Of the 120+ years of the New Machine Shop’s existence, nearly 50 were under the ownership of Samuel Hallock du Pont (1901-1974). During his five decades of stewardship, Hallock added his own unique contributions to the storied building.

Described as a sportsman, farmer, philanthropist, and maverick, Hallock was the son of William Kemble and Ethel Hallock du Pont, and a direct descendant of Éleuthère Irénée du Pont, founder of the DuPont Company.

Educated at Wilmington Friends School, The Hill School, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he served as a director of Christiana Securities, the family holding company.

In 1925, 24-year-old Hallock bought approximately 80 acres adjacent to today’s Hagley Museum and Library, which included the New Machine Shop. He constructed a home, which he named “Squirrel Run” after the stream that flows through the property into the Brandywine, and lived there with his family until his death in 1974.

Hallock was the founder and first president of the Wilmington Kennel Club. At Squirrel Run, he bred his prized Clumber Spaniels, one of the American Kennel Clubs’ original nine breeds, registered in 1884. His interest in animal husbandry also included poultry. In 1929, he purchased a farm outside of Newark, Delaware where he raised chickens, cattle and other livestock.

“Many years before its designation as Delaware’s state bird in 1939, Mr. du Pont became intrigued by the Blue Hen, and he is credited with preserving the breed when it was in danger of extinction.”1

In the 1960s, Hallock donated six pairs of Blue Hens to the University of Delaware’s College of Agriculture and Natural Resources to establish a flock for research and teaching, as well as honor the Blue Hen as the University’s mascot, established in 1911. That flock now numbers between 60 to 70 birds depending on the breeding cycle and season.

According to Hallock’s son, Richard S. du Pont, the Blue Hen breeding took place at the farm outside of Newark, but the chicken coop at the New Machine Shop was “certainly used to transfer Dad’s show chickens to and from the Boston and Madison Square Garden poultry shows.”

In addition to the chicken coop, Hallock kept four Percheron draft horses at the New Machine Shop and used the building for storage. When Hallock died in 1974, the New Machine Shop passed into his estate. Ten years later, his son Richard donated the building to Hagley.

1 Obituaries: S. Hallock du Pont, The News Journal (Wilmington, Delaware), October 3, 1974, page 7.

Miller, Daniel DeKalb, Chateau Country: Du Pont Estates in the Brandywine Valley (Atglen, Pennsylvania: Schiffer Publishing Ltd, 2013), pages 196-203.