New Castle County Delaware

New Castle County Government Center is located at 87 Reads Way, New Castle DE 19720; New Castle City/County Building is located at 800 North French Street, Wilmington DE 19801; phone: 302-395-8383.

Photo: Old New Castle Courthouse (1936), W.S. Stewart, photographer, Historic American Buildings Survey [HABS Del-80], memory.loc.gov

Old County Courthouse [1]

Located on the southeast corner of the New Castle Common, facing Delaware Street in New Castle, Delaware, the New Castle Court House is a two and one half story, early Georgian style brick building. The building is composed of three sections built between ca. 1730 and 1845. The oldest section of the building is the central, five bay block which was built between 1730 and 1731. The four bay wide east wing section was built in two stages, 1765 and 1802. The west wing was constructed in 1845. The building had been modified for several different uses since the State and Federal Court system left the building in 1881. The entire building was restored by the State of Delaware between 1955 and 1963 for interpretation to the public as part of the state museum system. The main block of the building was restored primarily to the appearance documented in the 1802 Benjamin H. Latrobe "Survey of the City of New Castle." Extensive archeological investigation produced information that was used to recreate the layout and missing details of the earlier appearance of the building. The building is an individual National Historic Landmark and located within the boundary of a National Landmark District.

The deck-on-gable roof is surmounted by an eight-sided, frame cupola detailed with a dome that is supported by an open arcade of round arches with keystones and springers. The roof deck has a wood balustrade across the full width that terminates in brick piers. A tall thin metal spire with an orb and arrow weathervane caps off the cupola. The facade and rear elevations terminate in simple molded cornices on the two earliest sections of the building, and no cornice is present on the 1845 wing. Side elevations on all three sections display simple board raking cornices in the gable ends. The foundations of all three building sections are stone, either dressed or field stone. The building faces a filled terrace that was placed in 1822. Detailed with a dressed stone retaining wall and a brick flooring laid in a herringbone pattern, the raised terrace is accessed by two short sets of stairs with well worn marble risers, providing access from Market and Delaware streets. The metal railing that edges the terrace was placed in 1830.

The New Castle Court House, located on Delaware Avenue in New Castle, Delaware, was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1972 for its historical significance as the seat of governance in Delaware during the colonial and early statehood eras. "The cupola served as the beginning point of the 12-mile radius that determines Delaware's curved northern boundary. Among the important events that took place here were Delaware's decision to separate from Great Britain and Pennsylvania and the writing and adoption of the first state constitution, both in 1776." In addition to this previously documented national significance, the property is also nationally significant under the National Historic Landmark theme study on the Underground Railroad as the site of the Hunn-Garrett Trials of 1848 where two prominent Delaware abolitionists of the Quaker faith were sued by the owners of fugitive slaves from Maryland. John Hunn and Thomas Garrett were prosecuted under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793, which made it a Federal crime to assist, aid and/or harbor a "fugitive from servitude." These well-documented trials exemplified the measures used by slave owners as recourse against persons involved in assisting those escaping slavery, and that Underground Railroad participation or other assistance to fugitive slaves did not occur without some risk and consequences. These trials were well publicized in the anti-slavery press and reaffirmed the commitment of the two defendants to assist those fleeing slavery. In addition, precedent regarding the interpretation of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1793, specifically how fines were imposed, was set at the Hunn-Garrett Trials.

The trials also had a profound impact on the defendants. Thomas Garrett and John Hunn dedicated the rest of their lives to assisting those escaping slavery, and after the Civil War, to the assistance of those newly freed from bondage. Thomas Garrett was already a prominent figure in the anti-slavery/ abolition movement, well known by national figures like William Lloyd Garrison and Lucretia Mott, and by the renowned conductor of fugitives from slavery, Harriet Tubman. By the beginning of the Civil War, Thomas Garrett had assisted over 2700 escaping slaves by his own account. John Hunn was active in Underground Railroad activities from his home in the Kent County community of Quakers in and around Camden, Delaware. In 1862, Hunn joined a Quaker-affiliated freedman relief effort and relocated to St. Helena Island off the coast of Beaufort, South Carolina. He did not return to Delaware until 1884. His son, also named John Hunn, became the first Quaker governor of the state of Delaware in 1900, and it was under his leadership that the state legislature finally passed the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments to the Constitution of the United States of America.

1. The Old Courthouse was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1972. Additional documentation was prepared by Robin K. Bodo, Delaware in 2001 and was accepted by the National Register of Historic Places in 2003. Selected text, above, was transcribed from a copy of the National Register documentation.