In previous posts, we have covered things like houses, mills, factories, places of worship, farms, and even a hospital. Probably the most important community building not yet covered here is the schoolhouse. In the early days of Mill Creek Hundred, schools were few and far between. There may have been a few church schools and a number of short-lived private schools (really not much more than a teacher instructing a few kids), but most education was done in the home, or not at all. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries there were a few attempts in Delaware at passing school laws, with little success. (Although one early law did lead to the
incorporation in 1808 of a school near
St. James Church.) Real public schools in the state didn't get started until after the passage of the "Free School Act" in 1829. [It's a rather long PDF, but
here is a very good account of the history of school districts in Delaware.] This law set up school districts in the state, each with one school and at least 35 pupils. There were provisions for districts to be split or combined, and each was controlled by, and funded by, the residents of the district. By 1868, there was all or most of 12 districts in Mill Creek Hundred, with parts of four more.
