The Brandywine crosses the Fall Line just north of Wilmington, and descends from about 160 feet (49m) above sea level in Chadds Ford to just a few feet above sea level in Wilmington. The river's descent allowed manufacturers — notably, of flour and gunpowder — to use high-powered machinery in the days before the steam engine, while its navigable channel to the Delaware River and Delaware Bay allowed them to load oceangoing ships.
History
By 1687, a Swedish colonist, Tyman Stidham opened the first mill on the Brandywine, near Wilmington. About 1735, Brandywine Village was founded across the creek from Wilmington. Quakers Elizabeth Levis Shipley, her husband William Shipley,[2] and Thomas Canby were important in establishing the village and its supporting flour mills. By 1743, Thomas's son Oliver owned 3 mill sites. A dam and a millrace south of the creek had been built.
The Brandywine Academy building"Gilpin's Mill on the Brandywine" attributed to Thomas Doughty circa 1827.Brandywine flour mills about 1840, painted by Bass Otis. The north bank (to the right) is Brandywine Village.
Prominent Quaker millers, including the Canbys, Leas, and Tatnalls, built their stone homes along Market Street, and built the Brandywine Academy building in 1798. A cupola was added to the academy in 1820, and it rang as the Marquis de Lafayette visited on October 6, 1824.[3][4] By 1806 there were "about fifty or sixty snug brick, stone, and frame houses" in the village and about 12 mills.[5]
In 1760 a bridge was built at the current site of the Market Street Bridge, and the north race and two more flour mills were built by Joseph Tatnall.
Oliver Evans in the 1780s helped local mills increase their efficiency, ushering in the industrial revolution. His first design for a fully integrated automatic flour mill was first used for a mill on nearby Red Clay Creek in 1783 and gradually gained acceptance from Brandywine millers. The grain was unloaded on the ground floor and raised to the top floor by waterpower. Gravity moved the grain through the stages of cleaning, drying, grinding, spreading, and cooling, in a continuous manufacturing process.[6]
In 1795 Jacob Broom built the first cotton mill on the Brandywine, a few miles north of the village.[3] The mill burned down in 1797, and in 1802 Broom sold the site, complete with a working dam and millrace, to Eleuthère Irénée du Pont, who paid $6,740 for the 95 acres (380,000m2).[7] Gunpowder mills, known as the Eleutherian Mills, operated on the site from 1802, and by 1810 the site was the largest gunpowder producer in the country. During the Civil War alone, over 4 million barrels of gunpowder were produced here. The mills, which operated until 1921, are now part of the Hagley Museum and Library.[8]
In 1796 the village contained 12 mills that could grind 400,000 bushels of grain per year. By 1815 several toll roads connected the village with Pennsylvania's grain-growing regions, including the Lancaster, Kennett and Concord Pikes.[9] These roads later became Delaware Route 41, Delaware Route 52, and parts of US 202 combined with Delaware Route 202.
The millers cooperated in maintaining quality and branding the flour. "Brandywine Superfine" flour was shipped all along the Atlantic coast and to the West Indies before the American Revolution.
The village was annexed by the City of Wilmington in 1869. It is now a historic district in the city.
A mill race once used to provide water power is still in working condition in Brandywine Park near downtown Wilmington. This park was designed in the 1890s by Frederick Law Olmsted.
↑ Kinnane, Adrian (2002). DuPont: From the Banks of the Brandywine to Miracles of Science. Wilmington: E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company. ISBN0-8018-7059-3
↑ Greenwood, Richard (January 26, 1979). "Eleutherian Mills". National Register of Historic Places Inventory— Nomination Form. National Park Service. 66000259.
↑ "Greater Brandywine Village". 1730–1820 Milling, the Revolutionary War and Industrial Innovation. Retrieved 2007-10-21.
Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours was a French-American chemist and industrialist who founded the gunpowder manufacturer E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company. His descendants, the du Pont family, have been one of America's richest and most prominent families since the 19th century, with generations of influential businessmen, politicians and philanthropists. In 1807, du Pont was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in his adopted hometown of Philadelphia.
The Hagley Museum and Library is a nonprofit educational institution in unincorporated New Castle County, Delaware, near Wilmington. Covering more than 235 acres (95 ha) along the banks of the Brandywine Creek, the museum and grounds include the first du Pont family home and garden in the United States, the powder yards, and a 19th-century machine shop. On the hillside below the mansion lies a Renaissance Revival garden, with terraces and statuary, created in the 1920s by Louise Evelina du Pont Crowninshield (1877–1958).
Brandywine Creek is a tributary of the Christina River in southeastern Pennsylvania and northern Delaware in the United States. The Lower Brandywine is 20.4 miles (32.8 km) long and is a designated Pennsylvania Scenic River with several tributary streams. The East Branch and West Branch of the creek originate within 2 miles (3 km) of each other on the slopes of Welsh Mountain in Honey Brook Township, Pennsylvania, about 20 miles (32 km) northwest of their confluence.
The du Pont family or Du Pont family is a prominent American family descended from Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739–1817). It has been one of the richest families in the United States since the mid-19th century, when it founded its fortune in the gunpowder business. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it expanded its wealth through the chemical industry and the automotive industry, with substantial interests in the DuPont company, General Motors, and various other corporations.
Victor Marie du Pont de Nemours was a French American diplomat, politician, and businessman. He was also a member of the Delaware General Assembly, the founder of the Du Pont, Bauduy & Co., wool manufacturers, and brother of Éleuthère Irénée du Pont, the founder of the E.I. du Pont de Nemours Company.
Preston Lea was an American businessman and politician from Wilmington, in New Castle County, Delaware. He was a member of the Republican Party who served as Governor of Delaware.
Bancroft Mills is an abandoned mill complex along Brandywine Creek in Wilmington, Delaware, United States. It has been the site of some of the earliest and most famous mills near Wilmington and was the largest and longest running complex along the Brandywine.
Alfred Victor Philadelphe du Pont de Nemours was a French American chemist and industrialist, who was the eldest son and successor of Éleuthère Irénée du Pont, the founder of the E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company. His son, Alfred Victor du Pont, was one of founding fathers of the alpha (first) chapter of Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity on October 19, 1850, affiliated with University of Pennsylvania, which is a charter member of the North American Interfraternity Conference.
Charles Irénée du Pont was an American manufacturer and politician, and an early member of the prominent du Pont family business. He was a nephew of Eleuthère Irénée du Pont, the founder of the E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, and a member of the Delaware Senate.
The Jacob Broom House, also known historically as Hagley, is a historic house on Christchurch Road near Montchanin, Delaware. It was built in 1795 by Founding Father Jacob Broom, one of the Delaware signers of the United States Constitution. The house was purchased in 1802 by Éleuthère Irénée du Pont, progenitor of the prominent Du Pont family and founder of the DuPont chemical concern, who established the Eleutherian Mills below the house on the banks of Brandywine Creek. The house, which remains in the hands of Du Pont descendants, was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1974 for its association with Broom.
Wilmington State Parks is a state park located in Wilmington, Delaware. Open year-round, the park is approximately 345 acres (140 ha) of land mostly situated along the Brandywine Creek. The state park is made up of a group of smaller parks that are administratively managed as a single unit.
From 1802 to 1921, Eleutherian Mills was a gunpowder mill site used for the manufacture of explosives founded by Eleuthère Irénée du Pont, which grew into the DuPont company. The name also refers to the house on the hill above the mills, which was the first du Pont family home in America. In 1957 the site became an outdoor museum when the Hagley Museum and Library was founded. The site was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1966.
William Lea was a member of a prominent flour milling family in Wilmington, Delaware, who was largely responsible for the development of the Brandywine Mills to their place of importance.
Brandywine Village Historic District is a national historic district located along Brandywine Creek at Wilmington, New Castle County, Delaware. It encompasses 12 contributing buildings, 7 contributing sites, and 2 contributing structures. Brandywine Village developed in the late-18th century as a group of flour mills, the homes of prosperous millers, mill workers, shop keepers and artisans. Located in the district are a set of mill owner built homes of granite. Notable buildings include the Gothic Revival style St. John's Episcopal Church (1857-1858) designed by noted Philadelphia architect John Notman, Brandywine Methodist Episcopal Church (1857), and Brandywine Academy (1798). In 1788, Brandywine Village was the site of the first mechanized mill designed by Oliver Evans.
Breck's Mill Area, also known as Breck's Mill Area-Henry Clay Village Historic District, is a national historic district located along Brandywine Creek in unincorporated New Castle County, Delaware, near Wilmington. It encompasses 56 contributing buildings, five contributing sites, and three contributing structures. The district encompasses The Mill, The Workers' houses, and The Mill Owner's Home.
James Canby (1781–1858) was an American businessman, banker and early railroad executive based in Wilmington, Delaware.
James Price (1776–1840) was a miller, businessman, banker, and railroad executive based in Wilmington, Delaware.
Joseph Tatnall (1740–1813) was an American businessman, who was a prominent Quaker merchant, miller, and banker in Wilmington, Delaware.
William Poole Bancroft was an American industrialist who later became an important figure in the land conservation movement. His belief that the beauty of the Brandywine region should be protected against urban sprawl for future generations led to him purchasing large amounts of land which eventually became state and federally owned park land.
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