Tybouts Corner is an unincorporated populated place in

New Castle County 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 ...

Delaware 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 ...

, United States.

Geography

Tybouts Corner is located at the intersection of

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 ...

and Hamburg Road/Bear Tybouts Road just north of an interchange with

Delaware Route 1 Delaware Route 1 (DE 1) is the longest numbered state highway in the U.S. state of Delaware. The route runs from the Maryland state line in Fenwick Island, Sussex County, where the road continues south into that state as Maryland R ...

and an intersection with the northern terminus of

Delaware Route 71 Delaware Route 71 (DE 71) is a state highway in New Castle County, Delaware. The route runs from U.S. Route 13 (US 13) south of Townsend north to another intersection with US 13 in Tybouts Corner, traveling to the west ...

. Tybouts Corner and has an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Vert ...

of .

History

Tybouts Corner is named after George Z. Tybout, a local landowner and agricultural pioneer in the 19th century. His daughter, Ella Tybout, became a noted magazine writer. The Tybouts Corner landfill opened in 1968. It was initially used only for household waste, but soon industrial waste was deposited there as well, violating state regulations. Fires burned about once a month at the site. The landfill closed in 1971, when it was filled to capacity. In 1980, the

Environmental Protection Agency A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...

filed suit against New Castle County for its mismanagement of the waste disposal. The EPA listed the former landfill as the second-most hazardous in the country in 1982. It was listed as a

Superfund Superfund is a United States federal environmental remediation program established by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA). The program is administered by the United States Environmental Pro ...

site in 1985. The Stauffer Chemical Company accidentally contaminated drinking water wells in Tybouts Corner with chemical wastes at its plant in the 1970s. Jacob Wagner, who owned a home that bordered the landfill, had yellow water in their well, and he subsequently sued the county. The heavy soil in the area helped limit the spread of pollution. The plant was purchased by Formosa Plastics Corporation in 1981. In 1985, residents were concerned after an environmental group charged Formosa with releasing vinyl chloride emissions. Scientists suggested that it could have poisoned their water. As a result, the wells were closed and residents had their drinking water piped in. A gas tanker with 8,400 gallons of gasoline overturned on U.S. Route 13 in Tybouts Corner in February 1986. It possibly hit a patch of ice and spun out of control. Though no fire was reported, police mandated the evacuation of 30 houses in the area. A temporary gas venting system was installed in 1996. A permanent gas venting system was built in 2000. These systems prevent underground landfill gas from extending beyond the landfill property boundary. In May 2007, the groundwater was considered to have greatly reduced its contents of contaminants, so the EPA and Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control shut down the water pumping wells. The following year, quarterly monitoring of the groundwater ended and it has been monitored twice yearly since then.

References

External links

* {{authority control Unincorporated communities in New Castle County, Delaware Unincorporated communities in Delaware