List of DuPont historic sites along Delaware Route 141 facts for kids

Along Delaware Route 141 in Delaware, you can find many historic places that tell the story of the famous Du Pont family and the DuPont company. This area is often called the DuPont Corridor. It stretches from DuPont's Chestnut Run Plaza on one end to the Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children on the other. Many of these sites are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, meaning they are important parts of American history.

These historic spots show how the American chemical industry grew. They also highlight the role of the DuPont family, their beautiful homes and gardens, and their generous giving to help others.

DuPont's Chestnut Run Plaza: A Research Hub

Entrance to Chestnut Run Plaza from Delaware Route 141

DuPont Chestnut Run Plaza is a large research center covering about 240 acres (0.97 square kilometers) in Wilmington, Delaware. Building started here in 1952. It's a place where many different DuPont teams work on new ideas and help customers.

The plaza has nineteen buildings. Scientists here research things like fibers, printing, chemicals for farming, and new materials called polymers. They also work on hydrogen fuel cells, which are important for clean energy. Chestnut Run Plaza is also a Certified Wildlife Habitat Council Site, meaning it's a good place for local wildlife.

DuPont Airport: From Planes to Offices

The area now known as Barley Mill Plaza was once the DuPont Airport. DuPont owned and ran this private airport from 1924 to 1958. Even the famous pilot Charles Lindbergh landed his plane, the "Spirit of St. Louis", here in 1927!

In 1937, two du Pont family brothers, Richard C. du Pont and Alexis Felix du Pont, Jr., bought a company called All American Aviation. They wanted to develop air mail technology at the airport. This company later grew into Allegheny Airlines, which is now known as US Airways.

After the airport closed, the land was sold and turned into an office park. The DuPont Company rented many offices there and eventually bought the property. It became home to many DuPont business leaders and their legal team. Like Chestnut Run Plaza, Barley Mill Plaza is also a Certified Wildlife Habitat Council Site, showing its commitment to nature.

Pelleport: A Place for Healing

This site was once the private home of William du Pont. Built in the late 1800s, Pelleport was named after one of the family's old homes in France. The house was passed down to his cousin, Eugene du Pont Sr., and his family lived there for two generations.

After being empty for over 25 years, the house was taken down in 1954. In its place, the Eugene du Pont Convalescent Memorial Hospital was built. Today, Christiana Care's Eugene du Pont Preventive Medicine & Rehabilitation Institute at Pelleport helps people stay healthy, prevent sickness, and recover from injuries.

Delaware Route 52: The Scenic Route

Delaware Route 52, also known as Kennett Pike, is a scenic road connecting Wilmington, Delaware to Pennsylvania. It eventually joins U.S. Route 1 near Longwood Gardens. This road was built as a toll road between 1811 and 1813, costing $30,000.

In 1919, Pierre S. du Pont bought the road and stopped collecting tolls. He then paved it, which is why it's sometimes called "The Other DuPont Highway." (The main DuPont Highway is U.S. Route 13 in Delaware). It's said that Pierre S. du Pont paved the road so he and his friends could travel easily between his estate at Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania and the DuPont headquarters in Wilmington. The road was later sold back to the state. Delaware Routes 52 and 100 together form the beautiful Brandywine Scenic Byway.

Chateau Country: Grand Estates

Delaware Route 52 near Winterthur showing Delaware's rolling Chateau Country

Route 52 winds through Delaware’s Chateau Country. Many grand DuPont homes and estates are hidden in the areas around Greenville, Delaware and Centreville, Delaware. Local residents have worked hard to keep the rural feel of Route 52 by carefully controlling new buildings. Even the Twin Lakes Brewing Company in Greenville is located on a farm that once belonged to a DuPont heiress.

Winterthur Museum: A Treasure Trove

Winterthur museum

Between Greenville and Centerville, you'll find the Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library. This museum in Winterthur, Delaware, has one of the most important collections of American historical items in the country. It was once the home of Henry Francis du Pont (1880–1969), who was famous for collecting antiques and for his love of plants.

The museum grounds are open to everyone, and you can take guided tours. The rolling hills are perfect for the annual Sunday Point-to-Point steeplechase races. Other fun events include a parade of carriages and buggies, a "running of the hounds," and elegant tailgating parties. It's a popular spring tradition in northern Delaware.

Longwood Gardens: A Botanical Paradise

Newly renovated East Conservatory of Longwood Gardens

Longwood Gardens is just past the intersection of Pennsylvania Route 52 and U.S. Route 1. It's a huge place with 1,050 acres (4.25 square kilometers) of gardens, forests, and meadows in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. It's one of the best botanical gardens in the United States.

The land for Longwood Gardens was first bought in 1700 by a Quaker named George Peirce from William Penn. In 1798, Joshua and Samuel Peirce started planting trees to create an arboretum. By 1850, they had one of the best tree collections in the nation.

Pierre S. du Pont bought the property from the Peirce family in 1906 to save the arboretum from being cut down for wood. He made it his private estate. From 1906 to the 1930s, Mr. du Pont added many things, including a beautiful conservatory with a huge pipe organ and a large system of fountains. He opened his estate to the public many days a year. In 1937, he started the Longwood Foundation. In 1946, the foundation was given the job of running Longwood Gardens for public education and enjoyment. Besides regular visits, the gardens host many special events like concerts, fireworks with music, and Christmas lights.

The DuPont Building: A City Landmark

The DuPont Building on Rodney Square in Wilmington, Delaware

If you head south on Route 52 from Route 141, you'll enter Wilmington, Delaware. This city is home to the headquarters of the DuPont Company. The most famous DuPont building in Wilmington is the DuPont Building. It takes up a whole city block and overlooks Rodney Square.

The first part of the building was built in 1908 and held DuPont's main offices. In 1913, the building was made bigger, adding wings and the DuPont Playhouse. Part of the original building was turned into the Hotel duPont. The last addition was made in 1923. Today, the building houses DuPont's headquarters, the DuPont Theatre (which used to be the Playhouse), the Hotel duPont, a bank, and many small shops and offices.

St. Joseph's on the Brandywine: A Community Church

The front of the Saint Joes on the Brandywine in Greenville, Delaware.

St. Joseph's on the Brandywine Catholic church was built in 1841. It was constructed by stonemasons from the DuPont company during a time when they weren't busy building the DuPont powder works. The land next to the DuPont powder mills was given by Charles I. du Pont. The cost of building the church was mostly paid for by loans and gifts from the DuPont company and family.

For eighty years, the church had a very close connection with the nearby mills. Church members' pew rents (fees for seats) were even collected by the pastor through deductions from their DuPont Company paychecks. When the mills closed, many church members moved away. By the 1930s, it looked like the church might close too. However, it was saved when people started moving to the northern parts of Wilmington and to the Greenville, Delaware and Centerville, Delaware areas. This church is the home parish of United States President Joe Biden and several leaders of the DuPont Company.

Raskob Estate: A Legacy of Giving

Irisbrook

John J. Raskob was hired by Pierre S. du Pont in 1901 as his personal secretary. He quickly rose through the ranks at DuPont. By 1918, he was the vice-president for finance for both DuPont and General Motors. Raskob was an early investor in General Motors and helped DuPont buy 43% of GM. While at GM, he helped create GMAC (now Ally Financial). He also helped build the famous Empire State Building in New York City, working with Pierre S. du Pont.

Like other DuPont leaders, Raskob was very generous. The Raskob Foundation for Catholic Activities has its offices at "Irisbrook," which was the home of Raskob's younger brother, William F. Raskob. This foundation gives money to religious, charitable, and educational activities that support the Roman Catholic Church around the world. The estate has been divided, and part of it is now used by a company called The Automation Partnership, which works on advanced technology for science. The beautiful home, Irisbrook, is still located on the southwest corner of the estate.

Hagley Museum: Where DuPont Began

Entrance to Hagley Museum

The Hagley Museum and Library covers 235 acres (0.95 square kilometers) along the Brandywine Creek. This is "where the du Pont story begins." Hagley is the site of the Eleutherian Mills gunpowder works, which was started by Eleuthère Irénée du Pont in 1802.

The museum gives you a look at early American industry. You can see restored mills, a community where workers lived, and the original home and gardens of the du Pont family. It's a great place to learn about how the DuPont company started.

Brandywine Creek: Powering the Mills

Mill race along the Brandywine Creek

The Brandywine Creek flows south through the Brandywine Creek State Park and then into Wilmington. It passes through Brandywine Park near the city center. Along its path, it flows past Hagley Museum and Library, where its water powered the powder mills of the early DuPont company.

Even though the creek isn't huge, its flow is steady because it's fed by springs in Pennsylvania. There's a big drop in the river's height near the powder works. Water was redirected by several dams into special channels called mill races. These channels provided enough power to run the powder rolling mills. There are also dams further down the creek that powered other mills in Wilmington, and many of these old mill channels are still in good condition today.

DuPont Experimental Station: A Place for New Ideas

Aerial photo of the Dupont Experimental Station in the summer of 1997. The Brandywine Creek is in the immediate foreground and right. The stone building in the center of the picture is the original clubhouse of the Dupont Country Club which has now been displaced to the upper left of the photo. The Nemours Mansion and Gardens is seen in the upper center. Hagley Museum is off the picture to the immediate left. The highway in the upper left is Delaware Route 141, and all of this is part of the DuPont Historic Corridor.

The land directly across the Brandywine Creek from Eleutherian Mills was owned by DuPont for safety. No buildings were allowed there because if there was an explosion at the powder mills (and there were some!), the blast would be directed towards the heavily wooded hillside across the creek.

After the mills closed, DuPont built the DuPont Experimental Station here. This was also the location of the first nine holes of the DuPont Country Club golf course. But as the Experimental Station grew, the golf course was moved further northeast.

The DuPont Experimental Station is the largest research and development center for E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company. Many important discoveries in modern chemistry have happened here. So, it's not just part of the company's past, but also plays a big role in DuPont's future. It was started in 1903 to help DuPont move from making gunpowder and explosives into the new world of chemistry. As one of the first industrial research labs in the United States, this 150-acre (0.61 square kilometer) campus is DuPont's main research and development facility. It's home to DuPont Central Research and many other DuPont business groups.

The Experimental Station is a Certified Wildlife Habitat Council Site. Besides common birds like pigeons and crows, you might see eastern cottontail rabbits, white-tailed deer, red-tailed hawks, groundhogs (also called woodchucks), eastern gray squirrels, and ruby-throated hummingbirds. Red-tailed hawks and red foxes help control animal populations, and nearby turkey vultures help keep the grounds clean by eating dead animals.

Nemours Mansion and Gardens: A French-Style Estate

Nemours Mansion from the front

The Nemours Mansion and Gardens is a beautiful 300-acre (1.21 square kilometer) country estate. It features formal French-style gardens (called jardin à la française) and a classical French mansion. This grand estate is hidden behind a stone fence topped with glass shards. It's said these were built to keep out relatives!

The mansion looks like a French Château and has more than seventy rooms spread over five floors, covering almost 47,000 square feet (4,366 square meters). The estate is owned by the Nemours Foundation. Nemours was created by Alfred I. du Pont between 1909 and 1910. It was named after a French town connected to his great-great-grandfather, Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours. The architects, Carrère and Hastings, designed the home in the style of Louis XVI—a Rococo French architecture style. You can take guided tours, but it's a good idea to make reservations, especially for groups.

Nemours Children's Hospital, Delaware: Helping Kids

Main entrance of Nemours Children's Hospital, Delaware

Nemours Children's Hospital, Delaware is a hospital just for kids, located in Wilmington, Delaware. It is run by the Nemours Foundation, a non-profit group started by the generous Alfred I. du Pont in 1936. He believed that everyone should do what they can to ease human suffering. So, he gave an estate worth $40 million to create a charity focused on providing healthcare for children.

The Nemours Foundation was given the job of caring for disabled children and low-income seniors throughout Delaware. Nemours has grown to become one of the biggest children's health systems in the country, helping over a quarter of a million children each year.

DuPont Country Club: Sports and Recreation

The DuPont Country Club

The DuPont Country Club is a place for sports and fun that was once owned and run by the DuPont Company. The club officially started in 1920 with 600 members. The first "clubhouse" was a two-story house with a baseball field and stands. The original DuPont Course, a 9-hole golf course with clay tees and sand greens, was designed by Wilfrid Reid and built in 1921.

This original golf course was later removed as the DuPont Experimental Station expanded. Two new courses and a new clubhouse were built at their current location. The old clubhouse became a cafeteria for Experimental Station employees, and the original pro-shop became home to the DuPont employees' credit union. In 2018, a company called Rockland Sports, LLC, bought the club.

Brantwyn: A Historic Home

Brantwyn at the DuPont Country Club

The DuPont Country Club also includes the DuPont estate called Brantwyn. This was the childhood home of Pierre S. du Pont, IV. The name "Brantwyn" probably comes from the name Brandywine. The creek's name might come from an old Dutch word for brandy or gin, brandewijn, or from an early mill owner named Andreas Brainwende or Brantwyn.

Blue Ball Barn: A Modern Dairy Farm

Front view of the DuPont dairy barn at BlueBall.

Off the main map, you can find an amazing dairy barn built in 1914 by Alfred I. DuPont. It was built to supply milk and dairy products to Nemours. Next to it is a milk-house with glass tiles. This facility was designed to be the most modern dairy barn in the United States at that time. The upper floor of the barn stored food for the cattle. The lower level had the milking parlor and an area for calves. Cows waiting to be milked were kept in a courtyard with stucco walls.

The barn is named after the Blue Ball Tavern, an old inn and meeting house that used to be nearby. A blue ball attached to a pole in front of the tavern signaled to stagecoach drivers to stop and pick up passengers. That's how it got the name "Blue Ball Tavern." The preserved and renovated Blue Ball Barn is now the main feature of the new Alapocas Run State Park. The Blue Ball Barn is also the permanent home for the Delaware Folk Art Collection, and there's an exhibit about the history of the barn itself.

Images for kids

• 

  The DuPont Building (center left) and the Nemours Building (right) in 2006.

• 

  The DuPont building from the corner of Market and 10th with the Wilmington Trust branch.

• 

  Main entrance to the Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children from Children's Way. The Nemours carillon is in the background.

• 

  Building E400 on the DuPont Experimental Station with Canada geese who are frequent visitors.

• 

  An immature red-tailed hawk looking at the chemists inside E500 at the DuPont Experimental Station.

• 

  A white-tailed deer fawn, just hours old, outside the entrance to Medical at the DuPont Experimental Station.

• 

  Fairway of the DuPont Country Club

• 

  Carillon at the Nemours Estate

• 

  Brandywine Creek just below Hagley Museum

• 

  Side view of the Blue Ball dairy barn that was part of the Nemours estate

• 

  A cottage in the "Enchanted Garden" section of the grounds, intended for families with children

• 

  Main Fountains at Longwood Gardens

• 

  Indoor Conservatory at Longwood Gardens

• 

  The main fountains at Longwood Gardens

• 

  Restored Gunpowder Mill at Hagley Museum and Library

• 

  Mill Race at Hagley Museum and Library

• 

  Restored Mill Equipment at Hagley Museum and Library

• 

  Unrestored Gunpowder Mill at Hagley Museum and Library

• 

  Machinery in Hagley Museum's workshop

• 

  Frolic Weymouth driving his coach at the head of Winterthur’s Point-to-Point carriage parade.

• 

  Steeplechase at Winterthur’s Point-to-Point.

• 

  Main entrance to the DuPont Experimental Station at the Tyler McConnell Bridge spanning Brandywine Creek

• 

  Camp Brandywine historic marker in Greenville, Delaware

• 

  Hotel DuPont cornerstone

• 

  Wilmington: A Place to Be Somebody