Timber Farms

Brandywine Springs Park

Brandywine Springs Park

Edited from information from The Flag Shop, Rt 4. 

Dates and Names where confirmed by State History, Delawreonline

Most of us have driven by the picnic grove and playground on the corner of Faulkland Road and Newport Gap Pike, just north of Greenbank.  It is now a county park that holds the same name.  The history behind this property begins with Washington and his aides, who held a planning meeting before marching on to The battle of the Brandywine in 1777, under the council oak, still standing today.  It was the park’s bubbling springs of iron and sulfur enriched water that drew socialites beginning in 1826.

A group of Wilmington men, including James Canby, grandson of Oliver Canby of Brandywine Mills, built a three-story hotel in a grand and modern style.  Few other facilities would match its elegance at the time.  The promise of health benefits and the relaxation of such an establishment soon encouraged Philadelphians to take a steamboat to Wilmington and then carriages brought them to the spa.  It cost $3 per day and 62 1/2 cents for dinner.  Such things as soft shell crab from Tangiers and lobster from the Delaware Bay were served.

The hotel was popular but it did not succeed financially.  In 1833, the property was sold at a public auction for $15,500.  The new Philadelphia owner, Robert Newkirk, took it further by building a five story stone structure.  It could accommodate 300 guests.  Newkirk too, was financially unsuccessful and in 1953 Newkirk leased the property to Captain Alden Partridge, a former West Point officer who made his later career setting up military schools in a number of states.

The hotel was transformed into sleeping quarters, classrooms, drilling fields and riding stables. At the first school break and students not present, the school burned to the ground on December 9th of 1853.  Newkirk sold the property to another Philadelphian with experience in hotels, Peter Coyle for $15,000.  $500 less than Newkirk bought it for 20 years prior.  Coyle expanded on the only structure left after the fire, Newkirk’s private home.  Coyle invested $5,000 and opened Brandywine Springs Hotel.  At this time the civil war had begun and the hotel business again failed.

After a sherif’s sale of the property it was rented to Richard Cook of Wilmington who again remodeled the idea into a recreation area that included a hotel, restaurant, vaudeville theatre, and amateur dramatic association, toboggan slide, picnic and excursion grounds.  It was a time of fearce competition from the seashore resorts and nearby Shellpot Park.

Cook’s opening day was spectacular in size and effort but it was marked with tragedy when two trolley’s collided killing two and injuring more than 40 others.  Between the years of 1905 and 1916 there were five fires.  The fifth set by an unhappy employee who murdered one woman and hurt another.

The park remained open but not in its grand scale. Finally, in 1923, it just never reopened for the season.  Vendors returned to take belongings and the remaining buildings were slowly removed by area residents.