Timeline of Wilmington, North Carolina

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Wilmington, North Carolina, United States.

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.

18th-19th centuries

• 1733 - Settlement "called New Carthage, then New Liverpool, then Newton or New Town."[1]
• 1739
  • Town incorporated and renamed "Wilmington."[1]
  • New Hanover County seat moves to Newton from Brunswick.[2]
• 1751 - St. James Episcopal Church founded.[2]
• 1756 - Fire.[1]
• 1760 - John Sampson becomes mayor.[1]
• 1764 - Fort Johnston built near Wilmington.[2]
• 1776 - February 27: Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge fought near Wilmington during the American Revolutionary War.[2]
• 1781 - Wilmington occupied by British forces under command of Cornwallis.[2]
• 1820 - Population: 2,633.[3]
• 1830 - Population: 3,791.[3]
• 1840 - Population: 5,335.[3]
• 1844 - Wilmington Journal newspaper begins publication.[4]
• 1849 - April 16: Snowfall.[5]
• 1850 - Population: 7,264.[3]
• 1855 - Oakdale Cemetery and Wilmington Library Association (social library) organized.[6]
• 1860 - Population: 9,552.[3]
• 1862 - Yellow fever epidemic empties out city, befalling over 1600 and killing 654.[7]
• 1864 - December: Wilmington Campaigns by Union forces begin in area during the American Civil War.
• 1865 - February 11-22: Battle of Wilmington fought; Union forces win.
• 1866 - City of Wilmington incorporated.[8]
• 1867
  • Morning Star newspaper begins publication.[4]
  • Wilmington National Cemetery established.
• 1879 - Africo-American Presbyterian newspaper begins publication.[4]
• 1892 - New Hanover County Courthouse built.[2]
• 1898 - November: Wilmington insurrection of 1898.[2]

20th century

• 1906 - Public library built.[9]
• 1915 - Royal Theatre in business.[10]
• 1919 - Customs House built.
• 1935 - WMFD radio begins broadcasting.[11]
• 1947 - University of North Carolina at Wilmington established.[2]
• 1954 - WECT (television) begins broadcasting.[12]
• 1955 - Starway Drive-In cinema in business.[10]
• 1956 - Lower Cape Fear Historical Society formed.
• 1966 - Historic Wilmington preservation group founded.[13]
• 1971 - February 6: Bombing of grocery store; racial unrest ensues, eventually leading to controversial conviction of "Wilmington Ten."[14]
• 1976 - Emsley A. Laney High School established.
• 1980 - United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit overturns "Wilmington Ten" convictions.[14]
• 1981 - Athlete Michael Jordan graduates from Laney High School.
• 1984 - Italian film producer Dino De Laurentiis opens the De Laurentiis Entertainment Group studios, now part of EUE/Screen Gems.
• 1989 - Old New Hanover Genealogical Society formed.[13]
• 1997 - Mike McIntyre becomes U.S. representative for North Carolina's 7th congressional district.[15]
• 1998 - City website online (approximate date).[16][17]

21st century

• 2003 - Star-News in publication.[4]
• 2007 - Bill Saffo becomes mayor.
• 2010 - Population: 106,476.[18]
• 2015 - David Rouzer becomes U.S. representative for North Carolina's 7th congressional district.[19]
• 2018 - Hurricane Florence makes landfall in Wilmington causing major flooding and several deaths

See also

• Wilmington history
• List of mayors of Wilmington, North Carolina
• National Register of Historic Places listings in New Hanover County, North Carolina
• Timelines of other cities in North Carolina: Asheville, Charlotte, Durham, Fayetteville, Greensboro, Raleigh, Winston-Salem

References

1. "Wilmington History". City of Wilmington, North Carolina. Retrieved May 9, 2017. (Timeline)
2. Hellmann 2006.
3. Population of the 100 Largest Cities and Other Urban Places in the United States: 1790 to 1990, U.S. Census Bureau, 1998
4. "US Newspaper Directory". Chronicling America. Washington DC: Library of Congress. Retrieved May 9, 2017.
5. "This Day in Weather History". Aberdeen, South Dakota: National Weather Service. Retrieved May 9, 2017.
6. Davies Project. "American Libraries before 1876". Princeton University. Retrieved May 9, 2017.
7. Wilmington Cemetery Tells Tale of a North Carolina Epidemic Retrieved May 9, 2020
8. Tetterton 2010.
9. Century of Stories: New Hanover County Public Library 1906-2006, 2006
10. "Movie Theaters in Wilmington, NC". CinemaTreasures.org. Los Angeles: Cinema Treasures LLC. Retrieved May 9, 2017.
11. Jack Alicoate, ed. (1939), "Standard Broadcasting Stations of the United States: North Carolina", Radio Annual, New York: Radio Daily, OCLC 2459636
12. Charles A. Alicoate, ed. (1960), "Television Stations: North Carolina", Radio Annual and Television Year Book, New York: Radio Daily Corp., OCLC 10512206
13. American Association for State and Local History (2002). "North Carolina". Directory of Historical Organizations in the United States and Canada (15th ed.). ISBN 0759100020.
14. North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources. "This Day in North Carolina History". Retrieved May 9, 2017.
15. "North Carolina". Official Congressional Directory. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office. 1997 – via HathiTrust.
16. "Welcome to Wilmington, NC". Archived from the original on December 6, 1998 – via Internet Archive, Wayback Machine.
17. Kevin Hyde; Tamie Hyde (eds.). "United States of America: North Carolina". Official City Sites. Utah. OCLC 40169021. Archived from the original on August 24, 2000.
18. "Wilmington city, North Carolina". QuickFacts. U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved May 9, 2017.
19. Civic Impulse, LLC. "Members of Congress". GovTrack. Washington, D.C. Retrieved May 9, 2017.

Bibliography

• T. Tuther, Jr., ed. (1860), Wilmington Directory, Geo. H. Kelley
• T.H. Haddock, ed. (1871), Wilmington, N.C., Directory, P. Heinsberger. (Includes city history, pp.9-24)
• George E. Waring, Jr.; U.S. Department of the Interior, Census Office (1887), "North Carolina: Wilmington", Report on the Social Statistics of Cities: Southern and the Western States, Washington DC: Government Printing Office, pp. 93–94
• "New Hanover County". Branson's North Carolina Business Directory. Raleigh, NC: Levi Branson. 1896.
• Lyman Pierson Powell, ed. (1904), "Wilmington", Historic Towns of the Southern States, New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons
• Wilmington, N.C. Directory, Richmond, Virginia: Hill Directory Co., 1905
  • 1911 ed., 1920 ed.
  • 1952 ed., 1963 ed.
• F.H. Richardson (1905). "Wilmington, N.C.". Richardson's Southern Guide. Chicago: Monarch Book Company – via Internet Archive.
• "Wilmington", Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.), New York, 1910, OCLC 14782424
• Federal Writers’ Project (1939). "Wilmington". North Carolina: a Guide to the Old North State. American Guide Series. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. p. 247+.
• Bulletin, Wilmington, NC: Lower Cape Fear Historical Society 1957-
• Diane Cobb Cashman (1982). Cape Fear Adventure: An Illustrated History of Wilmington. California: Windsor. ISBN 0897814142 – via Open Library.
• Alan D. Watson (1992). Wilmington, Port of North Carolina. University of South Carolina Press. ISBN 087249778X.
• John L. Godwin (2000). Black Wilmington and the North Carolina Way: Portrait of a Community in the Era of Civil Rights Protest. Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America. ISBN 978-0-7618-1682-9.
• Alan D. Watson (2003). Wilmington, North Carolina, to 1861. McFarland & Company. ISBN 978-0-7864-8214-6.
• Paul T. Hellmann (2006). "North Carolina: Wilmington". Historical Gazetteer of the United States. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 1-135-94859-3.
• Beverly Tetterton (2006), "Wilmington", in William S. Powell (ed.), Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press

External links

• "Wilmington". North Carolina City Directories – via North Carolina Digital Heritage Center.
• Items related to Wilmington, North Carolina, various dates (via Digital Public Library of America)
• "Cape Fear History & Heritage". Wilmington, NC: New Hanover County Public Library.