
THE LATEST & THE GREATEST

November 12, 2019
UD in the SuperBowl
Former Blue Hen players Brett Veach and Joey Bleymaier are members of the Kansas City Chiefs, who won Super Bowl LIV! Click here to read about their post-UD adventure.
University of Delaware

February 02, 2020
Super Bowl Winners
Our #CourtyardSuperBowlContest winners got a wake-up call worthy of the Hall of Fame from legend Dan Marino. Check out our Instagram Story for a peek at their whirlwind weekend in Miami during the ultimate Super Bowl LIV sleepover!
Courtyard by Marriott
December 12, 2019
Lance Shaner Recognized
Chairman and CEO of Shanercorp was presented the Lifetime Achievement Award, presented by PSECU. Congratulations to Lance on this Achievement! Click here to read the post and see the pics on the Shaner blog.
Shaner Hotels
LOCAL FLAVOR
Nestled in "the Wedge," Newark is a mix of historic and modern, young and old, fast-paced and easy-going. Newark was founded by Scots-Irish and Welsh settlers in 1694. The town was officially established when it received a charter from George II of Great Britain in 1758. The town grew with the continued agricultural development of outlying lands. The King’s charter specifically gave Newark the right to hold weekly markets and semi-annual fairs near what is now the Academy Lawn.
During the American Revolutionary War, British and American forces clashed outside Newark at the Battle of Cooch’s Bridge. Tradition holds that the Battle of Cooch's Bridge was the first instance of the Stars and Stripes being flown in battle.
The state granted a charter to a new school in 1833, which was called Newark College. Newark Academy and Newark College joined together in the following year, becoming Delaware College. The school was forced to close in 1859, but was resuscitated eleven years later under the Morrill Act when it became a joint venture between the State of


Delaware and the school's Board of Trustees. In 1913, pursuant to legislative Act, Delaware College came into sole ownership of the State of Delaware. The school would be renamed the University of Delaware in 1921. The school from which the university grew was founded in 1743, making it one of the oldest in the nation. However, UD was not chartered as an institution of higher learning until 1833. Its original class of ten students included George Read, Thomas McKean, and James Smith, all three of whom would go on to sign the Declaration of Independence.
The village of Newark had become a small city around the college and local crossroads market. In 1837, the Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore railroad - later the Pennsylvania Railroad and today's Northeast Corridor CONRAIL / AMTRAK line - linked Newark to points north and west. Industrial concerns like the Curtis Paper Company, reestablished in 1848 from the older Meteer Paper Company, Continental Fiber (1896) and National Vulcanized Fibre (1924) helped diversify the local economy. In 1855, the town's first bank was established. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad -- the predecessor of the modern CSX rail system -- came in 1886
and provided additional passenger and freight rail service to Philadelphia and points west and south. The town's population grew rapidly through the 1920's and a substantial retail market developed in conjunction with University and industrial expansion. While the Great Depression slowed economic growth, the pace of industrial and commercial development increased dramatically during World War II and the subsequent Korean conflict.
By the late 1990s and through the early years of the new millennium, Newark renewed its commitment to preserving its downtown core through the establishment, in 1998, of the tripartite - city, university, business community - Downtown Newark Partnership. The DNP has created a unique environment in which the University, the City, the residential and business communities work together toward a common goal, the ongoing revitalization of Main Street. Guided by a policy board and energetic and dedicated working committees and volunteers, the DNP enjoyed unmatched success. In 2000, the DNP was recognized as a Certified Nation Main Street Program by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Delaware Main Street Program. We are proud to have maintained this designation over the last ten years.
Downtown Newark is now a thriving commercial area with more than $40 million in new private investment and 30 new businesses over the last 4 years. Newark was recently recognized as SBA Small Business Community of the Year; and named the best city for business start-ups by Business Weekly. It is also a semi-finalist for the 2011 National Trust for Historic Preservation’s coveted Great American Main Street Award.