Viola is a town in
Kent County,
Delaware, United States. It is part of the
Dover, Delaware Metropolitan Statistical Area
In the United States, a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) is a geographical region with a relatively high population density at its core and close economic ties throughout the area. Such regions are neither legally Incorporated town, incorporate ...
. The population was 157 at the
2010 census.
History
Viola was built in 1856 after the
Delaware Railroad opened a station. The town was laid out on a grant called Golden Thicket, owned by William Shores in 1681.
Geography
Viola is located at (39.0428907, –75.5718695).
According to the
United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , all land.
Infrastructure
Transportation
Main Street is the main north–south road through Viola. The road is called Turkey Point Road outside the town limits and leads north toward
Woodside and south toward
Felton. Evens Road is the main east–west road through Viola and leads east to an intersection with
U.S. Route 13
U.S. Route 13 (US 13) is a north–south U.S. highway established in 1926 that runs for from Interstate 95 (I-95) just north of Fayetteville, North Carolina to US 1 in the northeastern suburbs of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in Morrisville. ...
in
Canterbury
Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour.
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of the ...
. US 13 heads north toward
Dover and south toward
Harrington.
The
Delmarva Central Railroad
The Delmarva Central Railroad is an American short-line railroad owned by Carload Express that operates of track on the Delmarva Peninsula in the states of Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia. The railroad operates lines from Porter, Delaware to ...
's Delmarva Subdivision line passes north–south through Viola.
Utilities
Delmarva Power, a subsidiary of
Exelon, provides electricity to Viola.
Chesapeake Utilities
Chesapeake Utilities Corporation is an American corporation formed in 1947. Chesapeake Utilities Corporation is a diversified energy company engaged, through our operating divisions and subsidiaries, in various energy and other businesses. Headq ...
provides natural gas to the town.
Education
Viola is within the
Lake Forest School District Lake Forest School District, in Kent County, Delaware, was created when funding was not sufficient for three proximal districts (Harrington School District, Felton School District, and Frederica School District) so the three were merged to create a ...
.
The zoned high school is
Lake Forest High School.
Demographics
As of the
census of 2000, there were 156 people, 62 households, and 48 families living in the town. The population density was . The racial makeup of the town was 93.59%
White, 4.49%
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of enslav ...
and 1.92%
Asian.
Hispanic or
Latino of any race made up 1.92% of the population.
Of the 62 households, 30.6% have at least one person under the age of 18, 62.9% had
married couples, 11.3% had a single woman householder, 21.0% had non-families, and 19.4% were owned by a single person, with 8.1% who were 65 years or older. The average household size was 2.52 and the average family size was 2.78.
About 21.2% of the population were under the age of 18, 8.3% from 18 to 24, 26.3% from 25 to 44, 32.7% from 45 to 64, and 11.5% 65 years or older. The median age was 41 years. For every 100 females, there were 110.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 101.6 males.
The median income for a household was $47,813 and the median income for a family was $49,531. Males had a median income of $39,250 versus $24,250 for females. The
per capita income for the town was $21,687. About 3.4% of the population live below the
poverty line, 16.7% of which are 65 or older.
The only non-residential structures within town limits are a post office, a VCF Ruritan hall, and the Felton-Viola United Methodist Church. The town council has recently implemented strict zoning regulations designed to prevent suburban sprawl. The regulations prohibit businesses with more than two employees, restrict the construction of multi-family dwellings, and forbid any annexation of outlying parcels into the original town proper.
References
{{Authority control
Towns in Kent County, Delaware
Towns in Delaware