Heading Down to "Weird" Delaware

So we're going to start out today's post with some stuff from Phoenixville and Downingtown, but afterwards we're going to head down to Edgemoor, a part of Wilmington you don't hear much about. Delaware as a whole is weird, but imagine a part of it filled with strange half-abandoned structures. The Edgemoor neighborhood was strange, but there was one shopping center that really set my impression of this place. If you wanna see that, next week's post will be devoted entirely to it.

Taco Bell, Phoenixville, PA
Taco Bell was originally paired with a KFC here, which closed in late 2016. The restaurant and house behind it were torn down shortly afterwards, with Taco Bell reopening on a portion of the property by mid-2017. The other half of the site is now home to a mattress store.

Repurposed Bridge, Phoenixville, PA
This bridge was originally used by the Phoenixville Steel Foundry, and sat abandoned for several years after the foundry closed. More recently, part of the site has been developed into apartment complexes. As part of the project, the bridge was partially restored for pedestrian use. It sorta bothers me they didn't bring the floor all the way across.

Downingtown Pharmacy, Downingtown, PA
I believe this was an original tenant (and co-anchor, alongside Wawa) to when this shopping center opened in the 70's or 80's. They moved to a new shopping center next door in late 2017. The building was redone shortly afterward, but nothing has opened yet so I'm not sure what that was about. The remainder of the shopping center (except for Wawa) was redone earlier this year; I'm guessing this means Wawa will either remodel or relocate soon.

Thrift Drug/Eckerd/Kimberton Whole Foods, Downingtown, PA
This originally opened in 1972, and relocated across the street to a freestanding store in 1999 (the same year SuperFresh net door closed). There's a chance it sat empty until KWF opened in 2012, although it is hard to tell since the shopping center was totally redone after Eckerd moved. It was vacant between the 2007 Streetview and Kimberton's opening at least.

A&P/SuperFresh/Planet Fitness, Downingtown, PA
A&P moved here from a 50's store in 1972. Ironically the old store kept A&P's façade perfectly intact for over 40 years after closing, while this one was remodeled beyond recognition basically as soon as they closed. It became a SuperFresh from the 80's until 1999, at which point it became a massively oversized  Planet Fitness. More recently, Planet Fitness has consolidated their operations to the back of the store. The front area to the right became a Sherwin-Williams paint store around 2012, and the front left became Greene Street, a fantastic breakfast and lunch place, in the mid-2000's. What's funny is that they kept Planet Fitness' black open-truss ceiling and mercury vapor lights. It really doesn't match the feel of the café, but I like it regardless.

McDonald's, Downingtown, PA
There was somebody standing in front of the restaurant looking at me, so I felt a little too awkward to take a better picture. If I had the restaurant centered, he would be right in the middle of my photo. This location unfortunately remodeled from its original exterior in mid-2018, but was saved from becoming a gray box by Downingtown's design requirements. The entire exterior is now brick and stone, and I hate to say it but it actually looks really good.

Former Minquas Firehouse, Downingtown, PA
This was the original station for the Minquas Fire Company, which actually still used this facility up until 2013, at which point they moved to a much larger building on the outskirts of town. It was sold and became Molly McGuire's Irish Pub, which opened to a ton of fanfare but somehow lasted less than a year. It was vacant again by the end of 2014. Finally, in 2018, the bottom floor became a taco bar and the upper level became a brewery.

Downingtown Mini Mall, Downingtown, PA
In the early 70's, a huge fire wiped out several buildings along this road. I get the impression this mall was planned and put up very quickly just so there wouldn't be a huge vacant lot in the middle of town. I think it was originally designed to hold 6 stores, but as a result of some expanding, there are only three now.

There's a gym taking up the entire left half of the building, the right side is home to a music store and a vape shop. The gym was blasting rap music, which was uncomfortably loud even in the hallway. Putting two and two together, I think I figured out why nobody else was in the rest of the mall.
Given the state of the mall and sort of tenants they have, I'm guessing the owner is probably just waiting to knock this down and put apartments or something on the site.

Wawa, Downingtown, PAI forgot to get an exterior picture of this place again, so if you recognize this as a photo I posted literally my first week on Flickr, that's why.
The front hasn't changed at all since I originally posted it, originally took the photo in 2013, or even really anytime since the 80's.

Inside, it looks like your standard unexpanded old-style Wawa. I believe this store's never had a remodel beyond switching out the wallpaper.

Looking the other way across the back of the store. I think the coffee counter was crammed in sometime in the early 2000's; this side wall probably would have just been the Deli originally.

Former Farm, Wilmington, DE
This farm was most recently being used as a garden center. In 2017, they started developing the property, first adding a WSFS Bank and a Wawa, then a satellite campus for Wilmington State University. If I remember correctly, the back half of the property is being developed into housing. The barn was restored as part of the project.

...and speaking of the WSFS, here it is under construction. Wawa opened to the right of this, replacing a nearby strip mall location.

The Closest I'll Ever Get to Photographing a Lone Star
Wilmington's Lone Star shut down without much notice in late 2016, which was both before I realized they were in trouble and before I knew they still had a location near me. Thankfully, they left up the roadside sign long enough for me to at least get a picture. I tried to get a picture of the restaurant itself, but there were some trees in the way and I didn't think to pull into the parking lot. Greene Turtle has since opened in the space, and left the exterior of the restaurant more or less as it was when Lone Star closed. They remodeled and updated their logo here around 2010.
I remember hearing that Famous Dave's had also closed their location here, but so far nothing has happened with it.

Shell, Edgemoor, DE
I used to really like this canopy design with the rounded backlit red stripe. It does look pretty dated now, and is starting to get hard to find. The new stores have a much thinner stripe that doesn't go all the way to the edges.

Weird Railroad Thing
I saw the top of this concrete tower sticking up above the trees and got curious. I had to drive around for 20 minutes to find a place where I could get a better view of it. I'm guessing this was a grain elevator or something along those lines, it appears to be abandoned now. It looks bizarre, but I really like it.

Family Dollar, Edgemoor, DE
This location opened in 2015 on what was a mostly vacant lot with a small corner store on the side. I've been hearing a lot about Family Dollar falling apart lately, so I'm trying to photograph as many as I can before it's too late, even if there really isn't much to say about them.

Purina Tower, Edgemoor, DE
Like with the thing by the railroad, I could see this from pretty far away, but it still took me forever to figure out how to get to it. From looking around online, I was able to find a little bit of history. There used to be a Purina factory on the site, in addition to this grain elevator, which burned down because of a leak in an oil tank in 1988. Between the oil and chemicals leaking into the ground and the asbestos released when the building fell, the site was contaminated and therefore next to impossible to sell. Eventually, the school district bought it and is now using it as a lot for buses. After 30 years, the grain tower is still sitting empty.

Zoomed-in look at the top of the tower. The logos are still faintly legible. It looks like they've repurposed the building as a cell tower.

Flying A/Getty, Edgemoor, DE
I don't think this has been used as a gas station in at least 20 years. I was under the impression it wasn't abandoned, but the most recent Streetview shows the roof to the right of the camopy has caved in.

7-Eleven, Edgemoor, DE
This looks like a 60's location that was remodeled in the 90's. I'm not sure if the walls are painted, or if they actually put a new layer of brick on the outside.

Gulf, Claymont, DE
Gulf closed this location in 2007. It sat mothballed for a while, but the canopy and pumps have since been taken out.

Flying A/Getty, Claymont, DE
This station closed as a Getty in 2012, but continued to operate as a service center. It appears they still sell gas, but only for "performance engines".

Gino's/Boston Market, Claymont, DE
This was built as a Gino's in the 60's, and was one of the locations sold to Boston Market after they went under. BM put their own façade on, but a little bit of Gino's roof peak is still visible.

A&P/SuperFresh/Food Lion, Claymont, DE
This location opened in the 70's as an A&P, which later converted to SuperFresh and moved to a new store in the 90's. I'm guessing this was something in between SF and Food Lion, which opened around 2011. Maybe like a Thriftway or something?

Arco/Sunoco, Claymont, DE
This location opened in the 70's or 80's, and was sold to Sunoco not too long after. Despite the impending sale to 7-Eleven, the A-Plus here remodeled in late 2017. The stores are all still called A-Plus, but they've unfortunately all been reduced to 7-Elevens in every other aspect. It's sad. Maybe I just have an irrational hatred for 7-Eleven. I don't know anymore.

Exxon, Claymont, DE
Exxon opened here in the 90's. Sometime between now and when I got this picture, they tore down and rebuilt the station, pairing it with a Dash-In convenience store. It looks really nice now.

Claymont Steel Smokestacks
Seeing how these were left up after the rest of the plant was demolished, I was expecting them to be preserved as some sort of monument to what used to be here. Streetview says otherwise, they were demolished in late 2017.

Robinson House, Claymont, DE
This house was built in 1723, and was home to a revolutionary war general. During the war, Washington and Lafayette both allegedly stayed here. After that family sold the house, it became home to the owners of Claymont Steel, which was across the street. In 1914, it was turned into a tea room, and finally became a state-owned museum in 1970.

I'm going to go with the one singer I know of from Delaware today. His music definitely fits the feel of Edgemoor.