A View of The Town of New Castle From The River Delaware, -- Taken the 4th July 1797 -- By Ives le Blanc
New Castle History
Jim Meek
G18-- Spring 2015
Course web site: h p://nc-chap.org/osher [email protected]
h p://nc-chap.org
Currently > 3,000 pages, files and images!
History, guidebooks, archaeology, maps, aerial photos, Portraits, Census and tax records Stage coaches, railroad and railroad engine manuf… Churches: Lutheran, Presbyt. Episcopal, Quaker, Methodist Women in Ft. Casimir Virtual tours Oral History, Post cards Fiber, iron and steel industries Day in Old New Castle “Williamsburg on the Delaware” Crime & punishment: hanging, scarlet le ers, whipping
And growing… wherever my curiousity takes me (Web storage is cheap, I like to share informa on) h p://nc-chap.org/osher
Schedule subject to change!
If you’re interested in a topic, Check the weekly lis ng,
If people want to follow up on topics, send me an email and I will try to provide links
[email protected] Tenta ve lecture plan
1. Introduc on, Why study New Castle, History to 1702, DATES, MAPS, FORTS, LEADERS, trade, food, drink, beer, English/Dutch/Swedish/Quakers, what it looked like, The Common, Architecture: Early Georgian 2. History to 1800, Shipping, pirates real and fake, privateers, the Ba ery, RUM, French & Indian war, Revolu on, loss of state capitol, the Market, Architecture: Early & Mid Georgian 3. History to 1950; War of 1812, Arsenal, Great Fire of 1824;NC&FT RR; Civil War, industrializa on, loss of transporta on hub; loss of county seat, Architecture: Federal 4. People to 1860; Stuyvesant, Clays, Van Dykes, Rosses, Reeds; “What Women Wore”, Architecture: Greek Revival 5. People a er 1860; slavery, adultery, crime and punishment; punishment as entertainment, hanging, whipping, poor houses, branding, scarlet le ers; “Taverns and Tippling Houses”; Architecture: Victorian 6. Architecture: recogni on of styles, styles in New Castle 7. Virtual tours of Dutch & Amstel House (and Read House and Courthouse); Architecture: what is Dutch/English 8. Maps of the town: Blaney, Latrobe, Beers, Sanborn, Baist 9. Virtual tours of the town: walking tours of downtown & Ba ery park; drones 10. Industry: RR engines, steel, woolen co on mills, Bellanca aircra 11. -13. Transporta on, Trustees, Fraternal Organiza ons, Churches, Graveyards, Schools, Music, Library, Gas, Water … Lecture 1:
Why talk about New Castle? What do others say about it? New Castle history before 1702 Dates, Places, Maps, Forts, Charters, people, food, trade, religion, sickness, hunger, beer, Wm. Penn, Columbus* Why talk about New Castle?
“A Town Like No Other” Great Courses A Town Among Ci es, 1983, Constance Cooper, Ph. D. Thesis “…an old town that finds its limits in a new and apparently limitless na on” 350 Years of New Castle, Delaware, 2001, Cooper “…one of Delaware’s oldest, most significant and most beau ful towns” Architectural Descrip on 1926 New Castle Delaware, A Walk Through Time, 2011, Benson & Hoffecker Historic American Towns along the Atlan c Coast W.Boeschenstein 1999 NEW CASTLE, DELAWARE an EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY Town By Wm. D. FOSTER White Pine Series of Architectural Monographs 1926
THERE are few communi es to-day which have retained their early American flavor as completely as has New Castle, Delaware. The examples of our colonial architecture in such centers as Boston and Philadelphia and even in Bal more are so surrounded by present-day business, or lie isolated without any surroundings, that they can give li le of the feeling of the actual community which existed when they were built…
While there are some factories with their resultant nondescript housing, they are all grouped near the branch-line railroad which comes in to the west of the town proper. The compact older por on is s ll complete and removed from too much " progress.” …
There is, moreover, another reason for the probable permanence of the town as it now stands, in that there is a real pride and understanding in the community of the architectural heritage represented by these buildings, an apprecia on of tradi on which is in res ul contrast to the incessant changes which are sweeping away so much of our colonial background.
New Castle, A Walk Through Time Benson & Hoffecker, 2011
New Castle is an extraordinary town, an early outpost of European explorers and se lers and a colonial capital beau fully situated on one of America's great rivers.
In a compact space it provides an unusual richness of architecture that spans more than three centuries. Some mes people say that New Castle is so beau ful because it is a town that me forgot, but that isn't exactly true … the town itself is not a museum, nor is it a place that remains frozen in an earlier era.
New Castle has changed over me, so you cannot literally step back into its. past. There is much you can no longer see, or smell, or hear. … But with the conjuring trick of your mind's eye, you can perhaps imagine those earlier mes as you read about New Castle's history and architecture, and walk through its streets ... Today its residents live twenty-first century lives while con nuing a now 350-year-old tradi on of building, preserving, adap ng, even removing and altering their world. ….[it was] the most mul cultural town in all of 17th century America.
New Castle is the crown jewel of Delaware…
Benson & Hoffecker, 2011
New Castle – an ac ve adult community but not limited to over 55
• Easy walk to library, post office, drugstore, senior center, parks, ac vi es, churches, restaurants • Strong sense of community • Housing is modest sized and affordable (maybe quirky) • Li le or no yard maintenance • Many younger ci zens including young families • Safe, cute, interes ng, picturesque
Jim Meek Where to start? -- The usual beginning
1638 Swedes come on Kalmar Nyckel; founded Ft. Chris na 1651 Stuyvesant founds Fort Casimir on South (Delaware) River Peter Stuyvesant a r. H. Couturier 1655 Swedes capture Ft. Casimir; Stuyvesant recaptures, names it New Amstel 1664 English capture New Amsterdam & New Amstel 1674 English recapture New Netherland from Dutch 1682 Wm. Penn arrives 1776 Revolu on declared on courthouse steps
The Usual Beginning, not The Very Beginning
1609 H. Hudson 1625 Peter Minuit buys Manha an for $25 1638 Swedes/Kalmar Nyckel 1651 Stuyvesant/Ft. Casimir 1655 Swedes/Ft. Trinity 1655 Amsterdam/New Amstel 1664 Duke of York/New Castle 1682 Grant to Wm. Penn
Visscher map (1650/1685) John Smith map of Virginia (1608/1612)
• Influenced Hudson’s 1609 voyage • Chesapeack Bay Oriented Le to right – as you read or would enter • Note Tockwoghs at head of bay • Best map of area un l Augus ne Herman’s map (1660-1670) • 1632 charter of Maryland (Charles I to Cecil Calvert, Lord Bal more): from Potomac or Watkins Pt to 40th Parallel (including all of Delaware) Why did the Dutch want to come to North America?
Seal of New York City Seal of New Netherlands Cruise liners “El Morro” San Juan Na onal Historical Park, Puerto Rico
The Dutch West India Company was not just a warm and friendly trading company
The WIC in 1625 was simultaneously seeking to expand trading areas in Manha an, Delaware River and San Juan! Geoctroyeerde Wes ndische Compagnie The Very Beginning, or why the Dutch West India Company was part of the founding of Fort Casimir/New Amstel/New Castle <1650 >1650 1492-1508 Columbus discovered Puerto Rico, found gold, built fort, started coloniza on 1498 Pope gave Caribbean and West Coast of America to Spain; Portuguese got Brazil The Caribbean was a "closed sea” Trade was restricted to Spain 1500s Dutch and English came to Caribbean anyway to trade salt, hides, spices, dyewoods 1609 EAST India Company (VOC) hired Hudson to search for northwest passage; he discovered Delaware River 1621 WEST India company (WIC) founded for trading and for military a acks on Spain and Portuguese colonies 1625 WIC a acked Puerto Rico; couldn't get into the forts. Burned San Juan; built fort on South River (Delaware) 1628 WIC seized the Spanish silver fleet 1630 WIC conquered part of Brazil 1638 Former WIC Director General Peter Minuit arrives on Kalmar Nyckel to found New Sweden at The Rocks 1643 WIC names Peter Stuyvesant Director General of Dutch West Indies islands: Curacao, Aruba, Bonaire; later America 1651 Stuyvesant builds Ft. Casimir for WIC to counteract Swedish presence 3 degrees separa on from Columbus! 1664 English capture New Netherland including Ft. Casimir/New Amstel (2nd Anglo Dutch War) 1674 Treaty of Westminster (3rd Anglo Dutch War) England gets New York, New Castle, Dutch get Surinam , Caribbean islands Dutch Forts in New Netherlands
Fort Nassau (1614), North River, Albany, New York, lost to floods Fort Orange (1624), North River, Albany, New York Peter Stuyvesant, a r. H. Couturier Director General from 1647 Fort Amsterdam (1625), the Manha oes harbor at the mouth of the North River Fort Wilhelmus (1625), on the South River (near Trenton), soon abandoned Fort Nassau (ca. 1627), near Camden NJ, relocated 1651, becoming Fort Casimir Fort Huis de Goede Hoop (1633), near the Fresh River at Har ord Fort Casimir (1651), New Castle, DE briefly known as Fort Trefaldighet (1654–1655) Fort Beversreede (1651), Schuylkill River, near Philadelphia
Peter Stuyvesant , the West India Company and Ft. Casimir/New Amstel
1643 Peter Stuyvesant director general of Dutch West Indies islands Peter Stuyvesant Curacao, Aruba, Bonaire a r. H. Couturier 1644 He lost right leg to a cannonball a acking Spanish-held Sint Maarten 1645 He became governor general of all Dutch possessions in North America and the Caribbean 1651 He founds Fort Casimir on South (Delaware) River 1654 He travels to Barbados; captured, released by Admiral William Penn 1655 Stuyvesant recaptures Ft. Casimir from Swedes 1664 English capture New Netherland New Sweden (1638-1655)
Johan Printz (1592-1663) Governor (1643-1653)
Twelve expedi ons le Sweden in 17 years Between 1648 & 1654 no ships arrived
Fort Chris na (1638) - Brandywine Creek later renamed Fort Altena (1655) Fort Mecoponacka (1641) - Chester, Pennsylvania Fort Nya Elfsborg (1643) - near Salem Creek, New Jersey Fort Nya Gothenborg (1643) - Tinicum Island near Printzhof in Essington Fort Nya Vasa (1646) - Kingsessing, Philadelphia Fort Nya Korsholm (1647) - Schuylkill River, Philadelphia
(Stuyvesant Director General of New Netherlands in 1645) New Sweden, or the Swedish River in East India Claims to Delaware by Dutch, Swedes, and English (Bal more & Penn) were conflic ng
• 1497 Italian John Cabot claims all North America for English based on discovery of Newfoundland • 1609 Dutch claim New Netherland, including Delaware based on Hudson and se lement • 1632 Charles I granted Maryland from north of the Potomac and Watkins point to 40th parallel • 1638 Swedes claim land near Ft. Chris na based on se lement and treaty • 1676 Charles II granted James, Duke of York James II “Hudsons river, and all the lands from the west side of Conec cut, to the east side of Delaware Bay.” (NY, NJ) • 1681 Charles II grants Wm. Penn “All That tract of land in America Called by the name of Pennsilvania as the same is bounded on the East by Delaware River, from twelve miles distance Northwards of New Castle Towne, unto the three and for eth degree of Northern La tude, etc” • 1682 Subsequent grant of the New Castle and south (Three Lower Coun es)
In the end, “might makes right”, posession is 9/10 ….” Fort Casimir/ Fort Trefalidighet
Pehr Lindestrom, 1655/1695 Len Tan llo, The Edge of New Netherland, 2012 Loca on of Fort Casimir
Alexander B. Cooper, 1905 What did New Amstel Look Like? (1651-1664) Maybe like New Amsterdam 1650-1657.
Maybe like some of the buildings in New Castle in 1804 (and 1884) Architectural Features – Early Georgian, 1700-1750
String/belt course
Glazed header Flemish bond Brickwork
Arch
Water table
Amstel House, 2 E 4th McWilliams House, 8 The Strand