Campaign Office Building History

Brandywine Academy

 
1798- The Brandywine Academy is one of the first, if not the first, neighborhood institution in the Village. Joseph Tatnall paid to have the cupola and bell Added to the building in 1820 and residents rang the Academy bell to welcome Lafayette when he rode through the Village in October 1824.
Founded in 1798 and incorporated in 1815, the Academy had one room on each floor for classes or meetings. In 1829, it was a public school for Brandywine Hundred and in 1839 Methodist women started a Sunday school in the building for children who worked in the mills so they could learn reading and writing on their one free day. Owned by Old Brandywine Village, Inc. it has also served as a place of worship, public library, clubhouse for the Delaware Association of Police, clubhouse for the DAR, a polling place, and location for sessions of the Levy Court
 
Source: A Village Walk: History and Architecture in Brandywine Village
A Publication of the Delaware Tourism Office and Borkee-Hagley Foundation.