Named after General Otis Howard, a Union General in the Civil War, Howard High School is one of the schools directly linked with the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education. The school's name has changed from Howard High School to Howard Career Center and today it goes by the name Howard High School of Technology. For most of its history, the school taught African American children in the era of segregation. Owing to its significance, the school was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 5, 2005.
Wilmington's leather industry grew substantially during the nineteenth and early twentieth century, which helped Wilmington's economy and population grow. The New Castle Company, created in 1901, grew into the nation's leading leather manufacturer by World War I. Allied Kid purchased the company in 1933 and success continued. Both companies used the main office building, with its unique Spanish-style architecture, from 1917 to 1977. It stands as one of the few reminders of the once thriving leather industry.
Located on Wilmington’s east side, the Knotty Pine Restaurant was, until a few years ago, the city’s longest continually-operating African-American-owned restaurant. The restaurant closed for a few years following the owner’s retirement but has since reopened. The restaurant served as a welcoming haven for Wilmington’s African American community when segregation kept them from many other establishments. Some of the most well-known entertainers of the day were patrons.
Dedicated on July 4, 1923, this Wilmington statue honors colonial Delaware patriot Caesar Rodney. At almost midnight on July 1, 1776, Caesar Rodney was informed that he was needed in Congress to cast a tie-breaking vote for the colony of Delaware on the matter of declaring independence from Britain. Rodney rode 80 miles on horseback to Philadelphia and on the next day, July 2, 1776, Rodney cast his vote which broke the tie and paved the way for the passage of the Declaration of Independence. However, its status as of 2021 remains unclear as it was removed during the nationwide social justice protests associated with the murder of George Floyd. Rodney owned several slaves, and in response to concerns about having this statue continue to serve as a prominent symbol of Delaware, city leaders chose to remove the statue temporarily pending future discussions and a final decision regarding this statue's location. Rodney Square, where the statue once stood, remains as an anchor of the city's downtown historical district.
This historic Wilmington structure was the home of the carriage-making mogul, John Merrick (who had the home built for him), from 1864 to 1900. The former mansion was acquired by the Wilmington Club in 1900 and has served as that organization's headquarters to the present day. Merrick built his home during the Civil War in a neighborhood that was increasingly populated by wealthy residents. In 1900, the Wilmington Club purchased the house. The club catered to the wealthiest of Wilmington's population, and limited its membership to white men until the 1980s when African Americans were allowed. The organization did not allow women to join until the 1990s. The Wilmington Club is the nation's third oldest dining club.
Commissioned in the early 1900s by DuPont Company president Pierre DuPont, the hotel that bears his name is a Wilmington landmark. When it opened in 1913, the hotel instantly became one of the most fashionable properties in the United States, rivaling any in New York or London. Over its long history, the Hotel DuPont has hosted a long list of celebrities and leading political and business figures. Because of its central location overlooking Rodney Square and the central place it holds in the history of Wilmington, the hotel is often thought of as the city's "front door."
In the aftermath of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination in April of 1968, cities across the United States experienced a wave of riots and violence. Following a memorial for Dr. King that was held in Rodney Square three days after the assassination, angry residents began rioting in the city. There are disagreements about the extent of the damage, but in response to the rioting, Delaware governor ordered 2,800 National Guardsmen to the city to maintain order. They remained in the city for nine months, long after the rioting ended.
The Wilmington Savings Fund Society (WSFS) opened for business in 1832 as one of the first Philadelphia-area saving society banks, such as Savings & Loan institutions, that expanded rapidly into New England and eventually the nation. WSFS remains in operation today having survived the Great Depression and the S&L crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s. The historic building arose in 1920, replacing one half its size that was built in 1886. WSFS remained in the building until 2007 when it moved its headquarters to a modern skyscraper. The historic building transitioned recently to Market Street Village, an apartment building, but the Wilmington Savings Fund Society name is easily seen on the building's front facade.
The Grand, or Masonic Hall and Grand Theater, opened in 1871 as a home to the Freemasons, but quickly grew into Wilmington's cultural epicenter. For several decades, it stood as the home to almost every major social, political and entertainment event in Delaware. Tougher times for the theater prevailed during the mid-twentieth century, but a 1970s restoration project and community support gave new life to the theater. Until the global pandemic arrived to the U.S. in 2020, the theater continued to thrive; more than 120,000 guests frequented the theater each year. Though the pandemic has profoundly interrupted its operations in 2020 and 2021, it remains a beautiful example of fine architecture.
The Keil Family, Jewish Immigrants from Austria, arrived in Wilmington in the early 1900s and opened numerous, prosperous businesses including retail and investments to automobiles and real estate. Max Keil purchased the nineteenth-century buildings at 700 and 712 Market Street over a period from 1911 to 1929. He then updated them during the 1930s to accommodate retailers, emblematic of a broader downtown Wilmington trend of updating and renovating nineteenth-century structures. Indeed, the 700 Market Street movement is located next door to the Braunstein's Building, which underwent a similar transformation in 1924.
The Henry Townsend Building (circa 1913) is an exemplary Beaux-Arts Renaissance Revival mixed purpose building, with the ground floor supporting retail and apartment housing on the upper floors. One of its longest retail occupants was the W. T.Grant Department Store from 1922 to 1964, a chain that grew from one store in 1906 to 1,200 nationally by the 1970s. Though Market Street evolved into a street filled with commercial buildings, the Townsend Building demonstrates a demand for residential housing remained into the World War I era, and beyond; the building's purpose remains the same today as it did in 1913.
Construction of the two buildings at 704 and 706 Market Street that now make up Braunstein's Building finished in 1900, but they were unified in 1924 via a ground-floor storefront. The 1920s unification reflects the many changes to Wilmington's downtown commercial structures that underwent additions, renovations and conversions in order to meet the needs of a changing economy; Wilmington changed from a city of industrial factories to one dominated by corporations and white collar workers.
Reynold's (sometimes spelled "Reynolds") Candy Company moved to Wilmington from Pennsylvania during the early 1920s and opened its historic building in 1929, just before the Great Depression. The upper floors served as the company's manufacturing facility while the lowest floor, similar to many mixed-use commercial buildings on Market Street during that era, served as its retail outlet. The candy store offered guests more than 500 candies and an expansive soda fountain counter spanning nearly seventy five feet. Its Beaux-Art Italian Renaissance style and terra-cotta facade, along with the Reynold's Candy name, speak to its 1920s construction and the forty years the company used the facility.
Construction of the Foord & Massey Furniture Company Building took place from 1917 to 1919 at a time when Market Street enjoyed a transformation from its once industrial-heavy look of the nineteenth century to one catering to retail, apartments, and professional jobs. The company only remained the building until 1924 followed by the Stern & Company Furniture, Sears & Roebuck, and then United Community Fund of Delaware, who departed in 1990. Today, it goes by the name Shipley Artist Lofts, an affordable apartment complex that not only caters to artists, but offers them space to showcase their work.
The Crosby and Hill Building, originally known as the McClary Building, has served downtown Wilmington as a commercial and residential space since it opened in 1859. The building has housed numerous businesses including pharmacies, the Household of Faith Church, the Crosby and Hill dry goods wholesaler and retailer, the Diamond Silk Shirt and Waist Company, the Wilmington Board of Trade Builders Exchange, and John's Bargain Basement Department Store Company. The current facade was added in 192o and today the building is home to commercial space on the lowest floor with apartments on the upper floors.
Construction on the Old Customhouse finished in 1855 and served the city as its Customs House, Federal Court, and Post Office into the twentieth century. Delaware's main port transferred to Wilmington in 1800 and today Wilmington ranks as the nation's 19th largest port city, ahead of places like Boston, Gulfport, Tampa, and San Diego. The Customshouse included an iron hipped roof, a remarkable achievement for builders during the 1850s and a testament to the flourishing iron industry that emerged in Wilmington at that time. By the middle- and late-twentieth century, the building changed hands several times with its longest modern owner, Wilmington College, occupying Old Customshouse from 1981 to 2004.
Wilmington's Old Town Hall served as the seat of government from 1798 to 1916 and hosted multiple public events, as well as the community's meeting hall, prison, and court house. The building played host to numerous U.S. Presidents and other dignitaries. The late-Georgian, early-Federal Old Town Hall is Wilmington's only surviving eighteenth-century public building, resembling Philadelphia's Congress Hall and Carpenters Hall. Since 1916, the hall has been owned and managed by the Delaware Historical Society.
The Delaware Historical Society is one of the premier resources for history about Delaware. On display are collections of objects, published materials, images, maps, and manuscripts relating to Delaware history and genealogy, dating from earliest settlements to the present. Materials include important documents, literature, photography, and artwork. It operates the Delaware History Museum located across the street.
Thomas Garrett, born of a wealthy Quaker family and prominent merchant, became one of the most active and influential stationmasters on the Underground Railroad for more than four decades. It is estimated he had a hand in helping at least 2,700 Black Southerners escape slavery despite almost going bankrupt for a time. Thomas Garrett served as the inspiration for the character Simeon Halliday in Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin."
Wilmington's Quaker Hill Historic District dates to the 1730s, when it was founded by William Shipley. The first meetinghouse in the area was built in 1739, but within a few years, the Quaker community in Wilmington outgrew the building and it began to be used as a school. A second meetinghouse was built in 1748. In 1816, a new meetinghouse--the one that still stands--was constructed. The Quaker Hill neighborhood was an exclusively Quaker district until the 1800s, when people of other faiths began to move into the area. The neighborhood is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Construction on the historic Woodward homes finished in 1754 and 1760, and served two notable families during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.The Woodward family, who built the homes, worked as successful rope makers and played a prominent role in Wilmington's burgeoning shipbuilding industry; the ropes were used for sails and other ship features. James Ashton Bayard followed the Woodwards. He, as well as his father, son and brothers, played a prominent role in the region as a business person and politician. James served as a lawyer and U.S. Senator who fervently opposed abolition and anti-slavery policies, believed the South had the legal right to secede, and resigned from the Senate after refusing to formally pledge an allegiance to the Union in the Senate chamber. The home survived several urban renewal projects and thus survives today as two of Wilmington's only eighteenth-century stone houses.
This Tour is a Walking Tour.
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This tour of downtown Wilmington starts at Hotel DuPont and includes historic buildings, landmarks, and monuments such as the statue of Delaware’s most cherished patriot, Caesar Rodney. New entries will be added to the tour soon.
