History of Downtown Wilmington

2013-04-07T15:29:00.000-04:00

According to the Julian calendar, Wilmington, North Carolina, was incorporated in 1739. Located on the east bank of the Cape Fear River, the original town is 28 nautical miles from the Atlantic Ocean. Built on several rises, more like sand dunes than hills, the town ascends 50 feet from the river shoreline. Despite navigational difficulties along the river, the town grew to become the largest city in the state before the Civil War. It remained so until the second decade of the 20^th century, when the state’s Piedmont tobacco and textile towns rose to prominence.

Wilmington’s historical significance is reflected in the variety of architectural styles, streetscapes and in other aspects of its material culture. The Colonial town is most visible in the original grid pattern of the streets, the numbered streets running from north to south and the named streets running from east to west. Several periods of rapid growth have altered the city’s passage through time. Very few buildings remain from the early town because of the large fires and antebellum growth stimulated by the 1840 opening of the railroad.

Three other periods of sustained growth are also noteworthy. Recovery from the Civil War with increased port and rail expansion precipitated substantial commercial activity in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Increased business and industry, particularly of cotton and fertilizer, provide a building boom both commercially and residentially, including moves to the first suburbs. This economic activity spread across the region, evident most notably in the development of the nearby beaches. After a period of decline during the Great Depression, Wilmington experienced another burst of growth during World War II Military facilities and the North Carolina Shipbuilding Company brought an unprecedented number of new residents who needed housing as well as a myriad of businesses to support their daily lives. The most recent growth can in the 1990s, after Wilmington was connected to the rest of the country by Interstate Highway 40.

Source: Wilmington Lost But Not Forgotten by Beverly Tetterron

North Carolina Button Factory

2012-03-21T19:48:00.000-04:00

A manufacturing company in Wilmington, the North Carolina Button Factory produced Confederate uniform buttons. In 1861, Louis Froelich, the “Sword Maker for the Confederacy,” started working in the arms industry and gained experience that helped him establish and supervise the Confederate Arms Factory.

Sources:

North Carolina Highway Historical Marker Program, Confederate Arms Factory http://www.ncmarkers.com/Markers.aspx?ct=ddl&sp=search&k=Markers&sv=F-27%20-%20CONFEDERATE%20ARMS%20FACTORYLeon

Plank Roads

2012-03-21T19:24:00.000-04:00

To bring wealth and awake their state from its supposed economic slumber in the antebellum era, North Carolinians advocated the use of plank roads in the late 1840s. These wooded highways were purported to be an improvement over rough, dirt roads and a necessary step to create an intrastate (an eventually interstate) trade network of plank roads, railroad hubs, and seaports. Such an effort was considered much needed, as one historians puts its, because plank roads could free “citizens from the bondage of primitive roads.”

During the late 1840s, entrepreneurs started receiving government charters to build plank roads, and by the mid-1850s, enthusiasm for such projects reached its statewide zenith; there were thirty-nine bills for plank road charters in 1852, and in the 1854-55 legislative session, thirty-two charters were granted.

Support for plank roads usually divided along partisan lines: almost three-fourths of Whigs supported their construction and about the same number of Democrats opposed them. The plank road movement created spirituous debate and devolved, at times, into character assassination. As evidenced by one Democrat’s letter to Fayetteville Observer, plank roads symbolized much more than internal improvements: “You [Whigs] is always makin fun of the democrats and hard shel Baptusts. Case the sertain ways for themselves and case they bleve in the lord and do kist rite and case you hi floun whigs gits licked every onse and a while your awai a maikin things on us to try and injur our Karecktors.”

Except in a few cases, the charter process was similar for plank road companies. The first step was the election of officers. Providing detailed construction plans was the second. The third was soliciting and acquiring subscriptions—the money given by investors for construction costs. When the starting amount was raised (which varied by law from ten to twenty-five percent of the total expected cost of the road), stockholders convened to elect six to nine directors, who were then given control of subscription money. Soon afterward, directed by a board and president with the power and privilege of property rights, the companies were incorporated.

Many North Carolinians were excited about the possibilities of plank road construction. According to one historian, “the spirit of progress was everywhere” in the state. Those in the mountains hoped plank roads connected them with the rest of the state, so they could benefit from increased trade. Those in coastal towns, such as Wilmington, envisioned the plank roads leading to and from the ports and contributing greatly to an intrastate trade network. From the mountains to the coast, and everywhere in between, entrepreneurs forecasted profits and consumers anticipated quicker shipments of needed goods.

At times, however, the logistics of road construction produced contentious debate. The right of eminent domain was invoked to take individual’s land and some alleged that government officials and plank road officers colluded for personal gain.

Once construction began, public enthusiasm waned. The development was not for those lacking heart or brawn. People realized road construction was an arduous task, requiring more effort, money, and maintenance than previously thought. Workers first graded a roadbed. Then they elevated the center of the road so that water could drain. Measuring approximately five by eight feet, wooden sills were laid next as support. After that, pine planks measuring approximately eight feet long and eight inches wide and four inches thick were laid on top of the sills. Laws required the roads to be a minimum of eight feet and a maximum of sixty feet, and typically plank roads were eight feet wide and adjacent to a well-graded dirt road. Avoiding getting stuck in the mud, teamsters traveled on the planks, while individuals and light carriages passed on the dirt road.

To help pay for this construction, companies placed toll houses along the road. On one road, one rider on horseback paid .5 cent per mile, a teamster with two horses paid 2 cents per mile, a teamster with three horses, 3 cents, and one with six horses, 4 cents. Believing the companies to be “cheeters,” some avoided the tolls and cheated the companies out of a significant profit.

As with any type of construction, the skill and speed of work crews, the accessibility of raw materials, and the weather determined the time needed to build a road. A team of fifteen usually laid 650 feet a day, or about one mile a week, or forty miles a year. One crew of fifteen, however, put down an impressive 1,000 feet a day (more than a third and almost twice as fast as the average crew).

In the 1850s approximately 500 miles of plank road were laid in North Carolina. The longest plank road was the Fayetteville and Western, which stretched 129 miles from Fayetteville to Salem. It was one of the few that received state financial assistance. Each year the Fayetteville and Western made a profit, and in turn, the state revenue grew. Many government officials, such as Jonathan Worth of Randolph County and Francis Fries of Salem, also served as company officers.

Scholars suggest that plank roads were doomed from the start. First, they competed with railroads, a faster mode of transportation. Also, the timing of plank road construction was bad; in 1856 the North Carolina Railroad connected the mountains with the coast. Second, travelers cheated road companies by avoiding tolls. Third, the economic panics of the 1850s discouraged many investors. Fourth, plank roads required continual and costly maintenance. And fifth, the circumstances of the Civil War damaged or destroyed many plank roads.

Although the plank road movement was described as a failure, historians consider it an important development that rescued the state from its “slothful” economic condition. More scholarship needs to be done, however, to determine that the failure of the plank road movement was “inevitable,” and if the Tar Heel state was indeed economically inactive.

Sources:

Robert B. Starling, “The Plank Road Movement in North Carolina” North Carolina Historical Review (1939) 16: 1-22, 147-73 and Harry L. Watson, “’Old Rip’ and a New Era” in Lindley S. Butler and Alan D. Watson, eds., The North Carolina Experience: An Interpretive and Documentary History, 217-40.

By Troy L. Kickler, North Carolina History Project

Sources:

By Troy L. Kickler, North Carolina History Project

2012-03-17T16:56:00.000-04:00

St. James Church

Corner of Third and Market Streets houses a famous painting of the head of Christ. Ecce Horno, “Behold the Man, “which is estimated to be over 500 years old. A portrait of Christ with a crown of thorns on his head and blood on his face and body. The painting was captured from a Spanish pirate ship in 1748 at a settlement on the Cape Fear River twenty miles below Wilmington. The artist who painted the portrait is unknown, although it is thought to be Francisco Pacheon, who lived in Spain in the sixteenth century.

Source: A Pictorial History of Wilmington by Anne Russell

St. James Episcopal Church was established in the year 1729. Proceeds from the sale of goods that had been salvaged from the Fortuna, a Spanish ship that was abandoned after the Spanish had an unsuccessful attack on Wilmington, went to the construction of St. James and its sister church, St. Philip's Church. The original church building for St. James was built and completed in 1770. The church took on a vital role in the American Revolutionary War. British General Lord Cornwallis took up residency in a house across the street from St. James. The British used St. James as a hospital, and later as a riding school to train the British soldiers. The church was torn down and rebuilt in 1839, the new building constructed from the original bricks of the church. Architect Thomas U. Walter, who designed the dome of the United States Capitol, designed the new church building. St. James, yet again, found itself taking a role in war. In the American Civil War, the church was used as a hospital for Union soldiers, who had at the time taken the confederate city of Wilmington after the fall of Fort Fisher. The church's parish house was built in 1923. Next to the parish house was a house built by Henry Bacon, the architect of the Lincoln Memorial in 1901. The Bacon house later became church offices. The church is the resting place of three Episcopal Bishops, Robert Strange, Thomas Atkinson, and Thomas H. Wright, who are buried underneath the church.^[2][3]

Church interior

St. James Episcopal Church's oak altar and reredos were carved by Silas McBee, depicting the Nativity, Crucifixion, and Resurrection of Jesus. McBee also designed the Bishop's chair and two of the stained glass windows, imcluding The Resurrection of Christ.

Ecce Homo

A painting of Christ was found in the captain's cabin of the Fortuna by scavengers when being salvaged. The painting turned out to have been done by Spanish artist Francisco Pacheco, and was named Ecce Homo, Latin for Behold the Man. The painting was given to St. James Episcopal Church in 1751, and still resides in the church.^[4]

Notable burials

The historic graveyard at St. James has many notable burials.^[5] These burials include:

Cornelius Harnett, American Revolutionary
George Washington Glover, first husband of Mary Baker Eddy
Grainger & Joshua Wright, Wrightsville Beach was named after their father Joshua Grainger Wright
Robert Strange, Episcopal bishop

References

1. ^ http://www.stjamesp.org/refresh/templates/about.php?id=3

2. ^ http://www.ecva.org/congregations/features/st_james_wilmington/st_james_wilmington.pdf

3. ^ http://www.stjamesp.org/refresh/templates/about.php?id=4

4. ^ http://www.ecva.org/congregations/features/st_james_wilmington/st_james_wilmington.pdf

5. ^ http://www.stjamesp.org/refresh/tiny_mce/plugins/filemanager/files/Hist_Graveyard_2009.pdf

History of Wilmington

2012-02-23T09:28:00.000-05:00

Source: Wilmington Lost But Not Forgotten by Beverly Tetterron

2012-01-25T16:51:00.000-05:00

Wilmington Streets & Retaining Walls

The first paving materials in Wilmington were ballast stones. Conveniently discarded by departing vessels, the endless supply of stone was also used for house foundations, retaining walls and filler when Water Street was created out of the marshy waterfront. As late as the 1980s, ballast stones were still fairly easy to find lying around the downtown. Several ballast stone retaining walls survive. A good example can be seen behind the Mitchell-Anderson House at 102 Orange Street.

Belgian paving stones (rectangular blocks of quarried stone or granite) were used to pave streets in the later part of the nineteenth century. They were also used as ballast during the time of wooden sailing ships. May of them where discarded during the urban renewal and others have been paved over with asphalt. The late historian, Bill Reaves, lamented in a 1975 newspaper article what the city had removed the old block from Lodge Alley and was using it to fill in the old boat slips on Water Street, rather than exhibit it in the historic district.

Lodge Alley was an L-shaped alley that ran from the south side of Red Cross Street to Front Street. Old Belgian block can still be seen at Chandler’s Wharf and in front of the Cotton Exchange.

In 1891, city officials began to flirt with the idea of brick roadways.

The Morning Star, 13 December1891 reported the following: “Bricks make practically a noiseless pavement; the fit so closely that there is no inter-spaces to retain filth and breed disease; a brick pavement is easily cleaned; it is easily repaired; bricks can be made of any size and shape for gutter, slopes, etc., without much, if any, additional cost; brick pavements are smooth and reduce the tractive power and wear and tear of vehicles almost to a minimum. Bricks do not polish under wear, and hence afford a good foothold to horses; the are not affected appreciably by moisture, frost or fire. The cost of a brick pavement is less than any good pavement; hence on the score of health, comfort and cost brick pavements have much to commend them. “

By 1900, city workers were constantly laying brick pavement from the inner city outward. Businesses and residents were assessed for the cost of laying the brick in front of their buildings.

Preservationists have repeatedly worked to save Wilmington’s old brick streets. In the 1970’s residents in the historic district removed the seal coating that city workers had spread in the preparation for pavement at the intersection of Fourth and Ann streets. To protect their efforts, they hired a security guard to keep the city at bay. As late as 1997, the controversy raged. Advice from other historic cities, which envy Wilmington’s miles of brick streets, convinced city officials to do their utmost to repair and save this important historic resource.

Wilmington paving bricks, which weigh about ten pones, are marked with seals of their manufacturer-Peebles Block, Augusta Block and Southern Clay.

Before sidewalks, resident had to dart back and forth to avoid mud holes and sinking sand. The first sidewalks were made of wooden planks that were raised six to eight inches above ground. Residential areas had a few wooden sidewalks, but were generally sand paths. In the late nineteenth century, brick sidewalks began replacing wooden ones. Here and there, an old brick sidewalk can still be seen in the residential area of the historic district. Early on, some residents installed their own sidewalks. Octagonal cement block walks (c. 1900) are still visible on the northeast and northwest corners of Fifth Avenue and Dock Street. Concrete sidewalks were laid by the second and third decades of the twentieth century.

Grave Site of Wilmington's Cotton King Alexander Sprunt

2012-01-02T12:27:00.001-05:00

Alexander Sprunt and Sons was the largest single cotton handling firm in the United States at the turn of the century. The direct agencies extended from Barcelona and Genoa on the Mediterranean to Helsingfors in the Gulf of Finland and Moscow in central Russia. Offices were in Wilmington and Liverpool, England, and Bremen, Germany.

The warehouses has a complete system of automatic sprinklers in case of fire, and the buildings covered two city blocks with a storage capacity of 25,000 bales of cotton. The firm started in 1866 shipping naval stores on sailing vessels. Later in 1881, the Sprunt firm pioneered the steam foreign trade in Wilmington, chartering the first streamer, the Barnesmore.

Source: A Pictorial History of Wilmington by Anne Russell

2011-09-16T16:26:00.000-04:00

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Tour Old Wilmingtontm

· Cotton Exchange History Tour: At the turn of the century, majestic sailing ships delivered treasures from around the world to the Port of Wilmington. Paddle-wheel boats plied the broad Cape Fear River. Cotton was king, and one of the largest and busiest cotton export companies in the world was located in Wilmington.

· Romantic Valentine Tour: Enjoy the romance of the Cotton Exchange with that special someone! Tours run the month February and by appointment year round.

· Holidays Past Tour: Enjoy hearing about the holiday and shopping customs during the Victorian era. Our special Holidays Past Tours. Tour Start December 1^st. Or by appointment year round.

Haunted Cotton Exchange Tour: Scary, creepy and mostly ghostly tales of the Cotton Exchange! Chills and Thrills await you at the one of the most historic & haunted locations in Wilmington.

Tours 7 Days a Week

Day and Evening

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Under 12 Free!

(910) 409-4300

Call for Tour Times

Tours start on the parking lot side of the Cotton Exchange next to the German Cafe!

Dollar off with a receipt from a Cotton Exchange Merchant

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