The foundations of St Joseph on the Brandywine parish began to take shape more than two hundred years ago. In 1814, a traveling priest began saying Masses in the homes of Catholics working in the nearby DuPont powder mills. In time, Masses were celebrated in the Brandywine Manufacturers Sunday School, which could accommodate more people.
By the late 1830s and before the establishment of the Diocese of Wilmington, the Catholic workers in the DuPont mills on the Brandywine River began to petition the Philadelphia Archdiocese for their own parish. The petition was granted, and mill workers contributed a portion of their weekly salaries toward the construction of the church building. The DuPont family also supported financially the effort.
Built in 1841, St. Joseph's on the Brandywine symbolized the duPont family's concern for the needs of its workers, as the idea of caring for the welfare of the worker outside of the working hours was a relatively new concept. To the predominately Irish and Italian Catholic workers, the new church was essential to a happy, peaceful life and had the added benefit of serving as a uniting force between the two nationalities and establishing a sense of permanence for the workers who were newly settled in this country.
Built by stonemasons from the duPont Company, St. Joseph's has the extraordinarily thick stone walls that the masons were accustomed to building in the powder mills. The masons were allowed to work on company time in constructing the church but this is only one of the ways in which the duPonts assisted in the establishment of the parish. Madame Victor duPont, a Catholic, by allowing mass to be celebrated in her home, activated interest in the Catholics. Other duPonts also began to take an interest in the Catholic community.
The dedication took place on December 20, 1841. The following quotation from the Church of St. Joseph on the Brandywine (1841-1994) by Joyce Longworth and Marjorie McNinch published in 1995 for the 150th anniversary, Page 26 tells it all and we quote, "the church was plain, made of local materials, and built by and for the local workforce. On November 16, 1841, the youngest of E. I. duPont's daughters, Sophie M. DuPont (1810-1888), remarked in a letter to her friend Clementina Smith, "The Catholic Church is finished except the altar, etc., and they talk of consecrating it at Christmas." Sophie also related to Clementina, "there was a very large concourse there I hear - protestants as well as Catholics - I think this church will surely be the means of increasing the Roman Catholics in this neighborhood."
Since Wilmington was then part of the Diocese of Philadelphia, Bishop Kenrick, who negotiated the purchase of the land for the church, officiated at the dedication services, along with Father Bernard McCabe, first pastor of Saint Joseph's Church. The only known contemporaneous newspaper account documenting the event is found in the Catholic Herald in 1841: 'On Sunday, the 20th a neat and commodious stone church with its cemetery was dedicated to Almighty God, under the invocation of St. Joseph, at Du Pont Mills, Del. by the Rev. Patrick Reilly, of Wilmington, assisted by the Reverend Bernard McCabe, its pastor. The building does credit to the Christian zeal of its generous subscribers." The rectory for the church was also opened at this time. No mention is made of a choir being present at this event, but an 1843 subscription list of parishioners towards the purchase of a church organ illustrates the desire for one."
Shortly after the church opened, a school was established in the basement of the church. A two-story stone schoolhouse was built in 1855 on what is now the Family Center parking lot. Although the Sisters of St. Joseph staffed the school from 1853 to 1870, the Sisters of St. Francis took responsibility and led the school until it closed in 1972. The oldest tombstone in the cemetery dates back to 1843. Since then, soldiers from every war, as well as several priests who served the parish, have been laid to rest in the cemetery, which was expanded in the 1990s to include the parcel along Kennett Pike. Today, well over 5,000 graves surround the church.
In 1848, the church was enlarged, and again in 1878, the front tower was added. It was not until 1887 that the steeple with the bell finished the top of the front tower. In 1894, when St. Joseph's was consecrated, it was the largest Catholic church in the state. Three arches were also added to the altar in 1894 and four years later, stained glass windows were installed. But the most dramatic transformation of the church building in that same year was the wiring of the church for electricity. Electric light allowed for the first midnight Mass at Christmas to take place. In 1902, the Church exterior received its distinctive yellow color with paint donated by Alfred I. duPont that matched many of the duPont homes in the area. And in that year the first pipe organ was installed.
The 1941 renovation of the church included new stained glass windows, which are in place to the present day. The only stained glass that remains from the 1898 windows is the small purple circular pieces at the very top of each window. The sacristy was enlarged in 1950, and significant changes were made to the interior of the church in 1974 in keeping with the interpretation of the Second Vatican Council guidelines on liturgy. This was certainly a controversial time, when the altar rail, main and side altars, and many other traditional parts of the church were removed. Two years later, in 1976, the church property was added to the National Register of Historic Places. The 1994 renovations attempted to harmonize the liturgical rite with the more-than-century old traditions and environment of the church. The current Allen organ was installed in that year, a unique installation in that the one organ is playable from two separate consoles, one in the sanctuary and one in the choir loft. In the new millennium, the church has received a new slate roof with repair to the steeple and a new HVAC system has been installed. In 2016, a Delaware State Historical Marker was placed on the church property.
In the most recent renovations that took place in 2022 and 2023, the sacristy has been remodeled, adding more storage cabinets, removing a wall safe, relocating the sacrarium to the candle/flower arranging room, replacing the countertops, and adding new flooring. In the sanctuary, a new tabernacle has been installed in the center of the altar, where it was originally placed with the church was built in 1841. The apse above it was enclosed and the statue of Saint Joseph was moved to the apse on the right side of the altar, replacing the statue of the Sacred Heart, which was moved to the rear of the Church in the portico opposite the portico where the baptismal font is located. The two terrazzo steps in the center of the altar were removed, and a new marble altar and ambo were installed. New chairs for the celebrant and deacons were purchased. The rear wall paneling and wainscoting were reworked and repainted, removing the shelves installed on either side under the Blessed Mother and Sacred Heart statues in the 1990s. The reconciliation room was refurbished, adding an additional door in the vestibule. The interior walls of the church were painted, and all new pews were installed. Terrazzo floors and hardwood floors throughout the church were refinished, as was the wainscoting and woodwork. The four front doors of the church were replaced. In addition to all of these visible projects, new sanctuary lighting was installed and repairs to the HVAC system were completed. In 2024, a renovation to the Family Center was completed.
In gratitude to Almighty God, as a parish community, we remember our past, celebrate our present, and prepare for our future.
On December 20, 1841, the first Mass was celebrated in the church. Saint Joseph on the Brandywine Church is the second-longest continuously operating Catholic Church in Delaware, with Saint Peter’s Cathedral in Wilmington being founded in 1818.
1841 - Church erected by the DuPont family and their Irish and Italian Catholic mill workers
1841 - Church dedication by Bishop Kenrick of the Diocese of Philadelphia
1843 - Oldest tombstone on record
1878 - Bell tower constructed
1894 - Church was consecrated (largest Catholic church in Delaware at the time)
1976 - Added to the National Register of Historic Places (NRIS Number: 76000572)
2016 - Delaware State Historical Marker added to the property (NCC-222)
2016 - Pope Francis imparts an Apostolic Blessing to the Priest and People of St. Joseph on the Brandywine Parish on the occasion of the 175th Anniversary of its Founding.
During all of these years, the parish has been shepherded by more than twenty pastors and many more associates.
The pastors of Saint Joseph on the Brandywine Church include:
(1841–1842) Fr. Bernard McCabe
(1842-1842) Fr. Frost
(1843-1846) Fr. Daniel Magorien
(1846-1867) Fr. John S. Walsh
(1867-1869) Fr. John Scanlan
(1869-1887) Fr. George J. Kelly
(1887-1893) Fr. Edward Henchy
(1893-1893) Fr. Peter J. Donaghy
(1893-1895) Fr. John D. Carly
(1895-1895) Fr. George S. Bradford
(1895-1900) Fr. William J. Bermingham
(1900-1926) Fr. William J. Scott
(1926-1933) Fr. Martin McHale Ryan
(1933-1946) Fr. Patrick A. Brennan
(1946-1950) Fr. Francis X. Fitzpatrick
(1950-1966) Fr. Henry J. Dreyer
(1966-1977) Msgr. Henri I. Foltz
(1977-1992) Msgr. Paul J. Schierse
(1992-1997) Fr. Stephen J. Connell
(1997-1998) Msgr. J. Thomas Cini, VG (Administrator)
(1998-1999) Fr. David F. Kelley, VF (Administrator)
(1999-2021) Msgr. Joseph F. Rebman, VG
(2021-Present) Msgr. John P. Hopkins
Source: Hagley Museum and Library. Used with permission.