The Brown-Murray Farm, aka The Farmhouse, Part 2 -- The Murrays

The Murray Farm in 1937

In the last post we traced the early history of the farm located due north of Delaware Park, along Old Capitol Trail, where the Murray Manor trailer park and the wedding venue known as The Farmhouse are located today. We saw it go from being part of a large, pre-William Penn era land grant, to an 80 acre mid-18th Century farm, to being incorporated again inside a larger tract, to finally being a 155 acre family farm. It went through numerous families with names like Cann, White, Reynolds, Rice, Brown, and McCallister. Finally, in 1917, it was sold to Levi W. and Kate Murray for $13,000. This was both the beginning of a new era for the Murrays, and the culmination of generations of family work.

Although many of you may know the name only from Murray Manor (Mill Creek Trailer Park until the late 1980's), besides being in that location for more than a century now, the Murray family goes back several more generations and another three quarters of a century in New Castle County. We begin with Levi W. Murray, Jr.'s grandfather, Samuel. Samuel Murray was born about 1809 in Pennsylvania, possibly in Philadelphia. I say that because the first record of him in Delaware is a December 1842 deed in which Samuel, Elizabeth, Ann, John, Levi, and David Murray -- all described as being "of the City of Philadelphia" -- purchase a "Tavern house or tenement and lot of land" in the Village of Glasgow. I've yet to find proof, but I assume that this is Samuel and his five siblings. I don't know why they purchased the tavern, or what their connection was at the time to the area. They only held it for a few months, selling the tavern and lot in March 1843, so it could have just been an investment opportunity. Glasgow was originally known as Aiken's Tavern, named for the colonial-era establishment. The old tavern was torn down in the 1830's and a new one built across the road (where the Arby's is now), and this is presumably what the Murray kids bought.

In any case, if this was Samuel's first introduction to Pencader Hundred, he seems to have taken to the area. He may have even moved down around that time, because a mere two years later, in October 1845, Samuel Murray purchased 17 acres of land, about two miles southwest of Glasgow. In the deed, Murray is described as already being a resident of Pencader Hundred. He obviously knew this farm well, because dated the same day, he sold six acres of it that sat on the south side of the railroad tracks.

Showing the vicinity of Samuel Murray's farm and
the route of the New Castle & Frenchtown Rail Road

What? There are no railroad tracks a mile or two south of Glasgow, you say? Well, in 1845 there were, and Samuel Murray's farm sat right along the New Castle and Frenchtown Rail Road (NC&FRR). Opening in 1831 (and using horse-drawn cars for the first year), the NC&FRR was the first railroad in Delaware, and one of the first in the country. It unfortunately began operating about the same time the C&D Canal did, and for the same purpose. Before long, larger railroads were built, bypassing little New Castle, and the Maryland sections of the track were being abandoned about the time of Murray's arrival. By the late 1850's, the Delaware right-of-way west of Porter (near Porter Road, just south of Rt. 40) was abandoned as well.

Murray's farm sat west of Frazer Road and on the north side of what's now McDaniel Lane, which happens to be the old NC&FRR right-of-way. Samuel and wife Sarah raised (I believe) seven children on their farm, but we'll concern ourselves with the eldest son, Levi, born in 1843. He grew up and worked on the farm with his father, but from September 1864 to January 1865, Levi had a bit of an adventure.

He enlisted in the army, and on September 1, 1864 was mustered into Company B, 9th Infantry Regiment, Delaware Volunteers. It was a regiment of what were known as "Hundred Days Men", a term given to volunteer regiments raised in 1864, at the height of the war. They were lightly-trained troops on short-term service, used for routine tasks, thereby freeing veteran troops for frontline duty. Specifically, the 9th Regiment was stationed at Fort Delaware, guarding the Confederate prisoners there. Levi Murray served more than his 100 days, being mustered out on January 23, 1865.

November 1876 sale notice, which places Levi Murray on
the farm just north of where the Christiana Mall is today

At some point, perhaps immediately after that, Levi moved out of the house and in 1870 is listed as a farm worker in New Castle Hundred, probably near where the Wilmington Airport is now. In February 1872 he married Mary Emma Calhoun, and probably moved on to lease a farm of his own about then. It's often difficult to locate tenant farmers, but with Levi we caught a break. As the 1876 sale notice above states, Murray was farming on a property between Stanton and Christiana that was in the process of being sold. I'm fairly certain this was the farm on the east side of what's now Rt. 7, just south of Churchman's Road. The house and barn sat right where the ramp from northbound Rt. 7 to southbound I-95 is now.

The couple would raise six children of their own, and when they moved around 1880, the Murray family story would finally enter Mill Creek Hundred (more or less) for good. Levi moved onto one of the Cook farms on Polly Drummond Hill Road, just above White Clay Creek Presbyterian Church. Although he would never buy the farm, Levi Murray would reside there and work the farm for the next 30 or so years. The only catch is, I don't know exactly which farm the Murrays settled on -- Robert Cooke owned farms on both sides of the road. They were either on the same side of the road just above the church (my guess, as one report says it's a two minute walk form the church), or across the road in the home later purchased by Judge Hugh Morris (but another article mentions a party on the "extensive front lawn").

Levi Wesley Murray, Sr. passed away
in December 1921 at his Newark home

Around 1910, the Murrays moved to a farm just outside of Newark, on Elkton Road at West Park Place. Levi W. Murray, Sr. died on December 12, 1921, as a well-known and respected member of the community. But by at least 1910, however, their second son, Levi Wesley Murray, Jr., had already moved out. In 1908 he married Kate Moody, with whom he would raise a family of five. In the 1910 Census they were living in New Castle Hundred along Franklin School (now School Bell) Road, just southwest of the 13/40 split. Since the household directly before them was Kate's father, I assume they were helping to farm his land. They would only be there a few more years, though, because in February 1917 Levi and Kate bought their own farm -- 147 acres along the Newark Road, from Helen and James McCallister (the former 155 acres, minus a five acre lot sold and three acres to the Pennsylvania RR). Yes, we finally got back to the Farmhouse/Murray Manor property, and God bless you for sticking it out.

When Levi and Kate finally moved into their home in the Spring of 1918 (after the previous year's crops were fully harvested), they did so with children John, Eleanor, and Margaret. Helen and Ralph would come along in 1920 and 1925. Levi farmed his land, and both he and Kate were involved in the community -- among other things, Levi was involved in local politics and Kate with the White Clay Creek Improvement Society (part of White Clay Creek Presbyterian Church).

A view of the west, now parking lot, side of the house

Most of the children ended up with office jobs, but not youngest son Ralph. He remained at home working on the farm with his father, and in 1948 married Berniece Betty Long, with whom he would raise five children. However, back in 1937, Delaware Park racetrack opened on the farm next door, and it would become a big part of Ralph's life. As a boy he earned extra money working there, using his tractor to open the starting gate. Through his connections with the track and the people there, he learned that some of the traveling trainers and jockeys needed a place to park their trailers during the racing season. In 1949, a section of the eastern edge of the farm was put aside for just that use, and the Millcreek Trailer Park (now Murray Manor) was born. 

The Murray barn, which stood until about 1969,
just behind the present-day parking lot

Levi W. Murray, Jr. passed away in 1950, and soon after Kate and daughter Eleanor had a house built next door. They moved there, leaving the old farmhouse to Ralph and Berniece, and their growing family. Ralph continued the farm the property over the next few decades, balancing farming with also expanding the trailer park. Eventually the park won out, and he stopped farming (I think) in the late 1960's. However, the trailer park (one of the largest and most successful in the area) was not the last venture undertaken by Murrays on the property.

At some point an addition was put onto the house, and used to host meetings and bingo games for the park's civic association. It was so nice that tenants began asking to use it for parties and gatherings, and around 1990 another idea was born. If the folks there liked holding events at the house, why wouldn't others? More sections were added to the house and in 1993 The Farmhouse officially opened as a premier wedding venue. The business was started by two of Ralph and Berniece's daughters and a family friend, and is now owned and operated by three of their granddaughters -- the fourth generation of Murrays at the house.

So if you're fortunate enough to attend (or host!) an event at The Farmhouse, you're truly treading on history. The property was part of a tract laid out in the 1670's. It shrank and grew over the years, going in and out of a number of prominent area families. And though there have been a lot of additions added to the house, the original sections of the old farmhouse are still very much there. I'm still unsure as to exactly when the home was built, but if you look back to the account of James and Mary Brown's 10th wedding anniversary party at the home in 1882, it refers to it even then as "the old house". 

The Murray family has taken good care of that old house for over a century now, and as we've seen, their story has footprints all over New Castle County for two generations and about 75 years prior to their arrival on the farm along Mill Creek, just west of Stanton. Agricultural pursuits may be a thing of the past on the old farm property, but the current ventures are going strong with no end in sight.