House & Garden 
PART OF THE COMMON 
THE CHURCH FROM THE CORNER 
expedition in 1653 into the South River to 
build a fort and establish a colony where 
New Castle now stands. Fort Nassau was 
abandoned and this new post, named Fort 
Casimir, became the stronghold of the Dutch 
on South River. That is how this sleepy old 
town, which the world takes no account of, 
happened to be born. 
The Swedes, indignant that the Dutch 
should settle in so advantageous a position on 
land which they considered their own, cap¬ 
tured Fort Casimir, two years after it was 
built by their rivals, and dignified it by the 
name of Fort Trinity. But the Dutch had 
no notion of allowing the Swedes to interfere 
with their plans of controlling the South, as 
well as the North River. Peter Stuyvesant, 
at the head of a small army and fleet, came 
up the South River and took from the Swedes 
their newly acquired fort. Dispossessing them 
of their stronghold, Fort Christiana, farther up 
the river, he annexed all the territory west of 
the Delaware,—thus overthrowing the power 
of the Swedes. The settlement was now called 
New Amstel. It soon became, and continued 
for a short time, a flourishing colony. It was 
then, in 1656, one-third its present size; so 
New Castle can never be accused of being a 
mushroom. Though overpowered by the 
Dutch the Swedes remained in New Amstel, 
and gave more character to the colony than 
their conquerors did. The town now boasted 
of a city hall for the burghers. T his proud 
edifice was built of logs, two stories high and 
twenty feet square. The fort was repaired 
and enlarged, and a magazine and guard¬ 
house put up. To these improvements were 
added a bakehouse and a forge. All these 
public buildings were enclosed within a square 
which, together with residences for clergymen 
and other public officers, doubtless occupied 
the space covered by the group of ancient 
buildings now to be seen. 
So prosperous was the little community 
that it attracted the attention of persons in 
the old country interested in emigration. 
Schemes were gotten up under the support 
of the Dutch cities for settlements oversea. 
Under the leadership of one Jacob Alrichs a 
company of one hundred and sixty-seven 
persons was organized to settle in Delaware 
under the auspices of the city of Amsterdam. 
An agreement was drawn up with the burgo¬ 
master of that city whereby the colonists, 
