Rehoboth Beach City Hall is located at 229 Rehoboth Avenue, Rehoboth Beach, Delaware 19971.
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Rehoboth Beach [†] is known as the "Nation's Summer Capital." The City was historically branded as the getaway of choice for beachgoers from Washington, D.C. Now, the community hosts visitors from all over the country and the world. Many of the award-winning City events have expanded to the shoulder seasons, attracting residents and visitors to Rehoboth Beach in what has traditionally been the off- season. The City is now known as a year-round destination for business and pleasure.
The City has a unique character and charm all its own. While its history as a religious camp meeting site is similar to other Atlantic resorts, Rehoboth Beach has chosen to grow and change (physically and socially), while working to protect key elements that set it apart from other beach resorts on the eastern seaboard. The City, emphasizing its inclusive nature, offers a blend of the old and the new, supporting development and redevelopment appropriate to its status as a premier seaside destination and home for those seeking traditional, small-town atmosphere and charm.
The City is bordered on the east by the Atlantic Ocean, on the north by the Town of Henlopen Acres, and on the west and south by unincorporated portions of Sussex County. Cape Henlopen State Park lies just to the north of Rehoboth Beach and Town of Dewey Beach is just to its south. Rehoboth Beach is within a half- to full-day drive from many metropolitan areas including Washington, D.C. (122 mi.), Baltimore, MD (115 mi.), Philadelphia, PA (121 mi.), Norfolk, VA (168 mi.), New York, NY (210 mi.), Hartford, CT (322 mi.), Pittsburgh, PA (370 mi.), and Providence, RI (389 mi.).
The earliest settlers to the Rehoboth Beach area were Native Americans who traveled to the beach in the summer months to enjoy the cool breezes and abundant seafood. Between 1650 and 1675, English and Dutch settlers established roots as the area became home to farmers and members of William Penn's earliest legislatures. Later owners participated in the American War of Independence.
Rehoboth Beach traces its development as a summer resort to 1872, when a group of Wilmington Methodists agreed to establish a camp meeting ground and religious resort based on the model of Ocean Grove, New Jersey. The following year, the Association purchased 414 acres on the coast and laid out meeting grounds, streets, and lots in a fan-shaped design with wide streets, parks, and specific building lots, the design of which remains largely intact today. The Rehoboth Camp Meeting Association of the Methodist Episcopal Church was formally established on January 27, 1873, and camp meetings began to be held the following summer. Small frame houses called tents were built surrounding a central tabernacle. Two hotels—the Surf and the Bright—were constructed to serve the influx of camp goers, a post office was opened, and a boardwalk was constructed.
As more summer visitors took an interest in visiting the Rehoboth Camp Meeting Grounds, the activities began to take on a more secular flavor rather than a religious one. The nearest railroad station was six miles away at Lewes; however, the relative inaccessibility of the area restrained growth. This situation changed in 1878 when the Junction and Breakwater Railroad began passenger and freight service to the City and constructed a depot on the west side of the City. The Henlopen Hotel was built in 1879, providing additional accommodations for rail-borne vacationers. By 1881, camp meetings were discontinued but were renewed by local Methodists in the 1890s and continued until the early 1900s.
Rail service to the resort was enhanced in 1884 by the extension of the main line to the east along Rehoboth Avenue, bringing it within a few hundred feet of the shoreline, and the construction of a spur to the south, ending at the junction of Philadelphia Street and Laurel Avenue where it served various commercial enterprises including a concrete block factory and a fishpond.
By the end of the 1880s, three leading resort figures realized that a more regular form of government was needed, and they petitioned the State's General Assembly for a new charter. On March 19, 1891, the General Assembly agreed and repealed the former charter of the Camp Meeting Association (and of its successor, the Rehoboth Beach Association). A new charter was issued, establishing the area that had comprised the camp meeting grounds as an incorporated municipality. Its central purpose was stated as "the providing and maintaining of a permanent seaside resort and to furnish the necessary and proper conveniences and attractions requisite to the success of same." The municipality was first known as Henlopen City; in 1891, it was renamed Rehoboth Beach. In Hebrew Rehoboth means "broad spaces."
The turn of the 20th century saw numerous public improvements in the community. The Lewes-Rehoboth Canal project promised to improve freight transportation in the area. Telephone service was started in 1899, gas lighting was authorized in 1905, and electric service was initiated three years later. The first beach concessions were opened in 1903, the year the City elected its first mayor. The City Hall was built in 1906, and the fire company was organized the same year. The public school opened in 1901 and received a new building in 1908. By 1913, public water was available in Rehoboth.
A fire in 1913 devastated parts of Rehoboth and Baltimore Avenues, destroying a church, 10 houses, two stores, a four-story hotel, and a barn. The following year, a storm washed out Surf Avenue and destroyed the boardwalk, pier, and pavilions. Surf Avenue was subsequently abandoned from Lake Avenue south to Laurel Street (at that time the southern border of the City) by an act of the State Legislature in March 1915, and by the City in April, 1915
The City's residential area expanded in the 1920s, coinciding with the achievement of effective control of mosquitoes. In 1923, 150 acres of farmland adjacent to the City limits on the south was developed as a residential subdivision called Rehoboth Heights. This property became part of an annexation in 1926, which increased the City's boundaries south to Silver Lake. The City's substantial growth during the 1920s is attributable largely to road improvements, which made the resort more readily accessible to tourists. The City was linked to the concrete road leading to Georgetown by means of a drawbridge in 1925. The paved road helped link the resort with Washington, D.C.; many legislators, diplomats, and government employees began to visit and vacation in the City and it was not long before Rehoboth Beach came to be known as the "Nation's Summer Capital."
The streets within the City were first paved in 1927; in the same year, the railroad spur to Laurel Avenue was discontinued, reflecting the increasing ascendancy of motor transportation. Passenger rail service was abandoned the following year. The replica lighthouse was moved to Rehoboth Avenue in 1928, completely rebuilt in 1996, and moved to its present location in the new traffic circle as part of the recent Rehoboth Avenue improvements. Between 1928 and 1931, roads were constructed that linked Rehoboth with the newly completed DuPont Highway. The effect this had on the resort community is reflected in the population figures. In 1922, Rehoboth had 690 winter and 4,500 summer residents; by 1931, these numbers had grown to 795 winter and 6,000 summer residents. Six years later, the City boasted 912 winter residents and its summer population tripled to 18,000. School construction began in 1939 and classes started in 1940. In 1959, the second school opened. A storm destroyed the boardwalk and some oceanfront property in 1962. The City Hall was dedicated in 1965. In 1969, the City of Rehoboth Beach once again expanded its borders by annexing the Schoolview neighborhood. Around 1950, this property was purchased and developed in response to the building boom that took place after World War II. In the late 1960s, the Country Club Estates subdivision was developed on land that had previously been the Rehoboth Beach Country Club and Golf Course. The Anna Hazzard Museum opened in 1976, the library moved to its present site in 1985, and an extensive renovation was completed in 2000. The railroad station was moved to its current location in 1987 and, in 1988, the City received its first award as a Tree City USA. The boardwalk was again destroyed by a storm in 1992. Beginning in 2004, Rehoboth Avenue was completely redesigned and reconstructed. These improvements followed the recommendations of the 2004 CDP and included underground utilities, a new bandstand, wider sidewalks, and reconfigured travel lanes, parking, landscaping, and lighting.
The City has grown from the 400-acre tent community to nearly twice that size today through the development and annexation of residential neighborhoods, with over 60% of the land zoned for residential uses. While that is the case, the City's popularity as a resort often overshadows its residential community, and many challenges come from this split personality. From the remaining small cottages to the modest or elaborate beach homes, renovated residences are now used for rental properties, bed and breakfast establishments, offices, restaurants, and shops. Moreover, trends in the vacation rental industry show that travelers like to 'live like a local,' even though, ironically, the influx of more people into ever-larger houses threatens to take away the very appeal that brought them to the City. In any event, it is the residential community that is the heart of the City, its major land uses, and a major feature that draws people to it. Throughout the City, private and commercial structures, because of their characteristic architecture and longevity, are an integral part of the ambiance and worthy contribution to Rehoboth's past and future.
† Adapted from: Rehoboth Town Council, Rehoboth Beach Comprehensive Development Plan, 2022, www.cityofrehoboth.com, accessed April, 2024.
Nearby Towns: Dewey Beach Town • Lewes City •