Historic map shows lots for sale in Rehoboth Heights
In the 1920s, Rehoboth Beach was an up-and-coming community along Delaware’s coast.
Founded as a religious camp in 1873 on farmland originally owned by Lorenzo Dow Martin, Rehoboth Beach got its first major expansion when Rehoboth Heights was built on 150 acres of adjacent farmland to the south. These images were taken from advertisements paid for by the Rehoboth Heights Development Co. that appeared in the News Journal in 1925 and 1927.
The ads describe Rehoboth Heights as a pine-wooded, fertile plateau overlooking Silver Lake and the Atlantic Ocean. The northern boundary was the diagonal streets of Philadelphia and Christian, which were the previous border between farms. By June 1925, more than 25 cottages had already been erected. The ads also noted Rehoboth Heights sits 25 to 35 feet higher than the rest of the town. “Rehoboth Heights is not a possibility, but a reality. Over 100 purchasers of land are boasting of its beauties and advantages,” the ad reads.
It also highlighted Rehoboth’s proximity to major metropolitan areas and teased the opening of Rehoboth Beach Country Club, which opened in 1925 in what is now Country Club Estates. At the time, a large lot in Rehoboth Heights could be purchased for as low as $400. You read that right. Rehoboth Heights was added to the city when the Legislature approved a new city charter in 1927.
