The Mills of Shellpot Creek -- Part 1

Etching of the Webster Mill on Shellpot Creek
by Robert Shaw, 1904

For obvious reasons we spend most of our time on this site in Mill Creek Hundred, which we've seen 
over and over again was aptly named. However, Mill Creek Hundred did not, of course, have a monopoly on mills in New Castle County, nor did it have the earliest. Almost two decades before the first MCH mill was built near Stanton in 1680, mills were being built along a waterway in Brandywine Hundred, but probably not the one you'd expect. Although there was early milling along Brandywine Creek, the first water-powered mill was built on Shellpot Creek, now a very unassuming and underwhelming waterway, but one with a deep history. For those who know the area, Shellpot runs north/south, generally in the Shipley Road/Marsh Road vicinity. The region we'll be studying extends from just south of Philadelphia Pike almost up to Foulk Road.

(I should say that much of the information for this post and the next came from a fantastic, three-part series of articles written by Charles M. Allmond III, and published in the News Journal in early 1960. Most of my work here was trying to verify and expand upon it where I could, and just go with his work when I couldn't.)

To fully understand what was going on, we have to go back to the earliest days of European settlement of Delaware, decades before the arrival of the English and William Penn. It's a little confusing, with control going back and forth a few times between the Swedes and the Dutch, but by the 1660's the Dutch had control over the area, with many Swedish farmers (and some Finns thrown in) who had sworn loyalty to them. The main settlements were at Fort Altena (previously Fort Christina, near The Rocks in Wilmington) and New Amstel (previously Fort Casimir, now New Castle). Unfortunately for the farmers, the only places to grind their grain were a windmill at Fort Altena that didn't seem to work well, a horse mill at New Amstel, and a small tub mill all the way up at Upland, now Chester. They needed something closer.

In 1658, some of the residents of the area north of Fort Altena, known as Verdrietige Hook (now in Brandywine Hundred), requested permission to build a saw and grist mill on Shellpot Creek. It was known then as some variation (spelling and names were a bit fluid then) of Skillpaddefallet, Swedish for "Turtle Falls". The name may have arisen from the presence of large numbers of turtles there at the time, or from the fact that the mouth of the creek was not visible at low tide, seemingly pulling it in like a turtle. And "Verdrietige"? That was Dutch for tedious, or troublesome. That could have come from the difficulty of navigating to the creek, or (my favorite) from the Dutch view of the semi-autonomous Swedes living in the area.

Illustration of the sites of the various mills along Shellpot Creek

It took a few years before that first mill was actually erected, in the summer of 1662. It was reportedly operated by Swedes Jan Stalcop, Lucas Peterson, and Hans Block, and built at the first natural falls above the tidewater, known as Herring Rocks (for the fish that used to be found there in the spring). The location was likely near the old Swedish King's Road, which was located closer to the river than the later English King's Road, now Philadelphia Pike. As Herring Rocks (which was a favorite late 19th Century picnic spot) was said to be easily visible from Lea Boulevard in the 1960's, I think that would put it about where Colony Boulevard is now. Although the area has undoubtedly been altered, there are still lots of boulders along the creek there.

A view down Shellpot Creek, near where the 
first Swedish Mill was likely located

This first Swedish mill (of, eventually, three) was at first jointly owned by twelve shareholders, but by the mid 1680's was controlled by Hans Peterson (described as a "Holsteiner", i.e., a German, who had arrived as a Dutch soldier) and Cornelius Empson. They evidently had some disputes between each other both about the ownership of some of the shares of this mill and about issues relating to mills they owned on the Brandywine. What ultimately became of this mill is unclear, but in 1679 another group of Swedes, led by Charles Peterson, petitioned the Dutch for permission to build a second mill on Shellpot Creek, above the first. They were granted permission, so long as their mill did interfere with the first one. Later that same year, a third mill was built further upstream, again with the provision that it not interfere with the lower two. 

Not much more seems to be known about these three early Swedish mills, but we can make some guesses. First is that the original 1662 mill must have still been operating in 1679, since the others were not to affect it. Also, it's a good guess that one of the last two may have been a saw mill, since there probably would not have been need for three grist mills so close together. And though the milling on the nearby Brandywine was growing, there should have been a demand for local work, so it's a good bet that at least one of these mills operated for quite a few years, as the next mill wouldn't be built until later in the 1700's.

If the first mill was built near what's now Colony Boulevard, the other two probably were not too much farther upstream. Since a good mill seat is a good mill seat, it seems likely to me that these last two were probably built at or very near the same locations where two later mills were erected. The next one upstream would be the site of the most famous of the Shellpot mills, while the site of the third one (which I think was probably the saw mill) is now in park land.

The Webster Mill in the 1890's, prior to the
construction of Shellpot Park

Local tradition said that this most well-known of the Shellpot Mills, located just above Philadelphia Pike, was built in the 1690's, but much more likely it was erected closer to a century after that. It was built by Henry Webster, probably sometime between 1761 and 1790, although its likely placement at the site of the older Swedish mill probably accounts for the confusion in the date. It was in 1761 that Henry Webster (described as a "weaver" in some of the deeds) began buying lands on both sides of Shellpot Creek around Matson's Run -- the likely site of the second Swedish mill and definite site of Webster's. Some of the sales were even from members of the old Swedish families, like the Petersons and Stidhams. 

In one interesting document, Webster petitioned in 1796 to claim 60 vacant acres on the east side of Shellpot Creek, centered on Philadelphia Pike. The surveyor's map of the tract, seen below, shows the land to the south as "the old Shelpot mill land" and to the east as the "vertreedy hook tract". Good to see that the old Swedish name was still around, and the mill reference confirms that the original mill was indeed just to the south.

1796 map of land petitioned for by Henry Webster. Shellpot Creek is on the left,
the "State Road" is Philadelphia Pike, and going north from it is Shipley Road

Henry Webster acquired quite a bit of land around Shellpot Creek, and the Webster family in general had a large footprint in the area -- and remains to this day. Henry's brother Thomas purchased a farm near Foulk and Silverside Roads. Thomas' son Clark also purchased the adjacent farm on Foulk Road, which his descendants still own a portion of, and operate Highland Orchards there today (across from Brandywine High School).

The Allmond article stated that Henry Webster sold the mill to his son George in 1802, but I have not been able to locate record of that sale. I have found George purchasing land around the same area, and in May 1802 he secured the right to build a dam in Shellpot Creek "at the lower end of Isingglass pond". This would seem to lend credence to reports that the mill was originally powered by Matson's Run, then reconfigured by George Webster to run off of Shellpot Creek. The mill was located along Matson's Run, very near where it empties into Shellpot.

Whatever George Webster was doing with his mill, he didn't do it for long -- he passed away in 1804, leaving behind a widow and two year old son, Henry George Webster. The elder Henry Webster outlived his son by two years, and in his 1806 will bequeathed all his real estate to his grandson Henry G. Webster. When the younger Henry came of age, he did operate the family mill, even rebuilding it after a fire in 1858. When Henry G. Webster died in 1885 his holdings were sold at auction, but his son John did purchase the main portion of the farm, along with the mill.

One report states that the mill last operated around 1890, and sure enough, just two years later John Webster sold the farm to Preston Lea. Lea (with the help of others) built Shellpot Park on the Webster farm, and around the old mill. Shellpot Park (which would need its own post to tell its full story) was similar in many ways to Brandywine Springs Amusement Park. It had a pond (the old mill pond on Matson's Run), a roller coaster, a dance hall, a large swimming pool (unlike Brandywine Springs), and was owned by a trolley company (the Wilmington City Railway). It outlasted its rival, not shutting down until the early 1930's.

Shellpot Park, 1927

The photo above, taken in its waning years in 1927, shows the park, the swimming pool (above the trees), and the pond (upper left). The view is basically southwest, with Philadelphia Pike heading to the upper left toward Wilmington, crossed by what's now Shipley Road on the right and Edgemoor Road on the left. If you zoom in, you can just see a little of the stonework of the mill, just above the highest point of the roller coaster. According to another article in 1936, the mill (and a small, stone house -- possibly a miller's house) was still standing at that point. It was likely torn down soon after.

As best as I can tell, the only structure directly related to any of the Shellpot mills (including those in the next post) still standing is the old Webster House, which, along with its long razed barn, can be seen hiding in the grove of trees above the swimming pool in the 1927 park photo. You can also see it in the background of the postcard (from 1908) seen below. I'm not sure exactly when the house was built, but it could very well have been erected by Henry Webster himself. The pond would later become the site of the back parking lot for the Sears store.

1908 postcard of "Lake Shellpot Park", which is actually the old mill pond,
with the Webster House and barn in the background

That covers the first two of the three Swedish mills, as well as the most well-known of the Shellpot Mills, that of Henry Webster. In the next post we'll look the the remaining upstream mills -- the third Swedish site, a related saw mill and grist mill, and the furthest mill seat upstream, which hosted a sawmill. All of these mills are long gone, but their locations (well, at least two of the three) can still be found today.