Burton Hardware Store

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

From the record

“Burton Hardware Store, also known as Burton Brothers Hardware Store, was a historic commercial building located at Seaford, Sussex County, Delaware. It was built about 1900, and was a two-story, roughly square, frame structure.”
Wikipedia article Burton Hardware Store, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 136 National Register listings published here for Sussex County · listed in 1978 · category: Building.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building as contributing to the listing.
Address. High St. and Spring Alley, Seaford, 19973
When was it listed? April 1978
Category. building
Census division. Seaford
National Register reference number. 78000927 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

4 since 2004

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 4 fires within 5 miles of Burton Hardware Store between 2004 and 2020, burning about 114 acres in total. None started naturally. 2 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Arson/incendiarism	2
Equipment and vehicle use	1
Railroad operations and maintenance	1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
9 July 2004	Arson/incendiarism	100 acres	Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge	WOODLAND CHURCH RD.
8 June 2020	Equipment and vehicle use	2.0 acres	Delaware Forest Service	RUTH FIRE
18 April 2016	Railroad operations and maintenance	7.0 acres	Delaware Forest Service	CONRAIL
22 November 2016	Arson/incendiarism	5.0 acres	Delaware Forest Service	HASTINGS

Every fire recorded in Sussex County

Mines and quarries near this property

2 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Burton Hardware Store: 2 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Iron. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where	Site	Commodity	Status	Recorded
	Gravelly Delight Mine	Iron	Past Producer
	Pine Creek Forge Mine	Iron	Past Producer

Every working recorded in Sussex County

Storms near this property

24 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Seaford, the town this property stands in, in 24 storm reports between 1993 and 2025: 10 thunderstorm wind, 7 lightning, 4 heavy rain, 2 flash flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
July 2007	Lightning	Seaford	$200,000	Lightning struck a few homes across Sussex County between 330 p.m. EDT and 415 p.m. EDT on the 28th. A lightning strike and ensuing fire damaged a Kelley Circle home near Seaford. In addition to wind damage elsewhere, lightning struck a home on Clayton Street in Frankford. The ensuing fire damaged the outer wall of the home. Three fire companies assisted in battling the blaze. The worst reported damage occurred to a home struck by lightning in Lewes. Lightning struck a home in the Bay Crossing Community on Anchor Way. Four fire companies fought the ensuing blaze which caused heavy damage to the second floor and roof of the home. No serious injuries were reported with any of the fires.
August 2001	Lightning	Seaford	$200,000	no account filed
August 2001	Lightning	Seaford	$160,000	no account filed
June 2012	Thunderstorm Wind	Seaford	$100,000	A gust front outrunning a cluster of severe thunderstorms entered near Seaford in western Sussex County at approximately 11:57 pm EDT on the 29th. This gust front produced damaging wind gusts estimated between 65 mph to 70 mph as it traversed eastward across the county. Within approximately 20 minutes of the gust front passage, a potent line of severe thunderstorms tracked eastward through Sussex county, producing another round of destructive wind gusts, estimated from 65 mph to 70 mph. Large tree limbs were reported down across the county, including in Seaford, Lincoln, Lewes, and Millsboro. In addition, multiple downed trees were reported in Selbyville, and a wind gust to 70 mph was estimated in Bridgeville. Severe thunderstorms exited eastern Sussex County, including the town of Lewes, at approximately 1:10 am EDT on the 30th. Measured wind gusts included 69 mph in Dewey Beach and 63 mph in Lewes.
July 2005	Lightning	Seaford	$60,000	no account filed
August 2002	Lightning	Seaford	$15,000	no account filed
June 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Seaford	$10,000	A severe thunderstorm near Seaford knocked down a few trees, caused roof damage to a couple of homes and damaged a produce stand.
April 1993	Hail	Seaford	$5,000	no account filed
September 2000	Lightning	Seaford	$1,000	no account filed
May 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	Seaford	-	Tree was blown onto wires.
August 2021	Thunderstorm Wind	Seaford	-	Trees were downed onto power lines on Middleford Rd in Seaford. Time estimated from radar.
August 2021	Lightning	Seaford	-	A tree was struck by lightning which damaged nearby power lines on Middleford Rd in Seaford. Time estimated from radar.
June 2018	Flash Flood	Seaford	-	Several roads were flooded from Concord to Sycamore.
August 2017	Heavy Rain	Seaford	-	Around two inches of rain fell from thunderstorms in 40 minutes.
July 2017	Heavy Rain	Seaford	-	Around three inches fell in 12 hours.
September 2016	Heavy Rain	Seaford	-	Three and two thirds inches of rain fell in 12 hours.
September 2016	Heavy Rain	Seaford	-	Three and three quarters inches of rain fell in 24 hours.
June 2013	Flash Flood	Seaford	-	Thunderstorms with heavy rain caused roadway and small stream flash flooding and field flooding in the Nanticoke River Basin in and around Seaford. Event precipitation totals include 2.90 inches in Seaford.
May 1995	Thunderstorm Wind	Seaford	-	A severe thunderstorm toppled numerous trees and sheared limbs from other trees around Seaford. The severe thunderstorm also ripped the roof from a house along Sussex County Road 544 near Atlanta. About 4,400 homes lost power.
June 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Seaford	-	no account filed
August 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Seaford	-	no account filed
August 2004	Thunderstorm Wind	Seaford	-	no account filed
October 2003	Thunderstorm Wind	Seaford	-	no account filed
June 1997	Thunderstorm Wind	Seaford	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Sussex County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Property	Distance	Listed
Building at High and Cannon Streets	under 500 feet	1987
Building at 218 High Street	under 500 feet	1987
First National Bank of Seaford	under 500 feet	1987
J. W. Cox Dry Goods Store	under 500 feet	1987
Jesse Robinson House	0.1 miles	1982
Building at 200-202A High Street	0.1 miles	1987

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 78000927 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Sussex County	All 136 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.