Hagley Museum and Library Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids Significant dates

Hagley Museum and Library
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark District


Location in Delaware Show map of Delaware Location in the United States Show map of the United States
Nearest city	Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.
Area	235 acres (95 ha)
Built	beginning 1802
NRHP reference No.	84000819
Opened	1957
Added to NRHP	November 13, 1966

The Hagley Museum and Library is a special place in New Castle County, Delaware, near Wilmington. It's a non-profit group that teaches people about history. The museum covers more than 235 acres along the Brandywine Creek.

Here you can find the first home and garden of the du Pont family in the United States. There are also old powder yards and a machine shop from the 1800s. A beautiful garden with terraces and statues was added in the 1920s. It was created by Louise Evelina du Pont Crowninshield.

Discovering Hagley's Past
- What's in a Name? The Story of Hagley
- Hagley's Journey: A Timeline
What You Can See and Do at Hagley
The Hagley Library
Exploring the Hagley Property
- The E. I. du Pont Family Home
- Amazing Trees and Gardens
Gallery
See also

Discovering Hagley's Past

In 1802, a French immigrant named Éleuthère Irénée du Pont started black powder mills here. He bought the land in 1801. He chose this spot because the river had a strong flow, which could power the mills. There was also plenty of timber and willow trees. These trees were important for making good charcoal, which was needed for the powder.

The location was also close to the Delaware River. This made it easy to ship other ingredients like sulfur and saltpeter. Plus, there were quarries nearby to get stone for building the mills. The E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company's powder factory grew to be the biggest in the world.

The mills along the Brandywine closed in 1921. Parts of the property were then sold. Plans for a museum began 31 years later, in 1952. This was to celebrate the DuPont Company's 150th birthday.

What's in a Name? The Story of Hagley

Historians at Hagley know that the name "Hagley" was used even before E.I. du Pont bought more land in 1813. This new land became known as the Hagley Yards. An old paper from 1813 calls the land Hagley. It was even called Hagley as early as 1797.

At that time, the owner was Rumford Dawes, a merchant from Philadelphia. He applied for insurance on buildings that were said to be in a place called Hagley on the Brandywine. Dawes had bought the property in 1783. The name Hagley wasn't on the papers when he bought it. So, it seems likely that Dawes himself gave this name to the Brandywine location.

It's thought that Delaware's Hagley was named after a famous English estate called Hagley Hall. This estate was well-known in the late 1700s. Dawes likely chose the name because of a poem called The Seasons by James Thomson. Hagley Hall was the home of Thomson's friend, Baron Lyttelton. The poem describes a beautiful valley, which sounds a lot like the Brandywine Valley. The Seasons was very popular in Philadelphia when Rumford Dawes named Hagley.

The English Hagley estate is in the West Midlands of England. It's about ten miles southwest of Birmingham. It's interesting that Delaware's Hagley is about 8 miles south of Chadds Ford Township. This town was officially called Birmingham Township before 1996.

Around the same time, a place called Hagley Plantation in South Carolina also got its name. Its owners admired English culture. They chose the name Hagley to remember the famous parkland near London.

Hagley's Journey: A Timeline

November 1952: The Eleutherian Mills-Hagley Foundation was created. It's a non-profit group for education.
May 1957: The Hagley Museum officially opened. The Henry Clay Mill building was ready for visitors.
1961: The Longwood Library joined with Hagley Museum. It opened at the site of the original DuPont Company's powder works.
1962: Eleutherian Mills, the du Pont family's old home, opened to the public.
1966: The museum property was named a National Historic Landmark.
1969: The first DuPont company office was fully restored.
1971: Work began to restore the E.I. du Pont Garden.
1982: Workers' Hill opened. The first fireworks show for Hagley members happened. This show celebrates the museum's 25th anniversary. The annual fireworks continue every June.
1984: The official name became Hagley Museum and Library.
1996: Hagley's first car show, "100 Years of Cars," took place. It celebrated America's car history. The annual car show is still held every September.
1999: The kitchen in Hagley's Eleutherian Mills opened to visitors.
2002: Two new exhibits opened: "DuPont Science and Discovery" and "DuPont: The Explosives Era." These celebrated the DuPont company's 200th anniversary.
2007: A new entrance to the Visitors Center opened. It welcomed people to the museum's 50th anniversary exhibit, "Hagley at Fifty: Exploding with History."

What You Can See and Do at Hagley

The Hagley Museum opened in 1957. It has exhibits and demonstrations that show how early industrial technology connects to American history. It focuses on the du Pont family, the DuPont company, and how things like gunpowder were made. You can also see a large collection of American Patent models, showing old inventions.

There are exhibits both inside and outside. You can explore restored mills, a community where workers lived, and the original du Pont family home with its garden.

The museum also shares stories of the DuPont Company employees from the 1800s. You can learn how they lived and how their lives changed with new machines and ways of making things. Visitors can take a bus tour with a guide. This tour goes through the Powder Yard Trail and is the only way to reach the du Pont home.

The Hagley Library

The Eleutherian Mills Historical Library opened on October 7, 1961. It was later renamed the Hagley Library in 1984.

Hagley's library has a huge collection of old papers, photos, and books. These materials tell the story of American business and technology. The library helps students and researchers from all over the world. It has many thousands of items, including old letters, company records, and millions of pictures. Many items are also available online.

The library also has a special center. It helps connect Hagley with scholars who study American business and technology history. This center offers programs for researchers. It also hosts a big meeting for business historians and publishes a journal.

Exploring the Hagley Property

The E. I. du Pont Family Home

On the property, you'll find the home of Éleuthère Irénée du Pont. He built this home and the buildings around it in the Georgian style. It was a central place for his family and business. Five generations of the du Pont family lived here. Many of their original furniture pieces, American folk art, and family items from France are still on display. Other buildings nearby include a barn, the company's "First Office," and the Lammot du Pont Workshop.

This estate home was the very first place the du Pont family lived in the United States.

Amazing Trees and Gardens

The Hagley property is home to several special trees. Some of these trees are ranked as national or state champions. One of them is an Osage orange tree. In 2011, it was named a Co-National Champion Tree. It was even featured in Delaware's "Big Trees" list. Sadly, a storm in August 2020 partly knocked it down. People thought this tree might have been over 300 years old. Some even wondered if its seeds came from the Lewis and Clark expedition.

Two other champion trees were also damaged in that storm. These included a 90-foot tall sugar maple and a 62-foot tall shingle oak.