Interview with William F. Flanigan, 1960 May-July [audio](part 1)
- Finding willows for Charcoal; Raising Breck's Lane; Barley Mill fire; Swimming on the Brandywine; Sickness and disease; Taking water to the DuPont buildingPartial Transcript: "It would be low land where the willows were. They used to have them going across the other side of the creek there, and years ago, before they raised the creek road up, they used to be all along down towards Breck's Lane."
"We were living over there across the creek when the Barley Mill burned."Synopsis: Flanigan talks about where willows used for charcoal once grew. He talks about raising Breck's Lane at the turn of the century. He says that he witnessed the barley mill burn when he was a child and describes the effort to put out the fire saying that there were no local fire companies. Instead a bucket brigade of locals attempted to put the fire out. The interviewers show Flanigan images of the fire. He describes the day of the fire and cleanup after the fire. He says that he never learned to swim because he was sick with malaria at the time he was supposed to learn. He says that typhoid fever and diphtheria were common and that when he was a child the water in the Brandywine was considered safe to drink. He talks about how water from a spring near Hagley was hauled to the DuPont building in Wilmington, even though they had the option of using public water.Keywords: Barley mills; Brandywine Creek; Breck's Lane; Bucket brigades; Diphtheria; Drinking water; DuPont Building; Fire brigades; Fire fighters; Fire fighting; Malaria; Road raising; Swimming; Typhoid fever; Willows; Wilmington, Del.
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