A Pictorial History of Wilmington

Old SwedesChurch (built 1698)seen here in1938.

Map of the city of Wilmington, 1772

Wilmington scene depicted in Harper’s Weekly magazine, 1780s

1830 depiction of the Brandywine Mills by Bass Otis

Old Town Hall (built 1799), depicted on a 1801 map of Wilmington.

The first office of the DuPont Company.

Bancroft mills workers’ housing.

Earliest photograph of Wilmington, Market Street, ca, 1839

Near Jackson and 9th streets, ca. 1860s

Walnut and Front streets, ca. 1860.

Looking over rooftops of stores, homes, and businesses, toward the northwest.

Second Baptist Church

CentralPresbyterian

TrinityEpiscopal

TownHall

Bird’s eye view print of city, ca. 1865.

Market Street

Fourth Street

Old Swedes Church

Market Street from the wharf, 1867

East Water Street, along the tracks.

Shipbuilding at

Harlan and

Hollingsworth,

Late 19th century

Harlan and Hollingsworthoffice and shopson Front Street

Apple Street, a typical immigrant/blue collar street

A view of the city from Maryland Avenue, 1870s.

Spacious homes along Delaware Avenue, 1890s

Tracks, businesses and homes along Front and Walnut streets, 1884

Looking toward the Christina River from Walnut and Water streets, 1884.

Christina River front in 1893

Wilmington’sfirst electrictrolley car in front of The Ebbitt Hotel, on the site of the DuPont Company building, 1888

4th Street at Market Street, 1887

Market Street from 400 block looking south, 1890s

Market Street in 1905 decorated for a Civil War Veterans Reunion

Downtown stores and businesses,

early 1900s.

Postcard views of the city around 1910

Downtown moves uptown to 9th and Market streets, 1918.

View of 10th and King streets in 1910 looking north, showing the old juxtaposed alongside the new. The DuPont Company building is at the far left, the Court House in the center, and early homes line King Street.

The DuPont Company building including the office space, hotel, ballroom and theater, towers over its neighbors. Photograph taken in 1919 just after the old court house was torn down.

Homes along 2nd Street, ca. 1900

New housing goes upAt 20th and Harrisonstreets…

and along FranklinStreet in the early1910s.

Wilmington Police on duty at 4th and Market streets ca. 1920

Along parade route on 4th Street Market & 9th streets

808 Market Street Aldine Theater, 837 Market Street

August Quarterly

King Street near 6th Street

Market near 20th Street Boys waiting for a movie

World War II era

American Car and Foundry

Shopping at 6th and Market Street

Wendell Wilkie Campaign

stop

No history of the city would be complete without mentioning…

Victory Europe

VE Day

May 8, 1945Looking from the Delaware Trust Building

toward the DuPont Building

Looking at the DelawareAvenue split from twovantage points.

Shoppers at Market and 7th streets, 1950

The Rialto Theater was at 220 Market Street. In its earliest years it was a first run theater, but it closed in 1982.

Aerial view from near Shipley and 12th streets, 1950s

Looking north from 2nd Street along Market Street, 1967

National Guard patrol at 6th and Market streets, 1968.

The I.M. Pei Building, 12th & Market streets in 1972, the beginning of the Brandywine Gateway projects.

The EleventhStreet Plaza1976

Looking north from 14th Street toward the Brandywine Gateway, 1988

Ships Tavern District

Keeping what is intact and working to make it viable again.

A few more glimpses of our history…

Shipley at 2nd street,1860s-70s. Men in Civil War uniformsstand outside the house.

Looking north along Market Street toward the Brandywine River bridge, late 19th century.

Millers houses in Brandywine Village, 1893

Scene along the Christina River about 1900

Old Swedes Church

Market at 8th Street before 1906

The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad station Ca. 1900

Howard High School, 1940

King Street, south of 8th Street, 1949

11th Street from King Street, 1970

Weep not that the world changes- did it keep a stable, changeless state, it were cause indeed to weep.

William Cullen Bryant