Walker's Bank - Demolition by Neglect?

Within the past few years, historic Delaware buildings have fallen at an alarming rate. After years of neglect, many of these landmarks have been demolished, replaced by parking lots, residential development, strip malls, uninspiring office and commercial structures.

Some property owners of historic properties employ a strategy termed "Demolition by Neglect," whereby a property owner intentionally allows a historic property to suffer severe deterioration to beyond the point of repair. Some property owners use this kind of long-term neglect to circumvent historic preservation regulations. This may be happening to Walker’s Bank in Montchanin.

Walker's Mill and Walker’s Bank were built on the northern bank of the Brandywine between 1813 and 1815 by Joseph B. Sims, a Philadelphia merchant. Sims leased the mill to John Siddall & Company, which made cotton fabric. The two main buildings were the cotton spinning mill and four “bank houses” for workers and their families. Originally called the Simsville Cotton Factory, by the 1840s damage from a flood and low-cost British textile imports caused the business to fail. Alfred du Pont then bought the property in a sheriff's sale in1843, leasing it to various operators including Joseph Walker, for whom it was named. Three more operators leased the mill, which did not close until 1934 making it the last textile mill to operate in or near Henry Clay Village. Walker’s Bank provided worker housing and is now the only surviving example on the north side of the Brandywine River.

This document details the historic background of Walker’s Bank, with photographs showing the condition in 1936, 1972, and July 2017. It also provides a basis for immediate action by New Castle County government.

It may also stimulate debate for the need for new regulations and legislation coupled with stricter enforcement regarding maintenance and preservation of historically important buildings and structures in Delaware.

In 1955, the Eleutherian Mills-Hagley Foundation transferred/exchanged Walker’s Mill and Walker’s Bank to the E. I. DuPont De Nemours Company. Photographs from 1971 show the condition of the exterior of Walker’s Bank.

In 1972, Walker’s Mill and Walker’s Bank were nominated and approved by the National Register of Historic Places.1 Note: The National Register of Historic Places does not prevent property owners from demolishing a listed structure.

1 See https://npgallery.nps.gov/pdfhost/docs/NRHP/Text/72000296.pdf. See also Appendix 1, WALKER’S MILL AND WALKER’S BANK NOMINATION FORM FOR THE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES.

On 17 September 2017, I e-mailed a 16 page letter to the owners of Walker's Bank (Ashford Capital Management, Inc.), and the following:

Matt Meyer, New Castle County Executive

County Councilman Robert Weiner

County Councilman John Cartier

Barbara Benson, Chair, Board of the NCCo Historic Review Board

Rich Hall, Land Use General Manager, New Castle County

Tim Slavin, Director, Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs

Gwen Davis, Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer

State Senator Harris McDowell

State Representative Gerald Brady

Madeline Dunn, Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs

Kim Burdick, Delaware Advisor Emerita to the National Trust

C. Roderick Maroney, AIA, Homsey Architects, Inc.

David Cole, Executive Director, Hagley Museum & Library

Scott Loehr, President, Delaware Historical Society

James Hanby, Preservation Delaware

Advisory Council on Historic Preservation

The entire document is the PDF below.