Existing comment:
Brandywine Manufacturers' Sunday School:
E.I. du Pont and other Brandywine mill owners built this school in 1817. Du Pont's daughter, Victorine, taught at this nondenominational school for 40 years and served as its superintendent. About 150 children attended each Sunday morning to study spelling, reading, writing, ciphering, and religion.
In the 1840s, attendance declined with the emergence of public schools and church schools such as the one at nearby St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church. In 1856, the Sunday School building became a church school for Christ Episcopal Church. In 1900, it was converted to an office for the Hagley Yards. After the powder yards closed in 1921, the building was used as a private residence. |