History of Forwood Preserve Park

Like most of northern Delaware at the time, the Forwood Preserve Park land was occupied by the Lenni Lenape tribes for thousands of years. In 1681 the land was given to William Penn as part of Pennsylvania, his new colony. The Grubb family gained ownership, but never built any structures on the land. It wasn't until 1789, when Josiah Forwood bought the land, that a stone house was built. Over the next 2 centuries, the house was expanded, a bank barn and other buildings were built. For many years it was the center of local farmland.  The foundation and remnants of only the barn are still visible today, all else having been demolished and removed in the 1970s.

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The property was passed amongst members of the Forwood family until the 1930s. The ownership then transferred to a Dr. and Mrs. Allen, who were interested in horticulture. In the 1960s, Dr. Allen sold the land to a Pennsylvania developer who intended to build over 300 apartments on the property. The surrounding neighborhoods strongly objected and the Council of Civic Organizations of Brandywine Hundred (CCOBH) was formed initially around this cause. At the end of a protracted legal battle, the Delaware Supreme Court declared the land to be property of New Castle County, who bought it for $500,000 and designated it as the Allen Tract, a neighborhood parkland.  

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For the next 40 years, the land was neglected and became overgrown with invasive plants. A group of interested folks began meeting in 2015 with shared concerns about this neighborhood parkland. In 2018, there was an investigation of conditions of the property, and a friends group was formed. The Friends group advocated for renaming the park in honor of the Forwood family. New Castle County designated it Forwood Preserve Park.  In September 2023, the county gave the go-ahead for the initial restoration work allowing removal of destructive invasives to proceed. 

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Going forward, FOFPP is working to restore the land and make it a beautiful park for area residents to enjoy.