Editing Elsmere, Delaware (section)

==History==
Elsmere dates back to 1886 when real estate developer Joshua Heald bought farmland and converted it into houses, building the first suburb in northern Delaware. The community was built at an intersection of railroad lines and allowed working-class families easy access to Wilmington. [[Tram|Trolley]] lines were later built leading to Elsmere. In 1909, Elsmere was incorporated as a town.<ref name=images>{{cite book|last=Francis|first=William|title=Along the Kirkwood Highway|series=Images of America|location=Charleston, SC|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|page=25|year=2014|isbn=9781439645444|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FBaaAwAAQBAJ&q=kirkwood+highway+delaware&pg=PA2|access-date=December 23, 2016}}</ref>

During the 1910s, the Delaware State Fair Association purchased land and built a new fairgrounds within Elsmere's town limit. The grounds, including a racecourse for horses, cars and motorcycles, were located south of New Road and Wilmington Avenue and west of the previously established streets. This land became the site of the [[Delaware State Fair]] from 1917 to 1928, and provided a large parking area and ready access from the nearby trolley line. Agricultural exhibits provided the backbone of the fair, but in addition to the races, the summer attraction also included horse and dog shows, vaudeville acts, music, and fireworks. After 1928, the State Fair had moved to [[Harrington, Delaware|Harrington]], but the grandstand and the races remained until 1943, when the property was converted to land for residential housing.<ref>{{cite web |title=History of Elsmere |url=http://www.townofelsmere.com/history2.htm |publisher=Town of Elsmere |access-date=September 23, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090918171126/http://www.townofelsmere.com/history2.htm |archive-date=September 18, 2009 }}</ref>

In 1950, a 336-bed [[United States Department of Veterans Affairs|Veteran's Administration]] hospital opened on the western edge of town. This was the ninth VA hospital built after the conclusion of [[World War II]].<ref>{{cite web|title= Wilmington VA Medical Center|url= http://www2.va.gov/directory/guide/viewhistory.cfm?parm=OTHER&ID=150&fname=Wilmington%20VA%20Medical%20Center|publisher= United States Department of Veteran's Affairs|access-date= September 23, 2009|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090627225605/http://www2.va.gov/directory/guide/viewhistory.cfm?parm=OTHER&ID=150&fname=Wilmington%20VA%20Medical%20Center|archive-date= June 27, 2009|url-status= dead}}</ref>