Union Street in Milton in 1908

Union Street in Milton has long been a hub of activity for the town’s residents and visitors. This 1908 photograph may be the final look at Union Street looked like before the Great Fire of 1909.

The blaze started in the early morning hours of Aug. 13, when fire broke out at The Big Store, which was located at the corner of Federal and Front streets, site of the present-day M&T Bank.

The fire lasted for four hours and consumed three to four square blocks of the commercial business area. The damage stretched from the banks of the Broadkill River all the way to the present-day Paisley Moon salon building on Federal Street, according to the Milton Historical Society.

While fires had happened before in downtown Milton, and the Milton Fire Department was organized in 1901, firefighters were not equipped to fight a blaze of that size.

Phil Martin, chief historian on a 2021 exhibit on the fire at the historical society, said the primary eyewitness account of the fire was from Milford Chronicle reporter and Milton resident David A. Connor, who described the fire as “The most disastrous conflagration that ever visited Milton.”

This photograph is a monochrome postcard in the Delaware Public Archives’ collection. It shows a wide dirt street lined with storefronts with many carriages parked along it. Miss Mammie Dutton of Minotola, N.J., received this postcard from her brother, Frank. Frank wrote to Mammie to tell her he was in town that night and was going to Aunt Jennie’s. He wrote that he went to school every day. A postmark on the back indicates that this postcard was mailed from Milton. The postage stamp is a one cent.