page_title: Alapocas Run State Park
section_title: Park history
hierarchical_section_title: Alapocas Run State Park / Park history
caption_attribution_description: English: View of the Brandywine from the Alapocas bridge.
context_page_description: Alapocas Run State Park is a state park, located in Wilmington, Delaware, United States, along the Brandywine Creek and its Alapocas Run tributary. Open year-round, it is 415 acres in area. Much of the state park was created from land originally preserved by William Poole Bancroft in the early 1900s to be used as open space parkland by the city of Wilmington as it expanded. The park also includes the Blue Ball Barn, a dairy barn built by Alfred I. du Pont as part of his Nemours estate in 1914. In addition to walking trails, athletic fields, and playgrounds for children, one of the park's primary features is a rock climbing wall. The rock climbing wall is part of an old quarry across from historic Bancroft Mills on the Brandywine, and the quarry is also used for school educational programs centered on earth sciences.
context_section_description: Alapocas Run was originally created as a 123 acre city park named Alapocas Woods. In 1910 when Alfred I. du Pont was building his Nemours estate from DuPont Company lands, fellow industrialist William Poole Bancroft convinced him to have the company transfer a portion of the land between Nemours and the Brandywine to the city of Wilmington. Bancroft then donated a portion of his own lands along the Brandywine to the city. In addition to being a businessman, Bancroft was also a philanthropist and conservationist and had played a key role, including donating land, in establishing other city parks due to his desire to preserve the scenic beauty of the Brandywine. Directly across the river was the mill complex owned by him and his brother, Samuel. At the time of the creation of Alapocas Woods, he was serving as President of the Wilmington Park Commission. Bancroft and du Pont then jointly paid for the paving of Alapocas Road, which separated the park from the Nemours estate. The park grew to 145 acres over the years, much of which consisted of mature woodland. It also contained the remains of an granite quarry which had operated from 1870 to 1938. Stone from the quarry had been used to create local landmarks such as the Brandywine Park walls, Rockford Park's tower, and the National Harbor of Refuge.
  In 1998, Alapocas Run was made part of a state park when it was combined with several other city parks to form Wilmington State Parks.
  In 1999, as part of its efforts to convince pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca to relocate its headquarters to the Wilmington suburbs, the state launched the $127 million Blue Ball Project to redo the area's network of roads in addition to creating additional parkland by purchasing open space, developing recreational facilities, and preserving local historic structures. The project included the purchase of roughly 152 acres of land from the nearby Nemours Foundation to be used as open space parkland. At the time of the purchase, the Nemours Foundation also donated a conservation easement on 70 acres of mature woods behind the Nemours Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children.
  The new Alapocas Run State Park was officially dedicated in 2002, with the existing parkland near the Brandywine combined with the additional open space purchased as part of the Blue Ball Project. Development of various park amenities, including the restoration of the historic Blue Ball Barn, was slated to take place over the next three years.
  In November 2015, it was announced that the Nemours Foundation donated 46 acres (of the 70 under conservation easement) for an expansion of the park.
caption: Brandywine River and Alapocas Woods
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