Hagley Museum and Library, Industrial heritage museum and research library in Wilmington, Delaware.
Hagley Museum and Library is an outdoor museum and archive focused on industrial history in Wilmington, Delaware. The site follows Brandywine Creek and includes restored mill buildings, workers' cottages, gardens, and a research library for business history.
Eleuthère Irénée du Pont founded a black powder mill here in 1802 that became the country's largest supplier during the American Civil War. The company produced gunpowder until 1921, then shifted to chemical manufacturing and eventually opened the grounds as a museum.
Patent models and technical drawings show how American craftsmen and factory owners designed and improved new machines throughout the 1800s. Visitors walk through recreated workshops where engineers once drafted plans for steam engines, turbines, and looms, while archivists preserve old business letters and blueprints.
Visitors can join guided tours that travel through different parts of the site or walk several trails linking mill ruins, residences, and woodland. Comfortable shoes help, as paths can be uneven and the land slopes in places.
Some of the old mill buildings still show marks from explosions that occurred during production and destroyed entire workshops. Workers had to labor in small shifts and live in wooden houses built far enough from the mills to stay safe during accidents.
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