Blades, DE

Blades grew out of a railroad employee’s land purchase and a town that kept one foot in the Nanticoke River. James Blades came to the area to work on the railroad, bought a tract around 1850, and opened the store that gave the community its early center. Delaware granted the town a charter in 1910 under the name Bladesville; the name shortened to Blades in 1929 when the Bladesville and Seaford post offices were combined. The town seal still puts the pieces together: rail line below, wheat bundle for Sussex County, and a river symbol. Blades is a small Delaware town whose map is really a timeline.