The Forwood School: A Case Study in Demolition by Dereliction by Gene Castellano for University of Delaware Historic Preservation Class UAPP 629 September 27, 2019 This essay is a discussion of the events and controversy surrounding the development of a property in North Wilmington that once contained Delaware’s oldest school house. In 1796, Delaware’s first General Assembly founded a School Fund prompting residents of the Brandywine Hundred to look at more formal ways to educate their children. One half acre of land was donated for a small schoolhouse in an area bounded by Silverside, Marsh and Wilson Roads. Three trustees, Jehu Forwood, Robert Forwood and Thomas Bird, were charged with building it. The 20’ x 22’ stone structure was completed in 1799. 1 The Forwoods were among Wilmington’s earliest settlers from England and prominent in the region. Together, they farmed about 150 acres of land near the school.2 Enrollment grew to about 110 students in 1855, prompting an expansion of the building to 20’ x 40’. The school flourished and remained in use for 140 years until re-districting forced its consolidation with an adjoining district. Age and obsolescence led to its closure in 1939. At that time, Forwood had been the longest serving school building in the state. The Society for the Preservation of Antiquities acquired the deed to the property in 1940 with the intention of renovating it into a community center and small library. World War II intervened and those plans never materialized. The property was sold back to a member of the Forwood family in 1947 for rehabilitation into a house. Dormers were added to enable second floor use. 3 Descendants of the Forwood family continued to operate farms in the area until about 1940, when greater value could be obtained by selling the land for suburban housing developments. Following World War II, the trend accelerated with the eventual creation of more than ten neighborhoods and over one thousand homes in the immediate area. Two very large shopping centers also dominate the region: Branmar Plaza, owned by Capano Realty, and the Shoppes of Graylyn, owned by a national realty company. Tucked in between the homes and shopping centers are 11.5 acres that were passed on to four members of the Forwood family by their father in the late 1990s. Those family members quickly moved to sell the land for either a 50 unit townhouse community or a mixed use property that would include townhouses, a large professional office building and a bank. The Forwood descendants were adamant that they would develop the property one way or another to maximize 1 The History of the Original Forwood School, author not cited but written for the Brandywine School District website. A copy of the history was reposted on the website of New Castle County Councilman Robert Weiner: www.bobweiner.com/files/.../HistoryOfTheOriginalForwoodSchool.pdf 2 Atlas of the State of Delaware, Brandywine Hundred Region, Pomeroy and Beers, Philadelphia, 1868. 3 Ibid, Brandywine School District history, Weiner web site.
density and fetch the highest price.4 The mixed use option was financially more attractive due to the potential value of the office complex but would require re-zoning from residential to commercial. Area civic associations were not supportive of either plan. Presentations at the Graylyn Crest and Glenside Civic Associations were heated and opposed by area residents as most of the land was wooded and served as a buffer from the shopping centers. Ultimately, the Forwoods were within their legal rights to proceed with the housing development under residential zoning as long as they complied with the technical requirements of the County’s Unified Development Code. However, NCC Councilman Robert Weiner stated that he would not sponsor any re-zoning hearings without local support. Securing the necessary permits and a traffic study dragged on for years until the process was interrupted by the Great Recession of 2007- 2009, which reduced demand for housing and made financing uncertain. During this time, little was done to maintain the house although it was lived in until about 2009. A bright blue tarp was placed on the roof to keep water out while the surrounding property became overgrown. It became a highly visible landmark of decay. According to New Castle County (NCC) property records, the Forwood family (Forwood School Associates LLC) quietly sold their property in 2014 to Joseph and Judy Setting, owners of Montchanin based Setting Properties, Inc. Setting restarted plans to develop a mixed use retail-commercial project for the site called Branmar Commons that would bring in 37 town houses, a large restaurant, small retail shops and a bank. Sadly, the Forwood School was generally acknowledged to be beyond saving due to its derelict condition. Setting worked with the noted firm Homsey Architects to develop a reconstruction of the original school house using stones reclaimed from the building after its demolition. In 2015, they started community reviews and meetings with New Castle County to secure the necessary permits.5 Although additional traffic was a chief concern, the neighboring shopping centers had not modernized and most area residents realized that the fight to save the school was over due to its long neglect. Setting had experience in working through zoning issues with the County and managed to defuse the school demolition issue with his reconstruction plan. He and his wife agreed to remain personally responsible for ongoing maintenance of the new school and would seek ways to use it for historical interpretation. The County Historic Review Board agreed to the plan for the school while Setting worked steadily on rezoning. NCC’s property records data base contains a complete listing and timeline for each step of this process as well as letters and transcripts from all meetings. The developer has changed the plans multiple times based on county and community feedback. The townhouse plans were revised to make them more appealing to seniors looking to stay in the area yet hoping to shed the up-keep of a single family home. The project was renamed to Forwood Commons to reflect the property’s heritage and is 4 “Historic Forwood School Property Will Be Developed,” Delaforum online news article no longer available but currently on Councilman Robert Weiner’s web site: www.bobweiner.com/files/.../HistoryOfTheOriginalForwoodSchool.pdf 5 South Graylyn Crest Civic Association News-Community Meeting Notice-Forwood School Development Plans, June 29, 2015. See also Xerxes Wilson, “Plan to raze 1799 school met with concerns over traffic.” The News Journal, July 8, 2015
on track for completion in 2021. The school house came down in the summer of 2019 with the stones kept on-site for its reconstruction.6 The Forwood School controversy created a wakeup call for NCC leadership. No effort was ever made to place the school on an historic registry. While the Forwood family owns much of the blame, the county has also recognized that it could do more to create historic overlay districts which could then be subject to ordinances preventing demolition by neglect.7 In 2018, Robert Weiner lost a re-election bid to Dee Durham, who had been active in historic preservation. She is working with another council member to organize a Historic Preservation Working Group “to gain a better understanding of the status of preservation in the county and hopes to recommend new legislation to enhance preservation practices.”8 The group includes county employees, preservation advocates and interested residents. Although the demise of the schoolhouse was unfortunate, it will come back to life in new way and, hopefully, result in new legislation to prevent similar situations from happening again in the County. Bibliography Newspapers Xerxes Wilson, “Plan to raze 1799 school met with concerns over traffic.” The News Journal”, July 9, 2015 Jacob Baumgart, “Delaware schoolhouse to be replaced by replica, marker.” The News Journal, August 16, 2019, Online Sources Larry Nagengast, “Final act in Forwood School’s demise nears.” Delaware Public Media April 13, 2018 https://www.delawarepublic.org/post/final-act-forwood-schools-demise-nears Larry Nagengast, “Working group seeks to bolster historic preservation in New Castle County.” Delaware Public Media: June 14, 2019 https://www.delawarepublic.org/post/working-group-seeks-bolster-historic-preservationnew-castle-county 6 Jacob Baumgart, “Delaware schoolhouse to be replaced by replica, marker.” The News Journal, August 6, 2019 7 New Castle County Council is reviewing a new ordinance, 12-084, to address demolition by neglect 8 Larry Nagengast, “Working group seeks to bolster historic preservation.” Delaware Public Media, June 14, 2019
New Castle County Council Person Dee Durham: https://newcastlede.gov/436/Dee-Durham---District-2 New Castle County Councilman Robert Weiner: Bound set of articles from the Brandywine School District history of Forwood, Delaforum and original property deeds www.bobweiner.com/files/.../HistoryOfTheOriginalForwoodSchool.pdf (This web site is no longer active since Robert Weiner left NCC government) South Graylyn Crest Civic Association News and Events: http://www.sgcca.org/2015/06/29/community-meeting-notice-forwood-school-parceldevelopment-plans/ http://www.sgcca.org/2016/04/02/upcoming-meeting-on-the-forwood-property/