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Russell Peterson Urban Wildlife Center

Written on: November 13th, 2009 by: in Blog Posts

Last weekend, we took advantage of what is hopefully not going to be the last beautiful day of the year to visit the new Peterson Urban Wildlife Center in Wilmington.
In spite of its surroundings and history, this small park is an absolute jewel, with an incredible education and display center- the building is a marvelous piece of architecture with beautiful landscaping reminiscent of Andy Goldsworthy.

The park was created by a partnership between DuPont and the Delaware Department of Natural and Environmental Resources, you can read a summary of the history of the area and the redevelopment plan, from DuPont, here (.pdf document), or you can visit the center’s website

Governor Peterson served as the 71st Governor of the State, 1969-1973 and is best known for transforming the organization of state government and for ending the National Guard occupation of Wilmington. After completing his term, Peterson led a number of governmental and non-profit environmental organizations, speaking nationally on environmental and technology issues (click here for a sample speech- link requires library login) and eventually landing his “dream job” as leader of the National Audubon Society. Peterson’s papers are held at the Library of Congress, and there are a number of books by Gov. Peterson in the Delaware Library Catalog