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1928 Presidential Campaign and Resignation from GM

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John J. Raskob Papers at Hagley Museum and Library

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Raskob Family Homes

On his arrival in Wilmington until his marriage, Raskob lived in a number of town houses in the central Wilmington area. Raskob began his family in a comfortable and genteel home at 2100 Bayard Avenue, in the Highlands district of the city, which still stands today. During these early years, Raskob relocated his mother, brother and sisters to Wilmington and established them in nearby houses. His younger brother, William Raskob, went on to construct Irisbrook, the graceful mansion that now houses the offices of The Raskob Foundation for Catholic Activities.

A growing family and increasing wealth caused Raskob to began investigating opportunities to build an estate that befitted his new position. The Archmere property, just north of Wilmington in Claymont, had good roads, a trolley, and a great deal of open space running down to the Delaware River. From 1910, the family occupied the original Archmere house, and then moved to another property on the site "Woodsedge," while Raskob built the palatial Italianate mansion that stands today.

Raskob began to acquire land in Claymont along the Delaware River in 1910, moved to the existing mansion on the estate in 1912, and constructed a grand neo-Renaissance palazzo on the site in 1916. The mansion's most stunning feature was its interior courtyard, modeled on the Ducal Palace in Urbino, which was covered by an retractable Tiffany-inspired, stained glass roof. The rear of the mansion looked down to the river through lushly landscaped grounds and the natural tree arch which gave the estate its name.

Unfortunately, the completion of the estate coincided with new industrial and residential development in the adjoining area. Pollution from the Worth Steel plant, less than a mile away, may have affected the health of Helena Raskob and the children. These health concerns, combined with Raskob's diminishing business involvement in Wilmington and security concerns after a extortion attempt, influenced the family's decision to move to their rural estate at Pioneer Point Farm, near Centreville, Maryland, in 1932.

Related Documents and Photographs:

Original mansion at Archmere -- demolished in 1916 to make way for the new residence (ca. 1910)

Brown and Whiteside (Architects) to Raskob -- contains an early proposal for the design of Archmere (July 1913)

McClure & Harper (Architects) to Raskob -- contains projected construction costs for Archmere (November 1915)

Archmere estate, aerial view -- showing the inner coutyard with the roof retracted; from the Dallin Aerial Survey Company Photographs (July 1927)

Archmere estate, aerial view -- from the Dallin Aerial Survey Company Photographs (September 1927)

Raskob to Major Richard Sylvester -- discusses recent extortion threats received by Mrs. Raskob (September 1938)

The Estate of Archmere: A Personal View -- by Stephen J. Rossey (1984, revised 2001)

Application to register Archmere as a National Historic Place (March 1992)

Archmere's Cortile -- the inner courtyard of the mansion (1994)

Image: Raskob Residence, 2100 Bayard Avenue, Wilmington, Delaware, 1916. View image in Hagley Digital Archives