Aiken's Tavern Historic District

Aiken's Tavern Historic District is a historic district in New Castle County, Delaware, comprising the historic center of the village of Glasgow. The district includes the site of Aiken's Tavern, an important landmark at the time of the American Revolutionary War. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.

Aiken's Tavern Historic District
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. Historic district
Pencader Presbyterian Church, November 2012
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Location	U.S. 40 and Glasgow Ave., Glasgow, Delaware
Coordinates	39°36′23″N 75°44′45″W
Area	4.5 acres (1.8 ha)
Architectural style	Federal, Italianate[1]
NRHP reference No.	77000388[2]
Added to NRHP	December 6, 1977

Location

The district is located just west of the intersection of U.S. Route 40 and Delaware Route 896. Its boundaries encompass a 300-yard (270 m) stretch of Glasgow Avenue, mostly to the north of U.S. 40 but also including the Mechanic's Row block in the median of the highway.

History

The village of Glasgow developed at what was and still is an important crossroads in Pencader Hundred. The area was initially settled as part of the 30,000-acre (12,000 ha) Welsh Tract granted to a group of settlers from Wales in 1701, and a Presbyterian church was established shortly thereafter. A tavern was also built and became known as Aiken's Tavern after one of its owners. During the American Revolution, British forces under William Howe occupied the village following the September 1777 Battle of Cooch's Bridge, setting up their headquarters in the tavern and establishing a temporary field hospital at Pencader Church.[1]

The crossroads grew increasingly busy after the completion of the New Castle and Frenchtown Turnpike (since replaced by U.S. Route 40) in 1818, and many of the surviving buildings in the historic district date from approximately the same era.[1] The tavern itself was demolished in 1832.[3]

Inventory

Named contributing properties in the district include[1]

• Pencader Presbyterian Church, built on the site of an earlier church building in 1852, and an adjacent frame house
• The Middleton House, built sometime before 1818, and a nearby frame shop building
• Mechanic's Row, a block of houses built around 1810[4]
• A three-story brick house listed as the "Manse" (c. 1850)

Two other contributing properties, Glasgow Methodist Church and a second frame house located near Pencader Church, are no longer standing.

• 
  Middleton House

References

1. "Nomination Form: Aiken's Tavern Historic District". National Register of Historic Places Inventory. National Park Service. Retrieved November 11, 2012.
2. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
3. Pfeiffer, Judith; Barnes, Robert C. (2001). "Aiken's Tavern". A Guide to the History and Heritage of Pencader Hundred. Pencader Heritage Area Association. Retrieved November 11, 2012.
4. Pfeiffer, Judith; Barnes, Robert C. (2001). "Mechanic's Row". A Guide to the History and Heritage of Pencader Hundred. Pencader Heritage Area Association. Retrieved November 11, 2012.