Farnhurst is an
unincorporated community
An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either hav ...
in
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 t ...
, United States. The site of two historic hospitals (one now gone) and a number of cemeteries, the community once had a post office, school, and rail station.
Geography
Farnhurst is located at the junction of
Interstate 295,
U.S. Route 13, and
U.S. Route 40
U.S. Route 40 or U.S. Highway 40 (US 40), also known as the Main Street of America, is a major east–west United States Highway traveling across the United States from the Mountain States to the Mid-Atlantic States. As with most routes wh ...
, north-northwest of
New Castle.
History
Late 1800s
Farnhurst is the site of the Delaware State Hospital, a psychiatric institution, originally opened in 1889, and often called Farnhurst.
The New Castle County Almshouse/Hospital also operated in Farnhurst from 1884 to 1933; these two large institutions were on adjoining plots.
A post office opened at Farnhurst on January 15, 1890. According to historian Harvey Cochran Bounds, the 1890 opening of the post office in Farnhurst "had more than a little to do" with the closure of the nearby
Hares Corner post office. The Farnhurst post office was moved to the psychiatric hospital grounds in the 1930s.
In 1898, a
stagecoach
A stagecoach is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by four horses although some versions are draw ...
line ran three times per week between Wilmington and Farnhurst; a trolley system connecting Farnhurst to Wilmington was proposed in the ''
Wilmington Evening Journal''. At that time, a round-trip coach between Farnhurst and Wilmington cost twenty cents.
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, the Farnhurst Asylum had its own baseball team, which played