The Godwin School in Millsboro, Delaware has been added to the National Register of Historic Places. The one-room schoolhouse was built in 1897 for the growing student population of the rural Sussex County community, which is just north of the state’s southern border with Maryland. It served up to thirty students per year, from Kindergarten through eighth grade, until the school closed in the 1935-36 school year, when the district was merged with Millsboro School #23. After closing, it was used as a corn crib, then left vacant and in disrepair for a number of years.
The schoolhouse was preserved by the Millsboro Historical Society, which organized in 1985 for that purpose. The building’s owners have granted the historical society a 99-year lease of the building. The organization has been able to document the school’s history through archival research and oral history and to return it to its early 20th century appearance, including desks, chalkboards, a wood burning stove, and an original outhouse. Restoration was completed in 1999.
The school was added to the National Register on July 16. It is open to the public by appointment only.