St. Georges Hundred is an unincorporated subdivision of

New Castle County New Castle County is the northernmost of the three counties of the U.S. state of Delaware (New Castle, Kent, and Sussex). As of the 2020 census, the population was 570,719, making it the most populous county in Delaware, with nearly 60% of the ...

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...

. Hundreds were once used as a basis for representation in the

Delaware General Assembly The Delaware General Assembly is the legislature of the U.S. state of Delaware. It is a bicameral legislature composed of the Delaware Senate with 21 senators and the Delaware House of Representatives with 41 representatives. It meets at Legi ...

, and while their names still appear on all real estate transactions, they presently have no meaningful use or purpose except as a geographical point of reference.

Boundaries and formation

St. Georges Hundred is that portion of

that lies south of the

Chesapeake and Delaware Canal The Chesapeake & Delaware Canal (C&D Canal) is a -long, -wide and -deep ship canal that connects the Delaware River with the Chesapeake Bay in the states of Delaware and Maryland in the United States. In the mid-17th century, mapmaker Augus ...

and the small remaining portion of St. Georges Creek, and north of Appoquinimink Creek, extended generally westward from its headwaters to the

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

state line, excepting a small area south of the

, west of Summit Bridge and north of Back Creek. It was one of the original hundreds in

created in 1682 and was named for St. Georges Creek that once flowed along its northern boundary. Today most of the bed of St. Georges Creek has been used by the route of the

, which has effectively replaced it. Originally, the default boundary of

and

was the vague height of land between the

Delaware River The Delaware River is a major river in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States and is the longest free-flowing (undammed) river in the Eastern United States. From the meeting of its branches in Hancock, New York, the river flows for a ...

and

Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula, including parts of the Ea ...

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

s and St. Georges Hundred extended only to that point. With the running of the

Mason–Dixon line The Mason–Dixon line, sometimes referred to as Mason and Dixon's Line, is a demarcation line separating four U.S. states: Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and West Virginia. It was Surveying, surveyed between 1763 and 1767 by Charles Mason ...

in 1767, the western boundary of

was established in its present location and became a portion of St. Georges Hundred's western boundary. The towns of Middletown and

Odessa ODESSA is an American codename (from the German language, German: ''Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen'', meaning: Organization of Former SS Members) coined in 1946 to cover Ratlines (World War II aftermath), Nazi underground escape-pl ...

and the community of Port Penn are in St. Georges Hundred.

Development

St. Georges Hundred is rural and agricultural in places, but there has been considerable residential and commercial development in the 1980s and 1990s which continues to this day. This area is among the fastest growing parts of Delaware.

Geography

Important geographical features, in addition to the

, St. Georges Creek and Appoquinimink Creek, include the

, which forms its eastern boundary, St. Augustine Creek, Scotts Run, Drawyers Creek, Back Creek, and Reedy Island in the

. It is entirely in the coastal plain region on the

Delmarva Peninsula The Delmarva Peninsula, or simply Delmarva, is a peninsula on the East Coast of the United States, occupied by the majority of the state of Delaware and parts of the Eastern Shore of Maryland and Eastern Shore of Virginia. The peninsula is l ...

Transportation

Important roads include portions of the Korean War Veterans Memorial Highway (

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, Delaware, Fenwick Island, Sussex County, Delaware, Sussex County, where the ...

), the DuPont Highway (

U.S. Route 13 U.S. Route 13 or U.S. Highway 13 (US 13) is a north–south United States Numbered Highway established in 1926 that runs for from Interstate 95 (I-95) just north of Fayetteville, North Carolina, to US 1 in the northeast ...

), Levels Road, U.S. Route 301, Summit Bridge Road and Boyd's Corner Road (

Delaware Route 896 Delaware Route 896 (DE 896) is a state highway located in New Castle County, Delaware, New Castle County, Delaware. The route runs from U.S. Route 13 in Delaware, U.S. Route 13 (US 13) in Boyds Corner, Delaware, Boyds Corner ...

), Augustine Beach Road and Taylor's Bridge Road (

Delaware Route 9 Delaware Route 9 (DE 9) is a state highway that runs from Delaware Route 1, DE 1 near Dover Air Force Base in Kent County, Delaware, Kent County north to Delaware Route 2, DE 2 in the city of Wilmington, Delaware, Wilmingt ...

). A portion of the old

Delaware Railroad The Delaware Railroad Company (DRC) was a railroad company that operated in the US state of Delaware from the mid-1850s until 1976, during which time it was the largest in the state. Its original main line began in Bear, Delaware and extended sout ...

, subsequently the Delmarva branch of the

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad ( reporting mark PRR), legal name as the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, also known as the "Pennsy," was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At its ...

, now 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 Ha ...

's Delmarva Subdivision, runs north–south through Middletown.

References

{{Reflist Hundreds in New Castle County, Delaware