nostalgia

OldWilmington.net   NOSTALGIA FORUM PAGE
> ADD your memories, questions or stories      > Return to the HomePage       > Nostalgia Forum Rules
Archive files available Here.        For reviewing the various Nostalgic Topics.

>> NEW PAGE: 360° Digital Views << >> GO HERE For Information about the PS duPont HS All-Class, Warner JHS & 9th Ward Reunion <<

test...
topcat@comcast.net <topcat@comcast.net>
wilmington, delaware USA - Friday, May 09, 2008 at 12:36:29 (EDT)

Does anyone out there remember Carol Murphy, Dale Katz, Keith [Renni], or Jerry Resnick, from Harlan School??? Years would have been from 1953 - 1956...
Ruth "Buz" Peoples <whimsywoman@fastmail.fm>
Sequim, WA USA - Thursday, May 08, 2008 at 20:53:23 (EDT)

RE Crusin: There was a loop that we used to run. It was up and down Market Street from Fourth to Ninth, much like they do in Newark now. Then you would go out Fourth Street and you had to pass Artcraft Electric between Orange and Tatnall. They had a glass front that you could watch your car in as you rode by. You would go on out to Lincoln Street and do the same thing there as you did on Market That is from Pennsylvania Ave down to Fourth on Union and then back around. Once in a while you would take in Delaware Ave. That would be especially if you were crusin in the afternoon when all the other kids were getting out at Wilmington High. Mostly though it was out Fourth Street. All the girls knew it and would make a habit of either sitting at steps along the way or they would walk along the street in hopes of meeting some nice guy, who was out crusin. It was an acceptable practice then. I wouldn't advise it now.
Wayne <twntydasys@aol.com>
New Castle, DE USA - Thursday, May 08, 2008 at 17:41:41 (EDT)

Union stree crusing no but from what i have heard, my father in law...Rick Finney had a MONSTER of a car on Maryland Ave. Back in the day. I believe it was a 69 or 70 BOSS 302 Mustang...orange...and I believe he also took it down to Maryland to race.
drufo <drufo1@verizon.net>
Wilmington, DE USA - Thursday, May 08, 2008 at 17:00:47 (EDT)

it also can be read here for those that dont get the paper,,,http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008805080305
Tom Brejwa <brejwa@mchsi.com>
Ocean View, De USA - Thursday, May 08, 2008 at 16:12:53 (EDT)

I just thought I would mention it for those of you who had talked about him last month when he passed, there is a write up in today's paper (Thursday 5/8) about Frank Shahan. It is almost a full page back in the crossroads section on page NC26. Its' title reads: Frank Shahan:"He was a guy everybody loved". It's an article of appreciation written by Jack Ireland of The News Journal Papers.
Wayne <twntydasys@aol.com>
New Castle, DE USA - Thursday, May 08, 2008 at 15:47:06 (EDT)

I spent those years, 65-67 in the P.I.
Tom Brejwa <brejwa@mchsi.com>
Ocean View, De USA - Thursday, May 08, 2008 at 15:21:22 (EDT)

Does anyone remember cruisin' on Union Street in the 60's('65,'66,'67)? Does anyone remember Ben Rose and his Chev.SS or Tank and his GTO ? I hung out one summer with both and several others from that area. Went with Ben and Tank to the Cecil County Dragway where they both raced, but not that night. Thoroughly enjoyed the Funny Cars, the Dragsters and the odors of the fuels. I met Ben when he worked full time for my sister-in law's dad, Ed Reusing, who owned Resilient Tile on N. Market St., almost directly across from the Fire Station (forget the address). Ben was 20, I was 18. He worked full time. I just worked as an apprentice for the summer (mostly loading and carring boxes of tile on the job sites). Ed was a great guy, knew how to bid and did expert work. He landed some big jobs at Sallies, Archmere, the U. of D. etc. A good summer.
Jerry T. <sandybeach1@mchsi.com>
Dagsboro, De. USA - Thursday, May 08, 2008 at 11:22:36 (EDT)

Could you tell me when Fraims Dairy closed?
Millie McGillivray <billmillie@verizon.net>
Hockessin, DE USA - Wednesday, May 07, 2008 at 21:45:06 (EDT)

Ray Zelano: Isaw that U mentioned the Pizza at Serpe's Bakery Sicilian Pizza better than them and even tyo this day noone makes better sauce than T0ommy, who still works in the Baker. MY GOOD FRIEND RALPH YOU HAD MENTIONED ABOUT THE RESPECT THAT u RECEIVED AS POLICEMAN FROM THE BOOKIES. THAT WAS THE WAY IT WAS IN THOSE DAYS WHEN U WERE A COP. COPS,TEACHERS,OLDER PEOPLE AND ANYONE IN AUTHORITY THAT IS THE WAY EVERYONE WAS BROUGHT UP IN THOSE DAYS.
Jery Lank <transworldtsl@delaware.usa.co>
Marco Island, FL USA - Wednesday, May 07, 2008 at 01:09:35 (EDT)

I remember being in grade school in the late 40's when Harry Truman was running for President. He came through Wilmington on a whistle-stop tour. His train stopped at the B&O station on Delaware Ave. very early on a week-day morning. There was just a very small crowd there. He asked if anyone had any questions and for some reason I asked: "Where's Margaret?" He said that she was still sleeping. That was a big thrill for a little school-girl.
Pat LeVan <levan1706@bellsouth.net>
Port St. Lucie, FL USA - Tuesday, May 06, 2008 at 13:38:23 (EDT)

My memories of seeing Presidential candidates in person is not so great. I saw (and shook his hand) Bobby Kennedy in a motorcade on Chestnut St. in Philadelphia. About a week later he was shot & killed.
Swifty <williamwswift@aol.com>
Middletown, DE USA - Tuesday, May 06, 2008 at 11:35:05 (EDT)

Ralph - Your particular memories of associations and connections to Past US Presidents are great! Yhe most memorable connection I have had personally was shared by many thousands of people in the bright, sub-freezing and snow-bound cold of 1/20/1961, watching and listening to JFK become inaugurated, then much later in the afternoon, in close-up in the bright sunshine, standing right across Pennsylvania Avenue from the official Reviewing Stand, and seeing JFK and Jackie, Bobby and Ethel, Joe and Rose, Teddy and his wife, Peter Lawford and his wife, and LBJ and Lady Bird, all drinking coffee(?) and watching the passing parade. (My pocketed pint of Seagram's helped to keep ME warm.)
Bob Wilson Jr <wilso127@yahoo.com>
Beaufort, SC USA - Tuesday, May 06, 2008 at 11:25:22 (EDT)

I remember hawking newspapers at the New Castle airport in 1951 when then-candidate Dwight Eisenhower paid a quick visit. He just made a quick stop and speech at the airport outside and left. That memory is still quite vivid in my mind and how impressed I was (and still am) that I had a chance to see him (from a distance).
Orv <obursler@comcast.net>
Lincoln, DE USA - Tuesday, May 06, 2008 at 07:40:01 (EDT)

HEY JOE, THANK,S , YOU SOLVED THE MYSTERY FOR ME. ALL THESE YEARS I THOUGHT I PLAYED HOOKIE . JOE, WISH I HAD BROUGHT MY SISTERS OLD BROWNIE CAMERA. AGAIN THANK,S.
RALPH PRYOR <REPJFK@AOL.COM>
TARPON SPRINGS , FL USA - Monday, May 05, 2008 at 15:29:50 (EDT)

Please, if anyone out there is willing to share family photographs taken in and around the Forty Acres neighborhood... Please contact me! I am having a picture book published on the Forty Acres neighborhood. I am looking for images of families & children, buildings, clubs (Stapler Club, Knights of Columbus gatherings, picnics, May Queen processions, Memorial Day parades, the Water Witch Fire Station, H&F Brewery, Cann Publishing, people getting on and off buses, sitting in the Logan house - getting hair cut inside the old barber shop of the Logan house ground floor, the B&O station, your mother talking to a friend over the back yard fence... ANYTHING) No picture in inconsequential! They can be very old (from the 1900s or earlier) to taken just yesterday. Thanks in advance for any help!
Kara Green <kbgreen@udel.edu>
Wilmington, de USA - Monday, May 05, 2008 at 08:52:33 (EDT)

RALPH !.... You did not have to cut class to see F.D.R. MRS. DUGAN (Principal) had the whole school (LORE )out at the fence by the B&O tracks to see him....Funny how some thing like that you never forget...
JOE " BUBBLES "PASQUALE <JNPASQUALE@COMCAST.NET>
WILMINGTON, DE USA - Sunday, May 04, 2008 at 23:42:36 (EDT)

My lingering memory of Presidential appearances in Delaware is vivid. One week before his assassination in Dallas, JFK dedicated the Kennedy Turnpike, just north of Newark. I was fascinated that he mingled with the crowd and I worried about that close contact all the way back to my Newark dorm. His exit from the helicopter to the band's playing Hail to the Chief was riviting but, up close, his tanned face (in November) and white, toothy grin were charismatic, for certain.
jim rambo <rammymex@yahoo.com>
ajijic, jalisco Mexico - Sunday, May 04, 2008 at 23:30:54 (EDT)

BUDO, I WAS AT THE B&O RAILROAD STATION ALSO, ON THE DAY F.D.R. STOOD AT THE BACK OF THE TRAIN. I MUST HAVE CUT CLASS AT LORE SCHOOL TO SEE HIM, NOT SURE. BUT I DO REMEMBER , HE WORE HIS FAMOUS CLOAK OVER HIS SHOLDERS. AND EVEN THOUGH I WAS JUST A KID OF ABOUT 11 OR 12, I COULD SEE HIS FACE HAD MAKE UP ON IT, AND EVEN WITH THE MAKE UP , HE DID NOT LOOK WELL.IN THOSE DAY,S , THEY CALLED CAMPAIGNING FROM A TRAIN----A WHISTLE STOP. I ALWAYS LOOK BACK ON THAT DAY AS A BIG DAY FOR ME IN MY LIFE. NEVER THINKING , I WOULD HELP TO PROTECT SEVERAL OTHER PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES ! AS A POLICE OFFICER I WAS ON POLICE DETAIL WITH OTHER MEMBERS OF THE W.P.D. WHEN VICE PREST. NIXON WAS IN RODNEY SQUARE CAMPAIGNING FOR PREST. IKE AND HIM SELF. WHEN V.P JOHNSON WAS IN WILMONGTON ,DE ,(OLD SWEDES CHURCH ) I WAS A VICE SQUAD DETECTIVE. BUT WAS ON A DETAIL ALONG WITH OTHER MEMBERS OF THE W.P.D. TO PROTECT JOHNSON. . AFTER I WAS OFF THE FORCE , AND HAD MOVED TO TARPON SPRINGS , FL . I WAS SUPERVISOR OF SECURITY AT A 1000 ACRE GOLF RESORT CALLED INNISBROOK, V.P. GEORGE BUSH CAME TO SPEAK, THEN TO TO THE TARPON SPRINGS SPONGE DOCKS TO CAMPAIGN. WELL , I TELL ALL MY CHILDREN AND GRAND CHILDREN THAT ALL THESE VICE PRESIDENT,S ---NIXON, JOHNSON AND BUSH BECAME PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. WHEN I CAME TO FLORIDA , I THOUGHT I WAS THROUGH GUARDING VICE PRESIDENT,S TWO OF MY MEN AND I WORKED WITH THE SECRET SERVICE ON THAT DAY IN TARPON SPRINGS.
RALPH PRYOR <REPJFK@AOL.COM>
TARPON SPRINGS, FL USA - Sunday, May 04, 2008 at 19:54:23 (EDT)

Barb, it's a good chance my mother Mary Bursler or my Uncle Jim Wicks had a hand in making your trays. In those days, as an employee, I took pride that my mother and uncle were two of a very few select employees that Mrs. Lundy (a task-master) would allow to make those trays.
Tom Bursler <Doverbaldy@comcast.net>
Dover, DE USA - Sunday, May 04, 2008 at 15:39:06 (EDT)

Very interesting story about Hoopes Reservoir here: http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080328/LIFE/803280311/1005/life#pluckcomments
Terri <LilSis923@comcast.net>
Hugo, MN USA - Saturday, May 03, 2008 at 22:57:29 (EDT)

Back in the 60's when I worked for the telephone co. at 39th & Washington Sts., a group of us would go to Jack Lundy's at the Miller Rd. Shopping Center for lunch at least once every other week. We all ordered C43 or the C50. One was corned beef and the other was pastrami. Sometimes we took a couple of pickles back to the office to share with everyone in our group. Boy did the office smell good on those days. Does anyone know if there is any place in the area to get sandwiches like that any more?
Sandy Paski Conner <bsconne@msn.com>
Bear, DE USA - Saturday, May 03, 2008 at 19:32:06 (EDT)

Tom, How my family loved Lundy's everything. We had a family tradition of ordering Lundy's corn beef sandwich platter to go, every Christmas Eve. It included cole slaw and those delicious dill pickles. We lived out off the Kirkwood Highway, but that's what we did. The sandwiches were cut in triangles, skewered with toothpicks and the entire platter was wrapped in pink cellophane. A quart of potato salad was also a "must" Thanks for the memory.
Barb <Barb@comcast.net>
Peabody, MA USA - Saturday, May 03, 2008 at 12:12:43 (EDT)

"Friends share memories of Bellefonte in the 1950s" URL link (below) to article of note in the Delaware Community Newspaper, perhaps of interest to those on this bulletin board; http://communitypub.com/stories/04-21-2008/038_Bellefonte-50s-Reunion.html
Kevind <donohue11@comcast.net>
Ellicott City, MD USA - Saturday, May 03, 2008 at 11:45:16 (EDT)

Webmaster re: B&O trains. Remember a great place to see the trains pass by was at the intersection of Lovering Ave and the bridge at the bottom of Augustine Cutoff. The rails were elevated and you had a great view of trains such as the "Royal Blue" go by. Also remember when I was a youngster my parents taking me to the B&O station to watch a speech by Franklin D Roosevelt from the rear of the observation car he was traveling in. Of course this was before the days of TV and the campaigners traveled usually by train to spread their word.
Budo <budmar53at poolesite.com>
Wilm, DE USA - Saturday, May 03, 2008 at 11:12:44 (EDT)

RAY - Sorry to hear about St. Thomas, altho I expected it at some time. I graduated from there in '53, from the "old" school - can you believe all 8 grades were held in that small building? I still have the large class photo that was taken on the front steps of the church. 4
Patty <pattywerk@comcast.net>
Wilmington, DE USA - Saturday, May 03, 2008 at 10:32:24 (EDT)

FOR ANY OF YOU OLDTIMERS OUT THERE THAT WENT TO ST. THOMAS PAROGIAL SCHOOL. WE, STILL IN THE PARISH, RECEIVED LETTERS FRIDAY THAT THE SCHOOL WILL BE CLOSING IT'S DOORS AT THE END OF THIS SCHOOL YEAR AND WILL BE NO MORE. "SAD".
Ray Jubb <golfopera@comcast.net>
Wilmington, De. USA - Saturday, May 03, 2008 at 10:19:37 (EDT)

I’m sitting here watching “Trains & Locomotives” on the RFD Channel. It recalls the time living in the Woodlawn Flats in the 40s, that whenever we heard a B&O steam engine coming, we would run to the 6th or 7th Street bridges and stand right over the track as the engine passed under us. As the caboose passed, we would wave to the trainmen.
webmaster <web-master@oldwilmington.net>
Wilmington/Perryville, DE/MD USA - Saturday, May 03, 2008 at 09:25:36 (EDT)

I am a "youngin" compared to many here! But I did work with some wonderful folks at Jack Lundy's Delicatessan in the late 70s. Wondering if anyone else here has memories of the C43 or the lox, bagel and cream cheese sandwiches served there?
Tom Bursler <Doverbaldy@comcast.net>
Dover, DE USA - Saturday, May 03, 2008 at 07:56:08 (EDT)

JUST WANT TO ADD TO THE UPCOMING SCHOOL REUNIONS; I DID NOT SEE THIS ONE LISTED HERE: P.S. duPONT H.S. REUNION MAY 14, 2008; 11A.M. TERRACE AT GREENHILL CLASSES 1940,1941,1942,1943,1944,1945 (WAR YEARS)
glo t. brown <goldeleah@aol.com>
wilm., de USA - Saturday, May 03, 2008 at 01:04:54 (EDT)

DUFO______I didn't work at The Balloon, but I think I may have paid for Bill's house! ha ha
TheKid <private>
Wilm, DE USA - Friday, May 02, 2008 at 16:21:42 (EDT)

TERRI: Thanks. I had my streets mixed up. Mary's was on Beech, and Columbia Ave. was the name of the street I was trying to remember. I should have looked on the map. The shoemaker and repair store on Van Buren and Sycamore was owned by an older Italian man whose last name was Fortugno. He didn't speak English well, but was very friendly and had a great smile. I think Dominick was his first name. Good old world craftsmanship. I loved the smell of the leather and the polish in his store.
Jerry T. <sandybeach1@mchsi.com>
Dagsboro, De. USA - Friday, May 02, 2008 at 08:00:40 (EDT)

To help with Sharon Poole's request, her e-mail address is: blue_rum_two@yahoo.com
webmaster <web-master@oldwilmington.net>
Wilmington/Perryville, DE/MD USA - Friday, May 02, 2008 at 03:01:02 (EDT)

Jerry T: Van Buren and Sycamore was Koston's Market! And wasn't there a shoemaker across the street years ago?
Terri <LilSis923@comcast.net>
Hugo, Mn USA - Thursday, May 01, 2008 at 23:25:03 (EDT)

Jerry T: I remember "Mary's" store. It was on the corner of Van Buren and Beech St.!She sold Hershey's ice cream and it was the best tasting ice cream I ever had! I used to get ice cream cones where she would take a pint of ice cream and "slice" a section and put it on a wider regular cone. She also sold chocolate covered banana's! Anyone remember those??? I also remember the other store on Harrison St. and Columbia Ave.! I don't remember the name of it though.
Terri <LilSis923@comcast.net>
Hugo, MN USA - Thursday, May 01, 2008 at 23:10:24 (EDT)

Speaking of Patsy's I went to school with Terry Patton at Sacred Heart. Contrary to what a lot of People thought he was as good a basketball player as his brother Googie. Burt Sheing and Bernie Schneider also played on the team. Joe Remedio was his Brother-in-Law Joe was also partner of Remedio-Hearn where I had worked selling Fl R E.
Jerry Lank <transworld@delaware.usa.com>
MARCO ISLAND, FL USA - Thursday, May 01, 2008 at 22:38:56 (EDT)

I was also surprised and saddened to see that Frank Shahan died recently. Not only was he a fine basketball player, he was a "good guy". I was introduced to Frank through my cousin, Charles Brice. Frank never patted himself on the back for his basketball ability and probably wouldn't have even mentioned it if my cousin hadn't. Later, as a Wilmington cop, he was balanced in his approach to law enforcement as well. RIP.
jim rambo <rammymex@yahoo.com>
ajijic, jalisco Mexico - Thursday, May 01, 2008 at 22:23:31 (EDT)

Due to family estrangement I have not had any contact with my family for 28 years and I just want to know more about my family and my grandparents. When I had the time to get to know them I was too busy being 20 and missed out. Their last name is Delpizzo and they lived on Scott Street in Wimington DE. My grandfather's name was Albert and my grandmother's name was Mary. My father is Paul. Please e-mail me if you have any information to share with me.
Sharon Poole <blue_rum_two@yahoo.com>
Newark, DE USA - Thursday, May 01, 2008 at 13:29:37 (EDT)

DRUFO : When did you work at Ferris School ? I had a brief stint there from 12/71- 6/72. STEVE K : Where are you ? C'mon back. What rank did you attain in the Scouts ? I made "Star" (2 ranks short of the coveted "Eagle" badge) before I ended my career with BSA Trp. #7. Did you make "Eagle" ? Did you go into the Explorers ? Do you or ANYONE else remember " Mary's ", a corner store at Van Buren and Sycamore Streets ? How about the grocery store in the 700 block S. Harrison Street. Does anyone remember the name ? It was, on a corner, on the other side of the street from Radulski's bakery,before Oak St.
Jerry T. <sandybeach1@mchsi.com>
Dagsboro, De. USA - Thursday, May 01, 2008 at 12:28:50 (EDT)

Sadly I read in delawareonline yesterday of the passing of Frank Shahan. I didn't know him personally but while I was attending Conrad High School in the late 50's he played basketball at Wilmington High and was the most exciting player to watch of that era in my opinion. His obituary said that one of his heroes was Bob Cousy of the Boston Celtics. I can see why. Shahan's game was a high schooler's equivalent.
Tom Kolasinski <tkck@cox.net>
Glendale , AZ USA - Thursday, May 01, 2008 at 09:58:03 (EDT)

I thought a nice topic for the weekend would be for us to make a list of the places we worked at over the years...I would be honored to start...in order... Post House, Lampughs Exxon, jefferson ward, bradlees, kiddie world/liesure world, jamesway, turkes(concord mall, Cathedral Cemetary (1 Week..too depressing) Royal Exchange, Stone Ballon, Atilios, simply pasta, gerardos pizza, Wilmington High, Allens Chicken plant (1 Day i still cant eat chicken anymore) Ferris School, Delcastle....I think that it.
drufo <drufo@verizon.net>
wilm, de USA - Thursday, May 01, 2008 at 08:34:47 (EDT)

RAY.....I did not know any of the Remedio girl's..I Knew a few of the Remedio boys ......very nice family ,all hard working people...anytime you went into the sub shop the father was working making sandwiches
JOE " BUBBLES " PASQUALE <JNPASQUALE@COMCAST.NET>
WILMINGTON, DE USA - Wednesday, April 30, 2008 at 22:11:22 (EDT)

Wayne, your Dad's farm is now part of Route 1. As far as Pathmark, they are going to have coupons that you can use for a pair of running shoes or a discount on a bodyguard to walk you home.
Bill <mcgonigal9@verizon.net>
Townsend, DE USA - Wednesday, April 30, 2008 at 18:59:23 (EDT)

Bill, I sure hope that new Pathmark is going to offer a delivery service to help get your groceries safely to your condo. I see by your address you live down near my fathers old dairy farm. It was on 13 and ran the length between Fieldsboro and Pine Tree. Are you part of the McGonigals that at one time made their home in the forty acres? A lady named Patricia McGonigal from there was in my wedding. Wherever it was, I see you've also had to make the choice, like most of the rest of us, to leave our wonderful old city and head for safer ground.
Wayne <twntydasys@aol.com>
New Castle, DE USA - Wednesday, April 30, 2008 at 17:42:08 (EDT)

I was just reading about the influenza epidemic of 1918-19 and burials at Cathedral Cemetery. When I worked there in the early 1960's that area was refurbished to make it easier to maintain, look better, and be safer. Sod was lifted, fill added to smooth and level the area, and finally the sod relaid. Over the years the ground had sunken and gotten very uneaven and after a real good rain it was dangerous to walk through because the grass roots were all that held up the surface. The slit-trench was near the back corner, more or less parrallel to the fence, and quite long (I would say more than 40 ft). There were very few markers and even fewer headstones (all of which were located, removed, and then replaced after the rennavation)in the area.
mike mullins <mpmul@frontiernet.net>
wallkill, ny USA - Wednesday, April 30, 2008 at 17:33:44 (EDT)

Your right Bubbles. She married Terry Patton. However I know nothing about her or her Family, I just knew as everyone on the Department that Terry married into the Family. I have seen Terry once or twice in the 28 years I've been retired from the Department and the last time was at a wedding anniversary party for Jimmy and Pat Patton quite a few years ago.
Ray Jubb <golfopera@comcast.net>
Wilmington, De. USA - Wednesday, April 30, 2008 at 16:29:43 (EDT)

As a child growing up just outside Wilmington during the sixties, I recall sitting at the top of Talley Road watching the smoke from chemical plant fires down along the Delaware River waterfront or along the Brandywine and Christina River around Seventh Street. Does anyone recall these big explosions and fires during the 1940's thru the 70's? What plants were they and where were they located?
Larry <lj106@comcast.net>
Newark, De USA - Wednesday, April 30, 2008 at 12:08:04 (EDT)

Wayne: as for buying groceries when living in one of the S. Market street condos, they're building a Pathmark, just a block or so south. That's why the city gave up Howard street. It's to be part of the parking lot.
Bill <mcgonigal9@verizon.net>
Townsend, de USA - Wednesday, April 30, 2008 at 10:56:48 (EDT)

Patsy's subs were great, and you had your choice of either a hard or soft roll.
Jerry T. <sandybeach1@mchsi.com>
Dagsboro, De. USA - Wednesday, April 30, 2008 at 08:47:04 (EDT)

I came across this site lately if anyone is interested,,,History of Hoagies, Submarine Sandwiches, Po' Boys Sandwiches, Dagwood Sandwiches, & Italian Sandwiches,,,,http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/HoagieSubmarinePoBoy.htm
Tom Brejwa <brejwa@mchsi.com>
Ocean View, De USA - Wednesday, April 30, 2008 at 07:30:29 (EDT)

April 29 "1957 The first cars rolled off the assembly line at Newark's Chrysler Plant. Until then, the plant had made only military tanks."
Connie <nospam>
Wilmington, DE USA - Wednesday, April 30, 2008 at 07:27:02 (EDT)

Patsy's (REMEDIO) Sub Shop did have good subs........I THINK THE FREE WAY FORCED HIM OUT OF BUSINESS..RAY MAY KNOW MORE ABOUT THIS...HIS DAUGHTER MARRIED "GOOGIE"PATTON'S BROTHER WHO WAS ON THE POLICE FORCE WITH RAY
JOE"BUBBLES" PASQUALE <JNPASQUALE@COMCAST.NET>
WILMINGTON, DE USA - Tuesday, April 29, 2008 at 23:15:13 (EDT)

Wayne, I can't understand people considering living down there on the river near the Market Street Bridge either. But believe it or not they sell as fast as the city can throw other people out "Public Domain". I have lived in the City all my life which is almost 74 years and I see a trend. I think the next slum area is going to be the Bear area. If you read this RAG of a paper every day as I do you can see that the crime rate has gone up considerably in the Bear area. This I believe is because the criminal element is migrating in that direction. I think that some day Wilmington will be a cluster of large Condos and Town Homes for the middle and upper class only. I don't think that I'll be around to see it, and that's not a bad thing the way things are going.
Ray Jubb <golfopera@aol.com>
Wilmington, De. USA - Tuesday, April 29, 2008 at 22:20:57 (EDT)

Does anyone remember Patsy's Sub Shop, on 4th St,betweenAdams & Jackson, prior to the I-95 freeway going thru town?If you remember, did he move somewhere else, or just close up shop? Nobody made them better than Patsy. Folks west of the Mississippi have no idea how to make a submarine sandwich. They all want to know if one wants mayo or mustard on it, and look at you sideways if you ask for oil and vinegar...
Ruth "Buz" Peoples <whimsywoman@fastmail.fm>
Sequim, WA USA - Tuesday, April 29, 2008 at 21:21:17 (EDT)

The pics of the Hoopes Dam project are very interesting but one question comes to mind. When the area around the dam was closed to the public did the birth rate go down?
Larry Roszkowiak <larry.roszkowiak@ucsf.edu>
San Francisco, CA USA - Tuesday, April 29, 2008 at 18:45:51 (EDT)

Unfortunately, any time something is written, planned or executed, for our once beautiful city, a simple phrase comes to mind: "Too Little, Too Late". I went to a Blue Rocks game Sunday. Afterward, I couldn't get out of the city quick enough for my liking. As I passed the new high rise condos where Warner had their cement Company I wondered, who is crazy enough to buy one of these? You would have to be absolutely nuts to even consider making a purchase like that. Where would you buy groceries? How do you get them into your home safely? They're killing people on Fifth Street, just six blocks away for Walmart bags. What's going to happen if they want an afternoon snack while you're unloading your food? I'm sorry, but all that is left of the Wilmington that we speak of is an old memory. It is a dead city that unfortunately will never live again, except in these writings.
Wayne <twntydasys@aol.com>
New CAstle, DE USA - Tuesday, April 29, 2008 at 18:36:20 (EDT)

HARRY THE WEB MASTER, YOUR RIGHT , I THOUGHT THE PHOTO. OF MARKET ST. LOOKED NORMAL. AND YOU MENTIONED THE MALL . THAT WAS A SMART MOVE , GETTING THAT DAMM EYE SORE TORN DOWN , SHOULD HAVE NEVER BEEN BUILT. WAS A HAVEN FOR MUGGERS, DRUNKS AND PERVERTS.
RALPH PRYOR <REPJFK@AOL.COM>
TARPON SPRINGS, FL USA - Tuesday, April 29, 2008 at 17:39:09 (EDT)

one more thing concerning the "bomb proof" buildings, the wooden side of the building was usually facing a river or side of a mountain so that flying debris would not hurt anyone.
oldeschool55 <oldeschool55@yahoo.com>
wilmington, de USA - Tuesday, April 29, 2008 at 15:41:28 (EDT)

concerning the buildings with 3 stone walls and 1 wood wall - the reason for this was so that if an explosion occured the wooden wall would blow out and away from the building rather than destroying the entire structure. this was and is common practice in any dangerous work place ,they are called "bomb proof" rooms or buildings.
oldeschool55 <oldeschool55@yahoo.com>
wilmington, de USA - Tuesday, April 29, 2008 at 11:10:30 (EDT)

I remember my Aunt Emily Blackwell telling stories about the Powder Mills. Several members of the Peoples' family worked there in the early 1900's. Stones walls were on three sides and the final wall was wood. This allowed for the quick rebuilding of the mill after an explosion. Aunt Emily's father was killed by an explosion. I had a friend who lived at Chicken Alley (houses were still there in the 70's). I usually drove thru the Carpenter Estate to get to her house, on the east side of the Brandywine, across the narrow bridge. Since I have not returned to this area for some time, I'd love to know if the houses, at Chicken Alley, are still standing, or if they have been torn down in the name of progress.
Ruth "Buz" Peoples <whimsywoman@fastmail.fm>
Sequim, WA USA - Monday, April 28, 2008 at 21:43:05 (EDT)

HI BRUCE, I HELPED CLOSE I MASSAGE PARLOUR IN WILMINGTON, DE . AND OF COURSE IT WAS REALLY A PARLOUR OF -------WILL SAY , SIN ! THE SIN PARLOUR,S YOUR TALKING ABOUT WERE GOING STRONG LIKE YOU SAID BRUCE. IN FACT ON PENNY HILL THERE WAS ONE.---ACROSS FROM THE DEL. STATE POLICE STATION. AND YOUR RIGHT THEY WERE HIT ALL WITHIN A FEW DAYS. SURE THE STATE POLICE WERE MAKING SURE THEY HAD ENOUGH EVIDANCE . I REMEMBER KIDDING MY COUSIN LT. FRANK KLAIR OF THE D.S.P. TOLD HIM WE WOULD HAVE HAD THEM CLOSED THE FIRST WEEK. BUT SOME TIMES IT (THE RAID )DEPEND,S ON LUCK.
RALPH PRYOR <REPJFK@AOL.COM>
TARPON SPRINGS, FL USA - Monday, April 28, 2008 at 19:26:18 (EDT)

Keith : is the burial log available online, or in txt or doc form somewhere?
Tom Brejwa <brejwa@mchsi.com>
Ocean View, De USA - Monday, April 28, 2008 at 18:15:40 (EDT)

While doing research at Cathedral cemetery i learned that many victims of the 1918 Flu epidemic were buried in a mass grave in the SE Corner of the cemetery. If you look there are a few markers from Sept/Oct 1918 in that area, but no marker for the mass grave. There is a large notation in the burial log in the diocese records that show the burials.
Keith Sylwestrzuk <Keithswizz@comcast.net>
Claymont, DE USA - Monday, April 28, 2008 at 17:29:33 (EDT)

Speaking of the Powder Mills and Henry Clay Village. My Grandfather Mike Farren was a Powder Mill Worker. He started to work at the age of 15.He died at the age of 72,in 1949 He grew up in a house just across the "Crick" from where Hagley Museum is now. The foundation is still there. Because he worked during the Centenial year, He received a higher pay $48.00 I can't remember if that was a month,or a week. My Mother Ella Fitzharris told us about the explosions and how the bodies were blown across the Crick near her house. She was 7 years old,and remembers watching the men pick up the dead bodies,and put them in burlap bags,to be carried away. A bit much for a 7 year old to witness. There is a book called Black Powder,White Lace by Margaret M. Mulrooney Nineteenth-Century America.My Mother is Quoted in this book. I lived at 166 Brecks Lane,from the time I was 7 until I left to get married at 21 years of age.This house,now painted red,was a double house. It now is one large house,just across from Brecks Mill in Henry Clay Village.
Kay Burton ,Wells <breckslnkid12@yahoo.com>
Pike Creek, DE USA - Monday, April 28, 2008 at 15:23:21 (EDT)

Ralph Pryor or one of our other policeman I have a question that the Web Master might not like, but I'll keep it clean. Back in the 1970's there were a number of massage parlors in NC County, that were obviously something else. They appeared to operate without any problems - I remember one being close to a furniture store in Tri State Mall. What happened that they all got closed down around the same time? Did someone forget to make a pay off?
Bruce <private>
Sugar Land, TX USA - Monday, April 28, 2008 at 13:47:36 (EDT)

Speaking of old stories about the powder mills...i was told stories from my aunt & my mother that when they were small about the explos. at the mills, my grandmother use to go in the woods behind the house when their was explos. & pick up fingers & bury them so her children would not see these body parts...i've heard these stories many times...up till the time that they both passed away ( 83 & 99yrs.old they were both scared of thunder & lighting...because of the explos. at the mills.. the loud noise meant that some one got hurt or killed....they lived at henry clay across from the mill....the house is still their
JOE "BUBBLES" PASQUALE <JNPASQUALE@COMCAST.NET>
WILMINGTON, DE USA - Monday, April 28, 2008 at 11:15:10 (EDT)

DRUFO...Tom B. is correct about Squirrel Run, it was located on the grounds of the area that is now the Hagley Museum in Greenville. Literally, "Squirrel Run" was the name of one of the small tributaries that flowed into the Brandywine River, but it also referred to a particular cluster of DuPont employee housing along the tributary of the same name. Some of the other groups of employee housing were "Pancake Run," "Flea Park" and "Chicken Alley." The general area was also sometimes referred to as "Henry Clay" or "Henry Clay Village." The Squirrel Run homes were demolished long ago and that area is now grown over and/or part of private residences. My family lived at Squirrel Run for many years while working in the powder mills along the Brandywine. I've heard many stories about the old days at Squirrel Run.
Frank Rosaio <fjrosaio74@yahoo.com>
Worcester, MA USA - Sunday, April 27, 2008 at 19:05:02 (EDT)

DIXIE...(VIVIAN)..Is my first cousin.. No one has seen or heard from her for years ...I think she moved down south many years ago.
JOE"BUBBLES" PASQUALE <JNPASQUALE@COMCAST.NET>
WILMINGTON, DE USA - Saturday, April 26, 2008 at 22:30:09 (EDT)

Oh, wow! My mom went to school with a girl named DIXIE Tamone was your mom's name(pronounced Ta MOE nie)? any realation?
T heKid <private>
Wilm, DE USA - Saturday, April 26, 2008 at 21:51:32 (EDT)

Behind the Nylon Curtain: Gerald Colby:
Tom Brejwa <brejwa@mchsi.com>
Ocean View, De USA - Saturday, April 26, 2008 at 14:50:36 (EDT)

PAT !.....My mother also was born in that area..."UP THE CRICK (CREEK) Last name was TAMONE ( TUTTOILMONDO )I believed we talked about this before
JOE "BUBBLES"PASQUALE <JNPASQUALE@COMCAST.NET>
WILMINGTON, DE USA - Saturday, April 26, 2008 at 14:42:32 (EDT)

My mother was born in Henry Clay, DE in 1900. Her father, John Mulherin, drove a lorry for the duPont powder mills. I believe duPont provided company housing in Henry Clay for its Irish immigrant workers. There is an interesting book about early duPont written, I believe, in the 60's or 70's, called "Behind the Nylon Curtain". I believe the author was a disgruntled former employee whose name I do not recall.
Pat LeVan <levan1706@bellsouth.net>
Port St. Lucie, FL USA - Saturday, April 26, 2008 at 14:22:40 (EDT)

DRUFO: found this for Shawtown,old new castle, around, Washington St. to 9th St, 9th St. to South St.
Tom Brejwa <brejwa@mchsi.com>
Ocean View, De USA - Saturday, April 26, 2008 at 12:48:00 (EDT)

DRUFO:1, Squirrel Run: seems it is/was located on or where the hagley museum is now, a phrase in Quaker Greggs William’s 200 acres were located "at the confluence of Brandywine Creek and Squirrel Run." "Today, that property is the site of the Hagley Museum." 2, Quarry at 11th and Scott: It "Was" on 11th and Scott st. 3, Quarry on bancroft parkway: no reference 4, Henry Clay (village?): Located at Rising Sun La. and Kennett Pike,also known as See Also:Breck's Mill Area 5, Shaw town: no reference found 6,11th street bridge:Located at 11th and Spruce st.
Tom Brejwa <brejwa@mchsi.com>
Ocean View, De USA - Saturday, April 26, 2008 at 10:55:34 (EDT)

Drufo - There is an excellent book on the history of Italians in Delaware. It's called "Arriving in Delaware - The Italian-American Experience", by Pricilla M. Thompson. Most of the history centers around Wilmington.
Patty <pattywerk@comcast.net>
Wilmington, DE USA - Friday, April 25, 2008 at 23:40:18 (EDT)

i am telling you...i was a kid when they found coffins...my grandfather Pietro Pesce dug a 13 foot wine celler at our house on bancroft and found bones...(p.s.bubbles my dad gets a kick that we talk on here)...I need some help...please explain to me where these places are/where... 1. Squirl Run 2. a qurry at 11th and scott street 3. a quarry on bancroft parkway 4. henry clay (village?) 5. shaw town 6. 11th street bridge I am doing some Italian American research and understand that these where major pockets of italian people in and around wilm.
drufo <drufo1@verizon.net>
wilm, de USA - Friday, April 25, 2008 at 22:39:30 (EDT)

At the corner of lancaster ave & bancroft pkwy. when they started to build house's up bancroft pkwy. that's when they dug up a lot of graves....it was a colored -(black) graveyard
JOE "BUBBLES" PASQUALE <jnpasquale@comcast.net>
wilmington, de USA - Friday, April 25, 2008 at 20:34:35 (EDT)

In the early 1970's when the bank at 2nd and Union Sts. was going to do some remodeling to the old A&P supermarket next store in order to make it their precious metal site, they found coffins during the excavation. Maybe they were from the influenza.
Mel <fitz207@earthlink.net>
Wilmington, DE USA - Friday, April 25, 2008 at 14:59:39 (EDT)

Check out this photo from the Delaware Historical Society: Market Street.__The caption reads: "Market Street looks strange as a four-lane street".__I think it looks normal.__"Strange" would be when they made a mall out if it!__What do you say?
Webmaster <web-master@oldwilmington.net>
Wilmington/Perryville, DE/MD USA - Friday, April 25, 2008 at 06:41:10 (EDT)

Delaware first reported cases on September 27th. Between October 4th and October 14th, there were 389 deaths from influenza registered in the state. Because state officials were often overwhelmed by the pandemic, they often underestimated the number of deaths. It is likely that the actual number of those who died in Delaware during this period was probably much higher. On October 14th, the PHS noted that new cases of influenza in Wilmington and Delaware were increasing at a slower rate than previously. On October 25th, state officials told the PHS that “the situation in Delaware continues to improve day by day. Fewer cases are reported each day and the new cases seem to be of a milder type. Hospital cases have been reduced one-half. It is stated that the improvement began on October 13th.” c1910, The interior of W.B. Danforth Drugs in Wilmington, Delaware. Medicine was in high demand during the pandemic, and numerous claims of ‘cures’ for influenza began to spread. None, however, proved effective. [Credit: The Library of Congress] During the height of the pandemic, the quarantine station at Ready Island (Port Penn) was made into an influenza hospital. State officials in Delaware were so overwhelmed that they tried to send cases to Philadelphia hospitals. These cases were refused as Philadelphia itself was overwhelmed. Liberty parties across the state were canceled. Newspapers reported a shortage of caskets. At the University of Delaware, Alumni Hall, one of the oldest buildings on the campus, became a temporary infirmary. On October 3, 1918, the Delaware State Board of Health met in an emergency session and ordered most of the state shut down to stem the death doll from influenza. Their order read, in part, “Whereas: A very serious epidemic of influenza is now raging in the state of Delaware...to protect the health of the entire citizenship of Delaware...all schools, theatres, all churches, all motion picture houses, all dance halls, all carnivals, fairs and bazaars, all billiard rooms and pool rooms, all bowling alleys in the entire State of Delaware shall be closed and kept closed until further notice.” This order was lifted on October 27th. Influenza remained prevalent throughout the state during the winter and spring of 1919. By the summer, the disease began to disappear from the state.
drufo <drufo1@verizon.net>
wilm, de USA - Thursday, April 24, 2008 at 23:35:58 (EDT)

Joe "Bubbles" Pasquale: after several hours of searching, I cannot find any reference to burials under Union St during the Flu Pandemic, and since I was not born until 1945 I have no memory of it! ;)
Tom Brejwa <brejwa@mchsi.com>
Ocean View, De USA - Thursday, April 24, 2008 at 20:45:06 (EDT)

Joan Ragan Minner - It's ironic. I go on this from time to time and when I saw mention of Kaz's I had to write back. I am one the Krauss' in Elsmere. My day was a great friend of Kaz and hung out at the liqour store all the time. Anyway, the ironic part is, I was looking for my wine opener the other day. Of course couldn't find it, but I did find one from Kaz's store. I still have it after all of these years. What a fun, fun guy.
Linda Clark <lac1053@comcast.net>
Wilmington, DE USA - Thursday, April 24, 2008 at 15:29:04 (EDT)

My question was "Does anyone know if people were buried under Union street during the 1918-1919 Influenza"
Joe "Bubbles" Pasquale <jnpasquale@comcast.net>
wilmington, de USA - Thursday, April 24, 2008 at 10:01:46 (EDT)

Regarding the flu of 1918-19 - it's believed that the next generation's Parkinson's problems were due to that flu's effect on pregnant moms.
Larry Roszkowiak <larry.roszkowiak@ucsf.edu>
San Francisco, CA - Wednesday, April 23, 2008 at 23:34:16 (EDT)

A while ago, I looked at the Wilmington papers for the period of the epidemic. Some stories were terrible. A man recruited neighborhood children to help bury his wife. Not enough gravediggers. In Newport, I believe, a couple died the same night leaving their small children alone. Coffins were in short supply, but one article mentioned that a shipment from Philadelphia was promised shortly. The death lists were very long.
Bill <mcgonigal9@verizon.net>
Townsend, De USA - Wednesday, April 23, 2008 at 22:11:56 (EDT)

Joe Pasquale: Yes, I remember my mother telling me why both MY Grandfather and and Grandmother on her side were not with us. My grandmother died quickly of the flu in 1918. My grandfather was so lost without her he became a heavy drinker and died in a single car accident while driving drunk shortly after her death. It was the first such fatal accident in Florida's history. Not a great claim to fame! They left five orphans.
Al Minne <alminne@msn.com>
Temecula, ca USA - Wednesday, April 23, 2008 at 21:13:40 (EDT)

THIS MESSAGE FOR OLD TIMERS.....DOES ANYONE REMEMBER STORIES ABOUT THE INFLUENZA OF 1918-1919.....ABOUT THE DEATH TOLL..WHEN I WAS YOUNG MY MOTHER TOLD ME STORIES ABOUT PEOPLE DYING LEFT & RIGHT & THAT THEY WERE DYING SO FAST THAT THEY COULD NOT KEEP UP WITH BURYING THEM...AND THAT THEY BURIED A LOT OF PEOPLE UNDER UNION STREET WHEN IT WAS UNDER CONSTRUCTION....MAY BE RAY JUBB OR FRANNY RIZZO HEARD SOME STORIES ....
joe "bubbles" pasquale <jnpasquale@comcast.net>
wilmington, de USA - Wednesday, April 23, 2008 at 20:37:26 (EDT)

To Ruth Peoples,Did you ever work at the Wil.General hospital?
Frannie <MsFrannie@webtv.net>
Wilmington, De USA - Wednesday, April 23, 2008 at 18:47:09 (EDT)

The Land That Made Me, Me ____ Because it is so long and hard to read, I placed the poem on its own page: The Land That Made Me, Me, Webmaster
Tom Brejwa <brejwa@mchsi.com>
Ocean View, De USA - Wednesday, April 23, 2008 at 17:10:48 (EDT)

JERRY TOMCZYK - Your April 5 message is correct. Grandfather Frank Ragan owned Ragan's Bakery until his death in 1954. And yes Kaz and his family lived on Elm Street, we lived at 906 until the 1-95 project took our house. Uncle Zenny and family lived up on Beech Street above Broom.
Joan Ragan Minner <joanminner@comcast.net>
wilmington, de USA - Wednesday, April 23, 2008 at 13:58:02 (EDT)

04/08/02 Who wrote the archive for this date? Did you attend Harlan? If so, which years? Mrs. Nichols was MY fourth grade teacher, and was very patient, when I had trouble learning long-division (after being absent with chicken pox, during the crucial first lessons)...Miss Devore was MY gym teacher too, Mrs. Culver, third grade, and Miss Sharpless taught my sixth grade class. I was there, at the "Frolic", the year the poor dart-the-balloon guy got hit in his arm by one of the dart-throwers. I think Elmer Truitt, from Milltown Rd. supplied the ponies for the pony rides. I didn't get to move on to P.S. duPont, as my family moved to Faulkland Rd. (And that's a whole other ball of... memories)
Ruth "Buz" Peoples <whimsywoman@fastmail.fm>
Sequim, WA USA - Tuesday, April 22, 2008 at 19:56:56 (EDT)

DAVE CAUFFMAN: well just be aware of who you vote for, if you vote!, I see a time coming for another revolution!
Tom Brejwa <brejwa@mchsi.com>
Ocean View, De USA - Tuesday, April 22, 2008 at 19:33:06 (EDT)

Delmer Nicholson: Thank you for your reply to my question about Schwartz's Soda Shop on Hillcrest Ave. I lived on Brandywine Blvd. in the early 50's and remember the lemon phosphates, from the fountain. I was wondering if anyone knows if the store is still there. Different subject: The river at Lenape Park was the Brandywine. And the folks wondering about the Wurlitzer Band Organ: You may find an answer in back issues of "The Carousel Magazine". I do know the mechanism is now in Lahaska, PA., at an antique Mall, purchased by a woman determined to save it... Anyone remember Carol Murphy or Dale Katz, from Harlan School? Miss Dekine was my music teacher also. I sang in the chorus, and remember the beautiful voice of Joan Lefler. Bart Milano, a 6th grade teacher was my first cousin's husband. He passed away a year ago after going on to create the Central Penn Business College near Harrisburg...
Ruth Peoples <whimsywoman@fastmail.fm>
Sequim, WA USA - Tuesday, April 22, 2008 at 18:58:12 (EDT)

HAY TOM MABY WE SHOULD LET THE INDIANS TAKE THE COUNTY BACK AND RUN IT THEY WERE( DOING A GOOD JOB UNTILL THE WHITE MAN TRIED TO SHOW THEM HOW TO DO IT. ( JUST THINK HUNT AND FISH AND THE WOMAN DID ALL THE WORK ) AND WE THOUGHT WE COULD IMPROVE ON THAT.
DAVE CAUFFMAN <CAUFFMANDS@AOL.COM>
HOCKESSIN , DE USA - Tuesday, April 22, 2008 at 18:46:41 (EDT)

The next time you hear a politician use the word 'billion' in a casual manner, think about whether you want the 'politicians' spending your tax money. Accounts Receivable Tax Building Permit Tax CDL License Tax Cigarette Tax Corporate Income Tax Dog License Tax Federal Income Tax Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA) Fishing License Tax Food License Tax Fuel Perm it Tax Gasoline Tax Hunting License Tax Inheritance Tax Inventory Tax IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax), IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax), Liquor Tax, Luxury Tax, Marriage License Tax, Medicare Tax, Property Tax, Real Estate Tax, Service charge taxes, Social Security Tax, Road Usage Tax (Truckers), Sales Taxes, Recreational Vehicle Tax, School Tax, State Income Tax, State Unemployment Tax (SUTA), Telephone Federal Excise Tax, Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax, Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Tax, Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax, Telephone Recurring and Non-recurring Charges Tax, Telephone State and Local Tax, Telephone Usage Charge Tax, Utility Tax, Vehicle License Registration Tax, Vehicle Sales Tax, Watercraft Registration Tax, Well Permit Tax, Workers Compensation Tax. Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago, and our nation was the most prosperous in the world. We had absolutely no national debt, had the largest middle class in the world, and Mom stayed home to raise the kids. What happened? Can you spell 'politicians!'
Tom Brejwa <brejwa@mchsi.com>
Ocean View, De USA - Tuesday, April 22, 2008 at 16:54:25 (EDT)

How many millions of dollars (taxpayers and private investors) and how many times, will it take before the politicians and do gooders finally realize there is NO HOPE for Wilmington. It is a lost cause. Haven't these people ever heard of beating a dead horse? The drug situation gets worse by the day not better, and until you resolve that problem you will never have Wilmington or any other city back. They should take the money they're wasting, and open up a free drug store, for all the druggies and crack heads. Open it up out on South Market Street down by Garashes Lane and the old dump. They can the do their drugs and stagger off in a stupor and die right there on the dump site where they all belong. Maybe after about five to ten years you can then start to thinking once again about revitalization of downtown Wilmington. Until then, you won't see most residents of the State of Delaware anywhere near the place. For everyone out there who disagrees with my comments I'll bet there are a hundred people who agree with me. If it weren't for the businesses located there, Wilmington would be a ghost town during the day as well as night. Don't believe the saying "Build it and they will come."
Wayne <twntydasys@aol.com>
New Castle, DE USA - Tuesday, April 22, 2008 at 15:20:47 (EDT)

RE: CARS BEING BROKEN INTO - About 10 years ago a cousin went to Mass at Saint Patrick's Church for old times sake. Police were circling the church block constantly during services to prevent auto break-ins. While the patrol car was on one side of the block the savages would break into the cars on the other side.
Connie <nospam>
Wilmington, DE USA - Tuesday, April 22, 2008 at 08:53:10 (EDT)

Yes Bruce, what you were referring to was a resurgence of downtown Wikmington in the early to mid 1980's. I invested with a partner and ran a business briefly on Market Street. After five the place was a ghosttown. Many attribute it to the civil unrest that took place there in the late sixties. Mayor Maloney and the Frawley and McLaughlin administrations did their best to revitalize the city but it actually is on the way to become a sister city to Chester, Pa. As for police presence, if the same happened to you today you would be on video camera and the police may arrive depending on priority issues.
Tony <private>
Margate, NJ USA - Tuesday, April 22, 2008 at 08:51:03 (EDT)

I see from the NJ that a restaurant on Market St., 821, is closing and once again the so called resurgence of downtown has taken a hit. When I lived in De, over 25 years ago, the same was going on on Market Street. There was a restaurant on Market St. that was trying to cater to the Yuppies at the time. I forget the name of the restaurant, but I think it was close to 8th and Market. I parked my car on 8th right off of Market and was in the restaurant for about 20 minutes when I was paged to come to the front where a policeman was waiting for me to tell me that my car had been broken into and the police watched it since they were having a sting operation due to all of the car break ins close to this restaurant. It was my last time to go down town after dark. I remember the police protection was always heavy if there was an event at the Grand or a play at the Hotel. It's a shame that the city still is full of people with no regard for the law or each other. Put a fence around the city and let the savages destroy each other. Nothing will change as long as there are no family units and drugs and money are the kings for these uneducated low lifes. Sorry for the rant, but I am tired of the good people in Wilm. being outnumbered by these animals.
Bruce <private>
Sugar Land, TX USA - Tuesday, April 22, 2008 at 08:05:16 (EDT)

April 21 "1947 The first car, a Pontiac, was produced at the newly constructed General Motors plant at Boxwood Road in Wilmington."
Connie <nospam>
Wilmington, DE USA - Monday, April 21, 2008 at 08:48:37 (EDT)

Marty NO BUT I KNEW THEM BOTH WELL FRAN
Francis Rizzo <frannyrizzo @aol.com>
wilm, de USA - Sunday, April 20, 2008 at 16:37:35 (EDT)

franny rizzo: Were you on the Wilm High football team with Joe Dellose and Al Trib?
marty l <private>
Deerfield Beach, Fl USA - Sunday, April 20, 2008 at 12:45:55 (EDT)

This is for Ralph and The Kid thanks for the kind words for Ray yes buddy did have the patent on the barrels and Bill your last name rings a bell but caint place it Fran
francis rizzo <frannyrizzo@aol.com>
wilm , de USA - Saturday, April 19, 2008 at 19:12:27 (EDT)

Francis Rizzo: Way To Go!___May you enjoy many more years in good health!
TheKid <private>
Wilm, DE USA - Saturday, April 19, 2008 at 18:31:54 (EDT)

Thanks, Francis. I never pass that block that I don't think of Rizzo's.
Bill <mcgonigal9@verizon.net>
Townsend, de USA - Saturday, April 19, 2008 at 17:10:35 (EDT)

FRANCIS RIZZO, MY FRIEND YOU AND YOUR FAMILY WERE A PART OF WILMINGTON HISTORY, AND I KNOW YOUR CHILDREN , GRAND CHILDREN AND GREAT GRAND CHILDREN ARE VERY PROUD OF YOU .
RALPH PRYOR <REPJFK@AOL.COM>
TARPON SPRINGS, FL USA - Saturday, April 19, 2008 at 13:15:58 (EDT)

F. Rizzo : Didn't your Brother Buddy develop and have a patent on what we all now see as Orange and White plastic barrels on our highways?
Ray Jubb <golfopera@comcast.net>
Wilmington, De. USA - Saturday, April 19, 2008 at 11:00:24 (EDT)

TO RAYAND BILL YES IAM FROM THE SAME FAMILY BO BUDDY AND CHAPPY WERE MY BROTHERS ALSO HAD JOE RUDY VINCENT AND ALBERT. BILL MY DAD HAD THE BOTTLING SHOP FROM 1911 TO 1954 WHEN HE DIED ALBERT AND BUDDY HAD IT FOR 2 YEARS AND WERE GOING TO GIVE UP BUDDY WENT ON TO DEL. AND MIT,ALBERT GOT MARRIED TOOK A JOB WITH FRAIMS DAIRY WE HAD 13 BOTTLERS IN WILM AT ONE I WAS THE LAST TO GO IT WAS HARD TO KEEP UP WITH THE CHANGES SCREW CAPS,PLASTIC, THROW AWAY BOTTLES 6PK 8PK SELF PALATIZING SHRINK WRAP.I HATED TO GO BUT LOOKING BACK I WOULD HAVE HAD TO GO ANYWAY. THE MAIN REASON I LEFT I WAS IN THAT URBAN RENEWAL TOOK THE PROPERTY BY EMMMINIT DOMAIN I WAS IN COURT FOR 3 YEARS FIGHTING IT THEY WANTED TO MOVE ME AT MY AGE THEN I DID NOT THINK THAT WAS I GOOD IDEA.AS I LOK BACK IN ALL CAME OUT FOR THE GOOD I WAS WITH THE OPERATING ENGINEERS UNION BEFORE WAS ABLE GET BACK IN AND RETIRED FROM THERE. IN GOOD HEALTH 88 YRS WONDERFUL WIFE 82 3CHILDREN 7 GR CHILDREN HAD GOOD LIFE HOPE THIS IS NOT BORING FOR OTHERS TO READ
francis rizzo <frannyrizzo>
wilm, de USA - Saturday, April 19, 2008 at 10:40:55 (EDT)

Ray, I know what you mean about women who raise children without the help of a man. My Mother was divorced when I was too young to remember, and she worked, (many times two jobs) to raise me. She also had the sense about her to make me her only child. I didn't see my Dad after he remarried. I'm sure many a Father in that position can relate. He did however, continue to pay support. That's not to say there weren't any rough times. Once she was sick for a week and with no money coming in, I scrounged around and came across a commemorative coin she had. I found a collector and sold it to buy food. We made it, but only because of her determination. She never looked for a handout from the government even though she worked and paid taxes. At times I wore my cousins hand me down clothes (and they didn't have a designers label on them). They were clean, that's all that mattered. It takes a solid background, a good work ethic, determination, and perseverance to make in this world, but if you apply yourself instead of just laying back and saying, they'll take care of me, you can make it, and do very well for yourself. It's America, the land of opportunity. Why do you think all these people want to come here and WORK?
Wayne <twntydasys@aol.com>
New Castle, DE USA - Saturday, April 19, 2008 at 10:33:28 (EDT)

Does anyone know what ever happened to Abe and Jack Lewis who owned the Liquor Store on Market just a few houses up from Vandever Avenue? Summers they sat in front of their shop and chatted with passers by.
Connie <nospam>
Wilmington, DE USA - Saturday, April 19, 2008 at 09:28:06 (EDT)

Ray Jubb: Sorry. Rose Aprile Conaway died on May 27, 2001, not 2007.
Bill <mcgonigal9@verizon.net>
Townsend, de USA - Friday, April 18, 2008 at 23:44:53 (EDT)

Ray Jubb: Rose Aprile was married to Wm. H. Conaway, who once owned Conaway Liquors on E. 4th. She died on May 27, 2007. Her husband, Bill [Bill's Liquor store], died in July of 2005. They were married for 58 years. He eventually retired from the Memorial Bridge. He served in WWII and was awarded a purple heart and bronze star by Gen. Patton. According to the obituaries, April still lives in the Wilmington area. Both obits are on delawareonline.com.
Bill <mcgonigal9@verizon.net>
Townsend, De USA - Friday, April 18, 2008 at 23:40:21 (EDT)

Wayne I agree with what your saying however, I think the first thing they must learn is that "FAMILY" means a MOTHER a FATHER and then children. Not Mother and then a child and another child and another and on and on. There are many women I understand that have children out of wedlock and do a fantastic job raising their children, they just don't live in Wilmington.
Ray Jubb <golfopera@comcast.net>
Wilmington, De USA - Friday, April 18, 2008 at 23:13:05 (EDT)

Francis Rizzo : I lived at Read and Jackson Streets and went to St. Paul's with Buddy Rizzo from Front & Adams and I also new BoBo and Chappy and Chappy Rizzo.
Ray Jubb <golfopera@comcast.net>
Wilmington, De. USA - Friday, April 18, 2008 at 22:26:09 (EDT)

Francis Rizzo: was it your family that had the soda bottling company? If so, why not share some of that history?
Bill <mcgonigal9@verizon.net>
Townsend, De USA - Friday, April 18, 2008 at 19:17:51 (EDT)

Wayne, re: Free Drugs and the Street. My sentiments exactly. But HOW?
Bob Wilson Jr <wilso127@yahoo.com>
Beaufort, SC USA - Friday, April 18, 2008 at 18:32:02 (EDT)

NO RALPH WENT TO #3, #4 BAYARD WILM HIGH I'LL BE 89 OCT SO I GO WAY I WAS BORN AND RAISED AT FRONT AND ADAMS WE HAD A BIG FAMILY 8 BOYS AND 2 GIRLS YOU HAD TO KNOW ONE OF US.I SURE DO LIKE TO READ THESE POSTINGS I HAVE BEEN READIND THEM FOR FOR OR FIVE YEARS I CAN PUT SHOES IN ALL THE NAMES PLACES THAT ARE MENTIONED AS FOR THE PERSON WHO MENTINED BOBBY LEVINE HE BECAME A REAL ESTATE SALESMAN AND HIS WIFE WENT TO WORK FOR THE BRDY SCHOOL BOARD. ALSO RAY GOT IT RIGHT WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO WILM.
FRANCIS RIZZO <FRANNYRIZZO@AOL.COM>
WILM, DE USA - Friday, April 18, 2008 at 18:20:41 (EDT)

Ray, Did you read a little further down in that same article and see how the good citizens of Wilmington are blaming the situation on the lack of job training programs within the city. It went on to say the only way to fix the city's problems is by improving peoples economic conditions. I am of the opinion that these lazy bums wouldn't work no matter what job skills they were taught. Some of the people in Wilmington have been on public assistance for so many generations, that they wouldn't consider working as an alternative. Until you change that mentality and take away the opportunity for a kid to make more money running drugs than he can actually working you will never improve the situation. Let's look at this realistically, if you can make a thousand dollars a week standing on a corner and hanging out with your cronies, versus going to some place of business and having to be a responsible person, taking directions from a boss, and actually performing some kind of labor forty hours a week, for three hundred bucks which are you going to choose? Can you blame these people. Then they get into turf wars, and guess how that ends. All the job training in the world isn't going to change those economic truths. Add to that the fact that there is NO work ethic and hasn't been for generations, what do you expect? The real answer is to give the drugs away. Take away the profit, and the dealers won't have anything to fight about. They're going to do drugs anyway, why have people beating up little old ladies and robbing stores to get money to buy drugs. Let them kill themselves by overdosing, that's what's going to happen anyway. At least this way it is not the burden on society that it is now. Maybe then we would get our cities back.
Wayne <twntydasys@aol.com>
New Castle, DE USA - Friday, April 18, 2008 at 17:25:56 (EDT)

HI FRANCIS RIZZO , I WAS NOT ON THE FORCE AT THE TIME OF THAT RAID AT 3RD. KING ST. ,(WENT ON IN 1956 )WHERE THE INFORMER WAS BEATEN , BUT REMEMBER READING ABOUT IT IN THE LOCAL PAPER . FRANCIS , IN THE WORDS OF GILBERT AND SULLIVAN WHO WROTE MANY A OPERETTA, A POLICEMENS LOT , IS NOT A HAPPY ONE ! IN OTHER WORDS , THEY ARE DAMMED IF THEY DO ,AND DAMMED IF THEY DONT. . BY THE WAY FRANCIS , DID YOU GO TO LORE SCHOOL ? YOUR NAME RINGS A BELL .
RALPH PRYOR <REPJFK@AOL.COM>
TARPON SPRINGS, FL USA - Friday, April 18, 2008 at 16:59:09 (EDT)

and! sorry to say ,it has spread all the way to the congress.
Tom Brejwa <brejwa@mchsi.com>
Ocean View, De USA - Friday, April 18, 2008 at 16:42:23 (EDT)

To all those old Wilmingtonians who have moved from our fair City and now live in far away places: We here in Wilmington had great headlines to read this week. "Wilmington records it's 11th murder in four Months". NOW all the Politicians are screaming for the Mayor and Police Chief to get tougher on the hoodlums and drug dealers on our Streets. The funny thing is I know from experience as do the Mayor and Chief, that as soon as the Police start getting tougher on the scumbags and one of them is hurt, the same Politicians who are calling for tougher standards will be the same Politicians that will be crying for the Chief's head and screaming "Police Brutality". I would not have Chief Szczerba"s job for all the tea in China. I know the Chief, He was a rookie when I left the Department and a finer man could not be found for the job, he is a dedicated professional and I'm sorry to say has to put up with some real jackasses for Politicians in this City.
Ray Jubb <golfopera@comcast.net>
Wilmington, De. USA - Friday, April 18, 2008 at 16:36:06 (EDT)

Bruce Sorry I ment they made 30% comm Pay off was 5 to 1 60 dollaes a day more than tyey were making back then
FRANCIS RIZZO <frannyrizzo@aol.com>
wilm , de USA - Friday, April 18, 2008 at 15:04:48 (EDT)

Wayne, your posts make me think we are in the same age group and from the same neighborhood. I was on 9th St near Madison and the Chocolate Shop. Sold newspapers on the corner of ninth and Jefferson for a nickel in 1953. I sometimes put together enough of those nickels to buy a slice from the original Serpe's on Madison for a quarter. The only place you could get a real Sicilian pizza.
Ray Zelano <RZelano@aol.com>
New Castle, De USA - Friday, April 18, 2008 at 14:53:39 (EDT)

Ralph or Ray WHERE EITHER OF YOU ON THE FORCE WHEN THERE WAS TO BE A RAID AT A CLUB OVER BIG BENS SHOE STORE 3RD AND KING ST THERE WAS AN INFORMER WHO WAS TO GET IN THE CLUB AND OPEN A SECOND STORY WINDOW FOR THE POLICE TO GET IN FOR A RAID BUT THE CLUB ALSO HAD AN INFORMER THEY GOT THE GUY BEAT HIM UP AND PUT HIM OUT. A NOTHER RAID OF A JIONT ON TATNALL ST BETWEEN 8TH AND 9TH THE PLACE WAS PRETTY SECURE BUT THAT HAD A GUY FROM VICE TO ACT LIKE A TELEPHONE EMPLOYEE HE WENT AROUND BACK OF BUILDING CLIMB A LATTER PUT ON A CRASH HELMET DOVE THRU 2ND STORY WINDOW ''GOT THERE MAN '
francis rizzo <frannyrizzo>
wilm, de USA - Friday, April 18, 2008 at 14:22:42 (EDT)

Bruce there were stores all over east side west side s. wilm browntown also there were fellows that walk the streets taking numbers,ther was afellow who worked at GM WHO HAD A BOOK OF OVER 200 DOLLARS A DAY AT 5% PLUS 10% IF YOU HIT MOSTLY ALL SHOP HAD WRITERS. AS FOR Ralph DO DID YOU KNOW HARRY TOWERS? Who became a warden back in the 40's he tried to clean the city up?
francis rizzo <frannyrizzo@aol'com>
wilm , de USA - Friday, April 18, 2008 at 13:14:48 (EDT)

For RALPH PRYOR IVE GOT TO AGREE WITH YOUR STORY ON BOOKIES, THEY ALL RESPECTED THE POLICE AND VICE SQUAD I REMEMBER when one bookie died, there were alot of police who attented the funeral.You left out a good few Joe Donahue, Paul Tidwell, Marty Krasnick Paul DiEleuterio, The raids were like games between the two, but they all got locked one time other, but there were no hard feelings,after police retired some become friends
francis rizzo <frannyrizzo@aol.com>
wilm, de USA - Friday, April 18, 2008 at 11:14:17 (EDT)

Conaway Liquors - 317 E. 4th St.
Bill <mcgonigal9@verizon.net>
Townsend, de USA - Friday, April 18, 2008 at 11:10:04 (EDT)

April 18 "1954 The Wilmington's Sunday Star newspaper ceased operations after 73 years." I remember their roto-comics - they were on shiny paper instead of news print and were in a magazine size format instead of newspaper size. Missed them when they stopped.
Connie <nospam>
Wilmington, DE USA - Friday, April 18, 2008 at 08:36:58 (EDT)

IN REGARDS TO PETE APRIL AND BRUNO PEPE,JOE DONLIN, BULL COLUMBO AND ALL THE REST OF THE NUMBER WRITTERS AND BOOKIES. FIRST OF ALL , I NEVER MET A BOOKIE OR NUMBER WRITTER I DID NOT LIKE ! ----- DONT GET ME WRONG I WAS A VICE COP ,AND ARRESTED MANY OF THE GAMBLERS IN THE CITY THAT WAS ONCE THE GREAT CITY OF WILMINGTON, DE. WE WOULD ARREST THESE MEN, MOSTLY MEN ,THEY NEVER CRIED OR TRYED TO SPIT IN YOUR FACE ETC..THEY WOULD SAY ----YOU GOT ME. TWO ARREST BACK IN THE LATE 50,S I REMEMBER SO WELL. IN THE 300 BLOCK OF EAST 4TH. ST. WAS A BOOKIE JOINT . YOU WALK IN , GO TO THE JUKE BOX ,PRESS A SELECTION, A VOICE WOULD COME FROM THE JUKE BOX ----WHAT RACE , AND WHAT TRACK AND HOW MUCH ? WE BUSTED THIS JOINT . AND IT MADE THE PAPERS IN OTHER STATES , AND ALSO A DETECTIVE MAGAZINE. ANOTHER BOOKIE AND NUMBERS JOINT , WHICH BY THE WAY WAS IN THE EAST 4TH. ST. AREA .WHEN WE HIT IT , THEY FLUSHED THE BET SLIPS AND NUMBERS DOWN THE TOLIET IN PING PONG BALLS. A INFORMER HAD TOLD US ----THAT IF THEY WERE HIT BY THE VICE SQUAD, THAT WOULD BE THERE WAY OF GETTING RID OF THE EVIDANCE. WE WERE IN THE SEWER WITH A CRAB NET , BROKE THE PIPE CONECTED TO THERE TOLIET WITH THE HELP OF A STREET AND SEWER MAN , -----NO HIS NAME WAS NOT EDD NORTON ! WELL ANY WAY WE GOT THE EVIDANCE ,AND GOT THEM ! SOME OF THE OFFICERS ON THE RAIDING PARTY I BELIEVE, WERE PAUL COHEN, JERRY MACKEY, PATROLMAN JESTER, AND SGT, CALLAHAN. AND I. LIKE I SAID , IT WAS IN THE LATE 50,S .BUT I AM PRETTY SURE ABOUT THE OFFICERS THAT WERE THERE WERE SO MANY CRAZY RAIDS , IT WAS NOT ALL FUN BELIEVE ME. LIKE EATING YOUR LUNCH ( A SUB) AND A BEER ----WE WERE ALLOWED TO DRINK ( VICE SQUAD ) IN A HOUSE THAT WAS CONDEMNED BY THE BOARD OF HEALTH. AND WHILE WE WERE EATING OUR LUNCH , IN THE NEXT ROOM WAS THE REMAINS OF A LARGE DOG. IT WAS NOT ALL PEACHES AND CREAM, BUT I WOULD NOT TRADE THOSE DAYS FOR A OFFICE JOB AT DUPONTS, ETC..
RALPH PRYOR <REPJFK@AOL.COM>
TARPON SPRINGS, FL USA - Thursday, April 17, 2008 at 23:37:14 (EDT)

One guy used to conduct some of his numbers business by carrier pigeon.
Jerry T. <sandybeach1@mchsi.com>
Dagsboro, De. USA - Thursday, April 17, 2008 at 21:36:06 (EDT)

Pat, Pete April's daughter was Conway. I can't remember her first name but when I walked the beat down the East side Pete had a numbers/horse parlor on 4th Street between Walnut Street and Poplar Street, North side of the Street. His daughter married a guy named Conway and they opened a Liquor store in the same block and had a daughter herself that she named April Conway.
Ray Jubb <golfopera@comcast.net>
Wilmington, De. USA - Thursday, April 17, 2008 at 18:56:28 (EDT)

When I worked at Wilm. Finishing Co. in the early 70's there was a guy who you could play the numbers with. I was told that he made more money with the numbers than his job. I'm sure there are still places around Wilm where you could place a bet.
Bruce <private>
Sugar Land, TX USA - Thursday, April 17, 2008 at 13:23:04 (EDT)

What was Pete April's daughter's name?
Pat LeVan <levan1706@bellsouth.net>
Port St. Lucie, FL USA - Thursday, April 17, 2008 at 13:11:39 (EDT)

i remember a smoke filled room with a large chalk board 2 doors down from the union street news on union stree. I was too small to know what was going on..and only later did i put 1 and 1 together...i also remember old men with pug dogs and cigars ...wierd
drufo <drufo@verizon.net>
wilm, de USA - Thursday, April 17, 2008 at 12:50:32 (EDT)

you could also roll the dice or bet a horse or play a number at a couple of corner joints on lincoln street back in the day
oldeschool55 <oldeschool55@yahoo.com>
wilmington, de USA - Thursday, April 17, 2008 at 12:47:08 (EDT)

RAY ! Yes i seen the obit. about Pete's daughter Iknew pete well, RAY about the local crap joints, they are a thing of the past
JOE "BUBBLES" PASQUALE <jnpasquale@comcast.net>
wilmington, de USA - Wednesday, April 16, 2008 at 23:50:38 (EDT)

To "Joe Bubbles" I won't bust your "Bubble" on the Crap joints question, but did you happen to take notice this past week in the obits that Pete Aprils daughter passed away. I ask you this because if you know about the gambling joints, you must have known Pete April, yes or no.
Ray Jubb <golfopera@comcast.net>
Wilmington, De. USA - Wednesday, April 16, 2008 at 22:27:21 (EDT)

Tony: You need to go to Serpe's, they are now the only ones left that Sell good Italian Bread. Also Mr Serpe (my uncle) worked for DiFonzo's when they first opened before he opened his bakery on madison Street back in the 50'S.
Jerry Lank <transworldtsl@delaware.usa.com>
Marco Island, FL USA - Wednesday, April 16, 2008 at 22:15:59 (EDT)

Phyllis: The Olliver's owned the Dearhead Hotdog Recipe and before they sold it they had offered it to me thru a friend of mine Carl Hill and I turned it down. I don't know whether or not the Oliveres are stil in Wilmington but I knew Louie who used to come in my Store on Concord Ave.
Jerry Lank <transworldtsl@delaware.usa.com>
Marco Island, Fl USA - Wednesday, April 16, 2008 at 21:56:17 (EDT)

The new library in Hockessin just opened this month. Haven't been there yet but looks nice on the outside.
Mary Ann <MacCbc2003@aol.com>
Hockessin, DE USA - Wednesday, April 16, 2008 at 19:44:58 (EDT)

Has anyone seen the DELDOT live traffic cam site?, pretty cool to ck the congestion live!,,, http://www.deldot.gov/public.ejs?command=PublicLocatableMap
Tom Brejwa <brejwa@mchsi.com>
Ocean View, De USA - Wednesday, April 16, 2008 at 16:03:26 (EDT)

The Kirkwood Library is now closed. A new library is being built on the same site. We will keep you posted on the progress of the new Kirkwood Library. Demolition of the old building took place on March 20, 2008. Thanks to all our patrons for your support and patience. Below and to the left are architects' renderings of the new library. We plan to post photos here of the new building as it takes shape. heres the link,,,,http://www.nccde.org/kirkwood/home/webpage1.asp
Tom Brejwa <brejwa@mchsi.com>
Ocean View, De USA - Wednesday, April 16, 2008 at 14:34:25 (EDT)

I've probably missed it in the papers, but in the way of info. what is happening to the public library on the Kirkwood Highway? (on the way to Newark). It has been torn down just recently. That library didn't seem old enough to be demolished. It is always crowded when you go in - did they need a bigger/better place?
Phyllis B. <pboyd 52@comcast.net>
Wilm., DE USA - Wednesday, April 16, 2008 at 13:48:46 (EDT)

I remember The Park Theatre well. On Saturdays friends and I would sit in the front row and watch the same Tom Mix, Gene Autrey, Roy Rogers or UFO flick. You couldn't get into too much trouble there because, as I recall, there was no balcony! The previews were nearly as good as the movies because they always had a news section with vivid depictions of our boys in Korea and what they were going through in Seoul, The Chosan Reservoir etc. The TV news didn't do that back then.
jim rambo <rammymex@yahoo.com>
ajijic, jalisco Mexico - Wednesday, April 16, 2008 at 10:28:47 (EDT)

DRUFO - same thing happened to the Strand Theatre near 25th and Market and to Enright's Candy Kitchen, 22nd and Market. They were both made into 'churches'.
Connie <nospam>
Wilmington, DE USA - Wednesday, April 16, 2008 at 09:08:04 (EDT)

I graduated from St.Thomas in 1966. Never went to the Park Movie Theatre.
Art <private>
newark, de USA - Wednesday, April 16, 2008 at 09:03:21 (EDT)

The entire St. Thomas School walked over to the Park Theater to watch the 10 COmmandments. I got out of St. Thomas in June of '62 so it was before that. I think we paid 10 cents each. Regular childrens was 25 cents. We'd walk over from Colonial Heights on Saturday morning with 5 cents to buy some spanish peanuts at Hoys 5 and dime to take to the Park Theater to watch the latest thrilling release.
Fred Best <fred.best@usa.dupont.com>
Wilmington, DE USA - Wednesday, April 16, 2008 at 08:52:43 (EDT)

After the unfortunate split of the great comedy team of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, caught Jerry's debut film the "delicate delinquent" at the Park in 1967.
marty <private>
Deerfield Beach, Fl USA - Wednesday, April 16, 2008 at 08:45:23 (EDT)

My brother and sister went to St.Anthonys grade school around 1970-71 Mary and Peter.
Art <private>
newark, de USA - Wednesday, April 16, 2008 at 08:15:38 (EDT)

I remember the park theater...but not while in operation..It had become a church and remained a place of worship until the early 90s when it was torn down...my brother larry says he remembers seeing godzila movies there on sat.
drufo <drufo1@verizon.net>
wilm, de USA - Wednesday, April 16, 2008 at 07:30:22 (EDT)

I can't spell worth a darn, but hey, if we can't figure out a few incorrectly spelled words at our age, shame on us! I like a saying I saw on a bumper sticker: Wouldn't It Be Nice If Life Had a Pause and Rewind Button?"
TheKid <private>
Wilm, DE USA - Tuesday, April 15, 2008 at 20:44:21 (EDT)

ART - according to the pull down menu, the Park at the 300 block of Union closed in 1967.
Connie <nospam>
Wilmington, DE USA - Tuesday, April 15, 2008 at 17:40:09 (EDT)

HI BRUCE, IN REGARDS TO THE 9TH. CLAYTON ST. RESERVOIR. ABOUT SEVEN YEARS AGO . I WAS IN DEL TO VISIT FAMILY AND FRIENDS. WANTED TO SEE THE OLD NEIGHBORHOOD . A FRIEND AND I WALKED TO THE PARK GUARDS HOUSE OBSERVED THE DOOR HAD BEEN BADLY DAMAGED . THERE WAS FILTH WRITTEN IN PAINT ALL OVER THE WALLS AND SAID DOOR. THE FAMOUS THREE STORY TOWER WAS NO LONGER THERE. THIS WAS IN MID. NOV. I NOTICED THAT THERE WAS NO ONE WALKING IN THE AREA. . MY FRIEND AND I REMEMBERED THE GOOD TIMES ON THE RESERVOIR, PLAYING FOOTBALL, SLEDDING. GOING IN SIDE TO TALK TO PRESS KENNEDY THE PARK GUARD. NOW IT WAS LIKE A CEMETARY ! WAS NOTHING LEFT BUT THE GHOST OF THINGS ! (AS TAKEN FROM A FAMOUS POEM )ON MY NEXT VISIT TO WILMINGTON, WAS SHOCKED TO SEE THE BAD GUY,S WALL HAD BEEN ERECTED . ABOUT A 12 FT. FENCE . WAS TOLD BY ONE OF THE OLD NEIGHBORS WHO STILL LIVED ON THE BLOCK , THAT DOPE PUSHERS AND SEX PERVERTS HAD TAKEN OVER THE RESERVOIR. AND THATS WHY THE FENCE WAS INSTALLED. I GUESS IT WAS THE EASY WAY OUT FOR THE MAYOR AND THE POLICE CHIEF. DONT START LOCKING UP THE PUSHERS AND PERVERTS WHO BOTHERED THE CHILDREN , JUST TURN A BEAUTIFUL PARK INTO A GRAVE YARD. BUT IN THE WINTER MONTHS------THOSE SNOW FILLED HILLS ,ARE GOING TO WASTE. YOU THINK THE GOOD PEOPLE OF THAT AREA WOULD HAVE YELLED OUT IN ANGER . A GOOD TIME , WOULD HAVE BEEN DURING ELECTION MONTH. . OH , MY . THOSE KIDS DONT KNOW WHAT THEY ARE MISSING. AND YOU HAVE TO BLAME IT ALL ON -----THE CITY MAYOR AND HIS PUPPET POLICE CHIEF.
RALPH PRYOR <REPJFK@AOL.COM>
TARPON SPRINGS, FL USA - Tuesday, April 15, 2008 at 17:38:44 (EDT)

Anybody remember the Park movie theatre on 4th & Union St.?
Art <private>
newark, de USA - Tuesday, April 15, 2008 at 16:30:29 (EDT)

Thank you, Bob Wilson, for the compliment. I, too, lived in the 9th Ward, on 37th street just a few houses down from the Playground at Harlan School. I remember sitting on the curb across the street from the school and watching the first swing set installed on the playground there. There was a time when I could remember the order that the equipment was installed: the slides and the merry-go-round and the jungle jim (there were two of them) and all the rest. Now all of that equipment has been removed. I remember my friends from that time: Herbie Mittleman and Jimmy Snowden and Brian Colburn, Darwin Palmer and Billy Missimer, Butch McCulley and Tommy Haldas, all boys who also went to Harlan School. There were others of course. Phyllis B. was wondering what had become of the beautiful counters from Bobby Levine's drug store on Vandever Ave. and Jerry wondered what had happened to that old oil truck that his friends would play around parked on top of the hill at Franklin and Oak. I've wondered, too, about what has become of all that playground equipment, metal shined and polished to a dull gleam from years of overalls and dresses and little hands, sliding and swinging and holding on for "dear life." Scientists tell us that all of the "stuff" that this world is made of originated from old stars that have burned out, scattering their elements that then coalesce into what we see now as the material universe. Somehow I'm comforted by the thought that all of that stuff that we wonder about: the playground equipment at Harlan and the old oil truck, and even Bobby Levine's drugstore counters, began their journey--long before being fashioned into the things of this earth--as star dust. And that in the infinite time that lies ahead they may well be recycled again and again, into stars and the dust from those stars and the elements of some other earth-like planet and then, finally, after that unimaginably long journey, we may be delighted by these things again when we discover them fashioned into the beautiful soda-fountain counter at Bobby Levine's Drug Store, a gleaming new oil truck, and a sliding board that will be burnished anew by our playground filled with children.
Danny Stat <daniel@statnekov.com>
Salt Spring Island, B.C. Canada - Tuesday, April 15, 2008 at 16:25:02 (EDT)

Connie, I worked at Diamond and Yellow Cab Co. filling the cabs with gas and washing them. I made a whopping $1.10/hr. What a job. Mon-Thursday 8:00 to 4:00 Friday/Sat. Midnight to 8:00AM and Sunday 4:00PM to Midnight. And I had enough money to get by for a 19 year old.
Bruce <private>
Sugar Land, TX USA - Tuesday, April 15, 2008 at 14:07:10 (EDT)

To Danny Stat - Re: you comment below to Phyllis B...absolutely eloquent and my sentiments exactly. But my dislike is talking on the telephone (although Phyllis recently shamed me into calling and speaking at length after 50-plus years to my old 9th Ward friend Don Walker in Maple Ridge, BC, Canada...which was one of the great half-hours of my recent life) and/or writing longhasnd or typed letters that need to be put into an envelope, addressed, stamped, and mailed. That"s why I love email, the Internet, and reading and posting on this Wilmington Nostalgia site.
Bob Wilson Jr <wilso127@yahoo.com>
Beaufort, SC USA - Tuesday, April 15, 2008 at 10:21:30 (EDT)

Phyllis B.: I think the memories are a delicious (and sometimes not so) aftertaste of our well-lived lives. No need to stop time (or even find a way to give pause to it), although sometimes when I feel time rushing by, seeemingly so fast, I feel a pang of existential anxiety; the pang that perhaps many of us also feel when we are deeply conscious of how quickly the time of our lives pass by. Now I relish every moment with my children (grown or nearly-so) and my siblings, and I make whatever efforts I can to cross paths with them. The real key to life that I've discovered, Phyllis, is to be as present as I can in every moment. This seems so simple when I read or write it out, but just being fully present, giving our total presence to every phone call and the intereactions with others that cross our path is, what I've discovered to be, the key to living my life fully. As my friend Laura likes to tell me: "Now go and enjoy the day!"
Danny Stat <daniel@statnekov.com>
Salt Spring Island, B.C. Canada - Monday, April 14, 2008 at 17:10:43 (EDT)

Sellers Park is still there, N.market and edgemoor rd
Tom Brejwa <brejwa@mchsi.com>
Ocean View, De USA - Monday, April 14, 2008 at 17:02:49 (EDT)

Maybe we've done this subject before, but I'm not sure. Where was Sellers Estate or Sellers Park?. I can't find anything on any of the pull-down menus. If it is gone, what is there today in place of it?
Phyllis B. <P.Boyd52 @comcast.net>
Wilm., DE USA - Monday, April 14, 2008 at 16:54:52 (EDT)

Anybody out there from St.Lizzy 1970?
Bob <private>
newark, de USA - Monday, April 14, 2008 at 16:05:58 (EDT)

it was 1967
oldeschool55 <oldeschool55@yahoo.com>
wilmington, de USA - Monday, April 14, 2008 at 12:30:45 (EDT)

i kissed my first girl up at the clayton st resovoir! i was in the 6th grade and so was she. shortly afterwards her famil;y moved away,never saw her again.
oldeschool55 <oldeschool55@yahoo.com>
wilmington, de USA - Monday, April 14, 2008 at 12:29:28 (EDT)

Ralph, What's going on at the Clayton St. reservoir? I've been away from Wilm. for awhile and your posts about perverts makes me wonder what is going on there. Sorry to hear another place for kids to play has disappeared. Thanks.
Bruce <Private>
Sugar Land, TX USA - Monday, April 14, 2008 at 08:48:26 (EDT)

P{hyllis B.T: yes at times we all do, seems I was born with a natural affinity for drums, started at 6 myself! Uncle got me a Spike Jones toy set on my 6th birthday!
Tom Brejwa <brejwa@mchsi.com>
Ocean View, De USA - Saturday, April 12, 2008 at 20:39:17 (EDT)

Tom - I probably have the same window as you. It's the click that doesn't go through. This must happen to several others, as often posts are printed twice in order. As far as your getting it right the first time, that was good! We all get something right the first time. The first time I sat at a piano (age 6) I knew I had it right. Bass clef, treble clef, sharps, flats and naturals all came easy to me. The actual lessons came next. Not bragging, nor were you, just letting you know we all get something right the first time.
P{hyllis B.T <pboyd 52@comcast.net>
Wilm., DEkT USA - Saturday, April 12, 2008 at 20:32:02 (EDT)

Don't you just hate it when your addition posts twice. It would be nice if the Webmaster got rid of the second one as soon as possible. I think this is the fault of the computer, not letting you know whether your orig. query has taken. You think it hasn't and you push the clicker again.
Phyllis B. <pboyd52@ comcast.net>
Wilm., DE USA - Saturday, April 12, 2008 at 18:42:11 (EDT)

Yes, Danny Stat, in a way it would be wonderful for time to stand still or somehow we could bottle a precise moment and let it out now and then for a pleasant remembrance. Were times really that exciting, or was it because we were so darned young? I remember being 11 or 12 and sitting at a soda fountain in Bobby Levine's drug store at Vandever Ave. and Church and ordering a cherry phosphate or a chocolate coke. Whatever happened to those wondrous counters? I remember the combined smell of beer on tap, wine and cigarettes (peanut shells on the wooden floors) at Mickey Shaughnessey's night club in Wildwood. Heady stuff for a 16 yr. old girl, who shouldn't even have been there. Was I really having the time of my life? It seemed like it then. Funnily enough, those things seem to have fallen apart sliding seamlessly by as I went in a moment from 1950 to 2008. Just as Phillip Roth said.
Phyllis B <pboyd52@ccomcast.net>
Wilm., DE USA - Saturday, April 12, 2008 at 18:24:17 (EDT)

Does anyone remember the old, abandoned oil truck(without the cab)on top of the hill on Franklin and Oak Sts.? We used to climb up on it and play. This was in the 50's. Now, I think, there are townhouses or condos there.
Jerry T. <sandybeach1@mchsi.com>
Dagsboro, De. USA - Saturday, April 12, 2008 at 17:30:47 (EDT)

We all have ice cream memories that speak to the most carefree times in our lives. I remember that some of the corner grocery stores used to sell little dixie cups that you got with a wooden paddle for a spoon. There were pictures of cowboys and movie stars on the inside of the cardboard lid of the cup. I sort of remember a very thin piece of paper (that you had to peel back to fully see the picture)which protected the picture on the inside of the lid from being damaged by the ice cream. By the time we had walked home, the lid and its picture along with the wooden spoon and the empty cup had found their way into some trash can along the way. I think I'll go out and get some ice cream for tonight; Ben and Jerry's "Cherry Garcia" is a recent favorite.
Danny Stat <daniel@statnekov.com>
Salt Spring Island, BC Canada - Saturday, April 12, 2008 at 16:39:49 (EDT)

HI MARY, MY POOR SPELLING IS A CURSE ON ME. WHY I DONT GO INTO MY LITTLE DICTIONARY MORE OFTEN I DONT KNOW.BUT WHAT EVER WAY YOU SPELL IT ----PERVERT OR PERFERT . I STILL SAY . TAKE THAT HORRIBLE FENCE DOWN AT THE CLAYTON ST. RESERVOIR. ( spelled that right ) AND TURN THE WIM. VICE SQUAD LOOSE ON THOSE SCUM BAGS . LET THE CHILDREN HAVE SOME FUN SLEDDING ETC. . MARY . IF I MAKE YOU LAUGH WITH MY POOR SPELLING . THEN YOU HAVE MADE ME HAPPY. GOD BLESS.
RALPH PRYOR <REPJFK@AOL.COM>
TARPON SPRINGS, FL USA - Saturday, April 12, 2008 at 15:41:04 (EDT)

Wayne: Yes, I remember Jimmy's up on Washington St. You're absolutely right when you say nothing, (not even Breyers) could compare to it. I used to walk up there from my home on Montgomery St.and watch them make it!!
Orv <obursler@comcast.net>
Lincoln, DE USA - Saturday, April 12, 2008 at 14:22:13 (EDT)

How many of you from Madison Street, and the nearby vicinity, remember the ice cream parlor up on Washington Street? It was between fourth and fifth and called Jimmy's Home Made ice cream. Now for those of you who never tasted it, there was a place to get ice cream. I think it went out of business some time in the early to mid fifties. I guess the people retired. It put all others to shame. No big commercial brand (even Bryer's) could compare. But unfortunately, that to is just a memory.
Wayne <twntydasys@aol.com>
New Castle, DE USA - Saturday, April 12, 2008 at 10:41:35 (EDT)

Phyllis B, I remember the New Garden Cafe very well. Although too young to frequent the place my mother worked there as a waitress from somewhere in the mid fifties. I don't remember when she left but it must have been around the end of the decade. She and another lady who had worked together at Hajoca at fourth and Church worked there together. There was a band who played there on a regular basis and we had a copy of a recording they had made. The one side was called Dustin the Banjo, I don't recall the title of the flip side.
Wayne <twntydasys@aol.com>
New CAstle, DE USA - Saturday, April 12, 2008 at 10:33:01 (EDT)

Ralph...could that be PERVERTS that you are referring to? PERFERTS are something completely different!!! LOL! You can tell that Ralph never went to Conrad!!!! Just kidding Ralph, you always make me smile :)
Mary <MareBear@greeks.com>
Wilmington, De USA - Saturday, April 12, 2008 at 07:57:51 (EDT)

I thought the Deerhead was on Shipley Street, either between 5th and 6th or between 6th and 7th. Is my memory failing me or was there another location on 6th street that I just didn't know about. I'm sure we're talking about the same place; there couldn't have been more than one hot dog store with that name in the area, or was there a 2nd location downtown? Anybody else read what the author, Philip Roth said yesterday when he was being honored at Columbia University? The 75 year-old author's comment seems to fit in with this web site. Here's a quote from the Times article: "At the end of the panel discussions, Mr. Roth, looking fit in a dark gray suit and burgundy tie, walked up to the podium as the audience stood and applauded. “Seventy-five; how sudden,” he said, and touching on a persistent theme in his novels, added: “Time runs out at a terrifying speed. It seems that it was just 1943.”
Danny Stat <daniel@statnekov.com>
Salt Spring Island, BC Canada - Saturday, April 12, 2008 at 02:29:46 (EDT)

PHYLLIS...........The dear head on sixth street was where the old barber shop was ..the first building on the on the left a few houses up from papa's grocery store
JOE "BUBBLES" PASQUALE <jnpasquale@comcast.net>
wilmington, de USA - Friday, April 11, 2008 at 23:15:21 (EDT)

PHYLLIS: Did you catch the good news that Schlitz is coming back? Great Beer!!
Al Minne <alminne@verizon .com>
Temecula, CA USA - Friday, April 11, 2008 at 23:04:27 (EDT)

Bill MC G/Or Anybody: You nailed the DEFIANCE AA Club locations, how about the DURNEY POST location before Lancaster Ave? How about the other 4 original teams in The Buss Zebley Midget League Baseball at CANBY PARK? DEFIANCE, DURNEY POST, etc. PS Phils just won 5-3.
Steve K <priv>
wilm, de USA - Friday, April 11, 2008 at 21:34:10 (EDT)

Bob Wilson - I think "Bubbles" Pasquale named it - I think it was the Acme Club at 5th or 6th & Shipley. It's funny isn't it, how a dreary, almost dumpy spot can catch on for no earthly reason at all. We've all seen it happen. Another thing - are we saying on this website that there was once a Deerhead establishment next to Papa's Market on W. 6th St. What years? I must have been drinking too much Schlitz during that era. I do remember Tonik's, also W. 6th St. I believe.
Phyllis B. <pboyd52@ comcast.net>
Wilm.DE, DE USA - Friday, April 11, 2008 at 21:21:16 (EDT)

HEY OLDESCHOOL155 , SURE DO REMEMBER PALMERS MARKET AT 10 TH. CLAYTON ST. MR. PALMER AND HIS WIFE WERE REAL GOOD PEOPLE. MY FOLKS HAD A CHARGE THERE . I CAN REMEMBER GETTING MY MOTHER A MOTHERS DAY CAKE THERE . AND TELLING MR. PALMER CHARGE IT. MY POOR DAD ! BUT NEITHER ONE OF MY FOLKS REALLY GOT MAD AT ME OR MY KID BROTHER BILL GOR CHARGING THINGS AT THE PALMER MKT. I GUESS ONE REASON WE DID NOE ABUSE THE PRIVILEGE. IN REGARDS TO MIKE THE BARBER, MIKE GAVE ME MY FIRST HAIR CUT , AND CUT MY HAIR RIGHT UP TO THE TIME HE RETIRED. CAT THINK OF THE YOUG GUY WHO TOOK OVER THE SHOP. HE WAS A OFFICER IN THE NATIONAL GUARD ?, GREW UP IN THE AREA . AND DAN , HE COULD MAKE A GOOD SUB. I HAVE TO LAUGH AT THE PEOPLE WHO CALL THERE SANDWICH A SUB DOWN HERE IN FLORIDA, THEY ASK YOU MAYO OR MUSTARD ! ! NOW THATS A CRIME ----AND A SLAP IN TJHE FACE TO ALL THE ITALIAN SUB SHOP OWNERS IN DELAWARE ~ SO AS YOU CAN SEE,IT,S HARD TO FIND A GOOD SUB SHOP DOWN HERE . BUT THERE ARE A FEW . JUST HAVE TO LOOK. GETTING BACK TO PALMERS MARKET , THE LAST TIME I WAS IN WILMINGTON, I TOOK A WALK UP CLAYTON ST. WITH ANOTHER OLD NEIGHBORHOOD FRIEND . AND IT WAS SAD TO SEE THE OLD CORNR STORE MKT. BOARDED UP. AND THE RESERVOIR FENCED IN WITH A 12 FOOT FENCE . THE CHILDREN IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD CANT ENJOY SLEDDING ON THE OLD BANKS LIKE WE DID. JUST BECAUSE OF DOPE PUSHERS AND SEX PERFERTS !BUT OLDESCHOOL155 WE STILL HAVE OUR MEMORIES. AND MAYBE SOME DAY. THE CHIEF OF POLICE WILL TEAR DOWN THE FENCE , AND TURN THE VICE SQUAD LOOSE UP THERE!
RALPH PRYOR <REPJFK@AOL.COM>
TARPON SPRINGS, FL USA - Friday, April 11, 2008 at 19:30:34 (EDT)

Phyllis Boyd, I remember being led by a group of Wilmington friends into that after-hours upstairs drinking spot on Shipley Street once, back in 1958, after a fraternity reunion dinner in Wilmington. It was exactly as you describe it, but I'm darned if I can remember the name of it. Maybe Ralph P. will remember. I think that might have been a bit before Rambo's time...
Bob Wilson Jr <wilso127@yahoo.com>
Beaufort, SC USA - Friday, April 11, 2008 at 18:58:11 (EDT)

palmers market was cool cause that was where all the Padua girls would hang out and smoke...very hot lol
drufo <drufo1@verizon.net>
wilm, de USA - Friday, April 11, 2008 at 17:34:56 (EDT)

Sam's Subs on the corner across from the back of the YMCA (I think this was the northwest corner of 12th and Washington Streets) made a great Tuna Sub. Just across Washington Street from Sams was a tailer shop with bolts of cloth displayed in the window. The old Italian tailer who was the proprietor there(Anyone here remember his name?) sold custom-made suits. I remember buying a suit from him: it was the best article of clothing I ever owned. A few doors down Delaware Avenue from the Kozy Corner at 10th and Washington Streets was an old-fashioned ice cream and candy store presided over by two old ladies. This was in 1953. I think the two women were sisters. They also sold comic books; this was before the comic book code was enacted. There was a smell in that store of candy and ice cream and well-worn, polished wooden floors that I wish I could experience again. Even then, it was the smell from another era, an innocent time when that which was most scary (at least for this little boy) was found only in one of those comic books. Wouldn't it be wonderful if life had remained the same for all of the children who followed?
Danny Stat <daniel@statnekov.com>
Salt Spring Island, BC Canada - Friday, April 11, 2008 at 17:24:54 (EDT)

hey ralph, then you must surely remember palmers market and johnny bianco's and mike the barber (right next to ceda's children store)????? and dan's sub shop???
oldeschool55 <oldeschool55@yahoo.com>
wilmington, de USA - Friday, April 11, 2008 at 13:26:42 (EDT)

PHYLLIS......Been to 5th.& church...club #14...acme club ..blue hen club.....Now who besides Ray Jubb & Ralph Pryor remembers the two gambling joints ( crap games ) in town......many-many yrs. ago
JOE "BUBBLES" PASQUALE <jnpasquale@comcast.net>
wilmington, delaware USA - Friday, April 11, 2008 at 10:27:19 (EDT)

April 11 "1957 Salesianum School moved from its old location at 8th and West Streets to its new one in Wilmington on North Broom Street." For some reason I thought it was earlier than this.
Connie <nospam>
Wilmington, DE USA - Friday, April 11, 2008 at 07:53:30 (EDT)

Pat, Ibach's, at 14th & Scott is now Kid Shelleen's. It is probably as popular as ever. Ibach's was THE drinking place to go during the 40's and 50's. Full of soldiers & sailors in the 40's. Somehow or other I never made it there. The club I mentioned was an almost dreary spot 'round 5th & either Shipley or Orange Sts. It was only a good spot to go late at night, because it seemed to stay open forever. My favorite spot to go at night was a place called The New Garden Cafe at 5th & Church. What a swell place - always live music. Bet nobody on this site will remember it.
Phyllis B. <pboyd 52@comcast.net>
Wilm., DE USA - Friday, April 11, 2008 at 00:47:46 (EDT)

Does anyone know what became of the music teacher at Harlan School? I think her name was Miss Dekind or Dekine? I always looked forward to that class which was held in a special room with a little stage at the front of the room.
Danny Stat <daniel@statnekov.com>
Salt Spring Island, BC Canada - Thursday, April 10, 2008 at 23:20:33 (EDT)

MOST BAND DIRECTORS BELIEVE THAT MARCHES DO NOT SHOW CASE THE BAND, AS ANY BAND CAN PLAY MARCHES AND AS FAR ASI AM CONCERNED THAT IS A BUNCH OF BULL
DAVE CAUFFMAN <CAUFFMANDS@AOL.COM>
HOCKESSIN, DE USA - Thursday, April 10, 2008 at 22:06:18 (EDT)

Here's a group of young girls who know how to sing the National Anthem without trying to get as many notes as possible wrapped around each syllable: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKCVS57j284
Bill Fisher <whfisheratearthlink.net>
Westminster, CA USA - Thursday, April 10, 2008 at 21:38:48 (EDT)

One thing Bob Veazey mentioned about the Delaware band. I think its great but its like many bands they should play more marching songs. Also I will always think when I hear the Star Bangle Banner played I want to hear it played in a march tempo not like some soul song. It was written to inspire. I do not get inspired when I hear it sung the way it is now days. There I will get down off my soap box now :)
Budo <budmar53atpoolesite.com>
WIlm, DE USA - Thursday, April 10, 2008 at 17:22:19 (EDT)

I'll be a U.of D. football fan forever. That doesn't mean that I accept the University's shabby treatment of fans, in general. Women, now paying $25 for a seat, cannot find a seat in the womens' room at halftime. (the line is outrageous) And all that cash for a parking spot. Administration should take a clue from other colleges, including Rhode Island, where fans park FREE of charge. One can't even leave the stadium for a drink at halftime anymore. A few kids' behavior was used as the excuse to force the purchase of refreshments "in house". It makes true Blue Hens blue.
jim rambo <rammymex@yahoo.com>
ajijic, jalisco Mexico - Thursday, April 10, 2008 at 17:04:51 (EDT)

HI STEVE K. BOY , YOU BROUGHT BACK SOME BEAUTIFUL MEMORIES. I WOULD TRY AND GET TO THE VIP PARKING AT THE U. OF DEL HOME GAMES AT ABOUT 10.30 A.M.TO GET A GOOD SPOT FOR ALL THOSE IN OUR PARTY TRY TO SAVE AT LEAST FOUR CAR SPACES . YES STEVE WE HAD SOME GOOD FOOD AT THE GAMES ,THANKS TO STELLA. AND WE HAD SO GREAT FUN CHEERING THE BLUE HENS ON TO VICTORY. AND I DO REMEMBER YOU STEVE , AND YOUR WONDERFUL WIFE . AS YOU KNOW , BILL PASSED ON THREE YEARS AGO. GLAD THAT I WILL HAVE THOSE OLD MEMORIES OF BILL AND I AT THOSE GAMES. STAY WELL.
RALPH PRYOR <REPJFK@AOL.COM>
TARPON SPRINGS , FL USA - Thursday, April 10, 2008 at 17:04:47 (EDT)

HI BOB VEAZEY, WOW ! ---AND I MEAN WOW ! $250.00 FOR V I P PARKING AT THE U DEL HOME GAMES .BOB,MY LATE WIFE STELLA AND I MOVED TO FLORIDA IN JULY 1980. WOULD FLY UP FOR ONE OR TWO HOME GAMES FOR THE NEXT TWO YEARS . NOTHING SEEMED TO CHANGE . GAVE MY NIECE AND HER HUSBAND MY SEATS ON THE DEL. 40 YRD. LINE OR RATHER HAD THEM TRANSFERED TO HER. BOB I LOVED DEL FOOTBALL AS MUCH AS I LOVED W.H.S FOOTBALL , BUT I WOULD HAVE TO THINK TWICE ABOUT SHELLING OUT THAT MUCH MONEY. BUT THANKS BOB FOR INFORMING ME OF THE DRASTIC HIKE IN TICKETS AND V I P PARKING. I AM LUCKY IN A SMALL WAY . I TUNE INTO THE BLUE HEN GAMES ON MY COMPUTER ! I GUESS EVERY THING GOES UP IN PRICE SOONER OR LATTER..AGAIN BOB, THANK,S
RALPH PRYOR <REPJFK@AOL.COM>
TARPON SPRINGS, FL USA - Thursday, April 10, 2008 at 16:47:56 (EDT)

Phyllis B., would the club you mentioned be named Ibach's (pronounced eyebox)? I was never in it, but I remember my dad and older cousins talking about it.
Pat LeVan <levan1706@bellsouth.net>
Port St. Lucie, FL USA - Thursday, April 10, 2008 at 16:38:55 (EDT)

HI OLD SCHOOL 155, I LIVED ACROSS THE STREET FROM THE RESERVOIR AT 907 N. CLAYTON ST. I CAN REMEMBER CALLING MY OLD BUUDY ON THE PHONE , BOB MCDANIEL, HE LIVE AT 10TH. CLAYTON . WE WOULD MEET UP ON THE TOP HILL. SLED DOWN THAT ONE AND THE A SMALLER HILL. ON A WEEK END, THERE WOULD BE ABOUT 30 KID,S SLEDDING ON THE HILLS OF CLAYTON ST RESERVOIR. IF THE MOON WAS FULL. WE WOULD STAY UP THERE TILL ABOUT 10.00 P.M.. OR TILL OUR PARENTS CALLED US HOME. THEY WERE PART OF MY GOLDEN YEARS ! --- I MISS THEM SO.
RALPH PRYOR <REPJFK@AOL.COM>
TARPON SPRINGS , FL USA - Thursday, April 10, 2008 at 16:27:48 (EDT)

Defiance AA started out at 221 N. Jackson St. Later it moved to Browntown and has recently relocated to Boxwood Road across from Conrad. They used to sponsor all sorts of sports teams. There were also boxing matches and jitterbug contests in the back yard, pre-40s, I think.
Bill <mcgonigal9@verizon.net>
Townsend, de USA - Thursday, April 10, 2008 at 15:24:33 (EDT)

When I spoke of the Hotel Olivere a post or two ago, I didn't mention its location. Believe it was at 7th & Shipley. Deerhead being about a block away. There was another club around 5th & Shipley - pretty dour looking. You went upstairs where the rooms were all cut up like continuing boxes. Wish I could remember the name of it. The thing I remember was you could sit there, if you had a drink, until 3 A.M. and they had a good jukebox. Anybody remember when Teresa Brewer was in her heyday?
Phyllis B. <pboyd52@ comcast.net>
Wilm., DE USA - Thursday, April 10, 2008 at 14:36:38 (EDT)

does anybody here remember sledding down the resovoir hills at 9th and clayton????? how about the tower at the top of the resovoir, supposedly the top of the tower was the highest point in wilmington at the time, we used to climb over the locked fence and climb to the top and just sit up there for hours. simpler times i guess. oldeschool
oldeschool55 <oldeschool55@yahoo.com>
wilmington, de USA - Thursday, April 10, 2008 at 13:51:04 (EDT)

For Ralph Pryor: Times have really changed at UD Football! Seats for home games are now $25.00 per person per game for seats between the 40 yard lines. Parking in the Gold Lot is now $150.00 for the season (that’s $25.00 per game!). VIP parking, that is with your reserved spot with name on a curb bumper, is something like $250.00 for the season, and you have to be a member of “Delaware Diamonds”, which means you have donated at least $1,000.00 a year to the UD Athletic Fund. In a note included with the season ticket order form, UD is saying that starting in 2009, all season ticket applications and Gold parking will “tied to a priority system”. Will being a season ticket holder for 30 years or so count? Or does one also have to fork over another $1,000.00? Oh yes, you cannot park where you want – they direct you to the next available spot, and no saving a place for friends. As a musician you would love the UD Band. I was a member of the band when it started in Fall of 1946. Was Concert Master after Louie Deprisco from WHS left-boy was he good! Director Heidi Sarver has done great job, but I don’t like some of the music they play. (“Malaguena” or something.) For me, a band should play Sousa. They only play “Stars and Stripes” about once a season. They should get the message since everybody cheers when they do play it. They also played a version of “1812 Overture”, which everybody thinks is an American patriotic piece. Never mind that it celebrates the Russian defeat of Napoleon at Moscow! Oh well, guess I am getting old.
Bob Veazey <bobbyvz@comcast.net>
Wilmington, DE USA - Thursday, April 10, 2008 at 11:47:28 (EDT)

Wayne & Jim Batty: After the New Century Club, the WILM dances moved to the Y. They hadn't been there very long when a fight broke out between Shawtown & Becker's Corner. That was the end of the WILM Saturday dances. As far as Mitch Thomas is concerned, I remember seeing Wilbert Harrison and Lloyd Price. Mitch was a super nice guy.
Swifty <williamwswift@aol.com>
Middletown, DE USA - Thursday, April 10, 2008 at 09:37:03 (EDT)

The Post House served Taylor's Pork Roll. Nothing more than a bolagna cut thick and fried. I know it can still be bought at most deli's today in Phila. and the Jersey shore.
Billy Day <billy.day1@verizon.net>
Wilmington, De USA - Thursday, April 10, 2008 at 09:11:08 (EDT)

Hey Rambo, maybe some of that talcum powder and sweat got into the sauce at the Deer Head and THAT was the secret ingredient we're all still searching for.
Danny Stat <daniel@statnekov.com>
Salt Spring Island, BC Canada - Thursday, April 10, 2008 at 01:46:47 (EDT)

I think they offered something called "Tyler's Pork Roll" at the Post House; only place I knew of to get it. Never could get the hang of eating scrapple, though, unless it was cooked "to death," and then transmogrified with ketchup, but the Tyler's Pork Roll was at least palatable. No substitute for a Deer's Head Hot Dog or a scrumptious steak sandwich from Jan's down on the Gov. Printz. Does anyone know where Jan's got their rolls? Serpie's Bakery maybe?
Danny Stat <daniel@statnekov.com>
Salt Spring Island, BC Canada - Thursday, April 10, 2008 at 01:25:17 (EDT)

DRUFO: Share that recepe!!! Depending on when you worked there you may have served some up for me already. It was my favorite dish at the Post House! By the way my exchange was Colonial and I remember when we did not have any exchanges our number was 24477 and it went to CO-24477.
Al Minne <alminne@verizon .com>
Temecula, CA USA - Wednesday, April 09, 2008 at 22:28:26 (EDT)

My first job was as a dish washer at the union street Post House...guy named al owned it then...he lived 3 blocks away and would walk to and from work with a brown paper bag full of money and recipts. he was a nice guy...he would pay you on monday so you didnt blow your cash over the week end. I still make French toast for the wife and kids using the old recepe that is still in my head...I could share it if any one would like it.
drufo <drufo1@verizon.net>
wilm, de USA - Wednesday, April 09, 2008 at 22:07:43 (EDT)

RE: post house, this at the bottom of the link posted by Connie,,,The Post House is located at 105 N Union St in Wilmington, Delaware and is cash only.
Tom Brejwa <brejwa@mchsi.com>
Ocean View, De USA - Wednesday, April 09, 2008 at 19:32:14 (EDT)

For Steve K: Thank you for the reunion contact information. I will look him up. I read Buddy B's obit back in January of 2002. He and AL were both nice guys. I enjoy reading your memories about Hedgeville Keep them coming TAke care George
George <george091639@msn.com>
Ocean View, DE USA - Wednesday, April 09, 2008 at 17:50:10 (EDT)

Webmaster-----It!s good to see the Nostalgia page resume, where it should be. But I have to add my two cents. Not all the people here are from downtown Wilmington, and resided in the city. Some, just visited, mostly on weekends,if we could afford bus fare. Now, most, if not 80% + , reside outside the city, and remenisce about where, and who they grew up with. We have come full circle. Jokingly, you have bear, with some of us. We are forgetful.... Keep the memories going. This way, we will never forget our town.
Browny <brownys828@yahoo.com>
Wilmington, DE USA - Wednesday, April 09, 2008 at 17:32:40 (EDT)

Bruce: VALLEY GARDEN PARK is still nicely maintained. It has had its share of car break-ins over the past few years, but that should change now that a 360 degree security camera is operational in the parking lot.The camera is monitored in Wilm, and I am sure it provides some interesting viewing. You would think that lovers, cheating spouses, and yo- yos smoking hemp would look up and see they are on camera.
Steve K <priv>
wilm , de USA - Wednesday, April 09, 2008 at 16:30:42 (EDT)

George: I also logged in a few years on the PARK b-ball court, but my time was more mid 60's. Buddy B. and the late Al Buny (with his blue or brown mesh shoes and back to the basket ) were still playing then. The PARK RENUNION last year was word of mouth organized by Stan Kozicki( he was with Wilm City Parks and I think he just moved up the ladder to some other dept).Stan still lives on S.Broom and is in Phone Book thats where I would contact him. ( he said to spread the word in the flier he sent to me). Not sure if this is going to be yearly thing, but If I hear any updates I can post on the events site here.
Sreve K <priv>
wilm, de USA - Wednesday, April 09, 2008 at 16:14:30 (EDT)

Re: Old Wilmington - 1)Robert McKelvey, you have a way with words. Your posts are always well written. 2)My older sister took me to a fight one time (in the 50's or 60's?) to a place called the Defiance Club. I can't remember where this was. ????. 3)Olde School, unless the Post House at Lanc. Ave. & Union closed in the last 2-3 days, your location of all three of them was right. Ellis Stehl owns all three. 4)Someone asked about the Hotel Olivere - it was approx. a block from the Deerhead. Had a good piano bar, a wonderful pianist (whose name I cannot recall) and a ballroom/type room downstairs called The Rathskellar. This, too, was the fifties and early sixties. You could walk that area (I did many times) with no fear.
Phyllis B. <pboyd 52@comcast.net>
Wilm., DE USA - Wednesday, April 09, 2008 at 16:08:47 (EDT)

Ralph Pryor:I had the pleasure of being part of your Blue Lot U OF D tailgate crew for a few years in the 70's.Myself and my wife were part of your brother Bills bank group. Stella really did prepare some great food.I think your motto at the time was FIRST TO ARRIVE, LAST TO LEAVE. I know we were marked late a few times when we did not arrive before 10:30 am. Anybody remember when the U of D beat Temple at the VET ? The Phillie Phantic(Dave Raymond )was the Delaware punter.
Steve K <private>
wilm, de USA - Wednesday, April 09,