The First State Heritage Park is Delaware's fist urban "park without boundaries" located in the historic district of Dover, which has been Delaware's capital city since 1777. The park links nearly two dozen historic and cultural sites including natural areas like the St. Jones River and the 300-year-old Dover Green, which was recently named one of the participating sites in the First State National Monument (www.nps.gov/frst). The mid-18th century John Bell House located on The Green serves as an interpretive center for the park and the stating point for the free outdoor walking tours. The park is pedestrian and bicycle friendly.

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The First State Heritage Park is Delaware's fist urban "park without boundaries" located in the historic district of Dover, which has been Delaware's capital city since 1777. The park links nearly two dozen historic and cultural sites including natural areas like the St. Jones River and the 300-year-old Dover Green, which was recently named one of the participating sites in the First State National Monument (www.nps.gov/frst). The mid-18th century John Bell House located on The Green serves as an interpretive center for the park and the stating point for the free outdoor walking tours. The park is pedestrian and bicycle friendly.

The John Bell House

See the colonial style architecture and learn about the history of Dover's Capitol on this incredible walking tour that will take you to several of the museums in the area!

Historic Dover Museum Walking Tour

See all of the museums and sites in historic Dover, Delaware!

Grand Museum Tour of Dover

Notable places in the park include the Biggs Museum of Art,
Delaware Public Archives, John Bell House, Johnson Victrola Museum, Legislative
Hall, Old State House and Woodburn and Hall House. Park leadership coordinates
a number of special events and tours throughout the park. There are also
special programs on the first Saturday of each month. 



The Park is also part of the Delaware History Trail. Special
educational resources are also available for teachers.

First State Heritage Park links the city’s historic and cultural sites in a “park without boundaries.” The Welcome Center offers parking, special programming and events and a rotating exhibitions in its gallery space. The exhibits feature Delaware’s historic documents. The park is operated by a joint effort of city and state agencies. The park office is located in Rose Cottage. 

First State Heritage Park Welcome Center and Galleries

The building, designed by Architect
E. William Martin, was dedicated in 1933. It is a Georgian Revival colonial
structure of handmade brick. From 1965 to 1970 additions of the North and South
wings took place. These wings were designed by George Fletcher Bennet. This
allowed each legislator to have an office. 

Further additions were built in 1994
with wings added to the east side of the building. This section was designed by
The Architect Studio. The interior was fully renovated in the mid 1990s and
featured refurbishment of both chambers, the lobby, cafeteria and many offices.


In addition to the
Senate and House of Representatives, the building also houses the Division of Research
and the Office of the Controller General. The Governor and Lt. Governor also
have office space to use while the General Assembly is in session.

Delaware is known as “The First State” because its General Assembly was the first to ratify the U.S. Constitution. The state’s first capital was in New Castle but moved to Dover during the American Revolution. Today, Delaware’s General Assembly is housed in Legislative Hall located downtown in Capital Square. The building is open to the public and available for guided tours year round. 

Legislative Hall

Opening
its doors in 1993, The Biggs Museum of American Art quickly became one of the
most important museums in Delaware. The Museum was founded to display the art
collection of its founder, Sewell C. Biggs, and to delight and educate its
visitors on the valuable cultural legacy of the region. The Museum displays the
finest Delaware-made furniture and silver collection as well as the only
painting and sculpture collection in the region able to tell the story of
American representational art. The Museum’s eighteen galleries are arranged to
emphasize the evolution of Mid-Atlantic fashion in the fine and decorative arts
from the early 1700s to the present and to present several focus exhibitions
annually. Art education is at the core of the Biggs Museum’s mission and
opportunities to experience the Museum in different ways are offered throughout
the year.

Sewell Biggs was Born on
November 12, 1914 in Middletown, DE. Sewell’s family was economically and
geographically tied to Delaware and the Mid-Atlantic Region through an
illustrious history of lawyers, bankers, farmers and politicians. Among the
hundreds of art objects and archival materials Sewell left to the Biggs Museum,
among his earliest personal items was a bag of marbles It was often discussed
that Sewell opened his first museum in his childhood bedroom where he charged
visitors a nickel to see his collection of marbles, seashells, Confederate
money, WWI artifacts and illustrations from American Boymagazine by Wilmington
illustrator Frank Schoonover.

Biggs expanded his horizons
with education, travel and real estate. After following in the family footsteps
and passing the Virginia Bar exam, Sewell immersed himself in the study of
architecture at Oxford and Cambridge Universities. He and his friend, Charles
DuPont, spent 1937 traveling around the globe photographing the major
architectural structures of many of the world’s continents. Sewell’s own
photograph albums attest to his respect for the genius of each culture’s
architectural heritage while also embracing the new visual vocabulary of Modern
building. At the end of the War, modern architecture was heavily embraced by
the new world power of America and architects like Mies Van de Rhoe, Walter
Gropius, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Le Corbusier were spreading an electric
influence.

At this same time, Sewell
began buying and refurbishing 18th-century farmhouses throughout New Castle and
Kent Counties here in Delaware. These historic settings became the first
personal displays of his growing collection of Americana and, perhaps, set an
influential boundary to his collecting of art forms of a particularly domestic
nature. Even today, visitors of the Biggs Museum remark on the domestic mood of
the gallery spaces and the collections. Sewell never collected objects from
civic or professional architectural settings-he always collected to decorate
his own homes and the museum continues to reflect this interest.

Since the 2003 death of its
founder, the Biggs Museum continues to expand and refine its permanent
collection along the path carved by Sewell C. Biggs. His interest in displaying
the symbols of regional, artful spaces alongside his fine-art teaching
collection is maintained in every new accession. Sewell’s life-long passions of
collecting, architecture, American and regional arts, and modern-art patronage
are combined and presented in the Biggs Museum. The result is a museum founded
to define the artistic life of the entire State of Delaware.

The Biggs offers changing
exhibitions throughout the year relating to historical and contemporary art
topics.&nbsp; Intimate galleries offer guests an unexpected and personal
experience with the collection.&nbsp; The museum supports the public education of
art through educational programming for adults and children and special events
designed to bring art to everyone.

The Biggs Museum of American
Art is dedicated to promoting an understanding and appreciation of the fine and
decorative arts of Delaware, the Mid-Atlantic Region and the Nation from 1700
to the present. To fulfill its mission, the museum presents a broad range of
exhibitions and public programs, actively interprets and cares for its
collections, serves as an education resource to the community, and maintains
strong ties with artists in the region. The Biggs Museum aspires to be one of
the most prominent art museums in the Mid-Atlantic region—respected and valued
for its collections and programs, and admired for the diversity and commitment
of its audience. It will be a leading advocate for the importance of art and
creativity in education and in the daily life of the community.

Established in 1993, the Sewell C. Biggs Museum of American Art Museum houses one of the finest collections of American fine and decorative arts. Special features of the permanent collection include the only comprehensive representational American paintings collection on the Delmarva Peninsula with highlights by the Peale family, Albert Bierstadt, Gilbert Stuart, and Childe Hassam and a variety of art forms such as sculptures by Hiram Powers and images by Brandywine School illustrator, Frank E. Schoonover. The Museum also houses examples of furniture by early-American cabinetmakers such as, the Javier family of Odessa, and William Savery of Philadelphia, as well as one of the finest collections of regional silver in the country.

Biggs Museum of American Art

The first floor has an 18th century-style
courtroom. The second floor was the chambers of the state legislature. Through
the years the building received a number of updates, additions and renovations
to accommodate the state government’s growing needs. Once the General Assembly
moved to present home in Legislative Hall, the building was restored to its
original 18th Century appearance. 

The most recent upgrades to The Old State House came from
2005-07. It received a new floor, paint, HVAC system and upgrades to the
electrical and plumbing systems among other things. Guests will want to take
note of architectural details such as the dual stairways and the gilt sunflower
ceiling sham. 

The building now serves as a museum that is open every day
for tours. There are also lectures and special events throughout the year.

The Old State House was the first permanent capitol building in Dover. It was built from 1787 to 1791 in a two-story Georgian style. It was initially home to both state and county governments. The building was the home of the state capitol until 1933. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.

The Old State House

Johnson graduated from Dover Academy in 1882 and was
encouraged to forego college and learn a trade. He became a machinist in New
Jersey. It was there he was asked by Emile Berliner about inventing a motor
that would play discs at a continuous speed so there would no longer be a need
to crank a gramophone. Berliner had developed a flat disc gramophone record. 

Johnson succeeded with his spring motor. This essentially made
Thomas Edison’s phonograph obsolete. Johnson was eventually successful in
getting the patent for his ideas and later purchased the patents and assets of
Berliner. 

That led to the rapid worldwide growth, millions in earnings
and produced some of the most famous recording artists in the world. Johnson
retired in 1927, and the company was sold to RCA in 1929. Johnson died in 1945.

Eldridge Reeves (E.R.) Johnson, a Dover native, founded the Victor Talking Machine Company in 1901. He was a pioneer in the recording industry and posthumously given a Grammy Award in 1985. The Grammy and many other items and exhibits are on permanent display in the Johnson Victrola Museum. Much of it chronicles the development of the sound-recording industry.

Historic Dover Museum Walking Tour

The John Bell House

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Additional Information