Late 1800s

Farnhurst is the site of the Delaware State Hospital, a psychiatric institution, originally opened in 1889, and often called Farnhurst.^[3] The New Castle County Almshouse/Hospital also operated in Farnhurst from 1884 to 1933; these two large institutions were on adjoining plots.^[4]

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.^[5]

In 1898, a stagecoach line ran three times per week between Wilmington and Farnhurst; a trolley system connecting Farnhurst to Wilmington was proposed in the Wilmington Evening Journal.^[6] At that time, a round-trip coach between Farnhurst and Wilmington cost twenty cents.^[7]

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, the Farnhurst Asylum had its own baseball team, which played against teams such as the Wilmington Actives.^[8][9]

Early 1900s

Farnhurst in northern New Castle County, Delaware, in 1902

In 1901, newspapers announced the creation of a village at Farnhurst. This village housed workmen on the Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington Railroad. The 25 new buildings, at that time described as sheds, were built overnight.^[10] That same year, the P.B.& W. rail line in Farnhurst was altered, easing the curves of the railroad and leveling the steep grade; there was also a beautification project, with rail workers adding flower beds and landscaping to the rail station.^[11]

In 1904, Farnhurst was described as a post village on the Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington Railroad.^[12] The station opened largely to service the hospital and the nearby almshouse.^[13]

In 1912, Delaware courts ruled that the old soldiers living in the Farnhurst almshouse would be allowed to vote. The Wilmington Journal reported that "the court decided the old soldiers have a right to vote and the people will see that the men get their votes in the box and are counted."^[14]

In 1920, Farnhurst's population was 332.^[15] Around this time, the population of the State Hospital was 541,^[16] and the New Castle County Almshouse's population was 220.^[17]

In 1934, Gracelawn Memorial Park, a cemetery, opened across the highway from the two hospitals.^[18]

In 1939, a new chapel was completed at the State Hospital. A project of the Works Progress Administration, the building was completed in September of that year.^[19] In 1940, Farnhurst's population was 250.^[20]

Late 1900s

The older cemetery on the grounds of the hospital and almshouse, which served as a potters field for New Castle County, was mostly obliterated in the 1950s/1960s by highway construction of the Farnhurst interchange providing access to the Delaware Memorial Bridge.^{[21][22][3][23][24]}

The Farnhurst post office closed in 1958.^[25] In 1961, the hospital/almshouse, renamed the New Castle Building after its 1933 closure, burned to the ground.^[4]

In 1960, Farnhurst's population was 350.^[26]

The Farnhurst School was still intact in the 1980s.^[27] Since 1978, this building has been the Howard J. Weston Senior Center,^[28][29] now a part of the Wilmington Manor census-designated place.