Brandywine Village

Oliver Evans in the 1780s helped local mills increase their efficiency, ushering in the Industrial Revolution.

Gravity moved the grain through the stages of cleaning, drying, grinding, spreading, and cooling, in a continuous manufacturing process.

[3] The mill burned down in 1797, and in 1802 Broom sold the site, complete with a working dam and millrace, to Eleuthère Irénée du Pont, who paid $6,740 for the 95 acres (380,000 m2).

By 1815 several toll roads connected the village with Pennsylvania's grain-growing regions, including the Lancaster, Kennett and Concord Pikes.

"Brandywine Superfine" flour was shipped all along the Atlantic coast and to the West Indies before the American Revolution.

A mill race once used to provide water power is still in working condition in Brandywine Park near downtown Wilmington.

Oliver Evans's design for automated flour milling [ 1 ]
The Brandywine Academy building
Gilpin's Mill on the Brandywine attributed to Thomas Doughty circa 1827.
Brandywine flour mills about 1840, painted by Bass Otis . The north bank (to the right) is Brandywine Village.