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New Castle County was established August 8, 1673, and holds the distiction of being the First County in the First State.
Delaware was the first state to ratify the Constitution, and has a rich history as one of the oldest settled areas in the "New World". And today you can still find the influences of those early Lenape, Swedish, Dutch, and English inhabitants. Below is a very brief history of the New Castle area formation. Please check out our Places section for much more infomration including early maps of the area.
The Lenape inhabited the area of New Castle county when the first Europeans settled in Delaware. The first settlers were from Sweden and they established Fort Christina (named for their Queen) in 1638, and layed out the town in the area of modern-day Wilmington. In 1640, the Swedes established the New Sweden settlement.
Peter Stuyvesant, Governor of New Netherland, purchased land from the Lenape in 1651 and established Fort Casimir, now modern day New Castle. Conflicts arose between the Swedes and the Dutch over the land until 1663, when the Dutch transfered property rights to England. In 1664, James, the duke of York, was granted this land by King Charles II. The Duke ordered removal of all Dutch from New Amsterdam and he renamed the town of New Amstel (Neiuw Amstel) as New Castle. In 1672, the town of New Castle was incorporated under English law. But the Dutch did not give up, and in 1673 they attacked and reclaimed the area. But once again, the British regained control by treaty in 1674, and the county was officially named New Castle for William Cavendish, the 1st duke of Newcastle, England. The County was a dependency of the New York Colony and in 1676, New Castle County was put under the Duke of York's laws.
In 1680, St. Jones County (now Kent County) was carved from New Castle County. In 1682, New Castle County, along with the rest of the surrounding land, was transferred from the Colony of New York to the possession of William Penn, who established the Colony of Delaware.
Government: New Castle County.
County seat: Wilmington.
Hundreds (similar to townships): Appoquinimink, Blackbird, Brandywine, Christiana, Mill Creek, New Castle, Pencader, Red Lion, St. Georges, White Clay Creek, and Wilmington.
Delaware's State Flower is the peach flower and used as the background for this site.
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