The New International Encyclopædia/Dover (Delaware)

DOVER. The capital of the State of Delaware, and the county-seat of Kent County, 48 miles south of Wilmington; situated on Jones Creek, and on the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad (Map: Delaware, P 4). It is regularly built on elevated ground. The Wilmington Conference Academy (Methodist Episcopal) and an agricultural and manual training school for colored students are located here. The public buildings include the State House, which contains a State library of 30,000 volumes, the county courthouse, and the Government post-office. There are monuments to persons distinguished in Revolutionary history. The city, situated in a noted fruit-growing region, has several fruit-canning and evaporating works. There are also planing and saw mills, foundry and machine shops, basket and crate factories, and other industrial establishments. Dover was laid out in 1717, became the capital of Delaware in 1777, and was incorporated as a town in 1829. Population, in 1890, 3061; in 1900, 3329.