Brandywine Hundred (also known as North Wilmington) is an unincorporated subdivision of

New Castle County, Delaware New Castle County is the northernmost of the three counties of the U.S. state of Delaware (New Castle, Kent, and Sussex). As of the 2020 census, the population was 570,719, making it the most populous county in Delaware, with nearly 60% of the ...

. It is located to the north and northeast of the city of Wilmington.

Hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101. In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to de ...

s were once used as a basis for representation in the

Delaware General Assembly The Delaware General Assembly is the legislature of the U.S. state of Delaware. It is a bicameral legislature composed of the Delaware Senate with 21 senators and the Delaware House of Representatives with 41 representatives. It meets at Legisla ...

. Brandywine Hundred and North Wilmington are commonly used colloquial names for this area. However, while their names still appear on all real estate transactions, all other hundreds in Delaware presently have no meaningful use or purpose except as a geographical point of reference. In the 2010 census, Brandywine had 77,182 people.

Grubb's Landing

Brandywine Hundred, also known as Grubb's Landing, was settled by two sons of

John Grubb John Grubb (1652–1708) was a two-term member of the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly and was one of the original settlers in a portion of Brandywine Hundred that became Claymont, Delaware. He founded a large tannery that continued in opera ...

(1652–1708): Emanuel Grubb and John Grubb II (1684–1757).

Boundaries and formation

Brandywine Hundred is that portion of New Castle County that lies north of the

Christina River The Christina River is a tributary of the Delaware River, approximately 35 miles (56 km) long, in northern Delaware in the United States, also flowing through small areas of southeastern Pennsylvania and northeastern Maryland. Near i ...

and east of Brandywine Creek, excepting that portion in the south included in

Wilmington Hundred Wilmington Hundred is an unincorporated subdivision of New Castle County, Delaware. Hundreds were once used as a basis for representation in the Delaware General Assembly, and while their names still appear on all real estate transactions, they p ...

. Its northern boundary follows a portion of the 12 mile arc drawn around the town of New Castle. It was one of the original hundreds in Delaware created in 1682 and was named for Brandywine Creek that flows along its western boundary. When created it included some of the area now in the Wilmington Hundred, which was split off 1833.

Development

Excepting a still wooded area along Brandywine Creek, the area is completely suburban with almost continuous industrial, commercial and residential development. The eastern portion was built out early in the twentieth century with the remainder in the decades following

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The town of Bellefonte, the villages of

Arden Arden may refer to: Places ;Australia *Arden, an area in North Melbourne, Victoria near the Arden Street Oval ;Canada * Arden, Ontario ;Denmark * Arden, Denmark, a town **Arden Municipality, a former municipality, including the town of Arden ; ...

, Ardencroft, and Ardentown, the

Claymont Claymont is a census-designated place (CDP) in New Castle County, Delaware. The estimated 2017 population of the 19703 ZIP code, which Claymont encompasses, was 15,292. History The community now known as Claymont started on the banks of Naamans C ...

and Edgemoor Census Designated Places (CDP), and the community of Talleyville are in Brandywine Hundred. In recent decades the Hundred has become a major

edge city ''Edge city'' is a term that originated in the United States for a concentration of business, shopping, and entertainment outside a traditional downtown or central business district, in what had previously been a suburban residential or rur ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

due in part to

Delaware General Corporation Law The Delaware General Corporation Law (Title 8, Chapter 1 of the Delaware Code) is the statute of the Delaware Code that governs corporate law in the U.S. state of Delaware. Adopted in 1899, the statute has since seen Delaware become the most imp ...

Geography

Important geographical features, in addition to the Christina River and Brandywine Creek, include the

Delaware River The Delaware River is a major river in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. From the meeting of its branches in Hancock (village), New York, Hancock, New York, the river flows for along the borders of N ...

, which forms its eastern boundary,

Naaman's Creek Naamans Creek (spelled Naaman Creek on federal maps) is a tributary of the Delaware River in northeast New Castle County, Delaware and southeast Delaware County, Pennsylvania. The stream rises near the intersection of Foulk Road and Naamans Cree ...

Stoney Creek (Delaware) Stoney Creek is a long second order tributary to the Delaware River in New Castle County, Delaware. Variant names According to the Geographic Names Information System, it has also been known historically as: *Fransens Creek *Oele Fransens Creek ...

and

Shellpot Creek Shellpot Creek is a tributary of the Delaware River in northeast New Castle County, Delaware. The stream rises between Grubb Road and Shipley Road, south of Naaman's Road at in Brandywine Hundred and flows southeast for about six miles before di ...

. It is mostly in the

piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

region with one of the more dramatic sections of the

Fall Line A fall line (or fall zone) is the area where an upland region and a coastal plain meet and is typically prominent where rivers cross it, with resulting rapids or waterfalls. The uplands are relatively hard crystalline basement rock, and the coa ...

being close enough to the Delaware River to allow many scenic views.

Ebright Azimuth The Ebright Azimuth is the point with the highest benchmark monument elevation in the U.S. state of Delaware. It is marked with a geodetic benchmark monument and has an elevation of above sea level. The only state high-point with a lower eleva ...

, the highest natural elevation in the state at , is located along the northern edge of Brandywine Hundred, very close to the

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

line. The Hundred has a

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...

(''Cfa'') except in higher northern areas where a hot-summer

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freezing ...

(''Dfa'') exists because January averages below freezing. Average monthly temperatures in Talleyville range from 31.1 °F in January to 75.4 °F in July, while at the interchange of Interstate 95/495 and Naamans Road they range from 32.8 °F in January to 77.4 °F in July
PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State U
The

hardiness zone A hardiness zone is a geographic area defined as having a certain average annual minimum temperature, a factor relevant to the survival of many plants. In some systems other statistics are included in the calculations. The original and most wide ...

is 7a except near the Delaware River where it is 7b.

Transportation

Important roads include portions of

Interstate 95 Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from U.S. Route 1, US Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Miami, Florida, to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between M ...

, Interstate 495, Concord Pike (

U.S. Route 202 U.S. Route 202 (US 202) is a spur route of US 2. It follows a northeasterly and southwesterly direction stretching from Delaware to Maine, also traveling through the states of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massa ...

), Powder Mill Road (

Delaware Route 141 Delaware Route 141 (DE 141) is a state highway that serves as a western bypass of Wilmington, Delaware. Its southern terminus is at DE 9 and DE 273 in New Castle and its northern terminus is an interchange with U.S. Rout ...

), Naamans Road and Thompson Bridge Road (

Delaware Route 92 Delaware Route 92 (DE 92) is a road in northern New Castle County, Delaware, that runs a short distance to the south of the Pennsylvania/Delaware state line for most of its length. The route runs from DE 100 near Montchanin east ...

), Marsh Road (

Delaware Route 3 Delaware Route 3 (DE 3) is a state highway northeast of the city of Wilmington in New Castle County, Delaware. The route runs from an interchange at Interstate 495 (I-495) in Edgemoor north to DE 92 in Hanbys Corner. The ...

), Foulk Road (

Delaware Route 261 Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

Delaware Route 491 Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

, and the old main highway between Wilmington and Philadelphia, now Philadelphia Pike (

U.S. Route 13 U.S. Route 13 (US 13) is a north–south U.S. highway established in 1926 that runs for from Interstate 95 (I-95) just north of Fayetteville, North Carolina to US 1 in the northeastern suburbs of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in Morrisville. ...

). A portion of the

Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad The Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad (PW&B) was an American railroad that operated independently from 1836 to 1881. It was formed in 1836 by the merger of four state-chartered railroads in three Middle Atlantic states to create a ...

, subsequently the main north–south line of the

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...

, and now

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

Northeast Corridor The Northeast Corridor (NEC) is an electrified railroad line in the Northeast megalopolis of the United States. Owned primarily by Amtrak, it runs from Boston through Providence, New Haven, Stamford, New York City, Philadelphia, Wilmington, a ...

, follows the Delaware River, and a portion of the old

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the first common carrier railroad and the oldest railroad in the United States, with its first section opening in 1830. Merchants from Baltimore, which had benefited to some extent from the construction of ...

, now

CSX Transportation CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...

Philadelphia Subdivision The Philadelphia Subdivision is a railroad line owned and operated by CSX Transportation in the U.S. states of Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland. The line runs from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, southwest to Baltimore, Maryland, along a forme ...

, approximately follows the Fall Line.

In media

Mitchell Hundred, the fictional mayor of New York City and central protagonist of

Brian K. Vaughn Brian K. Vaughan (born July 17, 1976) is an American comic book and television writer, best known for the comic book series '' Y: The Last Man'', '' Ex Machina'', ''Runaways'', ''Pride of Baghdad'', ''Saga'', and ''Paper Girls''. Vaughan was a w ...

's comic book series '' Ex Machina'', notes that his surname was derived from Brandywine Hundred, where his ancestors originally settled.

Education

Brandywine School District Brandywine School District (abbreviated BSD) is a public school district in northern New Castle County, Delaware in the United States. It serves Arden, Ardencroft, Ardentown, Bellefonte, Claymont, Edgemoor, Talleyville, - Talleyville is opag ...

serves Brandywine Hundred.

Famous residents

* Joe Biden,

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...

, lived a large part of his life in

* John Carney, Governor of Delaware, Claymont

Notes

References

* {{authority control Hundreds in New Castle County, Delaware