Milford was laid out by Joseph Oliver in 1787 on a tract then called "Saw-Mill Range." The village took its name from a fording place near the mill-dam erected by Rev. Sydenham Thorne across Mispillion Creek in 1787. It was first incorporated in 1807. The old town lay in Kent County and the new town in Sussex County. It was the home of Governors Rogers, Tharp, Causey, Burton, and Watson.