Town History
Selbyville was founded in January 1778 by Benjamin Long, Arthur McCabe, John Murray, Reuben Stevens and Elijah Campbell. They purchased a 250-acre tract known as Sandy Branch which was located at the head of Saint Martin’s River. This site contained a gristmill and sawmill.
One Sampson Selby was responsible for the name Selbyville. In 1842 he began to mark packages for delivery to his country store, “Selby-Ville”.
The development of Selby-Ville accelerated in 1842 when the Frankford and Breakwater Railroad extended shipment of strawberries to the Town. D.J. Long and the Morris Brothers commercialized this crop in the area.
By 1918 Selbyville was the prime supplier of strawberries for the entire east coast. Strawberries remained a major economic base for he Town into the 1930’s.
Selbyville remains a small town in an agriculture setting. Chickens (and chicken processing), hogs, corn and soybeans are the main source of income for our area residents and farmers! The Town continues to grow steadily and happily as it retains its small town atmosphere.
