Overbrook is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

and former village in Sussex County,

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

, United States.

Geography

Overbrook radiates from the intersection of

Delaware Route 1 Delaware Route 1 (DE 1) is the longest numbered state highway in the U.S. state of Delaware. The route runs from the Maryland state line in Fenwick Island, Sussex County, where the road continues south into that state as Maryland R ...

and Cave Neck Road between

Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. It is the police and judicial centre for all of Sussex and is home to Sussex Police, East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service, Lewes Crown Court and HMP Lewes. The civil parish is the centre of ...

and

Milton Milton may refer to: Names * Milton (surname), a surname (and list of people with that surname) ** John Milton (1608–1674), English poet * Milton (given name) ** Milton Friedman (1912–2006), Nobel laureate in Economics, author of '' Free t ...

. in the

Broadkill Hundred Broadkill Hundred (later Broadkiln Hundred) is a hundred in Sussex County, Delaware, United States. Broadkill Hundred was formed in 1696 as one of the original Delaware Hundreds. Originally known as Broadkill Hundred after the Broadkill River, th ...

History

Nineteenth century

Burton's Chapel A.M.E Church was built on the "road to the oyster rocks of the

Broadkill River The Broadkill River is a river flowing to Delaware Bay in southern Delaware in the United States. It is long and drains an area of on the Atlantic Coastal Plain. The Broadkill flows for its entire length in eastern Sussex County. It issues fro ...

" in 1870. Overbrook was a post village on the

Queen Anne's Railroad The Queen Anne’s Railroad was a railroad that ran between Love Point, Maryland, and Lewes, Delaware, with connections to Baltimore via ferry across the Chesapeake Bay. The Queen Anne's Railroad company was formed in Maryland in 1894, and re ...

, which was said to be famous for its excursions in the 1890s. Overbrook's post office opened September 10, 1899, with George L. Short serving as Overbrook's first (and only) postmaster. In April 1899, a train near Overbrook collided with a small herd of cattle, killing the animals. Overbrook's population was 25 in 1900.

Twentieth century

Overbrook was the site of a branch of the fraternal order of Junior Mechanics, an anti-Catholic organization. The Overbrook order was founded on April 9, 1901, and at it founding, the group had 29 members. Overbrook's post office closed on September 15, 1914, but the rail station continued to operate for another decade. The Queen Anne's Rail line was discontinued and the station closed in 1924. In 1921, Overbrook was the site of a

selenosis Selenium is a chemical element with the symbol Se and atomic number 34. It is a nonmetal (more rarely considered a metalloid) with properties that are intermediate between the elements above and below in the periodic table, sulfur and tellur ...

epidemic in area cattle. The outbreak, at that time called "Blind Staggers", was noted in state newspapers. That same year, the '' Wilmington Journal'' noted the fire at the A.L. Hill general store in Overbrook. In the 1930s, Overbrook was noted for its ardent fox-hunters. These fox hunters were reportedly on foot or in vehicles, and in that era, the Overbrook fox hunts were particularly loud and long.

Twenty-first century

In 2016, Sussex County officials rejected a plan to rezone 114 acres of rural farmland in the Overbrook area; the development would have been called Overbrook Town Center. This decision was upheld by officials in 2021, after a public vote in 2018.

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Sussex County, Delaware Unincorporated communities in Delaware