Elections were held in the
following districts: Millwood,
Church Hill, Cedarlleld-each of
which voted favorably-and Pine [
Grove, Kirby's, Benefits Gate, Oak {
Grove, Cedar Grove and Shawnee c
each of which voted against the pro- L
pOsal. The Milford Special School q
district voted favorably. At later d
1ate, the Shawnee District held an
other election which resulted fav- q
orably. (NOw all of these Districts 5
except two are in the consolidation d
and Slaughter Neck is also includ-
,d)
Tho Building Program
In June, 1928, the State Board of Il
notified the Milford Board n
hat the building program for Mil d
ord. proposed by the State Board '
If Education. would call for the n
ERECTION of a Junior-Senior High n
school building of eighteen rooms Fl
md auditorium, and that the apprO- II
)riation would include funds for "
uitablc site. +,
The Referendum On Bond Issue u
One June %, the Milford Board y
'assod a resolution of acceptance of CT
his program and also a resolution
o hold a special referendum elec- o
ion in the Milford District on the N
ubject Of a bond issue as referred cl
o above, in which election the vOt-
RS of the consolidated districts M
hould be considered as a unit with. M
he Milford District. This election u
yas held on July u. 1928, and the
ote was 401 for TIE bond issue with D'
My II against.
The Building Commission :,
This election also provided OppOr-
unity for the selection of build IN
lg commission comprised of Col. n,
hcodOre Townsend, DIR. Walter l..
rier. Harry II. Mulholland and II.
oss Lemex to act with the entire IN
tate Board of Education for tho
istrict m
Tho Bond Issue bu
The bonds were issued in Septem-
er. 1928, in the amount of S27,S24, tn
nd the proceeds were deposited
ith the State Treasurer. ne
Site And Construction
A site was finally selected by the ne
plans and specifica- IN
Ons were prepared by the archi- Iel
cts, bids were received, and
'Ound was broken for the new po
Hiding in the summer of 1929. The ca
lgineering service, including plans, WI
building supervision trc
i'd inspection, were contributed by WI
e Delaware School Foundation, ou
hich, as you know, administers the
nds provided by Pierre S. du Pont. the
lie Building Commission having the
released the site recorded the title thf