St. Joseph on the Brandywine

St. Joseph on the Brandywine, originally Saint Joseph's Church until St. Joseph's Church- Wilmington was built in 1947, is a historic Roman Catholic church complex and national historic district located on Old Church Road in Greenville, New Castle County, Delaware. The campus encompasses four church buildings as well as a large parish cemetery. It is a stuccoed stone structure, painted yellow, with the pedimented gable of the facade pierced by the church's steeple. The other buildings consist of a rectory, convent, and former school. The school was opened in 1853 and was originally staffed by the Sisters of St. Joseph, and later by the Order of St. Francis in 1887.
While there was a strong Catholic presence in the Wilmington area since 1813, Catholic masses were relegating to traveling priests at private homes and in the local manufacturing mills. Irish mills workers began petitioning the Diocese of Philadelphia for their own church in the region starting in the late 1830s. They were supported in their efforts by the Du Pont family, who contributed financial assets and political pressure to the establishment of the parish. The original church of St. Joseph was built in February 1841 by the duPont family for Irish and Italian Catholic workers at the C.I.DuPont de Nemours & Co.. The land was originally granted by Charles I. du Pont, who also served on the original board of Trustees along with Alfred du Pont, Henry du Pont, Peter N. Brennan, Edward Dougherty, Charles Dougherty, and Michael Dougherty. The church itself was dedicated the following winter in December 1842 by Francis Kenrick, Bishop of Philadelphia. Additions were made to the church structure in 1848 under Fr. John Walsh to accommodate 550 parishioners. In 1853 a house on the campus burned down and was rebuilt with the assistance of Amelia du Pont, who converted the building into a convent, thereafter inviting the Sisters of St. Joseph to occupy the grounds and open a parochial school through the parish. The parish school, which originally occupied the church basement, was moved in 1855 into its own building.

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