Harrington has long been nicknamed the "Hub of Delaware." The nickname comes from its earliest days as a stagecoach stop, and the area continues to serve as a vital junction. First established on September 17, 1740, by Thomas Clark, who was granted a proprietary warrant from Thomas Penn, the lands surrounding Clark's dwelling place became known as Clarks Corner. By the 1790s, Thomas Clark's son Benjamin Clark and grandson Matthew Clark had built an inn and stagecoach stop there. The crossroads remained unchanged throughout its early history, save for the addition of a mill and blacksmith's shop. That all changed in the 1850s. In 1856, the town was made the major junction of the new train lines serving the entire Delmarva Peninsula. After it became a "hub," the town was renamed Harrington in honor of Judge Samuel Maxwell Harrington, the chancellor of the court in Delaware. The town then began to boom, but it still keeps the small-town charm captured in the images and imaginations of so many.