A history of Wilmington,
since 1638
Postcards, papers and photographs of Wilmington from public archives, woven together by decade. Neighbors fill in the gaps.
The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗Wilmington is built on the site of the settlement Kristinehamn, which was planned by Peter Mårtensson Lindeström to be the capital of the colony of New Sweden, and Fort Christina, the first Swedish settlement in North America. The modern city also encompasses other Swedish settlements, such as Timmerön / Timber Island (along Brandywine Creek), Sidoland (South Wilmington), Strandviken (along the Delaware River near Simonds Gardens) and Översidolandet (along the Christina River, near Woodcrest and Ashley Heights).
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Timeline
built from the dates on the items belowFinish Wilmington’s story
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
0 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🔁Retake an old viewAdvertisement for Grand Holiday S…, 1859: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Famous people from Wilmington
See all 38 →
Wilmington, decade by decade
1990s
Then & now
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as BrandywineFlour Mills1840 (1840) and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom Wikimedia Commons (6). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.