In the 1870s, the United States Life-Saving Service was established to aid victims of shipwrecks on American shores through a network of stations where seven or eight men, called surfmen, lived together during the harshest seasons of the year. Six stations stood on Delaware's coast, including Station Indian River. Each night, surfmen patrolled the beaches on foot, scanning the waters for ships in distress, and because stations were five to seven miles apart, they could cover the entire coast on their nightly patrols. When a shipwreck was spotted, the men summoned one another and went out with the necessary equipment to rescue the crew and passengers aboard the stranded ship. Because the Indian River Inlet was particularly difficult to navigate, the Indian River Life-Saving crew responded to more wrecks than neighboring stations. In 1915, the United States Life-Saving Service merged with the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service to form the United States Coast Guard. The Indian River Life-Saving Station, located just 1.5 miles north of the inlet, remained an active Coast Guard station until March 1962, when the Ash Wednesday Storm damaged the structure and filled the first floor with sand and water. The Coast Guard decommissioned the station the following day and built a new station. Restoration of the original station began in the mid-1990s to turn Station Indian River into a museum sharing the story of the surfmen and their role in Delmarva's maritime heritage, and it now serves as the information and educational center for Delaware Seashore State Park, featuring history, nature, and recreation programs throughout the years.