Milford chronicle., 1953-06-05
Plan Court House
Restoration At
New Castle, Soon

The old State House or Court
House in New Castle is the oldest
/ public building in Delaware. It is
one of the oldest, if not, indeed, the
oldest, public building in America.
While it has not been used for Off
cial purposes since the establish
ment of Wilmington as the County
! Seat of New Castle County in 1883,
and the removal of the courts and
county offices from New Castle, the
| title to the building remains in the
| state as the result of an Act of the
General Assembly of June 13, 1872,
although the control of the build
ing was placed in an elective group
of trustees by an Act of April 8,
1907.
The old State House or Court
House is of the most unusual his
tOrical significance. 1t was the site
of the meeting place of all the col
Onial assemblies of Delaware and
the meeting place of the courts
from the formation of the Govern
ment until 1888. On this site the
early assemblies met when the
three lower counties on the Della
ware and the Province of Pennsyl-
vania met jointly for legislation,
and here William Penn and hfs
Deputy Governors met with the as
semblies. Many events of Outstand-
ing significance to our history took
place here as, for example, the Sc
lection of its cupOla as the center
OF the survey during the boundary
disputes with Lord Baltimore of
Maryland. Here the Delaware rep
resentatiVes met on their own call
and without action of the ROyalist
Governor and elected delegates to
the First Continental Congress. /
Every leading Delaware statesman
of the period and many national
statesmen and patriots have here
attended assemblies and public |
meetings.
. IL seems particularly appropriate. /
therefore, that this building should |
be regarded as Delaware's pre-emi- |
nent historical landmark.
Unfortunately, time has not dealt /
too kindly with this building. Since
the removal of the courts from New
Castle, the control of the building
has been vested in trustees. Por-
tlons of the building have from time
to time been rented to individuals
and groups for varied purposes. !
The rent thus received has at ali
times been insufficient to maintain
the building in a good state of re-
pair. Little beyond the minimum of
repairs absolutely required has
been made. The result of long years
OF neglect by necessity has been
that there is now real danger that
the building will become irreDar-
ably damaged by decay, or DESTROY
ed by fire. In either event. the her
ltage of Delaware would suffer ser
iOus loss.
In an effort to remedy this stu
alton, Historic New Castle. Inc. a
non-proht corporation, retained the
architectural firms of Perry. Shaw
4 Hepburn, of Boston, and Pope q
kruse, of Wilmington, to make a
complete architectural survey of
the State or Court House building
Miss Jeanette Eckman, of Whining
ton, was also retained to compile
historical data pertaining to the
building. Detailed plans and spec
lilcatlons for the restoration of the
building are now prepared. Thev
are as historically accurate as thev
can be made. The substantial cost
OF this undertaking has been maid
by Historic New Castle, Inc.
After receiving the plan of res
toratiOn, the Trustees of Historic
New Castle, Inc, directed its com !
mittee on public buildings to ex-
plOre the possibility of forming a
statewide committee to which the !
plan could be presented for such
use as the committee desired to
make of it. In donating the plan for
restoration to the committee. His