oldwilmington_nostalgia_archive

Visitors Nostalgia & Memories

(Archive #3 - December 2002 to June 2003)

Cheese Whiz????? NO WAY!!!
Bill Fisher <whfisher@earthlink.net>
Westminster, CO USA - Sunday, June 29, 2003 at 22:38:28 (EDT)

I just read an article in a travel magazine that said a true Philly Cheesesteak had or could have Cheese Whiz on it. I only remember american or provolone. Anyone back me up on this? Ewww cheese whiz? We went to the Penny Hill sub shop on the Philadelphia Pike and later the Sharpies.
Barbara Butcher <btb432000@yahoo.com>
Vail, AZ USA - Sunday, June 29, 2003 at 13:20:38 (EDT)

Very great site. Greetings. Joe
Joe <tematics@hotmail.com>
USA - Sunday, June 29, 2003 at 07:47:42 (EDT)

I'm the brother of the guy below...Same schools, different era but just as many good memories of the old City. Vandever Ave in the 50's and early 60's was my world. Levine's Market and his son Bobby's drug store at Church st.,(ah, the vanilla cokes) The H. Fletcher Brown Boys Club, Fraim's Dairy, Kagel's Hardware, M&M Bakery @22d&Mkt, the walk from Vandever Ave to Warner JHS and PS duPont HS and back. In the snow, no less. Playing at the quarry near the Continental Crown Cork company off of Church & 14th. Fishing for *whatever* in the Brandywine at the same location. Playing Reliev-eo and kick the can. Swimming for free at Prices Run if you got there on time (remember yelling,"Locker Boy" for a towel). Bud's Barber Shop at Vand.& Spruce. Buying clothes at - was it Kessler's at 9th or 10th & Bennett? Horse drawn huckster wagons with the best melons in the world. Coal and ice deliveries from Diamond Ice & Coal. There was also a bakery at Vandever & Thatcher which later became a Dairy Queen. Can't remember the bakery's name and can't decide on which one I liked the best. Thanks for the nostalgia - keep it coming!!
Dale Hall <dalcin0124@aol.com>
, USA - Thursday, June 26, 2003 at 15:35:54 (EDT)

Born and raised in Wilmington - George Gray Elementary, Warner Jr. High, PS duPont H.S., U of D. Early years centered around Prices Run Park. Too many wonderful memories to list. Can probably help answer some historical questions because I was there!
Bill Hall <wmchall@earthlink.net>
Wilmington, DE USA - Thursday, June 26, 2003 at 14:12:45 (EDT)

I grew up around Salesianum (24th & Franklin) in the late fifties and thru the 60's. What a fabulous time. I attended Christ Our King and "Sallies" (What a fabulous time). We all loved Ashies (Good ol Marie Haig) and the store more local to us on Concord Avenue was "Lanks". Old man Mr. Lank with his bald head, Mrs. Lank, even meaner, and the soon to inherite the world, the up and coming buzzed cut - Jerry Lank. At the time even a Cumberland Farms opening up next door to it, could not kill it. Lanks had a soda fountain, and just about anything you could think of. The most fun was traepsing past Mr. Lank, and holding up empty bottles so he could see them, and pay you 2 cents per returned bottle. The streets were paved w/ gold because even back then people were too lazy to return them for the deposit. You generally had enough money to buy and nutty buddy and a pixie stick.
Robert Rizzo <robriz@att.net>
Wilm, DE USA - Wednesday, June 25, 2003 at 21:25:22 (EDT)

great site
robert rizzo <robriz@att.net>
wilm, de USA - Wednesday, June 25, 2003 at 21:10:16 (EDT)

(school) David W. Harland School (elementary) (soda counter) Matson Run News Center (Matson Run Parkway)...my girlfriends would hang out at my house and we'd look out the bedroom window to see which boys were hanging out and then we'd run over there. Sold great cherry cokes. Fun website...thanks!
J.Brooks
USA - Saturday, June 21, 2003 at 00:36:43 (EDT)

Another P. S. to my previous message about the William Penn Diner: There's a website that has a photo of it: http://www.agilitynut.com/eateries15.html
Bill Fisher <whfisher@earthlink.net>
Westminster, CA USA - Friday, June 20, 2003 at 14:40:09 (EDT)

Thanks to Dale Dallabrida for jogging my memory of the William Penn Diner. I never ate there, but never failed to stare at it every time we drove by it. Funny thing; when I was in flight training for my private pilot's license at New Castle County Airport later on, the memory of that sight was right up front in my mind-- I didn't want to re-create it! Thanks Also to the folks who dredged up memories of the different trackless trolley routes and their numbers. Great stuff!
Bill Fisher <whfisher@earthlink.net>
Westminster, CA USA - Friday, June 20, 2003 at 14:37:40 (EDT)

I love this site, I first sent information to it when it was under the old website of teddybears.I havent checked in for a while. It is still a great site. I love all of the memories. I grew mostly in Wilmington, I started School in Minquadale Elementary School on the DuPont Highway. We moved and I went to Mary C I Williams Elementary School thru 6th grade and then to the "Old" Thomas F. Bayard Junior High School.Later I moved to Wilmington Manor and went to William Penn(both the old and the new one. I worked at Eckerds behind the lunch counter . There was an old movie theatre that was later a toy store at Wilmington Manor (where the Golden Dove is now) We moved and I graduated from DeLaWarr High School. I also worked one Christmas Season for Wilmington Dry Goods. I worked in Ladies Lingerie Department with Miss Lillian and remember well all the folding we had to do before we could leave. Maybe there could be a section where we could request pictures of places important to us from our past. I would like to see a picture of the old Thomas F. Bayard Junior High School, and Mary C. I. Williams School, and Minquadale School as well as the Eckerds at WIlmington Manor. I would like to know what the name of the area was called that would include Franklin Street and surrounding areas between Lancaster Avenue and 4th Street. I lived there for 10 yrs and never remember it being referred to by anything, You know such as the Flats, Forty Acres, Little Italy, etc. Have to go for now. Hope to be back soon. Take care. Vickie Jones Snyder Cooking0404@aol.com
Vickie Jones Snyder <Cooking0404@aol.com>
New Castle, DE USA - Thursday, June 19, 2003 at 12:44:17 (EDT)

I remember taking a track trolley (it was open, roof but no sides) down Vandever Avenue and over to New Castle. Transferred there and took, as I remember, a train to Deemer’s Beach. They had large swinging boats and a big pagoda sandwich shop. There was a penned off area in the river for swimming. Going to Deemer’s Beach was a big deal back then.
Bob Veazey <bobbyvz@comcast.net>
Wilmington, DE USA - Thursday, June 19, 2003 at 10:10:14 (EDT)

Bill Fisher or Westminster, CA USA said: "Speaking of restaurants down near New Castle Co. Airport, anybody remember the one that had an airplane stuck in its roof as if it had crashed into the building? What was the name of the restaurant?" It was the William Penn Diner, as I mention below. But I wanted to add that "the building is pictured in a great book on unusual roadside, California Crazy & Beyond, Roadside Vernacular Architecture by Jim Heimann (Chronicle Books)" according to the guy who bought the postcard.
Dale Dallabrida <dale@magpage.com>
Wilmington, De USA - Wednesday, June 18, 2003 at 20:53:33 (EDT)

Bill Fisher or Westminster, CA USA said: "Speaking of restaurants down near New Castle Co. Airport, anybody remember the one that had an airplane stuck in its roof as if it had crashed into the building? What was the name of the restaurant?" It was the William Penn Diner. A postcard of the diner sold on eBay in 2001 for -- get this -- $150! Bill Fisher Westminster, CA USA
Dale Dallabrida <dale@magpage.com>
Wilmington, De USA - Wednesday, June 18, 2003 at 20:50:46 (EDT)

About the trolley car routes - #5 was Vandever Ave. I remember a wonderful driver for the DCCO (Delaware Coach Co.)_ as it was called in those days. His name was Jim McCann and he was a neighbor in the 9th Ward. On hot summer evenings, he would take a couple of neighborhood kids with him on his evening route. No air conditioning in those days and we were just thrilled to sit in the back of the trolley car with the windows open and enjoy the wonderful breeze. Seems to me the route went out around Richardson Park, turned around and came back through downtown. We just loved it. For you movie buffs, does anyone remember Libby, the chief usher at the Strand? Now there was a gal who could keep order on a wild Saturday afternoon. Once she came down the aisle and focused her flashlight on you, you had better behave OR ELSE.
Patricia LeVan <LeVan1706@aol.com>
Port St. Lucie, FL USA - Tuesday, June 17, 2003 at 19:17:40 (EDT)

If my memory serves me right the bus that went all the way up to Duncan Road was the 4-1. The #4 stopped at the bottom of Penny Hill and there was a turn around where the old Penn Fruit was located. There was a bowling alley there before Sears and Penn Fruit.
Harry Brand <salliesbrand@aol.com>
Wilmington, De USA - Tuesday, June 17, 2003 at 11:30:43 (EDT)

When we moved from 504 West 23rd Street to Monroe Park, out at the corner of Kennett Pike and Barley Mill Road in 1951, my trolleybus of choice to downtown became the #10. I had to walk about 1-1/4 miles east on the Pike past Westover Hills to the #10 terminus at Rising Sun Lane for the trip. In the summer of 1951, I was an usher at Loew's Aldine on Market Street, earning 40 cents an hour for a five hour stint. I'd go downtown some days and spend $1.50 for "dinner" at the Whelan's drug store across from the theatre, which meant that that day, I'd net 50 cents (10 cents an hour) for dressing up in a cardboard dickey and standing in the lobby with a flashlight in my hand. But it was SHOWBIZ! That summer, "Showboat" came to Loew's for a month-long run. It only took a few showings for me to learn the complete dialog from the movie, and the words and music to the score are with me still {"Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly..."). As Al Cartwright called him, "Judge" J. Edgar Doob ran the theater and a kid named Hickman was the head usher. I wonder whatever happened to Hickman?
Bob Wilson <wilso127@yahoo.com>
Stamford, CT USA - Tuesday, June 17, 2003 at 08:24:54 (EDT)

ABOUT TROLLEY/BUS ROUTES: If you go to the 1946 Hi-Res map, the ‘DOTS’ show the trolley routes! Since I lived in the ‘Flats’, I would take the #7 (7th Street) into town and the #8 (8th Street) to get home. During the time of moving from the ‘Flats’ to Willow Run in 1952 – I was 10 years old – I would catch the #6 bus at 7th and Union Streets. It would go down Union to Lancaster Pike to DuPont Road to Centerville Road where I would get off at Willow Run and then it went to Kirkwood Hwy and to Newark. And I remember my mother telling me ‘Do Not Get On The 6X’. That was the express to Newark and did not stop at Willow Run.
Harry Rogerson <webmaster@oldwilmington.net>
USA - Tuesday, June 17, 2003 at 05:17:57 (EDT)

I seem to recall that the #4 trolley ran between Bellefonte and Union Park. On the Bellefonte end it had a turn-around on Duncan Road at Mt. Pleasant school.
Del Nicholson <Barnicho@aol.com>
Cincinnati, USA - Monday, June 16, 2003 at 19:35:46 (EDT)

The #11 trolly ran out Washington Street to the end of the line at Matson Run Parkway, then it backtracked down town. There was an 11-1 that came out Washington Street then turned left at 30th Street and circled around the block to 31st Street before it headed back down town on Washington Street. I remember taking the #11 downtown and transferring to the #4 (out 4th Street) to go to my grandparents' home in Union Park Gardens. The #4 trolly line ended in Canby Park, on Oak?, just off Union Street, and I would walk the short distance to UPG from there. Those were the days when for an 8-cent carcheck you could go all over town on transfers.
carol mason <carolem209@aol.com>
USA - Monday, June 16, 2003 at 16:46:42 (EDT)

An afterthought on the trackless trolleys of the 40's & 50's: can anyone fill in some of the route numbers and names? I don't remember many, but a few stand out in my mind: 4 (Shallcross??) 5 8 10 Delaware Ave 11 12 Boulevard 20 Edgemoor (gas/diesel bus)
Bill Fisher <whfisher@earthlink.net>
Westminster, CA USA - Monday, June 16, 2003 at 14:40:52 (EDT)

Re: the "trackless trolley" route that went out to P. S. duPont H. S. - it was the "12 Boulevard" route. I don't recall the starting point downtown (probably was the PRR train station), but it came up Market St, turned left on 10th St, right on Washington and extended out Washington and Baynard Blvd to 29th Street, where the sharp turn is, and where Baynard Blvd effectively ends. The trolley continued down 29th to Van Buren, turned left toward "P. S." and turned right on 34th Street, right in front of the school. It turned around over several blocks in that area and retraced its steps back into town. When I moved to Edgemoor Terrace in 1950, I was going to P. S. and used to take the "20 Edgemoor" bus (one of the few gasoline/diesel powered buses run by the Delaware Coach Co.) in to 10th & Market, transferred to the "12 Boulevard" out to 34th St. That got to be a real drag, so I transferred to Mount Pleasant H. S. after a few months, and got to walk to school through the waist-deep snow... uphill... both ways. But it was still better than those bus rides; I got to sleep in a bit longer in the mornings!
Bill Fisher <whfisher@earthlink.net>
Westminster, CA USA - Monday, June 16, 2003 at 14:34:30 (EDT)

I remember many The KIDDIE Town amusment park,Tour Inns restaurant & Shoppers Fair, on Dupont Highway. I also remember Mary Janes, Squarrel Nut zippers, Mint Juleps, Twisters, Sugar Daddys, Sugar Babies, Good N Plenty, Straws, B-B bats, Red Hots, Jaw Breakers, Bazzoka Buble gum, Juicy Fruit gum, Life Savers, Bolo Bats, and Jacks :o)
Ruth Perkins <pen731@al.com>
Wilmington, De USA - Monday, June 16, 2003 at 09:26:08 (EDT)

I forget whether it was the #11 or #12 trolleybus that traveled a way up on Van Buren St, then veered right toward Monroe a block or two before PS DuPont HS. The turn was relatively sharp, and often the power pole of the bus would dislodge from the overhead wires at the turn. At that point the driver would go around and using the guide rope, re-engage the pole to the wire. And, do you remember the distinctive "pop" sound the pole/wire connection would make at any time during a momentary disconnecyion?
Bob <wilso127@yahoo.com>
USA - Monday, June 16, 2003 at 09:18:19 (EDT)

Anyone remember Joe the bus driver? I remember him from the No. 11 line. He was the jolliest soul ever and used to sing as he drove, especially all the Christmas carols during the holidays.
Carol Mason <carolem209@aol.com>
USA - Sunday, June 15, 2003 at 15:27:55 (EDT)

Was that little three-cent candy bar called a "Klein" bar by any chance?
Pat LeVan <LeVan1706@aol.com>
Port St. Lucie, FL USA - Sunday, June 15, 2003 at 09:32:56 (EDT)

Anyone remember looking at the penny candy counter for the "lunch bar" a little waxy chocolate bar that costs three cents?
Sue Cregg <Zuezee@aol.co,>
USA - Saturday, June 14, 2003 at 22:04:42 (EDT)

I remember Parklynn Pharmacy on the corner of New Road in Elsmere. All the high school kids from Corpus Christi would hang out there after school; they had great snow balls!
carol mc cann <babybunitsk@msn.com>
Toluca Lake, CA USA - Friday, June 13, 2003 at 19:44:50 (EDT)

Speaking of restaurants down near New Castle Co. Airport, anybody remember the one that had an airplane stuck in its roof as if it had crashed into the building? What was the name of the restaurant? Also, remember the "Black Cat Inn" at the split of US13 and US40?
Bill Fisher <whfisher@earthlink.net>
Westminster, CA USA - Friday, June 13, 2003 at 18:41:24 (EDT)

Just tripped across this site during a discussion at work (Old VanSciever's Bldg, Gov. Printz) about Lynthwaite's. I'm probably the young one here @ 51. Father was a superviser at Allied Kid, 11th & Poplar for years. May know Harry Brand from coaching baseball at St. Helena's. Great page. Will stop back often.
Mike Rowe <IRISHMAFIA@aol.com>
New Castle, DE USA - Thursday, June 12, 2003 at 15:29:24 (EDT)

The Buggy Tavern (now Murph's)
Kim
USA - Thursday, June 12, 2003 at 15:17:53 (EDT)

Greenville Elementary School (now a elderly facility
Kim
USA - Thursday, June 12, 2003 at 15:15:31 (EDT)

Harry, maybe "Bole" (short for Boleslaw) was an early deli franchiser in Wilmington. I very well remember his place as being at the NE corner of Concord and West in 1950-51. I'll bet Billy Carden or Ronny Smith remembers him being there, too.
Bob W. <wilso127@yahoo.com>
Stamford, CT USA - Tuesday, June 10, 2003 at 11:43:50 (EDT)

To Bob, I lived at 29th and Washington Street and Boles Sub Shop was at 29th and Jefferson. I moved away from that area in 1950 and Boles was still there. The store was Deckers before Boles. I know it was there before 1950 as we went there many times long before we moved from the area.
Harry Brand <Salliesbrand@aol.com>
Wilmington, DE USA - Tuesday, June 10, 2003 at 09:59:31 (EDT)

If the diner was at Hare's Corneron the airport side, it was the Viking Diner in the 60s until it was moved in the late 70s to Rt 13 south of the St. George's Bridge to become part of ChesDel Diner. If it was at the 141 overpass, it was the Peter Pan (Sherwood) Diner, which was remodeled in the late 70s to become Arners. Further down Rt 13 (where the garden center is now) my father owned the Grecian (previously Hollywood) Diner from the late 60s through his retirement in 1982. That has been moved to Boston, Mass. and is now known as Kelly's Diner. There was also the M&M/Hares Corner Diner across from the Viking. After several stints as a "restaurant," it's been remodeled to look like a diner again and called Millie's. Lots of Diners, as my kids say, "back in the day."
Michael Klezaras <theklez@hotmail.com>
New Castle, DE USA - Monday, June 09, 2003 at 22:18:51 (EDT)

What was the name of the diner at the corner near the old Air Force base? Remember working at Diamond State Telephone Company on Tatnall - 1st job. Henry C. Conrad High School, gone but not forgotten, along with Miss Jackson (no relation). 50th reunion in 2004.
B. Jackson
USA - Monday, June 09, 2003 at 14:00:03 (EDT)

To all, but especially to Carol Mason on her very recent post...Bole's Sub Shop was at the NW corner of Concord and West in 1950, so he must have moved up to 29th St later. His Concord Ave place has been mentioned here before. I think we've also mentioned Gasser's at 34th and Washington. Anyone whoever went to PS probably remembers Gasser's, and in particular, "Weird Emmett" Gasser, who was a strange duck indeed. Somehow, when I think of Gasser's, I think of the old-style TastyKake chocolate cup cakes with the strip of icing laid dowm over the three adjacent cakes. They were the best!!!! I remember Ponsell's very well...in fact MaryLou Ponsell and I were PS classmates, and I used to see her for drinks in New York occasionally back in the 1960's. I somehow missed her at our 50th class reunion last summer, but I'm told that she was there.
Bob Wilson <wilso127@yahoo.com>
Stamford, CT USA - Sunday, June 08, 2003 at 14:04:57 (EDT)

My brother, Bill, just told me about this site. This is fantastic. We grew up on Washington Street between 31st and 32nd Street, right across from Riverview Cemetery. As kids,I remember my mother pulling me in a wagon all the way up to Hearn's Market where she would do her shopping. I'll never forget the aroma of baked goods coming through Brown's Bake Shop screen door on a summer day. The delicious smell was enough to make you woozy. A comment aboout Bole's Sub Shop. Boles was on 29th Street, between Washington and Jefferson Streets, and before Boles, I remember it being a candy store run by Mrs. Decker. Does anyone remember Waxman's Deli on the corner of 29th and Washington Streets, Tigue's and Poncell's Drug Stores just a few blocks farther on Washington Street. I'm surprised no one has mentioned Gasser's Drug Store at the corner of 34th and Washington Street - now that was an experience for all of you who lived in the vacinity. We used to go ice skating on a pond around 40th and Washington Streets way back before the Wilmington Music School was built and swimming at Price's Run Pool in the summer. Who cound forget the day when the circus came to town...back in the late 40's early 50's when Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey pitched their tents at the corner of 30th and Governor Printz Boulevard. Anyone remember the old American Store (a grocery store) at the corner of 32nd and Monroe Streets? I'm passing this website along to everyone on my P.S.duPont H.S. reunion committee (Class of '57) as we all lived in the 9th Ward -- the memories continue. Carol Mason
Carol Mason <carolem209@aol.com>
Wilmington, DE USA - Sunday, June 08, 2003 at 12:24:24 (EDT)

Hey, The answer to the House of David was pretty easy, ALL THE TEAM MEMBERS HAD TO HAVE A BEARD, was that right?
Willard "Sonny" Hare <whare10537@aol.com>
Richmond, Ky USA - Saturday, June 07, 2003 at 10:26:59 (EDT)

Does anyone here remember seeing "The House of David" barnstorming baseball team play exhibition games against the Blue Rocks at 30th and Gov. Prinz Blvd. back in the early 1950's...when Danny Carnevale and/or Skeeter Newsome were the BR managers? Who remembers what distinguished the "look" of the HofD players? The team originated out in Benton Harbor, MI, at the turn of the 20th Century. (I know that Elbert Chance of Newark would know the answer to this, butI don't know whether he reads this Message Board.)
Bob Wilson <wilso127@yahoo.com>
Stamford, CT USA - Saturday, June 07, 2003 at 07:09:13 (EDT)

Garry Greenstein: Can you be a bit more specific on the area of Broom St that you say wasn't paved in the 30's and 40's? What is "13rd"? My grandparents lived at 1809 Franklin St, just on the north end of Warner School, and the area behind their property was "jungle" to me; it was a small wooded plot that used to house tramps/hobos in makeshift homes (cardboard boxes) in some places. They used to tell me to stay out of there, but to a youngster that's like telling a fish not to swim... anyway, the stretch of Broom St behind their house on the other side of "the jungle" (from 18th to where it joined Baynard Blvd to become Miller Road) was definitely paved in the mid-to-late 40's. The area north of that strip was vacant land all the way to the B & O RR tracks.
Bill Fisher <whfisher@earthlink.net>
Westminster, CA USA - Wednesday, June 04, 2003 at 23:23:52 (EDT)

Thanks, Bill Hare, what a great site. I moved to Newark from Elkton in 1948 and graduated from Newark H.S. in 1952 and am still living in the Newark area. What I remember most about Wilmington is the farmers bringing their fresh produce to King St where my Mom and I shopped every week. I also remember that you could get a coke and a hotdog at Wilmington Dry Goods for 25c. And how about all the fun we had at the Greenhill Dairy? I am enjoying reading everyone's comments. I'll be back for future updates.
Reta Warpole Hellman <rjhellman@juno.com>
Newark, DE USA - Wednesday, June 04, 2003 at 10:27:54 (EDT)

To Billy Hare....Weren't you a friend of Don "Doak" Walker's, who lived at 605 West 19th over by the Warner School, and who graduated with me from PS DuPont HS in 1952? If you want them, I have his current physical status, address, and phone number in Maple Ridge, British Columbia, just outside of Vancouver. Pl;ease send me a private e-mail and I'll provide them to you.
Bob Wilson <wilso127@yahoo.com>
Stamford, CT USA - Monday, June 02, 2003 at 10:28:43 (EDT)

It was great finding this website. Since i spent my younger years growing up in the ninth ward I would like to add a few places I remember, see if you remember them to. The playground on Madison St. between 29th & 30th St. Deckers Deli. on 29th St. between Washington & Jefferson St. Hilyards store 30th & Madison St. and Simons grocery store at 30th and Madison. My favorite schools were the one`s I went to, Harlan, Warner, an the Old Wilm. High. doe`s any one remember Rocky`s Ice Cream store, just up the street from Aschenbachs, on Monroe St. Great finding this site and I know I will add more in the future.
Bill "Sonny" Hare <whare10537@aol.com>
Richmond, Ky USA - Sunday, June 01, 2003 at 11:20:26 (EDT)

QUESTION: This has puzzled me for the last 50 years. Any answers will be appreciated. In the 1930's and 40's Broom Street from 18th to 13rd was not yet paved. It is now the location of Salesianum. Every evening in the summertime, about five o'clock, a horse drawn cart would go south on Broom Street. It was drawn by one horse, and had one man as driver. Where did it come from? Where was it going? What was it used for? Garry Greenstein P.S. '47
Garry Greenstein <ggreen2918@verizon.net>
Wilmington, DE USA - Saturday, May 31, 2003 at 15:19:04 (EDT)

Funny....I touch base with this site from time to time to reflect on "how it was." I had an interesting meeting this morning with a gentleman who captain's the "new" (4 years old now) River Taxi on the Christina. We grew up just a few blocks from each other and had many memories in common. My father had the New Star Restaurant at front and King across from Pennsylvania Station until 1967. My first 4 years of life, we lived on top of the store. When the captain and I started, memories just flowed. The Teamsters Union hall was next to the restaurant. Then there was the infamous Terminal Hotel with its Spinning Wheels Saloon (my mother always told me to not look in, just keep walking) as I rounded the corner on French Street to get the Sunday Inquirer at the bus terminal. There was Lujo's Cafe (beer garden) in what is now the lot next to Bernie's on Second. Sansone's Seafood at 2nd and King with Maxie's general store across from that. I can still see the pickle barrel and the comic book rack on the right as you entered the store. Then there were the bookie barbers. Charlie was on Market between front and second, and Dominick was on second, just a door or two east of Maxie's. There was a liquor store next to an Army-Navy store at front and Market. I was always scared of the big black crow that stood there advertising the whiskey. When I was really small, there was a fire at the Terminal Hotel, and one of the resident drunks came to our house and knocked on the door to wake us up and get us out. We were never in danger, but it's better safe than sorry. I must have been 2 or 3, but I still have a photo etched in my mind of the smoke and the floodlights from the hook and ladder. While there were many men and women of questionable character in that neighborhood, they always "behaved" in my father's restaurant and always treated my mother with respect. I used to "hang out" at the train station. I loved the GG-1s. Can you imagine a 5 or 10 year old NOW "hanging out at ANY train station!!? But the station master knew me and I guess (hope) he kept an eye on me. I reveled at walking across the 3 tracks to the various platforms (this was before they were elevated). It was "fun" doing something illegal. I can go on and on, but I thought I'd see if I can stir up memories of that area of town. As the captain said to me today, it was a very racially mixed and not too affluent neighborhood, but there was never any REAL trouble. The times sure change things.
Michael Klezaras <theklez@hotmail.com>
New Castle, DE USA - Thursday, May 29, 2003 at 20:09:52 (EDT)

The Charcoal Pit on Lancaster Pike entered my mind and the huge ice cream sundae called the Battleship? I think it was really close to the first Burger King also.
Barbara Butcher <btb432000@yahoo.com>
Vail, AZ USA - Thursday, May 29, 2003 at 13:57:26 (EDT)

Browns Drug Store ... Where on occasion Dad would buy a special treat of a quart of hand-packed ice cream. Bill Bullock worked the soda fountain on weekends. Remember they would set up a special Christmas display in the basement?
Delmer <barnicho@aol.com>
Cincinnati, USA - Thursday, May 29, 2003 at 10:25:34 (EDT)

I love this stuff! Browns Drug Store on Phila Pike just up from the Atlantic (Arco?) gas station at Marsh & Phils pike Pennt Hill. Great sodas, snacks, comic books. I remember walking past old Mr. Whites shack on the way there from North Hills. Great stuff....just great.
matt <apav28@aol.com>
wilm, de USA - Wednesday, May 28, 2003 at 21:15:30 (EDT)

As a relative of the people that owned and operated Goldie's Delicatessen at 9th and Union and Annone's Italian Water Ice on Lincoln Street, I was glad to see these places mentioned. In addition, my grandmother and grandfather owned Walton's Beer Garden located at Conrad and Union Sts (now Comegy's). My grandmother made great food and her Snapper soup was the stuff people traveled miles to eat! The annual bike rodeo held on Bancroft Parkway between 9th and 11th was operated and funded by the West Wilmington Optimist Club. My father and many other hard working members funded the bike rodeo, a Little League at Mack Park and a Babe Ruth League at 4th and Ferris Sts. They raised a lot of money by having an annual clam bake at the old Boys Club Camp off of Limestone Road across from Carousal Park. Anybody remember the candy store just off Delaware Avenue by Highlands School? Another large fire to add to the list is the Rhoads Leather Factory fire. The building was located at 11th and Bancroft Pky. and occurred in 1978 or so. Thanks for the site, it's very enjoyable.
Art
Wilmington, DE USA - Wednesday, May 28, 2003 at 13:28:01 (EDT)

Is there a beighborhood in Northeast Wilmington, over near the old Pennsy RR shops toward the Delaware River, and centered on Claymont Street, that is or was once called "Kingswood" or "Kirkwood"? Was there an institution called "Brown Boy's Club" over in that neighborhood? And a stable right around there where you could rent horses? Or am I dreaming?
Bob Wilson <wilso127@yahoo.com>
Stamford, CT USA - Tuesday, May 27, 2003 at 06:42:12 (EDT)

Brunos barber shop six and madison.Police bookies number writers bootleggers soldiers sailors solid citizens all patronized him Wonderful p[ace
william rogers <brogers@delanet.com>
wilm, de USA - Monday, May 26, 2003 at 16:20:00 (EDT)

I would like my cousin, Pat Kearney Lodge, to know that we older types called the Strand the "Scratch". It was rumoured to harbor cooties. It was on the east side of Market above 24th Street. They showed serial movies on Saturday. One of my favorites was the "Thunder Riders" where a bad bunch wore capes and would escape pursuit, enter a cave and the entrance would close to hide them. Great stuff when you were only 10 years old! Bob VZ
G. Robert Veazey <bobbyvz@comcast.net>
Wimington, DE USA - Monday, May 26, 2003 at 11:30:38 (EDT)

Re Wilmington restaurants: Winklers at 15th and French, Comegys Oyster House at 12th and Market and West 8th St., the Green Room of the Hotel duPont, Lenape Inn (in PA), the English Grill between 9th and 10th on Market, and the Columbus Inn on Pennsylvania Ave.
Pat LeVan <LeVan1706@aol.com>
Port St. Lucie, FL USA - Monday, May 26, 2003 at 07:59:58 (EDT)

the one neighborhood that really brings back memories is the little section of town,that was bordered by adams st to the west and jefferson st to the east,10th to the north and 8th st to the south,just remembered as 9th and madison.the choc.shop or better known as the `greeks`rest.our section of the world had it all,Sacred Heart parish,a little bakery,a market,[the american store]shoe repair,barber shop,dairy store,a smoke shop,remember those? and an assortment of `bookie joints.Dick Wolhar and i would play `stepball on s/h school steps from early morning till dark all summer long. those were the days of 9c movies at the grand theater,and 25c would hold you in candy for a day. growing up in wilmington in the 50`s and early 60`s was the greatest of times
bob smith <rmssr56@hotmail.com>
elkton, md USA - Sunday, May 25, 2003 at 22:01:54 (EDT)

I remember some of the finer dining-out places in and around Wilmington back in the early 1950's. For example, there was a restaurant called Van's Holland House on the north side of West 11th somewhere betwwen Tatnall and Washington, presided over by "Van", a very polished Dutch gentleman. Every evening, an affable burly fellow named Jiggs Jackson played the Hemmond organ there to help soothe the spirits of the diners. It was the first place I was ever served a shrimp cocktail, and after 50+ years, I've have never lost the taste for that delicious appetizer. The main dining room of the Hotel DuPont also offered up great food, and there was another great restaurant on the West side of French Street down around 12th, the name of which I can't remember. Up on Market Street, near Vandever, was Hearn's Restaurant, of course. Out in the country, the Chadd's Ford Tavern wasn't too shabby, either. Anyone else remember nice places like these?
Bob Wilson <wilso127@yahoo.com>
Stamford, CT USA - Sunday, May 25, 2003 at 21:33:01 (EDT)

I ALSO REMEMBER PARKLYN PHARMACY IN ELSMERE I ALSO STOPPER BY ALMOST EVERYDAY. TO GET A SNOWBALL, SODA OR SOMETHING. I JUST DID NOT REMEMBER THE NAME. MY MOTHER WAS MANAGER OF WASSAMS. REMEMBER OLEANS HAIR STUDIO AT THE OTHER END OF THE STRIP OF STORES?
MARY (ROUSH) SEALING <GRAMMA5@ALO.COM>
LAUREL, MD USA - Sunday, May 25, 2003 at 11:13:54 (EDT)

A couple more items. Remember when the pushmobile derby was held on Lea Blvd. Van Scivers furniture store is where Brook Armored Car is on the Gov. Printz. The Strait Shows were down by the Ball Park. Remember the First State Bowling Alley where Penn Fruit and Sears was located on Market St.
Harry Brand <salliesbrand@aol.com>
Wilmington, De USA - Sunday, May 25, 2003 at 10:00:09 (EDT)

What a great site! Does anyone remember the Parklyn drugstore on Kirkwood Highway next to the Elsmere Firehall? I used to visit it almost everyday after school and on Sundays after church. Had a really great soda fountain where you could buy flavored snowballs.
Eileen Pavlic <epav234@AOL.com>
Hockessin, DE USA - Saturday, May 24, 2003 at 19:30:36 (EDT)

About those shop names: On the corner of Vandever Ave. (Concord Ave. became Vandever Ave. when it crossed Market St. going east) and Market across from St. John's Episcopal Church was Chadwick's Drug Store. The elder Mr. Chadwick ran it in the 40's and then it was taken over by his son, Sam in later years. At 30th and Market, on the northeast side there was Lucille's Bakery and little restaurant. On the southeast side was Mundorff Bottling Co. I recently saw Joan Mundorff at an Ursuline reunion. She still lives in the Wilmington area.
Pat LeVan <LeVan1706@aol.com>
Port St. Lucie, FL USA - Saturday, May 24, 2003 at 09:18:05 (EDT)

Great website...I have enjoyed reading everyone's posts. I can add my two-cents worth on the name of the movie theater around 20th and Market Sts. It was called The Strand.That would have been the only movie theater out Market Street.Keep up the interesting exchange...what fun.
Patricia Kearney Lodge <Phototravl@aol.com>
Key Biscayne, FL USA - Saturday, May 24, 2003 at 03:10:55 (EDT)

On Market St, across from Detweiler's Pharmacy at 30th St was an Atlantic Gas Station run by George Noll... I used to hang around there for a while when we lived at 3002 West St. I can't for the life of me remember what was directly across Market St from that service station, however. Anyone remember what was on the soutneast corner of 30th and Market? And how about the little shops between 29th and 30th on the wouth side of Market... I recall a shoe repair shop, and wasn't there a movie theater in there somewhere?
Bill Fisher <whfisher@earthlink.net>
Westminster, CA USA - Friday, May 23, 2003 at 23:43:34 (EDT)

Bob Wilson, Pat LeVan, Bob Veazey and all: I remember both the little shop called "Ahern's" (spelling is correct; I remember that it was different from "Hearn's", just a long block north on Concord Ave)... Eve Hemphill is Lex "Junior" Pondok's aunt, and he worked there on and off for a while when he lived at 2204 Jefferson St. and also at the drug store at the foot of Concord Ave on Market St... across from St. John's Church. (What was its name?) I also remember the hardware store "Lightbown's" at 24th and Washington, and how everybody pronounced it "Lightbrown's"... it was about halfway between the homes of my old girlfriend from grammar school, Georgeann Heath, and the girlfriend of Isaac "Pitsy" Brown, Mary Frances Shutterlee, all classmates at #30 school, along with "Junior" Pondok and Eleanor Veazey, Bob's sister.
Bill Fisher <whfisher@earthlink.net>
Westminster, CA USA - Friday, May 23, 2003 at 23:36:35 (EDT)

This is a great website. Greetings. buscadores
buscadores <info@buscadores.com>
USA - Friday, May 23, 2003 at 19:35:09 (EDT)

Bob W., Bob V.: The hardware store at 30th and Market next to the drugstore (Detweiler's?) was RAYBURNS. Thanks to my cousin, Gerald Mackey, for remembering. He lived at 104 E. 29th St. and remembers Rayburns well. We are great detectives!
Pat LeVan <LeVan1706@aol.com>
Port St. Lucie, FL USA - Thursday, May 22, 2003 at 16:25:19 (EDT)

To Bob V., Pat LeV., et. al. - The name of that hardware store was LIGHTBOWN'S. How's that for detective work?
Bob <wilso127@yahoo.com>
Stamford, CT USA - Thursday, May 22, 2003 at 12:50:45 (EDT)

For Bob Veazey and Pat Le Van...Bob, that Washington Street hardware store name: the name "Haverback's" doesn't ring a bell. I'll try another source among my old Ninth Ward contacts to see if he can come up with the name. Also, Bill "Stix" Fisher has confirmed that before the place known as "Sam's" at Concord an Jefferson was in business in 1949, it WAS the site of Aschenbach's ice cream store, which by 1949 had either closed down or had moved a corner of Monroe Street, somewhere in the Twenties above 23rd Street, according to "Stix." Long Live The Old Ninth Ward!!!! Maybe the Webmaster will someday give us a place of our own on this wonderful site!
Bob Wilson <wilso127@yahoo.com>
Stamford, CT USA - Thursday, May 22, 2003 at 11:31:43 (EDT)

Bob Veazey: Don't remember Boleslaw's, but I do recall that spot being Eddie Matz in the late 30's and early 40's. Eddie and his mother ran the place for several years. After that, it was Eve's Sweet Shoppe for a couple of years. Eve Hemphill owned it and I can remember a kid named Gene Lenhoff working there. After that, it was Ahearn's for many years. I remember the beauty shop at the corner of Concord and Washington across from Butler's, but can't remember the name of it. Also can't remember the name of the hardware store but remember my father taking me there. Who can ever forget The Brown Bakery sticky buns!
Pat Stillwell LeVan <LeVan1706@aol.com>
Port St. Lucie, FL USA - Wednesday, May 21, 2003 at 15:59:09 (EDT)

For Pat Le Van and Bob Wilson. I lived at 321 West 23rd from about 1933 until I entered the Air Force in 1951. I don’t seem to remember “Sam’s Restaurant” at 23rd and Jefferson. Was that the location of “Aschenbach’s” at one time? Well remember the aroma of bread baking at Brown’s Bakery, and their fabulous sticky buns. Could the hardware store at 24th and Washington have been “Haverback’s”? Bob VZ
G. Robert Veazey <bobbyvz@comcast.net>
Wilmington, DE USA - Wednesday, May 21, 2003 at 15:28:52 (EDT)

To Pat LeVan - I do indeed remember Butler's, katty-korner from Hearn's at Washington and Concord, but I never remember them selling books there. I recall it mostly as a greeting card store shaped like a triangle. Nice place. On the south side of the block ("square", to use the old Wilmington terminology) between Washington and Jefferson, there was also Al's Barber Shop (Al once paid me a few bucks to do some Sho-Card signs for the place), and a beauty parlor that my mother used. Ola Whitcomb worked there, but also worked at Sam's Restaurant at Concord and Jefferson. That was back in the time before Hearn's swallowed up its neighbor, Brown's Bakery, at 23rd and Washington, and remodeled the big store so that Brown's became Hearn's bakery department. Do any other of you old Ninth Warders remember Bole's (Boleslaw's) Deli at the NW corner of Concord and West? And what the heck was the name of the old-fashioned hardware store at the NW corner of 24th or 25th and Washington? Any one?
Bob Wilson <mailto:wilso%20127@yahoo.com>
Stamford, CT USA - Wednesday, May 21, 2003 at 11:08:59 (EDT)

My Dad was a fireman at 8 house so once a week a week we had "tomato pie" from Stellin's. We've tried to come with a substitute but can't. Stll have to fill up on Grotto, cheese-steaks and subs when we visit. Didn't realize that there's so much I didn't know about the city I grew up in. Enjoyed the site.
Gene Kosek
- Tuesday, May 20, 2003 at 22:50:11 (EDT)

OK, Ninth Warders, do any of you remember a stationery/book store called Butlers on the southeast corner of Washington St. and Concord Ave.? I remember buying books from The Bobbsey Twin series there when I was about 9 years old. I saved my pennies forever because the hardbacks were 75 cents each, but I just loved Burt and Nan and Flossie and Freddie. The post about the Greenwood Book Shop brought this to mind. I don't remember any other book stores, but I am sure there must have been others. Seems to me Hanby Stationers downtown may have carried some books. Anybody remember?
Pat Stillwell LeVan <LeVan1706@aol.com>
Port St. Lucie, FL USA - Tuesday, May 20, 2003 at 19:42:54 (EDT)

NOT A WILMINGTON NATIVE, BUT A 35 YEAR RESIDENT OF THE AREA. GREAT HISTORY
ROBERT AGREEN
USA - Tuesday, May 20, 2003 at 12:13:57 (EDT)

This is a great link.
Susan L. Hayes <beach0315@aol.com>
Wilmington, DE USA - Tuesday, May 20, 2003 at 09:46:12 (EDT)

The Greenwood Book Shop was indeed, as I recall, located in the little passageway between the back of the Wilmington Institute Free Library and the side of the Delaware Trust Building. In fact, there was a little black sign with gold lettering hanging on a type of wrought-iron sign post identifying it. Later, it moved to the Market St. side.
Pat LeVan <LeVan1706@aol.com>
Port St. Lucie, FL USA - Monday, May 19, 2003 at 09:15:21 (EDT)

I notice Massey's Drug Store in Newport is not on the Pharmacy list! Not just a drug store; it had a great soda fountain. Sometimes we used to go there after church on Sunday. It was only a block or so from Newport (Peniel) Methodist Church.
Sharon Bevan <s.bevan@yahoo.com>
Sydney, NSW Australia - Sunday, May 18, 2003 at 23:57:49 (EDT)

Am I dreaming, or was the greenwood book shop at one time (about 1949) located down along the passageway between the delaware trust building and the back of the library?...and then later, didn't it move up to market street, still in the del trust bldg, so it had better public exposure? the greewood was some classy bookstore, and i enjoyed every minute i ever spent in there. i later in life learned that people in the national book trade from coast to coast had enormous respect for the way it was run back in those days. the greenwood was no waldenbooks, that's for sure!
bob <wilso127@yahoo.com>
USA - Sunday, May 18, 2003 at 21:58:15 (EDT)

Re: the Delaware Trust Building. I, too, remember the Hobbs Tea Room. It was very special. Also, the Greenwood Book Shop was housed in the Del. Trust. For a while, Hercules had a cafeteria on the main floor during the 50's. It was not just for employees. Anyone could drop in for lunch.
Pat LeVan <LeVan1706@aol.com>
Port St. Lucie, FL USA - Sunday, May 18, 2003 at 18:56:15 (EDT)

Bob Veazey mentioned earlier that Walter Kadle was a P.E. teacher at WHS. I vaguely remember P.E. "testing" in grade school, and I believe he went around Wilmington from school to school leading this testing effort in things like the 50-yard dash, broad jump, etc. Does anyone else remember that?
Bill Fisher <whfisher@earthlink.net>
Westminster, CA USA - Sunday, May 18, 2003 at 12:36:22 (EDT)

I remember as a child going to the Hobb Tea Room in the court of the Delaware Trust Building, before an addtion was built there. It was a real treat going to a resturant in the early 40's. I grew up at 8th & Jackson Sts, there was a grocery store on the corner, which later became Wrotten's Hardware store. They later moved to Newport. I have traveled and lived in many places and in Europe, but there in no place like being home in Wilmington and the surrounding area. My roots go deep in New Castle Co, and don't want to live any place else. The Web site brings back many memories and enjoy reading all the comments.
Nancy E. Schanes <neschanes@aol.com>
Wilmington, DE USA - Saturday, May 17, 2003 at 22:33:39 (EDT)

Great site. Thanks for all the nostalgia. I grew up on the Phila. Pike in Bellevue in the 30's and 40's. Graduated from Mt. Pleasant 9th grade in '46 and then from Alexis I. duPont HS in '49. Wonderful memories from both schools. Remember walking to Penny Hill Donut shop after basketball and dances at Mt. Pleasant. And stopping at Spic & Span for a "night cap" when old enough to drive.
Delmer Nicholson <barnicho@aol.com>
Cincinnati, OH USA - Friday, May 16, 2003 at 19:42:11 (EDT)

...the name of that restaurant at the nw corner of north college avenue and west main street in newark was 'The College Inn'...i also remember two large hardware stores on main street in newark - Handloff's, and Newark Hardware. i just remembered that in the spring of 1954, in the evening of a nice day i think it was, a Delaware National Guard jet fighter crash-landed into the Newark Lumber Company, located east of church st on the south side of main street, setting off a horrific conflagration. there were two gas stations located quite close to the lumber company building and lot, and fortunately for all, they didn't blow up. i don't remember any serious injuries resulting from the crash and fire...the crew of the plane had bailed out safely...but the event was a spectacular one.
wilse <wilso127@127.com>
USA - Friday, May 16, 2003 at 07:31:43 (EDT)

Well, I didn't grow up in Newark in the 50's, but I was there. (Some folks say I haven't grown up yet, and am still there!) As far as the businesses on Main St were concerned, I don't remember a whole lot of them, but here goes: There weren't many between the Deer Park and the Sig Ep house, but one in particular comes to mind: the building on the corner of Main and N. College Ave.; it used to be a restaurant waaay back, and my aunt's sister used to own it. Don't remember the name... but on the other side of Old College was Rhodes' Drug Store and Les' Family Store. There was a barber shop on the north side of Main, perhaps next door to Les'... Of course, the Newark Diner with its stainless steel facade... and continuing west on Main, there was the "Greasy Spoon" (every college town has one), which was I believe right next door to the State Theater, which butted up against Harter Hall. That's about all I remember on Main St, except for the Post Office. More will no doubt come to mind as soon as I close out this message...
Bill Fisher <whfisher@earthlink.net>
Westminster, CA USA - Friday, May 16, 2003 at 00:26:38 (EDT)

It would be interesting for someone who grew up in Newark in the 1950's to give us a walking tour east on Main Street from the Deer Park to the Catholic Church and back across the street to Harter Hall at the University. I was at the UDel from 1952 to 1956, but my memory is hazy about a lot of the businesses there...except for the Deer Park, of course. Anyone?
Bob <wilso127@yahoo.com>
Stamford, CT USA - Thursday, May 15, 2003 at 22:40:37 (EDT)

I REMEMBER A LOT ABOUT PRICES CORNER WHEN I WAS OLD ENOUGH I WORKED AT WOOLWORTHS. I MADE THEIR SIGNS AND WORKED ON THE SEASONAL MERCHANDICE AND ALSO WAS A CASHIER. MY MOTHER WAS THE MANAGER OF WASSEMS. THANKS FOR THE MEMERIES THIS TIME. THERE WERE A LOT FOR ME. I'M NEW TO THIS SIGHT AND I CHECK IT EVERYDAY NOW.
MARY (ROUSH) SEALING <GRAMMA5@AOL.COM>
LAUREL, MD USA - Thursday, May 15, 2003 at 17:50:44 (EDT)

I have viewed this from time to time over the past several years and applaud you for all of your hard work that has gone into this website. It's wonderful and certainly a trip down memory lane. It brings to mind things that were deposited there when one was in elementary or high school and brings them to the forefront. Thank you so much. Former Restaurants - Lum's Diner and Blue Lantern Restaurant, both were on Kirkwood Highway almost across from one another. It was not DeNardo's Sub Shop on Kirkwood Highway - just Nardo's Sub Shop (I went there every day). How about the chain of Pappy's Restaurants from long ago? There was one on Cleveland Avenue in Newark, one at Midway Shopping Center on Kirkwood Highway and one on Rt. 202. Former Stores: Braunstein's and Kennards were both on Market Street in Wilmington and later in Price's Corner Shopping Center on Kirkwood Highway. Ogden-Howard Furniture Store was at the Midway Shopping Center Games: We played Jacks (as in Jack and the Ball), croquet and badminton every day. James E. Straites should be James E. Strates Show. Clementie's should be Clemente's, Garuche's Lane should be Garasche's Lane, Monchanin should be Montchanin. DelaWare Motel should be Lord de la Warr Motel. Kennet should be Kennett, and lastly Wassom's should be Wassam's. (If you're interested in correct spellings - if not, that's ok, too). Carry on with nostalgia for all!
Ginny Quigley Craig
USA - Thursday, May 15, 2003 at 13:50:01 (EDT)

The quarry at Avondale goes by the upscale name of the Avon Lake Club and they charge a nominal membership fee and issue membership cards (at least they did as of a few years ago). It's a pleasant place to go (if you don't mind the sound of gunshots from the nearby range). They have rest rooms and usually a mobile food truck. You can rent a large foam raft and float out on the water and sometimes see gliders overhead from the nearby airport. It's a hidden time-warped gem and reminiscent of how things used to be.
Betty
USA - Wednesday, May 14, 2003 at 15:33:22 (EDT)

As recently as a few years ago (definitely within the last 10) the swimming hole in Avondale was still in business. They also had a shooting range where my husband and my son had memberships and went target shooting. It still looked like something out of the '50s. It was like stepping back in time for just a short while.
Susan Hastings Griesbach <vze44dz7@verizon.net>
Wilmington, DE USA - Sunday, May 11, 2003 at 21:17:40 (EDT)

Ok, guys. We now have your swimming location ID'd. But, I remember a place called 'The Sand Pitt(s)'. Does anyone out there remember where that was??
Harry Rogerson<webmaster@oldwilmington.net>
MD USA - Friday, May 09, 2003 at 15:55:47 (EDT)

I'M SO GALD I FOUND THIS SIGHT. THE MEMORIES. I LIVED IN ELSMER FROM 1950 TILL I MARRIED AND MOVED TO MD IN 1968. LOOKING BACK ON DO YOU REMEMBER WAS SO GOOD. MY BROTHER (NICK NAME) PEEWEE STILL LIVES IN WILLOW RUN. HE RERIRED FROM CHRISTLER AND MY FATHER RETIRED FROM GENERAL MOTERS.
MARY (ROUSH) SEALING <GRAMMA5@AOL.COM>
LAUREL, MD USA - Friday, May 09, 2003 at 12:04:48 (EDT)

I must have gone swimming before your time there; don't remember ever being stopped for an "admission fee"...
Bill Fisher <whfisher@earthlink.net>
Westminster, CA USA - Friday, May 09, 2003 at 01:59:36 (EDT)

Same quarry, Bill. That was it. Avondale was the name I was trying to think of. What a memory you have! Remember driving down a lane to get there and being stopped at the gates by Dew Lafferty for your 50 cents?
Pat LeVan <LeVan1706@aol.com>
Port St. Lucie, FL USA - Thursday, May 08, 2003 at 18:41:09 (EDT)

I remember swimming in a quarry (COLD water!!!) off Lancaster Pike, but it was waaaay out at Avondale, PA...
Bill Fisher <whfisher@earthlink.net>
Westminster, CA USA - Wednesday, May 07, 2003 at 20:27:21 (EDT)

Hi all, Just want to say thank you for this web site. My memories are going to Maida"s for water ice and especially the cherry with vanilla ice cream,Delamore dairy and their ultimate chocolate nut sundaes,premium's sub shop,west end park and the climbing on the rocks,Camby park swimming pool,the movie theater on Maryland Ave. featuring Pop weaver on saturdays,St. Hedwig's bazaar,pictures done at okoniewski's,Potocki's drug store, Liszkiewicz's market on Chestnut and Franklin Sts, The Polish falcon's,The Indian at the cigar shop on Market St.I have these memories from growing up in Wilmington in the 60's and I do miss those times. Feel free to email me and reminise. Patty
Patricia Craig <pattyc615@juno.com>
Wilmington, De USA - Tuesday, May 06, 2003 at 14:42:17 (EDT)

I have great memories of the late 1930s about the American Legion Post #1 that had their “home” on Lancaster Avenue and Bancroft Parkway. My parents were members of the Post and I played clarinet in the “Sons of the Legion” boy’s band. During that period the Post was very active, and the Bugle Corps (with my Dad playing drums) and Sons Band marched in just about every parade held in Wilmington. The Bugle Corps attended Legion Conventions in other states and won a number of awards for their performance. The Post Home had an artillery gun from WW I on the front lawn, and it was great to pretend that we were operating it. There were super strawberry festivals held every year and the Post operated a huge carnival around the 4th of July at a field on the east side of Union Street (New Street) between Canby Park and where the bridge entering Elsmere is now located. The Sons Band operated until just after WWII started, but was disbanded when most of the boys (who were by now in their late teens) entered the military.
Bob Veazey <bobbyvz@comcast.net>
Wilmington, DE USA - Tuesday, May 06, 2003 at 12:19:16 (EDT)

Thanks, this site carries an instant smile. Remember when the city line marker was near the Pepsi Plant? The wooden indian outside the smoke shop at 10th and Market(prior to the building of Farmer's Bank).The explosion of the towers on the Brandywine (near 16th and Jessup). When the stores and banks on Market Street stayed open late on Friday. 2 for a penny candy, mint julips, banana splits, squirle nuts,12 cent comic books, Burger King in the 800 block of Market Street.
Howard Govens <go3how@ev1.net>
Austin, Tx USA - Tuesday, May 06, 2003 at 10:49:18 (EDT)

Was that the place they called 'The Sand Pit'?
Harry Rogerson <webmaster@oldwilmington.net>
MD USA - Monday, May 05, 2003 at 20:24:17 (EDT)

There used to be an old quarry which was called "Lake Kaolin" out Lancaster Pike near Hockessin. We went there to swim in the 50's. My father was born in that area in 1895 and he almost drowned in it as a child. The property was owned by a guy named Dew Lafferty and on Sundays he charged 50 cents each admission.
Pat Stillwell LeVan <LeVan1706@aol.com>
Port St. Lucie, FL USA - Monday, May 05, 2003 at 19:16:33 (EDT)

The quarry was not right on the Lancaster Pike. You had to turn right on Old Wilmington Road. Our family went there in the early sixties, we had to follow a neighbor. Nice beach on the parking side. You could swim across and climb a cliff to dive into the deeper water.
Fred Best <fred.best@usa.dupont.com>
Wilmington, DE USA - Monday, May 05, 2003 at 06:41:56 (EDT)

Quite far west of the city line on a corner of the Lancaster Pike back in the 1950's, there was a popular ol' swimmin' hole that was actually a flooded stone quarry. Does anyone remember the cross road where it was/is located, and what the place was called? Is it locatable on the great map the Webmaster has posted at this site? After the sun went down, I believe that the parking area at this spot was a fairly popular teenagers' 'lover's lane' as well.
Bob <wilso127@yahoo.com>
CT USA - Monday, May 05, 2003 at 06:23:42 (EDT)

Your site is very useful and nice designed. Greetings.
diseño grafico Barcelona <info@edgpublicitat.net>
USA - Saturday, May 03, 2003 at 22:23:22 (EDT)

Schelich Bakery Became Figel's. Ragan's Bakery was on Maryland Ave.Down by where the I-95 Maryland Ave. off-ramp is. Even numbered side about 200 or 300.
Edward Connell <ECONN13@aol.com>
Newark, DE USA - Friday, May 02, 2003 at 09:26:04 (EDT)

Prices Run Pool. Remember sailboat races on Saturday mornings that were run by Walter Kadle, who I believe was a P.E. teacher at Wilmington High. (Check my spelling!) Boats were a special class sloop with one main sail and a jib. Boats were about 3 feet long. My Father made one for my older sister and me and christened it the “Bob-Dot”. It had an auto steering rig that they made us disconnect for racing. Warner Jr. High. Frank Martine Heal ran a tight ship! Mornings the Boy Scout color guard marched to the flagpole and while “Call to the Colors” was broadcast over the school P.A. system the flag was raised. Then we all sang the “Star Spangled Banner” and recited the “Pledge of Allegiance”. We also had a reading from the Old Testament Bible, and recited the Lord’s Prayer. At the end of the day “Taps” followed the lowering of the flag. Mr. Heal was known for rousing patriotic speeches around Memorial Day and Armistice Day. He was also known for “straightening out” troublemakers. There were no complaints. I guess that this was in the days before the “American Civil Liberties Union”. Mr. Quinto, orchestra director, wrote a song titled “Flowers in the Spring” (or something like that) but we all called it “El Stinko”. After he was drafted, Amelia Kozinski, fresh out of West Chester State College, replaced him. In Shop Class some of us carved recognition models of various warplanes in shop class for the services to train with. Sign of the times: You can’t play “Monument Ball” on Garfield’s statue in the park at 23rd, Concord Avenue and Jefferson Street. It is now enclosed in a chain link fence!!
Bob Veazey <bobbyvz@comcast.net>
Wilmington, DE USA - Thursday, May 01, 2003 at 09:51:58 (EDT)

What have I created here? It looks like a lot of OldWilmingtonians are enjoying this site and having fun recalling the 'old days' of Wilmington! I have received suggestions from you and I am thinking of ways to add them. Also, a new page will be added soon that will show the things we use to 'use', 'eat' or 'see' from the 40's to 60's. Has anyone viewed the hi-res maps? I have more and will post them if you would like me to - they make for good research. Please pass this site on to any oldwilmington family, friends, class or workmates... Thanks again... Harry
Harry Rogerson <webmaster@oldwilmington.net>
MD USA - Thursday, May 01, 2003 at 08:54:12 (EDT)

Billy Carden, once of 23rd Street, tells me that the Shipside neighborhood was a bit south and west of Browntown (the Polish neighborhood out on Maryland Avenue), on the river side of the Avenue, and may have been a housing project developed just after WWII. He also confirmed what others here have already said about the locations of Happy Valley, etc. Now here's another question: did that little neighborhood on the far east side over near the Brown Boy's Club, further east than Northeast or Printz Boulevard, out on the Delaware River flatlands, have a name? And one other item: the aforementioned Wilmington Hall of Famer Bob Strimple, PS DuPont Class of 1952, is President Emeritus of the Westminster Theological Seminary in Escondido, CA, and is the author of many many books and articles on Evangelical Presbyterian Theology. How do I know? "Google."
Bob <wilso127@yahoo.com>
Stamford, CT USA - Wednesday, April 30, 2003 at 06:43:15 (EDT)

Pat: There was a Margie Carl in my class at Mt Pleasant (class of '54). Could they be the same? Did her family perhaps move to the Holly Oak area sometime in the late 40's? That's where she lived when attending Mt Pleasant. Also, I remember a James Dixon from the early days. Was his brother's name "Bill", by any chance? Might be someone else I'm thinking of, however.
Bill Fisher <whfisher@earthlink.net>
Westminster, CA USA - Sunday, April 27, 2003 at 15:31:39 (EDT)

I remember Leonetti's Bakery on Lincoln street across from the Acme. They had the most delicious rum cake that we all had to have for our 1st Communion/Confirmation/any important occassion. And, oh those almond cookies in all the different shapes. It wasn't a wedding or shower w/out those!!
deb <joycmom4@yahoo.com>
longwood, fl USA - Saturday, April 26, 2003 at 20:22:23 (EDT)

Pat - Billy Carden of 23rd Street was in my graduating class (1952) at PS Dupont and was also in my homeroom in 10th grade. I saw him in Wilmington at our 50th Class Reunion last June. He was one of the first guys I met when I moved to Delaware in 1949. He is today the same as he ever was...a great guy! After living in Alabama for many years, he and his wife now live in Florida. E-mail me if you'd like to have his email address.
Bob <wilso127@yahoo.com>
USA - Saturday, April 26, 2003 at 19:42:29 (EDT)

OK, you all, here are the "kids" I remember from my neighborhood in the Ninth Ward; that is, around 22nd, 23rd, 24th and Tatnall, West, Washington. Jeannette Grant, Bobby Miller, Betty Miller, Jr. Grant, Marty Grant, Martin Hindsley, Sonny Carl, Margie Carl, Tommy Leonard, Patsy Leonard, Billy Carden, the Kirkby kids, Judy Barnhill, Frannie Benton, the McCanns, the Dixon boys (real terrors), Donnie Lewis, Leighton Williams and Frankie Martinez. These are just a few of a great group of kids who played Kick the Can, Hide and Seek, Red Rover and what we called hand ball. We used a tennis ball and batted it with our hand to play baseball. We went to St. Patrick's, Christ Our King, #30 (later known as Shortlidge and George Gray. Know any of these "kids"?
Pat Stillwell LeVan <LeVan1706@aol.com>
Port St. Lucie, FL USA - Saturday, April 26, 2003 at 19:29:05 (EDT)

Oh, and yes, I remember Bob Strimple from P. S.-- a long, tall lanky kid as I recall. Skinny, like I was back then. Ah, those days are gone forever!
Bill Fisher <whfisher@earthlink.net>
Westminster, CA USA - Saturday, April 26, 2003 at 02:31:45 (EDT)

Sorry about the "West Sumner" thing. When I fill in the box for "City", I'm presented with a list of choices from my past keyboard entries. Westminster is right next to West Sumner (which is actually in Maine!) and if I'm not careful, when I leave the box, it sometimes flips over to an adjacent choice. Bad mouse! Bad! Sit.... Staaaaay...
Bill Fisher <whfisher@earthlink.net>
Westminster, CA USA - Saturday, April 26, 2003 at 02:25:06 (EDT)

Bill - Your description of the cardboard dish that the ice cream was scooped into, on the scale, is perfect. I don't remember going to Mr. Schuler at Fell's to have him pack and weigh the ice cream, but I sure do remember Ola Whitcomb doing the same thing at Sam's at Concrod and Jefferson. I've never seen bulk ice cream sold that way since. Was that strictly a Wilmington "thing?" By the way, make up your mind: is it West Sumner or Westminster, or do you just move around a lot? Did you know that Bob Strimple, PS DuPont Class of 1952, is the president emeritus of Westminster Bible College in California? He grew up at 42nd and Market, hard by Shellpot Creek.
Bob Wilson <wilso127@yahoo.com>
Stamford, CT USA - Friday, April 25, 2003 at 21:31:13 (EDT)

Re: bulk ice cream by the pound, I remember it well. My grandmother LOVED Breyer's peach ice cream, and she used to send me up to Fell's Drug Store at Concord Ave. and Monroe for a "quart" of it every so often. Walter Schuler, the pharmacist/soda jerk/owner(I think)/Janitor used to pull out a paper "dish" which resembled a flatboat a bit like the one in Huck Finn... and would "spade out" the ice cream, weighing it every once in a while. If he got a little too much in the boat, there was no extra charge, so I always used to try to ask him a question to divert him from his task when it was getting close... didn't win many times, however.
Bill Fisher <whfisher@earthlink.net>
West Sumner, CA USA - Friday, April 25, 2003 at 19:11:04 (EDT)

When Aschenbach's moved, it may have been to 25th and Monroe instead of 26th, as I noted... the memory of those times is getting a bit dim! It was definitely on Monroe, though, on the NW corner of either 25th or 26th.
Bill Fisher <whfisher@earthlink.net>
Westminster, CA USA - Friday, April 25, 2003 at 11:52:38 (EDT)

Bill et al. - By 1949, that store location at Concord and Jefferson had become a luncheonette/resturant run by Sam Lisakoff, and waitressed by Ola Whitcomb. The pinball machine there earned Sam enough money to lay in a good stash of burger meat from time to time, I expect. I can't for the life of me remember any storefront at 26th and Monroe. By the way, remember when merchants sold ice cream at retail, by the pound, on a scale? Do they still do that anywhere in Wilmington?
Bob Wilson <wilso127@yahoo.com>
Stamford, CT USA - Thursday, April 24, 2003 at 20:30:19 (EDT)

Does anybody remember when Aschenbach's (Ice Cream Parlor at 26th & Monroe) was on the corner of Concord Ave and Jefferson Streets, across from Louis' Drug Store and the little Garfield Park behind Hearn's Market? They made all their own stuff, including the cones, and they were the best!
Bill Fisher <whfisher@earthlink.net>
Westminster, CA USA - Thursday, April 24, 2003 at 19:53:34 (EDT)

Remember the gold fish pond in 10th st. park back in the fifties.
Tom
USA - Wednesday, April 23, 2003 at 17:24:18 (EDT)

My husband and I were teens in the sixties..we lived in Wilm..the ice cream plant out Market St. was called Bordens at that time..i love this site..lots of fun remembering.
Pat
Tx USA - Wednesday, April 23, 2003 at 14:21:34 (EDT)

Hate to belabor the point, Mr. Veazey, but I checked with several Wilmingtonians who remember the ice cream plant at 26th and Market Sts. It was definitely SHARPLESS. In fact, they made delicious dixie cups. Their logo colors were red and white and blue and white checks. When you removed the tops of the dixie cups, you found a "movie star" picture underneath. Sometimes it was Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, Ann Sheridan, Hedy Lamarr, etc. Also, you got a little wooden spoon with which to eat the ice cream - all for a nickel! Nobody remembers Breyers - but then maybe you are a lot older! Fond memories.
Pat LeVan <LeVan1706@aol.com>
Port St. Lucie, FL USA - Tuesday, April 22, 2003 at 20:02:55 (EDT)

Its me again ha..Remember the shoemakers in Greens five and ten.
Pat
Tx USA - Monday, April 21, 2003 at 18:54:42 (EDT)

George Washington Elementary on Washington St near the bridge..#24 i believe. Remember the elevator man in the Post office between King and Market.
Pat
Tx USA - Monday, April 21, 2003 at 18:25:04 (EDT)

Parking at Hagley Museum..*wink*..The kitchen sink at Charcoal Pit..Bens shoe store on King St..Ice cream sandwichs on corner of Kreskies on 8th and Market. Bought my first bra at Woolworths at 9th and Market ha.. across from the hot dog counter. Square dances at Rodney Square.
Pat
Tx USA - Monday, April 21, 2003 at 14:26:21 (EDT)

Does anyone remember THE JIMMY ROZELL ORCHESTRA or SERENADERS? Maybe it was JAMES ROZELL? I'd love to hear stories and see pictures!
J
DE USA - Saturday, April 19, 2003 at 08:57:53 (EDT)

Hi, good site
visitas virtuales, imagen virtual, panoramicas, paseos virtuales, panoramas, inmersiva, fotografia 360
visitas virtuales <hola@hola.com>
- Friday, April 18, 2003 at 09:07:26 (EDT)

Back at the end of the 1940's, there was no Christ Our King church structure for services, all of which were held in a large basement room in the school building. In a kind of strange circumstance, the school was built before the parish church. Does anyone have an idea as to why?
Bob <wilso127@yahho.com>
USA - Wednesday, April 16, 2003 at 21:54:41 (EDT)

I GREW UP ON 29TH AND TATNALL ST, AND WENT TO SCHOOL AT CHRIST OR KING, WHAT GREAT MEMORIES I HAVE. TAKING THE BUS IN TOWN ON FRIDAY NIGHTS WITH MY MOTHER, AND SHOPPING THE 4CENT TABLE AT WILM DRY GOODS, THOSE WHERE THE DAYS. THIS IS GREAT. THANKS!
PATTI LEONETTI <PLEONETTI@HOPHEAT.COM>
BALTIMORE, MD USA - Wednesday, April 16, 2003 at 09:01:35 (EDT)

I just discovered this site today after having lunch with Pat Leonard Kelleher and Pat Stillwell LeVan. Pat LeVan told me about it and it is more incredible than I could ever have imagined. Scrolling through the comments, I saw many familiar names. I am so impressed by the incredible memories of so many. We can never grow old as long as we can return to this site again and again. It has really started me reminiscing.
Pat McVey Riley <rytavyncent@aol.com>
Wilmington, DE USA - Tuesday, April 15, 2003 at 18:58:28 (EDT)

I'd like to add to the list of bakeries: Penny Hill Doughnuts...They were delicious! (One of my earliest memories of Wilm. in 1956.)
Sandy Moore
USA - Monday, April 14, 2003 at 13:06:32 (EDT)

OUTSTANDING
JACK TOPKIS & EELYN OKONOW <JTOPKIS@BELLSOUTH.NET>
BOCA RATON,, FL USA - Sunday, April 13, 2003 at 20:09:49 (EDT)

Hooray to the Webmaster for uploading the 1946 Wilmington map. Check it out. It is indispensible to this site. Great!!!
Bob Wilson <wilso127@yahoo.com>
Stamford, CT USA - Sunday, April 13, 2003 at 17:46:16 (EDT)

The aroma of Allied Kid Company accompanied me all the way up 4th St. while riding on the electric trolley on my way to confirmation classes at Zion Lutheran Church at 5th and Jackson Streets. Not only was I confirmed there, but was also married there in July 25, 1959. The wedding was held at 10 am hoping that the Wilmington humidity wouldn't unleash the curls in my straight hair. (Before hair spray.) Having attended George Gray School and grown up opposite the Price's Run Pool in the E. 26th Street housing project, I started out from school in the winter on a snowy day rolling a snowball in the snow. It soon became so big I couldn't roll it any more and my mom would have to come get me. Summers were spent in the pool. Vendors selling "snowballs" pulled wagons with a big ice block and many different flavored syrups to form a great summertime trip. Polio closed them down by the time I was 8. Fruit and produce vendors sold goods out of open sided van/trucks - we called them "hucksters". They sold green peaches and kneaded them between their hands to softened them up so we would think they were ripe. For a time there was a small ice-skating rink in the north corner of the park in winter. When I was six we used to go to the Strand Theater every Saturday to a movie. My fabric hanky had my .12 cents tied up in one corner for admission. In the other corner was another dime for a box of Good & Plenty and Malt balls. Where the Concord Mall is now used to be called Lynthewaits (I think that is how it is spelled) Farm where yummy ice cream was sold in the summer. At the foot of Lore Avenue and Gov. Printz Blvd. another Soft Custard stand sold exactly that. The Blue Hen Stadium had night football games and a trip to Jan's Steakhouse or Dandee Drive-In for burgers and REAL milkshakes. All my childhood Christmas shopping was done at Woolworth's, Kresge's and Silver's on Market Street. We traveled on busses, walked or biked everywhere. Wilmington Dry Goods at 5th - 4th & Market was our dream store. That is where I learned what good clothes really were - the ones with the labels cut out from the neck.. I bought a yellow nylon stretch bathing suit at age 15. Wore it to Wildwood and it started to disintegrate after 15 minutes in the surf. Thank God for towels! My Dad worked at Pusey Jones as a pipefitter and also at Electric Hose and Rubber. We used to take his .22 rifle and old flash bulbs from our camera and go target shooting "down to the river" - (Delaware River). Thanks for a place to find great memories!
Louise Jennings <princess.lu@verizon.net>
Wilmington, DE USA - Saturday, April 12, 2003 at 13:45:03 (EDT)

Bill Fisher reminds me that that area between 18th St to 34th St from Market St to Broom was once known as the Ninth Ward. But more specifically, I would call the area between Washington and Broom, from 18th to30th, "Concord-Boulevard." Not that it's ever been called that. By the way, Bob Veazey, Bill mentions a relative of yours in one of his own documents. Check him out.
Bob Wilson <wilso127@yahoo.com>
Stamford, CT USA - Friday, April 11, 2003 at 22:11:39 (EDT)

I have a correction for you. DiMauro's Childrens' store was not at 4th & Scott - that was Katz. DiMauro's is on DuPont Street - at either 8th or Howland.
Jackie Murphy <jayareem@comcast.net>
Wilmington, DE USA - Friday, April 11, 2003 at 16:00:56 (EDT)

On the left side of 202 where I-95 crosses was that pool mentioned in another entry. I don't think that it was a swimming pool, rather a part of an estate landscaping. In the late 1930s there was an island in the center of the pool. I used to go there to shoot my .22 rifle, as there was a slope beyond the pool and it was reasonably safe. The Wilmington High School stadium was adjacent to the area. In about 1941 I was part of a model airplane club, the "Model Gasliners" that flew control line model airplanes there. I saw Billy Cole run the opening kick-off back for a touchdown at the Thanksgiving Day game there-about 1941 or so! They were great times. Bob VZ
Bob Veazey <bobbyvz@comcast.net>
Wilmington, DE USA - Thursday, April 10, 2003 at 19:26:24 (EDT)

O.K. About that ice cream plant. In late 1930s my class from #30 School visited the plant. It was Breyers at that time, and the boast that the vanilla was made from the beans was represented by the little bits of bean in the finished product. It may have been Sharpless and Bordens later, but my memory is not that good! Bob VZ
Bob Veazey <bobbyvz@comcast.net>
Wilmington, DE USA - Wednesday, April 09, 2003 at 18:10:30 (EDT)

Hi, I thought my URL would come out immediately, but don't see it in the previous post. Here's my site for Wilmington, Delaware Then and Now _ A City in Vintage and Modern Views: http://www.geocities.com/wilmingtonthenandnow/ No one is more inspiring than Harry to get us going with our digital cameras!
Donata Lewandowski Guerra <OldWilmington@nc.rr.com>
USA - Wednesday, April 09, 2003 at 16:48:39 (EDT)

I have a response of sorts for Bob Wilson's questions about the location of various neighborhoods in Wilmington and, along with congratulations to Harry and Betty on this wonderful site, would like to add some of this info: BRANDYWINE CORNERS was the name given to the area where Market, Concord, and Vandever met. BRANDYWINE VILLAGE, the area along Market just over the bridge covered the streets up to 22nd. WASHINGTON HEIGHTS was given to the growth beyond 30th Street. HAPPY VALLEY comprised Adams, Shallcross, Van Buren, and Brandywine Creek, initially past the houses at Shallcross and Lovering. FORTY ACRES covered the part west of DuPont and north of Delaware Avenue. This area was specifically called THE HIGHLANDS from Delaware and DuPont toward the North and West, and apparently replaced the name MCDOWELLVILLE. MCDOWELLVILLE whose center was Pennsylvania Avenue between Clayton and Union was apparently site of an inn for Kennett Pike travellers, as well as blacksmith and wheelwright shops in the olden days. HEDGEVILLE formed a triangle at Maryland and Chestnut and the tracks between avenue and railroad out to Betls (spelling?) machine works. Before the Civil War, John Hedges had built an enormous manse on Maryland Avenue. BROWNTOWN, south and west of Hedgeville was named for Dr. John A. Brown after he settled here following the Civil War. I don't know any area called "Shipside" but my research at the Wilmington Public Library archives shows THE SOUTH SIDE as a "hamlet until after the Civil War", accessible via the 3rd Street Bridge. ANDERSONVILLE at Front and Union, on the west side of Union, was a African-American neighborhood. WAWASET PART was a sporting area originally called SCHUETZEN PARK. I wonder whether the name change from German to English was related to an anti-German backlash during the First World War. Please visit my new geocities website WilmingtonThenandNow featuring old postcards juxtaposed with the latest digital images of today's Wilmington!
Donata Lewandowski Guerra <OldWilmington@nc.rr.com>
Cary, NC USA - Wednesday, April 09, 2003 at 16:32:17 (EDT)

The ice cream plant was at 26th and Market; and before it was Borden's, it was Sharpless. Anyone remember that? I remember the Santa Claus and chimney at Christmas time. Also, there was a playground at 24th & Tatnall and we had great times there. Mrs. Grey was the teacher and we always had a picnic "down the Brandywine" if we were good all summer and didn't give her too much trouble. Nellie and Clarence, a couple who lived across from the playground, used to go with us as chaperones.
Pat Stillwell LeVan <LeVan1706@aol.com>
Port St. Lucie, FL USA - Wednesday, April 09, 2003 at 15:09:02 (EDT)

Re: Borden's milk plant at 25th and Market: way back when, a high school buddy of mine was once one of a group of students being given a tour of this plant. He witnessed a workman accidentally drop a pipe wrench into a vat of milk being processed. The processing then went on as though nothing had happened. MORAL: Sometimes you are better off not knowing about how what you drink or eat, has been prepared, in Wilmington or anywhere else.
Bob Wilson <wilso127@yahoo.com>
Stamford, CT USA - Wednesday, April 09, 2003 at 08:25:19 (EDT)

It was BORDEN'S Ice Cream at 25th amd Market. I remember the Christmas "billboard" they had on their roof. If I remember correctly, it was of Santa on a roof with an interior view of the house.
Michael Klezaras <theklez@hotmail.com>
New Castle, DE USA - Tuesday, April 08, 2003 at 22:48:33 (EDT)

I feel privileged to have grown up in Wilmington (or just outside the city limits). There were so many wonderful people and places -- and memories surround them all. For anyone who ever attended services there or for guys who were Boy Scouts in Troop 19 at Silverbrook United Methodist Church -- they will close their doors following the service on Easter Sunday morning at 9:30. Having attended that church for 19 years -- being confirmed and married there -- this is heartbreaking for me. At one time, Silverbrook sponsored the largest Boy Scout Troop in the state.
Susan Hastings Griesbach <vze44dz7@verizon.net>
Wilmington, DE USA - Tuesday, April 08, 2003 at 19:09:06 (EDT)

By my memory, the ice cream factory at 25th and Market was Breyers. They boasted about the little flakes of vanilla bits in their ice cream. Also, on the businesses on Market Street, Knowles Hobby Shop was on the second floor of 403. I know, I worked there. My girlfriend (now wife) Joan Wilkinson used to meet me there on Friday nite and we could walk her home to 29th and Jefferson--no problems. Wouldn't do that now!! Really enjoy this site. Bob VZ
Bob Veazey <Bobbyvz@comcast.net>
Wilmington, DE USA - Tuesday, April 08, 2003 at 19:01:05 (EDT)

My sister Eleanor sent me the address for this site. We lived at 321 West 23rd Street, so Bob Wilson's entries hit home. We used to play ball against Garfield Monument. I worked at Knowles Hobby Shop at 4th & Market and then after WWII on Shipley Street. After U of DE went into USAF in 1951 and was fighter pilot in Korea. Married Joan Wilkinson, who's Dad was Paul Wilkinson. He had a band that played on the Wilson Line boats. We came back to Wilmington in 1955. Worked at AllAmerican Engineering and "retired" in 1991, but back with them (now ESCO in Aston, PA) consulting. Used to make little balsa gliders with friends and we must have put 100 of them on Louis Drugstore roof!Still fly model airplanes. Bob VZ
G. Robert (Bob) Veazey, Sr. <Bobbyvz@comcast.net>
Wilminton, DE USA - Sunday, April 06, 2003 at 12:21:20 (EDT)

I grew up at 606 N. Van Buren when it was an Irish enclave. I remember ringlets since I had straight hair. My Dad married Frances Wolfsheimer, she owned Katz's children store on Washington St. John Broujos who was a Representative in Pa. is and ex-Wilmingtonian and became my friend. I used to live in Carlisle, Pa. My brother, Bill, lives in California.
judy birnbaum perlman <perl1104@aol.com>
new york, ny USA - Sunday, April 06, 2003 at 09:25:10 (EDT)

I lived on 5th street between Franklin and Broom walked to St. Paul's everyday. It seems like there was a little store on every corner. Riccio's, Rosie's, both at 4th & Franklin, 4th & not quite Broom (some little street)there was Nortons. Banjo's sub shop was between Franklin & Harrison. I think there was also a liquor store at 4th & Franklin. Banjo's sub shop between Franklin and Harrison, where we would have to get my Dad cheese steaks because he was the only one who would eat meat on Friday. We had 8th street park and 10th street park. Lots of good memories from that neighborhood.
Susan Cregg <Zuezee@aol.com>
Colorado Springs, CO USA - Saturday, April 05, 2003 at 21:05:25 (EST)

I recall that our fellow correspondent, Mr. Mario LePera (see below), was with me one evening in 1958, riding in my brand-new 1957 Ford Fairlane when we jointly experienced the perils of driving after dark through Ellsmere, from Wilmington back to Newark. We were detained by a gendarme near the Vet's Hospital at Brack-Ex, who, as a test of my sobriety, asked me to spell the word LABORATORY. Little did he know that I was a former chemistry major at UDel, and drunk or sober, knew very well how to spell LABORATORY. I was ultimately fined a small amount for, yes, driving recklessly (going 37mph in a 35mph speed zone). And that's the truth!
Bob Wilson <wilso127@yahoo.com>
Stamford, CT USA - Friday, April 04, 2003 at 21:06:47 (EST)

I grew up in Wilmington and lived there from 1935 until 1961. My early years were spent on Tatnall St. between 22 and 23rd. We played on a little one block street called Ashton. Went to St. Patrick's for grade school. Neugebauer's was the corner grocery store, and all the kids in the neighborhood went to the Strand for the Sat. afternoon double feature. It was 10 cents with 2 cents luxury tax added during the war. Ben Seligman was the manager and if we served circulars advertising the movies for the week we got a pass for every time the movie changed that week. Does anyone remember visiting churches on Holy Thursday? We all walked together all day to see how many we could visit. Always had lunch in St. Hedwig's parish because they had great little bakeries. Also, the dances at Sallies, St. Elizabeth, Sacred Heart and the Armory. Graduated from Ursuline in 1953 and we are having our 50th class reunion this month. So many good memories of a great city and precious good times.
Pat Stillwell LeVan <LeVan1706@aol.com>
Port St. Lucie, FL USA - Friday, April 04, 2003 at 19:27:17 (EST)

I loved this site. I remember sledding on monkey hill and at Price's Run Park--ice skating there at the rink and out at Twin Lakes. My cousins and I were at the Phillies-Dodgers exhibition game at the ballpark at 30th Street when Richie Ashburn and Del Ennis collided in the outfield and Ashburn had a concussion that stopped his consecutive game streak. I loved the cheese steaks from Jan's and walking to Lehman's Custard from Seller's Estate during the summer when we would picnic under "our" family tree. I moved from 26th and Pine to Green Acres between 7th and 8th grade and then "commuted" to PS until I graduated in 1962. When I lived on 26th St., we used to go to the movies on Market Street near the Borden's plant-cartoons, news, and a double feature every Saturday. Playing "Mother, May I", "Red Light/Green Light", "Giant Steps", jump rope and hide and seek and stickball in the parking area behind out houses--all the kids on the block and some from the blocks nearby. So much more-no more time now.
Ilene Lipstein <ilipst@yahoo.com>
Plainview, NY USA - Friday, April 04, 2003 at 13:58:22 (EST)

Although not a native of Wilmington but nearby Newark DE from 1939 to 1968, Wilmington was part of my life during that period. I have gone back to the big city and noticed many changes. Some of you might recall the Greenhill Dairy where they used to make tremedous milkshakes that you had to spoon out as opposed to using a straw. That was a favorite place to go during my highschool years. How about the only pro football team that Wilmington had? It was called the Wilmington Clippers. I know they existed as they had a marching band that I was fortunate to be able to play in. Beleive they (the team) only lasted a few seasons as their record was not that great. There used to be a fantastic small Italian restaurant called Marconi's that was on Lancaster Street near Fourth Street. It was actually an end row house that had been converted but they really served tremendous food and were very reasonable. How can anyone forget the perils of driving through Elsmere and trying to avoid getting speeding tickets. They would give you a ticket if you were going 37 mph in a 35 mph speed zone. I always thought it was just a racket. Ah, what memories.
Mario Le Pera <melepera@aol.com>
Harrisonburg, DE USA - Friday, April 04, 2003 at 13:29:00 (EST)

Will someone please explain to me if there is any difference between a Sub and a Hoagie? And how about a Zep and/or a Grinder? Could you get them all in Old Wilmington? I forget, but I do remember the great subs made by Angie's down off Cleveland Avenue in Newark back in the fifties, washed down with a pint of chocolate milk! Wow! That was a meal hard to top!
Bob Wilson, PSDuP 1952 <wilso127@yahoo.com>
USA - Thursday, April 03, 2003 at 22:13:57 (EST)

Where did you guys get that WAMS promotional photo from the 80s?! I created that display when I was WAMS Sales Manager for a business expo in 1986. That's Dave Banks' photo on the left, followed by Mark Anderson, with the beard. I can't recall the fellow to the right. The years take their toll. I think he did nights.
Michael Klezaras <theklez@hotmail.com>
New Castle, DE USA - Thursday, April 03, 2003 at 21:09:19 (EST)

Wow, what a great time looking over the great memories of growing up in Wilmington. I was in the first class at Brandywine High School which graduated in 1963. What wonderful memories of the Charcoal Pit and DeCostanza's subs which for many years I would take home to various locales from Denver to LA to Colorado Springs. When I'd take them out of the overhead once arriving at my destination the flight attendants would ask where I got the subs.
Rollie Elkins <camelotenterprises@usa.com>
Albuquerque, NM USA - Thursday, April 03, 2003 at 20:36:05 (EST)

I am not as old as many of you who seem to visit However , Does anyone remember Pappys Pizza Concord Pike or The Wee Willie Webber show on channel 17 (remember UHF) The Giant Carnival at Concord HS every year we used to run around and look for tickets that people dropped. The Woods between Darley Woods and Longview Farms, Street Hockey Games in Darley Woods Hopefully people who arent much older than I am will start contributing
Ed Messer <printer@together.net>
Bennington , VT USA - Thursday, April 03, 2003 at 16:50:54 (EST)

I remember a very large concrete storm drainage tunnel on the south bank of the Brandywine that ran down under the park from about Lovering Avenue to the race on the south side of the stream. It was called "Devil's Den", and if you were a teenage newcomer to Wilmington, one of the rites of initiation imposed by your buddies was a dare to walk down through it at nighttime. It was a very spooky experience. Another "Dare you" thing was to walk across the B&O RR trestle over the Brandywine, parallelling the Augustine Cut-Off Bridge. That was much more frightening then than it would be today: the B&O ran many more trains, both freight and passenger, at that time.
Bob Wilson <wilso127@yahoo.com>
Stamford, CT USA - Thursday, April 03, 2003 at 07:11:23 (EST)

Remember Gins Steak and Sub Shop at 6th and Lincoln,toe old ball park and the carnival behind the ball park. Jemes E Straights Shows. The old Mt Pleasant H.S on Duncan road in Bellefonte, I graduated from their in 1951. The bowling alley across from Delaware Olds on the Gov Printz. Lehmans frozen custard on the Printz, And the B&G Drive in where Baker Jeep is now. Prices Run Swimming Pool on a hot summer day. DiFonzo's Bakery on Union Street for a 5 cent slice of Pizza, and the best bread and rolls in the world.
Edward Brown <ebb27@695online.com>
Daytona Beach, FL USA - Wednesday, April 02, 2003 at 10:16:56 (EST)

Ah, the smell of fresh baked rolls, just out of the oven from the M&M bakery at 22nd. and Market Sts., and only 5 cents each! Even a little kid could afford that. Or maybe a 5 cent fountain coke from the G&G (Restaurant) down the street. Of course the ultimate was one of those 25 cent mini subs ( on the 5 cent roll ) from Roman's Sub Shop down on the corner. Now, there was a character, Roman, a big man indeed but to a little boy, he was huge. And what a heart, sometimes he'd let you slide on the 25 cents if you were a little short.
James Robinson <White_Night9999@MSN.com>
Wilmington, DE USA - Tuesday, April 01, 2003 at 19:39:53 (EST)

I was born in 1934 and we lived in a pretty grim row house very close to the B&O station on 16th Street. My grandmother lived further up 16th Street in a Victorian house. My memories of the prewar era was the bread and milk being delivered by horse and wagon and once in a while getting the chance to feed the horse an apple being careful to keep my fingers straight. The coal delivery was neat because of the sound of the coal running down the chute into the basement. Later we moved to a new housing development in Bellevue just before the war broke out. My grandmother and great aunt owned a number of cottages in Rehobeth. They would take most of the grandkids down for a goodly part of the summer. The beach after WWII broke out was fascinating to us kids. Machine gun emplacements were constructed of logs covered with sand at 100 yard intervals along the beach. It was always exciting to see a convoy to leave Lewis harbor. It is easy for a kids memory to exaggerate but it seems like there were 50 to a 100 ships, blinking signal lights and blimps overhead. The families had to save their gas coupons and car pool in order to get down there. The bridge on Route 13 across the Delaware Chesapeake canal was hit by a ship and totally put out of commission. The high bridge that is there now replaced it but for several years one had to take a ferry to cross the canal. I now live in the DC suburbs and since my parents died I rarely get up to Wilmington but I sure remember my childhood there. Walt Lafferty PS I sent this in about 3 weeks ago but apparently it was not posted. Thanks for your efforts.
Walt Lafferty <Walter.Lafferty@NIST.GOV>
Wheaton, MD USA - Tuesday, April 01, 2003 at 08:39:07 (EST)

DO YOU REMEMBER BEN GERSHMAN'S $7.00 LADIES SUIT SALES, AT THE WILMINGTON DRY GOODS, THAT JM LAZARUS ACKNOWLEDGE FOR PUTTING THE DRY GOODS ON THE MAP.....THOSE SUIT SALES MADE NATIONAL NEWS....INCLUDING A MAJOR MAGAZINE....AND THEY WERE BOUGHT AND SENT ALL OVER THE WORLD.....
NORMAN GERSHMAN <M13NG@AOL.COM>
NEWARK, DE USA - Tuesday, April 01, 2003 at 07:41:10 (EST)

I remember NeHi Grape sodar , Pro's Drive-in by the Farmer Market, M&M Diner, Tony's Groceries in Pleastantville, playing golf at Brookside which is mow Vince's, Twin Pines Sub Shop in Black Cat, The Royal Diner on South Market, waxing your car by the bog trees near Quigley's farm, Earle Theater in New Castle, Clemente's Bus stop, Punch Bowl Woods, Swimming at Beck's pond, Fixit's corner, Donut Haven in the Farmer's Market, Foster's Produce, Russem's, Coventry pool spalsh parties, Coventry football team, Cafe Continental in the Bowlarama, Food Fair, Grant's,
Brad Williams <blwilliams018@aol.com>
New Castle, DE USA - Monday, March 31, 2003 at 10:52:59 (EST)

THE ACE THEATER ON MARYLAND AVE. SATURDAY MORNING SHOWS AND AFTER THE MOVIE WAS OVER THEY WOUL HAVE THE OLD TIME RACE AND YOU COULD WIN A PRIZE. THE YO YO MAN. NO ONE EVER KNEW HIS NAME. HE COULD DO A HUNDRED TRICKS AND THEN CARVE DESIGNS IN YOUR WOODEN DUNCAN YO YO. FLIPIN AND PITCHIN BASEBALL CARDS. THROWING PENNIES TO THE WALL. THE WATERMELON MAN, HE WOULD CUT OUT A PLUG AND LET YOU TASTE IT.ST ELIZABETH DANCES. THE KING AND QUEEN CHAIRS LOCATED IN THE ROCKS AT WEST END PARK. CAMBY POOL ALL DAY FOR A DIME.THE INDIAN HEAD CARVED IN THE ROCKS IN CANBY WOODS.THE GREAT LUMBER YARD FIRE THAT LASTED TWO DAYS.
CHUCK WILSON <BIGBASS@UDEL.EDU>
BEAR , DE USA - Monday, March 31, 2003 at 08:30:48 (EST)

on Drug stores Bunnins Drug store was in the 1700 block West 4th St.
Frank <hendersonhere@aol.com>
Wilm., De USA - Monday, March 31, 2003 at 00:13:46 (EST)

How about the Wilson Line cruises to Riverview Park and to Phiily
Paul Davis <Pedserv@aol.com>
West Bloomfield, MI USA - Sunday, March 30, 2003 at 22:02:10 (EST)

REMEMBER WHEN THE LANCASTER AVE POST-OFFICE WAS AT 4th AND UNION ST NEXT TO THE "PARK THEATER'.
DON CIANCIO <DON@CIANCIO.COM>
WILM, DE USA - Sunday, March 30, 2003 at 10:37:49 (EST)

Some of the memories I have of growing up at 8th and Jackson include the 10th Street Park with its boat basin/skating pond, small natural history museum, chestnut trees and its annual Spring Fair; Reynolds' Market Street soda fountain and dining room; Spiro's Meat Market (was it on King Street?); and Wroten's old-fashioned hardware store on Jackson Street. Does anyone else share my memories of these places?
Bill Brown <WKBAdv1@aol.com>
Brooklyn, NY USA - Sunday, March 30, 2003 at 07:51:55 (EST)

Oooops! I should pay more attention! Just found the Market Street listings here on the new "oldwilmington." Sorry about that, folks...Attention must be paid! Have a hoagie or a tomato pie on me! It would also be interesting to see business listings for 10th Street out to Delaware Avenue, Market Street north from the Brandywine up to 40th Street, Union Street from Lancaster Avenue to the B&0 overpass at Pennsylvania Avenue, West 4th Street out from Market to Washington, Lancaster Avenue west from ? to Union Street, and Maryland Avenue southwest from Lancaster to ?....all from back in the 1950-era. Anyone have the data?
Bob Wilson <wilso127@yahoo.com>
USA - Saturday, March 29, 2003 at 23:59:28 (EST)

If for no other reason that that it has given me the opportunity to finally "meet" Bill "Stix" Fisher, this Guestbook is a solid-gold treasure!!!! As we've discovered, Bill and I lived a block away from each other in the 23rd and Madison nabe back in the early 1950's, and it turns out that he remembers many of his old buddies and I, his. I never met him at that time. Later, at the University of Delaware, the same thing: we lived two blocks away from each other in two different fraternity houses in Newark, shared many common college experiences (including a magnificent prank), and have many old shared friends. But I never met him on or off campus there either. Now, thanks to this Guestbook, we have met across the miles and years. Wow! This is what the old 'Net is all about! "Pro Aris Et Pro Focis"!!!!!! PS - Hope the Webmaster plans to repost the listing of the Market Street businesses, block by block, from 1948 and 1961, on the new souped-up version here. I'd also like to see a map delineating the boundaries of some of the old Wilmington neighborhoods. Where WERE, or ARE, Shipside, Browntown, the Flats, Happy Valley, and many of the other areas mentioned on the home page of the earlier site? Did my old area around 23rd and Jefferson have a name? We were upwind by several blocks from Brandywine Village along Market Street/Concord Avenue/Vndever Avenue, so I don't think we were technically residents of that area. When living there, I don't ever remember hearing of it being called any particular thing. ?
Bob Wilson <wilso127@yahoo.com>
Stamford, CT USA - Saturday, March 29, 2003 at 21:36:42 (EST)

Don't forget the old Huber's Sunbeam bakery on Union Street!
Susan Wilkins <Sue1154@aol.com>
Wilmington, DE USA - Saturday, March 29, 2003 at 16:22:55 (EST)

Does anyone remember Mento's soda shop at the corner of Lancaster and Franklin where all the nurses in training at the Wilmington General Hospital School of Nursing would come on their nights off and socialize and the A&P store on the corner of Chestnut and Franklin and Potocki's Drug store on the corner of Elm and Franklin.......How about Liszkiewicz's Market on the corner of Franklin and Chestnut.
Nora Sullivan Jubb <svan402@aol.com>
Wilmington , De USA - Saturday, March 29, 2003 at 11:51:12 (EST)

Does anyone remember "Cherry Corner" soda shop at 2ND and Cherry St. The "Linden Grill" at Linden and S. Jackson Streets. Meltz's Grocery Store at Read and S. Jackson????
Ray Jubb <golfopera@aol.com>
Wilmington, De USA - Friday, March 28, 2003 at 23:05:22 (EST)

First off, the Sulky wasn't at Lancaster Ave and Dupont Rd. It was on lancaster ave.and,I think Ford Ave. The Jackson Inn was at Lancaster and Dupont Rd.and still is. But how about Helen's Cafe at Chestnut and VanBuren, owened by Billy Glynn's Mother and Father.
Ray Jubb <golfopera@aol.com>
Wilmington, De USA - Friday, March 28, 2003 at 22:36:49 (EST)

The neighborhood around 23rd and Jefferson was my home base in 1950-1951. My family came down from Newburgh, NY at the request of DuPont in the summer of 1949, and we rented at 504 West 23rd St, just off Concord Avenue. I went into the 10th grade at PS the following month, and within a month, had a whole bunch of great guys as friends, or at least as good buddies. The hub of the neighborhood was at the corner of 23rd and Jefferson: Louis Stromwasser's Drugstore, and its pinball machine; Sam Lisakoff's Luncheonette and Restaurant (and its pinball machine) across 23rd from Louie's; Toner's Luncheonette across from #30 school, always filled with a whole bunch of Toners of all ages, and two pinball machines. We all liked pinball. Guys like my buddies Don Walker (now an invalid living outside of Vancouver, BC); Don Rodenhiser (now in Dover); Ellison Smith; the late Ronnie Grant from McCabe Avenue; Ron Smith of Concord Avenue, who later developed a successful landscaping business with Mike Ferver up past Naaman's Road on the Concord Pike; PS classmates Bob Amoruso, Ted Hobbs, Bobby Hines (who worked after school at Fell's Drug Store at 24th and Concord), Jimmy Hamilton and Billy Carden (all of whom I saw at the PS 50th Reunion of the Class of 1952 last June). And then there were Ken Pickering, whose dad ran the bicycle shop on Jefferson; Desmond Hoey of Louie's; Davis Scott; Nathan Hall; Ralph Pryor; Skip Heath; Dewitt Fielder; Don McCormick; Bobby Hill; Dave Dunn; Henry Harmon; the late Pinky Seres, whose dad owned the Jewish Deli at 26th and Jefferson; and my fraternity brothers at Delaware, Diz Day (of Sandy, Utah) and the late Jack Phillips, both from up on that little short street between Washington and Jefferson and 29th near Ponsell's Drug Store. Several years ago I wrote the draft of a memoir about "The Garfield Boys...(so-called because of the James A. Garfield statue in the little park behind Hearn's Market abd Brown's Bakery, the we used to sit under)...In The Summer of 1950". The Delaware Historical Society has told me they will publish an updated version of this memoir this year, but don't hold your breath. And oh, by the way, I remember the girls too: Phyllis Heckroth of my block, who 20 years later became the mother of a man who is one of my son's best friends up here in Connecticut; Claire Fielder; and Gee-Gee Heath Pauer, last heard from from out in Vegas. Keep your outs out for the next issue of DELAWARE HISTORY JOURNAL. I wrote about the places we used to go, all over town, and most of them have already been mentioned here. Happy Reading!!!!!!!!!!
Bob Wilson <wilso127@yahoo.com>
Stamford, CT USA - Thursday, March 27, 2003 at 23:44:15 (EST)

Let me get back with you after I get all the memories sorted out...see ya later
Paul W. Rickenback <pwr8443@aol.com>
Wilm., DE USA - Thursday, March 27, 2003 at 22:50:39 (EST)

Remember the Spic 'n Span drive-ins? I don't think I've ever had a grilled ham and cheese that tasted as good as theirs. And what about 'hokey pokey snow balls" and hucksters and getting chips of ice from the ice man...
Shirley Ackerman <joeshirl7@comcast.net>
Wilmington, DE USA - Thursday, March 27, 2003 at 18:10:06 (EST)

Whatever happened to "Grade A" penny chocolate candy? I used to buy it at Sap's which was a little candy/ice cream shop located under the house at the northwest corner of Lancaster Ave. & Broom.
Shirley <joeshirl7@comcast.net>
Wilmington, DE USA - Thursday, March 27, 2003 at 17:58:04 (EST)

how about Renos white truck with the pizza and water ice around canby park
drufo <drufo@nccvt.k12.de.us>
wilmington, DE USA - Thursday, March 27, 2003 at 14:25:04 (EST)

I can remember Georgie the Ice Cream Man and his Purple Funny Bunny Ice Cream Truck as he would cruise up and down Memorial Drive in Garfield Park in the late 50s, 60 and early 70s. I do believe he passed away some years back. He was from Castle Hills-Jefferson Farms area. I also remember the Lord DeLaWarr Motel at the corner of our street at Memorial Drive and Dupont Highway (Rt 13). How about Shoppers Fair, one of the first retail department stores on 13 and the first Mr. Donut store next to DeLaWarr motel. Jimmy Bamba's Reaturant and Lounge on the corner of Memorial and Karlyn Drives. The Ellis Drive in across the street from Shoppers Fair and Kiddie Town (small amusement park) next to the drive in. I also remember Maryland Roller Rink which was torn down to put in a Kohl's Department Store on Route 40. The Block Party dances held in the back parking lot of Bowlerama on New Castle Avenue, hosted by the WAMS DJs. The dances at the Holloway Terrace Fire Department and the Wilmington Manor Lions Club. These are all good memories.
Terry (Shaffer) Gommer <tgommer@aol.com>
Wilm, DE USA - Thursday, March 27, 2003 at 13:25:47 (EST)

Hey, all you Dynamiters--- "Bo-bo ski wat'n dot'n, waddot'n fight!" (who can finish it?)
Bill Fisher <whfisher@earthlink.net>
West Sumner, CA USA - Thursday, March 27, 2003 at 00:11:04 (EST)

Wow! What a great site! A dear friend who lives in Wilmington put me on to i t. I grew up near Brandywine Springs. I remember as a very young child, taking a picnic lunch on Saturdays and for 10cents a head, taking the Wilson Line from New Castle to Riverview Beach for the day.
Susan Sellers Smith
USA - Wednesday, March 26, 2003 at 23:38:14 (EST)

There used to be a very popular Drug store at Lancaster Ave and Harrison street. Sold lemon water ice. it was called madas or midas.
chuck wilson <bigbass@udel.edu>
USA - Wednesday, March 26, 2003 at 13:29:32 (EST)

I have some more to add to the great list you have compiled. The Rodeo at the Old Ball Park and ride Big Sid for a prize. Brown's Bakery at Hearn Bros. on Concord Ave and Washington St. Scrapping tar from the streets and chewing it to make your teeth white. Playing cowboys and indians. Whitewashing the basement after the coal man delivered coal down the chute into the basement. The Bucket-a-Day stove in the kitchen. Having to "bank" the coal heater in the basement for the night. During the war they had Ration Books for food and gas. There were different stickers you put in the window of your car to indicate what type of car you were driving during the war. The headlights on the car had the top part painted black for the air raids. The Tucker auto with the headlight in the center of the grill. The Hudson car. Kent Hotel and the Hotel Olivier downtown. Remember "Hawk" Hayes the policeman at Front and Market. Also "Jumbo" Farley along with "Shaggy" Sharp the three of them could control most of downtown.How about the Towne Theater on Market Street. Rice's Bakery made home deliveries The sticky apple man in the school yard. The Fuller Brush Man. The Sunray Drugstores. The Post House on the Phila. Pike down from St. Helena's. Edgemoor School, River Road School. Van's Holland House on downtown. Clifton Park Apts. behind the Merchandise Mart on Gov. Printz. Goldie Lutz's bar at Front and Washington. Penrose on North Market Street. The Sugar Bowl at the end of the Washington Street Bridge. Waxman Jewish Deli at 29th and Washington St. McCabe Printing on 29th St. Speakmans at 30th st. We used to rent a room in our house on 29th st. to Blue Rock ball players and the Wilmington Clippers. There was Deckers candy store on 29th street. Mr. Seiler had a green truck that he delivered homemade sauerkraut and smoked fish to the grocery stores.
Harry Brand <salliesbrand@aol.com>
Wilmington, DE USA - Wednesday, March 26, 2003 at 10:14:54 (EST)

This is a great web-site and it does bring back a lot of memories. Here are a few of mine. .. The dances at St. Helena's in Bellefont .. Hearn Bros. Super Markets. .. The annual Thanksgiving football game between P.S. duPont & Wilmington High - Lets go you Dynamiters. .. The Horse & Buggy tavern on Marsh Road (I think) .. Saturdays at the Grand theater I feel like I could go on forever, but I have to go to work.
Bill Swift <wwswift@comcast.net>
West Friendship, MD USA - Wednesday, March 26, 2003 at 08:36:37 (EST)

this is to add to the schools---#13 that was across from stapler park--now called highlands,on Gilpin Ave.
J.J.L <jogeduf@aol.com>
USA - Tuesday, March 25, 2003 at 20:10:55 (EST)

WOW, IVE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU GUYS !!! I INTEND TO SHARE THE SITE, AND THE OLD STORIES TO MY HIGH SCHOOL HISTORY CLASSES. HERES ONE...REMEMBER MARYS LUNCHEONETTE ON 10TH AND UNION...HOW ABOUT SCOTTIES TAVERN, L ANDM LOUNGE, BOMBAS SHOE REPAIR....I COULD GO ON AND ON ABOUT UNION STREET ALONE!!!ILL CHECK IN OFTEN.....THE ROOF
danny rufo <drufo@nccvt.k12.de.us>
wilmington, DE USA - Tuesday, March 25, 2003 at 16:40:17 (EST)

Thanks for the memories.
Joe McVey <jmcvey8619@aol.com>
USA - Tuesday, March 25, 2003 at 14:36:16 (EST)

I REMEMBER LINTHWAYS ICE CREAM PARLOR ON CONCORD PIKE MY DAD USED TO WORK AT BRANDYWINE RACE TRACK NOW BRANDYWINE TOWN CENTER HE WORKED PART TIME AT BRANDYWINE RACE TRACK AND THAN TOOK US TO LINTHWAYS FOR ICE CREAM SILVERSIDE ELEMENTRY USED TO HAVE 25 CENT MOVIES ON SATURDAY'S FOR THE KIDS GROWING UP IN PENNROCK SILVERSIDE PLAYGROUND WAS THE NEIGHBORHOOD PLAY GROUD SWINGS MONKE BARS HOPSCOTCH AND MANY MORE THINGS IT IS GREAT TO READ ABOUT THE MANY CHILD HOOD MEMORIES
marianne green taylor <met2308@aol.com>
wilmington , DE USA - Tuesday, March 25, 2003 at 09:58:04 (EST)

Great to bring back old but wonderful memories. Thanks.
Janice Grabowski Messer <jmesser@mcla.edu>
Bennington, VT USA - Tuesday, March 25, 2003 at 09:21:35 (EST)

Re Hotels/Restaurants: The Hotel Rodney, on Market Street, opposite the Post Office, next to the Wilmington Club, preceded the I.M. Pei building, and had a very good restaurant.
G. R. Golden <GRGolden@optonline.net>
Bronx, NY USA - Monday, March 24, 2003 at 19:47:17 (EST)

Re Hotels/Restaurants:
G. R. Golden <GRGolden@optonline.net>
Bronx, NY USA - Monday, March 24, 2003 at 19:45:18 (EST)

After reading thru, thought of a few more....standing on the RR overpass on 9th street and have the train whistle blow....the "Bike Rodeo" the Optomist Club sponsored during the spring on Bancroft Pkwy...Braunstien's on Market Street....Jake, "The Broom Man"...John's Body Shop's two front-ended car....Goldie's on Union Street...the Parkway Bowling Alley.
Deb Joyce <joycmom4@yahoo.com>
orlando, FL USA - Monday, March 24, 2003 at 13:41:50 (EST)

This is a great site! Lived away since 1978 and we still call it home. My kids, none of who were born in Wilm., call it "home"! Remember the "Delmore Dairy" on Lancaster Ave and Lincoln Street across from Romedio's Pizza? Best ice cream and shakes around! There was a drive-in that was attached to a dairy on Greenville Ave. off of Lancaster Ave too that was good.(can't remeber the name) And Riccio's on Lincoln street always had fresh figs...uummmm! And Mr. Riccio always had a smile!
Deb Joyce <joycmom4@yahoo.com>
orlando, FL USA - Monday, March 24, 2003 at 13:03:20 (EST)

I remember growing up @ 708 W. 31st Street between VanBuren and Harrison across the street from Haynes Park when our Zip Code was Wilmington 2, Delaware. Remember the five digit phone numbers before they added PORTER,Olympia, Wyman,ect. in front of the numbers. There were no area codes, or if they were I don't remember them. No Direct dialing, you got the operator to make the call for you. Our grandmother would let us play in the park but we weren't allowed to cross Broom Street/Miller Road. She would come looking for us and we would be across the street under the B&O (Baltimore & Ohio Railroad)tracks, up by the WILM Radio Station tower next to Rock Manor Golf Course and the Porter Resavoir, however, we never crossed the street, we went thru a 4 foot high culvert under the street. Oberly Brick Yard was up the street and there were piles of bricks for us to play with. Oberly Brick later became Gaylords, Ames, ect. Dept. stores. I remember walking to David W. Harlan Elementary School, the first elementary school in Wilmington to have a GYM inside with a basketball court. Mrs. Eaton, my sixth grade teacher was my favorite. Then the switch to the big High School, P.S. duPont, what a great school. 7th through 12th grade from 1953-1959, got thrown out a few times, but kept coming back. My brother Jim and I were both on the swimming team. We had pratice every afternoon after school down at the YMCA at 10th & Washington Streets. Believe it or not, we swam in the nude. My grandfather would pick me up every night at Tenth and Jefferson Streets in front of the big clock at Chandler's Funer Home located on the corner. We would stop at a little butcher shop behind Pensulia McCabe Church on the way home just before Concord Avenue and buy fresh Pork Chops, Steak, Oysters, Chicken,ect as the freezers in refrigerators in those days were very small. PS duPont High School later built an inground swimming pool in it's own building in the parking lot behind the school. The last time that the PS dupont HS football team ever beat Sallies was in 1957 at the old Wilmington Ball Park at 30th & Governor Printz Blvd. across the street from the Dan-Dee Drive In Restaurant where we used to hang out after basketball games and at night. We would go next door to Jan's Steak House, they had the greatest cheese steaks in the world. Occassionally we would venture across the Blvd. to the B&G Drive-In Restaurant. Up around Christ our King school yard, later to be known as the "YARD", we would go to Achenbacks a block away and then around the corner at Concord Avenue and VanBuren was Toner's, a little soda shop with a pinball machine facing Baynard Blvd. across from No. 30 School which has since been converted into condos. My favorite little ice cream store was Lank's, they were my cousins and Mom & Pop Lank would sometimes give me a free milkshake. I remember going to the "Joey Chitwood Auto Thrill Show" at the old Wilmington Ballpark around 1955 and they would crash a lot of cars into each other. Next door was the Kerry Drive In and I think the other drive in theatre down on the Dupont Highway was the Ellis Drive In, and there was also the Pleasant Hill Drive In located between Newport and Stanton off of Maryland Ave. When I was a little kid, 9-10 years old, I would go to the GRAND theatre, now the Grand Opera House, and see 3 features, 5 cartoons and two serials for 9 cents on Saturday morning with hundreds of screaming kids. My grandmother gave us enough money for the trolley bus and the movie, well, we spent the bus money on candy and had to walk home. No big deal, the streets were safe, we had Shaggy Sharp, a six foot six Wilmington City Police Officer directing traffic at 10th and Market, and you could just walk up to him telling that you had lost your bus fare and he would walk over and put me on the number 12 Blvd. Bus and send me home for free. I pulled that one lots of times. He ended up marrying my Mother, Isabella, thirty years later. As we turned eighteen and summer arrived, it was Wildwood, New Jersey, you could drink beer and wine at eighteen in NJ at the time and we would head to Phil & Eddie's Temporary Bar, for 15 cents drafts. We would go down Buck Shoot Em road at 100 miles at hour in a '57 Chevy to get there and then turn arrive and drive home half asleep as we had to be to work in the morning. I alomost dropped dead of pneumonia in Sears, Roebuck & Co. at 43rd and Market Streets in Sept. as I was completely exhausted from my summer drinking schedule of going to Wildwood every night. I had my first apartment at 1000 Concord Avenue over the office of Delaware Elevator for $65 a month, the phone bill was $3 a month and I believe the Electic Bill was under $10 a month. I used to take my grandmother shopping at Hearn's Grocery Store located between 23rd Steet and Concord Avenue on Washington Street. She also wanted me to take her to Hearn's Restaurant on Market around 19th or 20th. She loved their Oyster Stew and their Cinnamon Sticky buns. What was the name of the Ice Cream Place up on Concord Pike where the Concord Mall is now, Lynthwaite's, Passmore's Dairy, I'm not sure. Dear Lord, give me my childhood back with what I know now, at least I would know what real estate to buy and hold onto. It's been fun going down memory lane. Next time I'll name all the bars I graduated to as I got older. Have a great day, we grow up in a great time, left our doors unlocked, trusted everybody, the streets were safe, you knew your neighbors and they knew you. Times have changed, but I still enjoy Wilmington and continue going downtown. If I knew how to keep one-tenth of one percent of the people downtown after five o'clock pm, I'd be a millionaire. Ciao, Ray.....
Ray Richardson <rrphotovid@aol.com>
Wilmington , DE USA - Monday, March 24, 2003 at 12:45:27 (EST)

Does anyone remember Prices Run pool?? and the ice skating rink just up the hill from the entrance to the pool?? How about the lifegaurds?? Tom and Pasquale??? Talk about remembering....and parks....how about the old monkey house on monkey hill in Brandywine Park....and the old Park Police station at Baynard Stadium??? and fast pitch softball games at Baynard??? and the semi-pro baseball games at 18th and Van Buren with Bunny Miller and "Scrappy" May???? How about the shad runs in the Brandywine River and all of the fishermen standing elbow to elbow at the West Street falls???? I could go on and on...
Lou <louhi1212@aol.com>
Wilminton, DE USA - Monday, March 24, 2003 at 09:36:52 (EST)

My father lived at 2nd & Scott when he was growing up. And even though we lived in New Castle, he took us to Wilmington every Sunday to visit my aunts and grandmother. We would go after church and sometimes we would have breakfast at the Post House on South Union, or get donuts from the bakery that was down from the Post House. He also used to take us to the ferry boats in South Wilmington. And the best was when he would take us to the Warner Theater to see the latest movies. Today is the 14th anniversary of his death, so all these memories mean so much and Old Wilmington is a big part of my childhood memories.
Dori Delaney <dori_delaney@dadebehring.com>
New Castle, DE USA - Monday, March 24, 2003 at 08:55:50 (EST)

Silverside Elementary, now is business offices. Walking to school from Garfield and Delaware Avenues in Gwinhurst. What buses? Mrs. Ackerman, Mrs. Isrealson (our class did a class play from Alice in Wonderland, MaryLou Strickler was the Queen, I was the cheshire cat and we went on the road to perform to the Edgemoor Elementary), Mrs. McGuire, Mrs. Erwin, Mr.Michels, Mr. Michelson. Mr. Bowser was the gym teacher. Mr. Rockwell was the principal. We used to have Saturday Matinees with popcorn and candy. Air Raid Drills, 25cent stamps for bonds, polio sugar cubes, Miss Heal was the nurse. Being a safety. Seeing Alan Shepherd go up into space as we gathered around a small black and white TV on the stage. There was a stage in the cafeteria, on near where the principal's office was and when they build the new gym, we had a fancy one. Miss Loveless was a hundred years old back in the 50's, but she just passed away recently. Mrs. Friday was a "blue-hair" lady. There was Mr. Hogberg, Mrs. Tyndal,Mrs. Thomlinson, Mrs. McMinn, who had also taught my Dad at MtPleasant High School. Mrs. Snyder whose daughter when on to sell cookies. The playground with its Monkey Bars, wooden horse corral, elephant sliding board, hopscotch, concrete pipe sections, swings that we would swing as high as we could and then jump off. Enjoy.
Debbie Vernon <djvernon99@msn.com>
Hockessin, DE USA - Sunday, March 23, 2003 at 23:17:23 (EST)

Hmmm....whatever happened to the Riverside Hospital gang of the 70's.... Hank, Bill, kathy, Rene, Lou, Mrs' Bufano & MaryAnn, Mr D and that wild and crazy bunch in Medical Records. Ahh...good 'ol Riverside.
alan <apavlic28@aol.com>
DE USA - Sunday, March 23, 2003 at 18:42:50 (EST)

Hi, My Sister gave me your website.......TERRIFIC!! Couple of quick memories: When Prices Run Pool was so big they use to use a rowboat to dump the chlorine off the back of it. There was a diving platform in the middle that you had to swim out to. The Printz Roller Rink where they had a live guy who played a real organ behind a glass enclosed booth. Just a couple quick ones. Jim Batty Still in Wilmington
Jim Batty <travelcompany@worldnet.att.net>
USA - Friday, March 21, 2003 at 10:51:22 (EST)

Anybody remember where Dandy's Drive In was located? How about Mrs. Meat's ? She rented us our rooms when we moved to Wilmington, Delaware from Dallas, Texas. Her big house stood high on the North West corner of Concord Pike and Broom Street. When I found a rusty pair of roller skates, dipped them several times in the oil pan my dad kept handy, they were lightning fast on Concord Pike Hill. Later, I heard people in-the-know, calling my skateboard hill by a different name. McKees Hill was what they called it. When the Box fell off of my "Scoot-a-mobile", we would ride the two-by-four nailed to a roller skate down McKees Hill. I was better than my older brother, 'cause he fell off and skined his knee. That was in September 1939. Sixty years later, I see them young kids jumpin' curbs, but none would dare to ride "The Hill" like we did. They would skin more than their knee. That's for sure. "Tex" That winter and many after, the "Ice Froze Green" on the Brandywine River. My Dad could Ice Skate, 'cause he was born in Michigan. Our whole family skated, using the same pair of skates. I can smell the fire someone kept going for us all. Your mind never forgets the good times. All right, gotta go, now. Where was Dandy's Drive In ? You're right ! Gov Printz Blvd at 30th Street. Across from Wilmington Park. Blue Rocks had try outs for the highschool kids. I suppose some guys were better, but I will always remember tryin' to throw that baseball straight and true to first base. Gosh! That was a long throw for a little guy. But after awhile it was easier. Great life, Dad. If you don't weaken. He got that from Will Rogers, I 'spose. "Tex"
Louis H. Jackson <louis26@comcast.net>
USA - Friday, March 21, 2003 at 10:21:46 (EST)

Mitch Thomas on WTUX (?) or WILM (?) Saturday night R&B show. Started out with a girl group singing "Mister Thomas, Mister Thomas....." He was M.T. "comin' from Big W." The Hunt Bros. Circus (from N.J.) playing in their bigtop in the field accross the street from Oak Grove School in '54 ot '55. They used that location only once because school had to be recessed for the day. Who could concentrate on lessons with that going on outside the windows. The Ringlong Bros. circus unloading at the railroad siding by Diamond Ice and Coal at the foot of Pine Street, then moving up Pine to their location in the field next to the old Blue Rocks stadium on Gov. Printz. (late '40's). As a child I used to sit in my little chair on the sidewalk and watch the circus go by our house on Pine Street. The horse farm at Price's Corner kitty-corner from Fenimore's Auction, on the property that then became an Acme market and is now the north side of the overpass. The old log cabin next to Fenimore's Auction. The circus and carnivals set up in the field next to Fenimore's; now the Sears shopping center. The circus and carnivals set up in the fiels accross from Fenimore's; now some other shopping center. The carnivals set up in the field next to the rail road siding across from the GM plant. The crossing guard coming out of his hut to wave a lantern and hold up a stop sign at the railroad crossing on DuPont Road in Elsmere. Questio: what is your website address? Question: Who are you (names)? Thanks for doing this. Lon Elmer Born and raised in Big W George Grey, Oak Grove, Conrad, UD
Lon Elmer <signalelm@netzero.net>
USA - Wednesday, March 10, 2003 at 13:23:06 (EST)

When will this be up and running? I have some contributions to make re: Wilmington in the early 1950's as seen through the eyes of a guy who graduated from PS in 1952 (me). The old site is great. Just discovered it yesterday.
Bob Wilson <wilso127@yahoo.com>
Stamford, CT USA - Saturday, March 1, 2003 at 06:44:27 (EST)

HOW ABOUT THE CHARCOAL HOUSE ON LINCOLN STREET GREAT HANGOUT FOR TEENS IN TH 60'S AROUND THE FORTY ACRES, WE USED TO GET CHASED OUT ALLTHE TIME BUT STILL RETURNED EACH NIGHT, NICK EVLON WAS THE PROPRIETOR AND HE ALWAYS SEEMED TO CHASE EVERY ONE OUT BUT ME HOW ABOUT THE KIDS FROM ROCKFORD AND IVY RD WE USED TO HANG OUT DOWN THERE TOO, WE HAD JOE BIDEN AS OUR PARK TEACHER BACK IN THE 60'S IN LITTLE ROCKFORD PARK, WE ALSO USE TO WALK TO MT SALEM CHURCH EVERY FRIDAY FOR THE BIG DANCE AND THEN WALK BACK HOME AGAIN AT MIDNIGHT WITHOUT A FEAR IN THE WORLD, THE WEDNESDAY NIGHT CONCERT EVERY WEDNESDAY NIGHT RIGHT THERE IN THE PARK BEHIND THE ROCKFORD TOWER APARTMENTS, WE COULDN'T MISS THAT ONE ;LOVE YOUR WEBSITE
Margaret May <MMay@che-east.org>
USA - Friday, February 28, 2003 at 09:09:27 (EST)

I am an old memories buff and really enjoy reading all of the notes that I find on the internet relative to old Wilmington. I lived in the 9th ward at 29th and Washington St. from 1934 to 1950 when we moved to Holly Oak. I usually email any information or sites I find on the internet to all of my friends in Wilmington. I graduated from Sallies at 8th and West in 1952. I am interested in hearing from anyone who might have lived in that area or went to Sallies during that time.
Harry Brand <salliesbrand@aol.com>
USA - Sunday, February 23, 2003 at 20:49:27 (EST)

Hi. this is the greatest. I graduated from Brown Vo. in 1958. There are so many memories from the 50 and the 60s
Barbara McCarter <olduck@MSN.com>
USA - Sunday, February 9, 2003 at 09:20:27 (EST)

Joe Pyne broadcasting from the English Grill "The Style Shop" between 8th and 9th on market "LeRoys" between 4th and 5th on Market Friday night dances at the YWCA at 9th and King Woolworth's 5 and 10 at 9th and Market The basement "Lady's Lounge" at Woolworth's. Riding in a "rumble seat" down old Rt 100, leaving your stomach behind in mid air when you went over the rolling surface of the old road. The "work house" pond behind where the old prison stood off Rt.41 and the Kirkwood Highway.
Adilee Parks <xantippe2@aol.com>
New Castle, DE USA - Saturday, February 1, 2003 at 12:39:27 (EST)

These are remembances from the 60's. Dances at the fire hall in Elsmere, the Lions' Club in New Castle on the DuPont Hwy Block Parties in Elsmere and Our Lady of Fatima CYO block parties in New Castle. Line dances were big. Soda fountains at the 5 & 10 cent stores. I and 2 of my sisters worked at the Eckerd's soda fountain when Eckerd's was on the DuPont highway. Was the Farmers' Market on the DuPont highway on anyone's list. It has been around awhile. The Charcoal Pit where you could get a sundae named for your school. There was also a giant sundae (I don't remember the name of it) but you could feed about 5 people with it.
Camille Lewandowski Polney <oakrunn@juno.com>
USA - Sunday, January 19, 2003 at 6:42:34 (EST)

How about 10th Street Park with shallow "swimming pool" that was free? Canby Park swimming pool? Prices Corner swimming pool? Row houses that were to become town houses? Monkey hill? The swinging bridge over the Brandywine? Fireworks at du Pont mansion in Yorklyn?
Shirley Woodward <sawoodward@earthlink.net>
USA - Sunday, December 29, 2002 at 9:23:16 (EST)

How can anyone forget about the Wilm Morning News and the Evening Journal which was then located in the 800 block of Orange St. When Gov Printz had its own version of an auto mall. Along with Intern. Harvester Truck Co., London Dry Breverages, which was located at 26 & Gov Printz along what was called the coast [Front St Amour Meat Co] Loufland Moving Co., Swift Meat Co., Brown & Sott Meat Co., Warner Concrete along the banks of the Christina River also Gulf Oil Co.
Curtis Kennedy <CKennedy@mail.dot.state.de.us>
USA - Tuesday, December 24, 2002 at 13:19:19 (EST)

I remember Bennie with his tennis shoes tied to his feet (late 50's). He was robbed of his inheritance at the Olivere Hotel. He wore a "6 button benny" grey coat and came into the Jewelery store (Doubets) at 9th and Orange to sell beads he would find.
Marian Knowles <Marian.Knowles@astrazeneca.com>
USA - Monday, December 16, 2002 at 15:34:27 (EST)

I enjoy your listings of things in Wilmington. I could add a few from my childhood. Travelling up to Philadelphia on the Wilson Line Boats. Playing in the clay pits near Newport. Climbing on rocks in Kirkwood Park. Watching the Trolley car drivers changing electric poles to change direction. Picking up scrap metal from the neighborhood to turn in on War Drives.
Harry Poole <hhpoole@sprynet.com>
USA - Sunday, December 8, 2002 at 13:14:07 (EST)

A nice person sent me your site, we live in WV. My husband and I spent over an hour looking at and reading things.Oh suchs memories. My husband Joe was born and raised in Richardson Park. I moved to Wilmington in 1951. I remember my mother and brother and I getting off the train and going to 421 East 4th Street where we lived for a while. I remember Sarah Webb PYLE School and Lore School and living in Canby Park.Mary C.I Williams School. Bayard Jr, High and W.H.S.Dancing in Rodney Sq. My Dad working at Allied Kid and how bad the smell was. And going to Scotts Nursing Home where my Grandmother and Aunt worked. The Christmas Parades downtown. Across from 421 was a little store called Gilmore'sThere was just so many things that people remembered as we read. It is a site we will come back to often. THANK YOU FOR THIS SITE.Married moved to Smyrna then to WV where I was born. I have two homes,I love Delaware and WV.
<RosebudDC@aol.com>
,WV USA - Sunday, December 8, 2002 at 2:53:27 (EST)

Catching the bus to go up town with my mother, first to Jake's Market (groceries would be delivered), then to Woolworths for lunch. Jake the Broom Man, I later found out he was from Delaware City. Playing on the rocks (King & Queen Seats) at West End Park (between Broom & Franklin) and sliding down the grass hill on cardboard. Living in swimsuits during the summer, swimming at Canby Pool and Head Gates Swinging bridge, I was scared to death to cross when my brother made it swing. Shipside, I don't really remember but I was born there. Lancaster Ave & Union St, neighbors would have watermelon party in alley behind Union Street. My brother said for me to check out this site and it is GREAT !! THANK YOU
<RosebudDC@aol.com>
USA - Sunday, December 1, 2002 at 8:47:27 (EST)