USA > Delaware > History of the state of Delaware, Volume I > Part 27
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century, continued under the direction of the Lutherans, but subsequently came under the control of the Protestant Episco- pal Church, the services being conducted in the English language since 1800. In 1830 the old church was temporarily abandoned, and the congregation in that year removed to the northeast corner of Fifth and King streets, where a new Trinity Church had been erected. In 1881 this church was sold and a new church built at Delaware avenue and Adams street, which now accomodates the Holy Trinity congregation. From Old Swedes has sprung St. Andrew's, founded in 1829, and St. John's, in 1858. Calvary Church at Third and Wash- ington streets, an offspring of St. Andrew's, was consecrated in 1858, and later followed St. Michael's at Chestnut and Adams streets, and Immanuel on the Highlands. With the advent of Bishop Coleman as bishop of the diocese was established the Chapel of the Good Shepherd at Bishopstead.
The first meeting of the Society of Friends was held in Wil- mington in 1738, in a house owned by William Shipley. Prior to this date meetings for Friends had been established at Newark in Brandywine Hundred, and at New Castle. In 1738 the first Friends Meeting House was built in Wilmington on the easterly side of West street, between Fourth and Fifth streets. Ten years later another and larger meeting house was built on the opposite side of the street, and in 1816 it gave way to the structure which is still standing, and used regularly for services by the Hicksite branch of the society. On the division of the society in 1827, the Orthodox Friends built the meeting house which is still in use by them at Ninth and Tatnall streets.
The First Presbyterian Church was built in 1740. It is the unique building occupied for several years past by the Histor- ical Society of Delaware, on the easterly side of Market street, just south of Tenth street. The second Presbyterian church was established at Fifth and Walnut streets in 1774 by several members who withdrew from the first church. For a time it was called the Christiana Church, but in 1829 the congrega-
FIRST FRIENDS MEETING HOUSE IN WILMINGTON. A. D. 1738.
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tion built a new church at Sixth and King streets, and called themselves the Hanover Street Church. From this church grew Central Church, established in 1855, and Olivet in 1863. The latter was first located at Chestnut and Adams street, but afterwards was removed to Fourth and Broome streets. West Church was founded in 1868, and a Sunday school was estab- lished at Rodney street, near Delaware avenue, which devel- oped into the present Rodney Street Presbyterian Church. A neat little church building at Twenty-seventh and Market streets is called the East Lake Presbyterian Church, and it is the youngest church of the denomination in the city. Gilbert Presbyterian Church for colored people was founded in 1890.
Asbury Church, on Walnut street near Third, was the pioneer Methodist Episcopal church in the city. It was dedi- cated by Bishop Asbury, after whom it was named, on October 10, 1789. From Asbury sprang St. Paul's in 1844; Union was built in 1850, Scott in 1857, Brandywine in 1857, Grace in 1866. Epworth and Madely were the offsprings of Grace Church. Silverbrook, Wesley and Kingswood are daughters of St. Paul's. The Swedish Mission was founded in 1882. Cookman and Harrison Street were established within the past fifteen years to meet the wants of growing sections of the city, and Trinity and Washington Heights, now in course of con- struction, are needed to accomodate the rapidly increasing Methodist population north of the Brandywine.
The first Baptist church in Wilmington was founded in 1785, and the building then erected on King street, between Tenth and Eleventh streets, is still standing, although services are no longer held there by the Baptist denomination. In 1835 the Second Baptist Church was organized, its first loca- tion being at the southeast corner of Fifth and Walnut streets. Twenty years later, in 1855, the congregation having greatly increased, a new church was built at the northeast corner of Fourth and French streets. At the time, this was the most attractive church building in Wilmington. In course of years, business encroachied, and in the year 1888 a lot was
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purchased at the southeast corner of Ninth and Franklin streets, and to this site the Second Baptist Church was removed in 1892. From the second church came Delaware Avenue Bap- tist Church in 1865, and four years later the Baptist City Mission was established, out of which grew Bethany Baptist Church, founded 1878. Grace Baptist Church was organized in 1885, by about sixty members from the Delaware Avenue Church, but it only continued a few years. Shiloh Baptist Church for colored people was started in 1876, and the present commodious building occupied by its congregation at the southeast corner of Twelfth and Orange streets was dedicated in 1885.
Rev. Patrick Kenny established the first Roman Catholic church in Wilmington, in the year 1816, when St. Peter's Church, at the southeast corner of Sixth and West streets was built through his exertions. It was forty years later, in 1856, when St. Mary's, the second church, was organized under the direction of Rev. Patrick Reilly. In 1839 Father Reilly estab- lished a Catholic school, which grew into St. Mary's College, which occupied a commanding site on Delaware avenue near Jefferson street and which under Father Reilly's manage- ment, attained great success until the outbreak of the Civil War. The third Roman Catholic Church established was St. Paul's, at the southwest corner of Fourth and Jackson streets, dedicated in 1869. Then came the Church of the Sacred Heart, at Tenth and Madison streets, in 1874; and St. Patrick's, at Fourteenth and King streets in 1881. St. James, established in 1869, was discontinued in 1887, when St. Anne's Church, on Union street, north of Delaware avenue, was erected, and the congregations of the two churches combined. St. Hedwig's Church, at Linden and Harrison streets, and St. Thomas' Church at Fourth street and Grant avenue are the latest Catholic churches, each of these occupying a field made available by the rapidly increasing Catholic population in the city.
Ezion Methodist Episcopal Church was the first church
عم الية
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ASBURY M. E. CHURCH, WILMINGTON. BUILT A. D. 1789.
FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, WILMINGTON. BUILT A. D. 1740.
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established in Wilmington exclusively for colored people. The present handsome building occupied by its congregation at the southeast corner of Ninth and French streets is the third church building that has occupied the same site, the first hav- ing been built in 1805, the second in 1870, and the third in 1886.
From this church has grown the many churches now con- trolled by the colored people throughout the city, represent- ing the various denominations; the Methodist Episcopal denomination alone having three churches. The African Methodist Episcopal Church is possibly the strongest in mem- bers among the colored people, that denomination having four charges in the city, its largest church being Bethel on Walnut street, above Sixth.
PRIVATE SCHOOLS.
But little has been preserved touching the history of the early schools in Wilmington. It is clearly established that schools were extant among the early Swedish settlers, and presumably the early pastors of the old Swedes' church also served as school teachers, teaching the children of that time the rudimentary elements of education. A brother of Eman- uel Swedenborg was one of the earliest teachers in Wilming- ton, and Lars Gooding served as teacher as early as 1716. One of the early schools was kept at the house of John Stal- cup. A Scotchman named Wilson, about 1760, kept a school near the corner of Spring Alley and French street. Among the early teachers was Robert Coram. In 1790 he taught a school located on Fourth street between Market and King streets.
Prior to the Revolution, John Filson came to Wilmington from Chester County, where he was born, and opened a school in Wilmington. He served in the war of the Revolution, and was wounded in the right arm. After the war he again opened the school, and continued it for a few years. The complaint was made that owing to the wound in his arm he
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was unable to thrash the boys, and this led him to abandon the profession of teaching ; so leaving Wilmington, be went to Kentucky, and with Daniel Boone was one of the early adventurers there. He wrote a history of Kentucky, and brought the manuscript of his history to Wilmington, where it was printed by James Adams, the pioneer Wilmington printer. As a frontispiece a map of the State of Kentucky appears, drawn by Filson himself. Filson, in a good many regards, was an unusual character, and his memory is held in such high regard in Kentucky that the leading social and literary club in Louisville is called the "Filson Club." A map of the city of Wilmington, made by Filson, is now in the possession of the Historical Society of Delaware. His later life was spent in Kentucky, and he was killed in an Indian encounter about the year 1788.
Joseph Anderson succeeded John Filson as a teacher in Wilmington. Anderson served in the Revolution, rising to the rank of major. After the war he studied law with Gunning Bedford, and in 1791 was appointed territorial judge of the region south of the Ohio River. He settled in Ten- nessee, and was a member of the convention that framed the first constitution of Tennessee. He was the first United States senator from that state, and from 1815 until his death in 1837, occupied the office of First Comptroller of the United States Treasury at Washington.
Another of the old school teachers was John Thelwell. He not only taught school, but seemed to be a useful man gen- erally in the community, acting as town bellman and clerk of the public markets. He was one of the founders of Asbury Methodist Church and for many years was leader of the sing- ing. He taught school for nearly half a century, and bis daughter Deborah followed the same occupation some years after. Mrs. Elizabeth Way taught the ordinary branches, and also gained quite a fame as a teacher of needlework in a school which she occupied on French street, about the end of the eighteenth century. It is claimed that she was a school-
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mate of Benjamin West, the famous painter. Among the French refugees who came to Wilmington about 1800 was M. Michael Martel, and for some years he taught school in Wil- mington. He was a distinguished linguist in his time, it being claimed that he knew and could speak fifteen languages, and before coming to Wilmington, he had taught languages successfully in New York and Boston. After teaching in Wilmington for about two years, he became paralyzed, and was unable to earn a support, so that his latest days were spent in the county almshouse, where he died.
William Cobbett, the distinguished English writer, taught for a brief while in a school kept at the time on West street, between Third and Fourth streets. Lewis Cass, who afterwards became a distinguished American statesman, re- presenting Michigan for many years in the United States Senate, taught school in Wilmington for about a year in 1797. General Cass came to Wilmington as a young man on his way to the West, having been born in New Hampshire. He served as Secretary of War in the Cabinet of Andrew Jackson, as Secretary of State in James Buchanan's Cabinet, and he was a candidate for President of the United States against Zachary Taylor in 1848.
The oldest school in continuous existence in the city and state is the Friends School on West Street, between Fourth and Fifth streets. It was established in 1748 by some of the early members of the Society of Friends. Among the early teachers were John Webster, Jesse Gause, Alexander Mc- Kiever, Robert Hurnand, Aquilla Thomas, Nathan Bassett. Jacob Heald and Thomas Griffith. Among the teachers in the girls' department were Margaret Mecannon, Margaret Dixon, Sarah Ann Tyson, Ann Fothergill and Emma Worrell. Among later principals have been Frederick Eden Bach, Isaac T. Johnson, Enos. S. Doan and Herschel A. Norris. The first building used was the meeting house. That has long since disappeared. From time to time improvements and additions have been made, and in 1883 a modern school
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building was erected on the old site, and since that date it has accomodated the leading and most successful private school in the city. The school is under the control of a committee of the Wilmington Monthly Meeting of Friends.
About 1765 the Wilmington Academy was built. It was a substantial stone structure, and stood on the easterly side of Market street, about one hundred and fifty feet south of Ninth. In general outward appearance it greatly resembled the man- sion house of Caesar A. Rodney, known as "Cool Spring," still standing at Tenth and Franklin streets. In 1773 it was chartered as a public grammar school for the county of New Castle, the incorporators being the leading citizens of the place, together with some from outside the state. Rev. Lawrence Girelius was the first president of the board of trustees, and Robert Patterson was the first principal. In 1803 it was re- modeled, and for some time thereafter was known as the College of Wilmington, Judge Gunning Bedford serving as president. For many years it ranked as the highest educational institu- tion in the state, but it seemed to meet with varying fortunes, and finally fell into the hands of the sheriff. In 1832 it was purchased by David C. Wilson, and soon after was torn down, and a row of modern dwellings, the most pretentious in the borough at the time, was built on the site.
The early newspapers contained the advertisements of many private schools, many of which existed but a year or so, and most of them made but little impress upon the community. The city directory of 1814 shows fifteen private schools in the city at that time, and but a few of them existed for any length of time.
In 1840, after having been located on Market street for a few years, The Wilmington Classical Academy, under the di- rection of Rev. Samuel M. Gayley, removed to Lancaster avenue and Rodney street, the building erected for the purpose occu- pying the site of Philip Plunkett's present residence. The location was called " Mantua " at that time, and the school was a successful one for many years.
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Miss Charlotte Grimshaw began a school for young ladies on King street in 1842. It afterward grew into the Hannah Moore Academy, and occupied a large building at the north- west corner of Eighth and West streets, where a successful boarding school was conducted for twenty years by the Misses Charlotte and Isabella Grimshaw, assisted by their brother, Dr. Arthur H. Grimshaw. Rev. Thomas M. Cann for several years conducted a successful school for ladies, known as the Young Ladies' Institute. Its latest location was on the easterly side of Adams street just below Ninth street, the building being afterward used as the Home for Friendless and Destitute Children.
The boarding school for young ladies under the direction of Eli and Samuel Hilles was for a period of nearly thirty years a strikingly successful institution. The school was really founded by Joshua Maule in 1803, and in 1809 Eli Hilles joined him in the work. Three years later on the death of Maule, who was a minister of high standing in the Society of Friends, Eli Hilles was joined by his brother Samuel, and together they directed the school until 1828. During these years it attracted patrons from all parts of this and the adjoining states, and was looked upon as one of the leading schools for young ladies in the United States. The Hilles brothers were unusually well qualified teachers. The brothers separated in 1828, and Samuel Hilles, about 1832, accepted a position with Haverford College, founded about that time. The school afterward passed to the control of John Smith and Dubre Knight, the latter being the principal and conducting a boarding school for young ladies on Market street, below Tenth, after the out- break of the civil war. He subsequently was one of the instructors at Westtown boarding school.
The Brandywine Academy, on Vandever avenue near Market street, was founded in 1799. It was built on land donated by John Dickinson and John Welsh. The building has been preserved, but of its history as an educational institution almost nothing is known.
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The Society of Friends has always been noted for its interest in education. How natural then to find among the early educators in Wilmington the names of several members of that religious denomination. Eli and Samuel Hilles were strict members of that society, and in their latter years were the leading spirits in the Tatnall Street Meeting.
In 1821, John Bullock, an influential Friend, started a boarding school for boys at the northwest corner of Ninth and Tatnall streets, which for over twenty-five years was the lead- ing boys' school of the town. Like the Hilles school, it drew pupils from neighboring states, and as far away as the West Indies. John Bullock was recognized as a most faithful and conscientious teacher and a most useful and honored citizen, and his death in 1847 was universally regretted. The school at his death passed to the control of Samuel Alsop, also a Friend, and a man of fine mathematical ability. In a short while the school management was assumed by Theodore Hyatt, who founded a military academy, which he suc- cessfully conducted for some years, when it was removed to West Chester, and subsequently to Chester.
Contemporaneous with the Bullock school was the Smith school for boys on West street above Third. It was founded by Samuel Smith in 1829. He also was a Friend, and came from Pennsylvania. He possessed to the full the qualifications of a teacher, and successfully conducted the school for a term of ten years, attracting pupils from many distant parts. He was the father of Albert W. Smith, at present (1907), one of our oldest living citizens, who for many years was the Treas- urer of the Wilmington Savings Fund Society. Samuel Smith died in 1861.
The Wesleyan Female College on French street between Sixth and Seventh streets, was the outgrowth of a private enterprise founded by Rev. Solomon Prettyman in 1837. The college proper started in 1851, when it came under the control of a board of trustees, representing the Methodist Episcopal Church, and for twenty years was an influential and
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prosperous institution of learning. During most of this time Rev. John Wilson was President of the faculty, and he and his accomplished wife will long be remembered with kindly regard. It gradually lost its hold on public favor, and early in the eighties closed its doors and passed into private owner- ship.
The school under the care of the Orthodox Friends, located in the rear of the meeting-house at the northeast corner of Ninth and Tatnall streets, was established in 1832, and was the successor of an earlier school that was held on Market street above Eleventh. It has been continued since. About 1874 a brick building, still standing, replaced the original frame one.
. The Taylor Academy, located at the northwest corner of Eighth and Wollaston streets, and taking its name from its principal, T. Clarkson Taylor, was an unusually successful school for nearly twenty years. Mr. Taylor came to Wil- mington about 1850 from Virginia. He was a man of great strength of character and unusual intellectuality, and having been liberally educated at the famous school of Benjamin Hallowell, in Alexandria, Virginia, developed into a superior teacher. He was naturally apt as a teacher, and a strict dis- ciplinarian. A devoted member of the Society of Friends, yet his liberality in religious affairs made him warm friends in all denominations, and he won and held the fullest respect of the whole community. His school was large and prosperous, and his patrons came not only from this city and state, but many from adjoining and distant states. The school con- tinued from 1858 to 1871 under Mr. Taylor's management, his death occurring in the latter year. For a few years it was known as the Taylor and Jackson Academy, Milton Jackson of Chester County being associated with Mr. Taylor as a prin- cipal. After Mr. Taylor's death his brother Jonathan K. Taylor continued the school for a few years, when the school building was sold to the Board of Public Education, and the site is now occupied by Public School No. 9, and known as the " Wollaston School."
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In the year 1866 the State Normal School was established by John C. Harkness. It occupied first the old structure on West Second street near Washington, that for years had been the Union M. E. Church. In a few years it was removed to the upper stories of Nos. 220 and 222 Market streets, and there continued for several years. Mr. Harkness was an ener- getic New Englander, but he was so aggressive in some of his methods that he stirred up considerable antagonism in various quarters ; but, in spite of discouragements, he forged ahead, and in 1875 erected the large four-story brick building at the northwest corner of Tenth and Market streets, of which he used all but the first floor for school purposes. He married Miss Laura A. Osgood, but the marriage proved to be a most unfortunate one, and resulted in disaster to both parties. Miss Osgood had for many years been the principal of Public School No. 4, and, in a large sense, was for many years the head and front of the public school system of the city. She greatly endeared herself to the community, and was univer- sally liked and respected. Her death occurred before that of her husband. Prof. Harkness died in 1903. For several years prior to his death his mind became unsettled, and the property which he had accumulated gradually slipped away from him, and but for the intervention of some who had been pupils under him at the "old Normal " in his good days, he would have been a charge on the public in his latter years. His end was a sad one.
Reynolds Classical Academy was the leading private school of the city from 1866 to 1873. Its founder and principal was William A. Reynolds, a graduate of Wesleyan University, who soon after his graduation at that institution, drifted to Dover, the capital of Delaware, where he established in 1858 a most successful school. While at Dover he had under his care the sons of all the prominent residents of that town, and indeed of Kent county, but Wilmington offered a larger field and he opened his academy here in the fall of 1866, in what was then known as the "Saville Building," at the southeast
WILLIAM A. REYNOLDS. 1837-1906.
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corner of Sixth and Market streets. It continued at that loca- tion until 1870, when it was removed to the old St. Mary's College building on Delaware avenue, and there it was con- tinued until disbanded about 1873. Mr. Reynolds was a brilliant teacher in the languages and in mathematics, and he also called about him a most efficient corps of assistants. Norman O. Lounsbury and William H. Cobb will be remem- bered as popular instructors and Stansbury J. Willey, Frederic H. Robinson and Charles F. Eastman, ail trained and efficient educators, were for several years assistant teachers in the Rey- nolds Academy. The improvement in the public school sys- tem and the establishment of a well-equipped high school under the management of a male principal had the natural tendency to draw patronage away from the private schools, and largely from this cause Mr. Reynolds discontinued his . school about the year 1873. After that time he devoted his time to tutoring and to the auditing of accounts, being proficient in both branches. After a most active and useful life he died in Wilmington, July 13, 1906.
The Rugby Academy for Boys, under the direction of Dr. Samuel W. Murphy, occupied attractive quarters in the second story of the Masonic Temple from 1872 to 1887. Dr. Murphy at- tracted a large patronage from the best people, and his school held a deservedly high rank. In 1887 he relinquished the school, and it passed under the control of W. M. Foulk, but was only continued for a year or so. Dr. Murphy is still living, being at present connected with a school in North Carolina, but he is always a welcome visitor among the large circle of friends that he made in Wilmington.
The only private school for young ladies that has main- tained itself of late years is that conducted by the Misses Hebb. It was opened in 1880 as an English and French boarding and day school, at the southeast corner of Ninth and West streets, and continued at that location until 1887. In the latter year a large and attractive building, particularly adapted for school purposes, was erected by the Misses Hebb
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