Editing Wilmington, Delaware (section)

==History==
{{More citations needed|section|date=November 2021}}
{{for timeline}}
[[File:FORT CHRISTIANA, WILMINGTON, NEW CASTLE COUNTY, DELAWARE.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.75|[[Fort Christina]] monument, location of the first [[Sweden|Swedish]] settlement in [[North America]] and the principal settlement of the [[New Sweden]] colony]]
Wilmington is built on the site of [[Fort Christina]] and the settlement Kristinehamn,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.geni.com/projects/Svenska-pr%25C3%25A4ster-genom-tiderna/11253 |title=Svenska präster genom tiderna |publisher=Geni.com |access-date=July 26, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906111054/http://www.geni.com/projects/Svenska-pr%C3%A4ster-genom-tiderna/11253 |archive-date=September 6, 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref> the first Swedish settlement in North America. The modern city also encompasses other Swedish settlements, such as Timmerön / Timber Island (along [[Brandywine Creek (Christina River tributary)|Brandywine Creek]]), Sidoland (South Wellington), Strandviken (along the [[Delaware River]] near Simonds Garden) and Översidolandet (along the [[Christina River]], near Woodcrest and Ashley Heights).

The area now known as Wilmington was settled by the [[Lenape]] (or Delaware Indian) band led by Sachem (Chief) '''Mattahorn''' just before [[Henry Hudson]] sailed up the Len-api Hanna ("People Like Me River", present [[Delaware River]]) in 1609. The area was called "Maax-waas Unk" or "Bear Place" after the Maax-waas Hanna (Bear River) that flowed by (present [[Christina River]]). It was called the Bear River because it flowed west to the "Bear People", who are now known as the People of [[Conestoga (people)|Conestoga]] or the [[Susquehannocks]].

The Dutch heard and spelled the river and the place as '''Minguannan'''. When settlers and traders from the [[Swedish South Company]] under [[Peter Minuit]] arrived in March 1638 on the ''[[Fogel Grip]]'' and ''[[Kalmar Nyckel]]'', they purchased Maax-waas Unk from Chief Mattahorn and built [[Fort Christina]] at the mouth of the Maax-waas Hanna (which the Swedes renamed the [[Christina River]] after [[Queen Christina of Sweden]]). The area was also known as "The Rocks", and is located near the foot of present-day Seventh Street. Fort Christina served as the headquarters for the colony of [[New Sweden]] which consisted of, for the most part, the lower [[Delaware River]] region (parts of present-day [[Delaware]], [[Pennsylvania]], and [[New Jersey]]), but few colonists settled there.<ref name="MONROE">{{Citation |last=Munroe |first=John A. |title=Colonial Delaware: A History |year=1978 |publisher=KTO Press |location=Millwood, New York |series=A History of the American colonies |isbn=978-0-527-18711-8 |oclc=3933326 |page=16 }}</ref><ref name="MCCORMICK">{{Citation |last=McCormick |first=Richard P. |author-link=Richard Patrick McCormick |title=New Jersey from Colony to State, 1609–1789 |series=New Jersey Historical Series |volume=1 |year=1964 |publisher=[[D. Van Nostrand Co.]] |location=Princeton, New Jersey |oclc=477450 |page=12 }}</ref> Dr. Timothy Stidham (Swedish:''Timen Lulofsson Stiddem'') was a prominent citizen and doctor in Wilmington. He was born in 1610, probably in Hammel, Denmark, and raised in [[Gothenburg]], Sweden. He arrived in [[New Sweden]] in 1654 and is recorded as the first physician in Delaware.<ref>{{Citation |last=Scharf |first=J. Thomas |author-link=John Thomas Scharf |title=History of Delaware, 1609–1888 |volume=1 |year=1888 |oclc=454559306 |page=471 |chapter=XXIV. Medicine and medical men |chapter-url=http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?view=image;size=100;id=mdp.39015011346874;page=root;seq=622;num=470 |publisher=[[L. J. Richards]] |location=Philadelphia |hdl=2027/mdp.39015011346874 |lccn=01013423 |access-date=May 14, 2011 |archive-date=August 20, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140820094922/http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?view=image;size=100;id=mdp.39015011346874;page=root;seq=622;num=470 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Stidham  |first=Jack  |year=2001  |title=The descendants of Dr. Timothy Stidham  |periodical=Swedish Colonial News  |place=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania  |publisher=[[The Swedish Colonial Society]]  |volume=2  |issue=5  |page=16  |archive-date=June 4, 2011 |oclc=37868632  |access-date=May 14, 2011 |url=http://www.colonialswedes.org/Images/Publications/SCNewsF01.pdf  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604051253/http://www.colonialswedes.org/Images/Publications/SCNewsF01.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Wilmington founding stamp.JPG|thumb|left|Founding of Wilmington stamp. (See [[New Sweden]].)]]
[[File:Old Town Hall Wilmington.JPG|thumb|left|[[Old Town Hall (Wilmington, Delaware)|Old Town Hall]], [[Georgian architecture|late-Georgian]] / [[Federal architecture|early-Federal]] style]]
The most important Swedish governor was Colonel [[Johan Printz]], who ruled the colony under Swedish law from 1643 to 1653. He was succeeded by [[Johan Rising]], who upon his arrival in 1654, seized the Dutch post [[Fort Casimir]], located at the site of the present town of [[New Castle, Delaware|New Castle]], which was built by the Dutch in 1651. Rising governed New Sweden until the autumn of 1655, when a Dutch fleet under the command of [[Peter Stuyvesant]] subjugated the Swedish forts and established the authority of the Colony of [[New Netherland]] throughout the area formerly controlled by the Swedes. This marked the end of Swedish rule in North America.

Beginning in 1664, [[British colonization of the Americas|British colonization]] began; after a series of wars between the [[Anglo–Dutch Wars|Dutch and English]], the area stabilized under British rule, with strong influences from the [[Quaker]] communities under the auspices of [[Proprietor]] [[William Penn]]. A [[borough]] charter was granted in 1739 by [[George II of Great Britain|King George II]], which changed the name of the settlement from Willington, after Thomas Willing (the first developer of the land, who organized the area in a grid pattern similar to that of its northern neighbor Philadelphia),<ref>{{Citation |last=Munroe |first=John A. |title=History of Delaware |edition=5th |page=57
 |year=2006 |publisher=[[University of Delaware Press]] |location=Newark, Delaware |isbn=0-87413-947-3 |oclc=68472272
 |chapter=The Lower Counties on the Delaware |quote=Originally, the new community was called Willingtown, after Thomas Willing, an English merchant who settled there and began selling town lots in 1731 after marrying the daughter of a Swedish landowner, Andrew Justison
 }}</ref><ref>Justison, Willing's father-in-law, purchased the land from the family of [[Samuel Peterson]].</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Ferris |first=Benjamin |author-link=Benjamin Ferris |publisher=Wilson & Heald (eBook: The Darlington Digital Library) |year=1846 |chapter-format=eBook |location=Wilmington, Delaware |oclc=124509564 |page=202 |title=A History of the Original Settlements on the Delaware from its Discovery by Hudson to the Colonization under William Penn |chapter=Part III. Chapter II. History of Wilmington |chapter-url=http://digital.library.pitt.edu/cgi-bin/t/text/text-idx?idno=31735054778653;view=toc;c=darltext |access-date=May 15, 2011 |archive-date=June 23, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120623050312/http://digital.library.pitt.edu/cgi-bin/t/text/text-idx?idno=31735054778653;view=toc;c=darltext |url-status=live }}</ref> to Wilmington, presumably after the British Prime Minister [[Spencer Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmington|Spencer Compton]], [[Earl of Wilmington]], who took his title from [[Long Man#Wilmington, East Sussex|Wilmington, East Sussex]], in southern England.

Although during the [[American Revolutionary War]] only one small battle was fought in Delaware, British troops occupied Wilmington shortly after the nearby [[Battle of Brandywine]] on September 11, 1777. The British remained in the town until they vacated Philadelphia in 1778.

In 1800, [[Eleuthère Irénée du Pont]], a [[Huguenot|French Huguenot]], emigrated to the United States. Knowledgeable in the manufacture of [[gunpowder]], by 1802 DuPont had begun making the explosive in a mill on the Brandywine River north of [[Brandywine Village]] and just outside the town of Wilmington.<ref>{{cite web |title=First Powder Mill: 1802 |url=http://www2.dupont.com/Heritage/en_US/1802_DuPont/1802_first_powder_mill/1802_first_powder_mill_overview.html |work=DuPont home, English-US version |publisher=[[DuPont]] |location=Wilmington, Delaware |access-date=January 9, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090608134448/http://www2.dupont.com/Heritage/en_US/1802_DuPont/1802_first_powder_mill/1802_first_powder_mill_overview.html |archive-date=June 8, 2009 |url-status=live }}  ''Archive attempt via WebCitation.org failed May 14, 2011.''</ref> The [[DuPont]] company became a major supplier to the U.S. military.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.hsd.org/DHE/DHE_what_industry_DuPont.htm  |title=The DuPont Company  |encyclopedia=Delaware History Online Encyclopedia  |publisher=[[Delaware Historical Society]]  |location=Wilmington, Delaware  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110603235525/http://www.hsd.org/DHE/DHE_what_industry_DuPont.htm |archive-date=June 3, 2011 |access-date=January 9, 2010 |url-status=dead  }}</ref> Located on the banks of the [[Brandywine River]], the village was eventually annexed by Wilmington city.
[[File:Hagley DuPont Wagon.jpg|thumb|Original DuPont powder wagon]]

The greatest growth in the city occurred during the [[American Civil War|Civil War]]. Delaware, though officially remaining a member of the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]], was a [[Border states (American Civil War)|border state]] and divided in its support of both the Confederate and the Union causes. The war created enormous demand for goods and materials supplied by Wilmington including ships, railroad cars, gunpowder, shoes, and other war-related goods.

By 1868, Wilmington was producing more iron ships than the rest of the country combined{{cn|date=April 2023}} and it rated first in the production of gunpowder and second in carriages and leather. Due to the prosperity Wilmington enjoyed during the war, city merchants and manufacturers expanded Wilmington's residential boundaries westward in the form of large homes along tree-lined streets. This movement was spurred by the first horsecar line, which was initiated in 1864 along Delaware Avenue.

[[File:Wilmington, Del. (2674627824).jpg|thumb|right|Map of Wilmington, Delaware, 1874]]

The late 19th century saw the development of the city's first comprehensive park system. [[William Poole Bancroft]], a successful Wilmington businessman influenced by the work of [[Frederick Law Olmsted]], led the effort to establish open parkland in Wilmington. [[Rockford Park]] and [[Brandywine Park]] were created due to Bancroft's efforts.

Both World Wars stimulated the city's industries. Industries vital to the war effort – shipyards, steel foundries, machinery, and chemical producers – operated around the clock. Other industries produced such goods as automobiles, leather products, and clothing. In desperate need of workers more and more minorities moved to the north and settled in places like Wilmington. This led to tensions that occasionally boiled over like the [[Wilmington, Delaware race riot of 1919]].

The post-war prosperity again pushed residential development further out of the city. In the 1950s, more people began living in the suburbs of North Wilmington and commuting into the city to work. This was made possible by extensive upgrades to area roads and highways and through the construction of [[Interstate 95]], which cut through several of Wilmington's neighborhoods and accelerated the city's population decline. Urban renewal projects in the 1950s and 1960s cleared entire blocks of housing in the Center City and East Side areas.

The [[Wilmington riot of 1968]], a few days after the April 4 [[assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.]], became national news. On April 9, Governor [[Charles L. Terry, Jr.]] deployed the [[Delaware Army National Guard|National Guard]] and the [[Delaware State Police]] to the city at the request of Mayor John Babiarz. Babiarz asked Terry to withdraw the National Guard the following week, but the governor kept them in the city until his term ended in January 1969. This is reportedly the longest occupation of an American city by state forces in the nation's history.<ref name="Boyer">{{Citation |last=Boyer |first=William W. |title=Governing Delaware: Policy Problems In The First State |access-date=May 14, 2011 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xN3pzLSQN8IC&pg=PA57 |format=eBook |page=57 |chapter=Chapter Three: The Governor as Leader |year=2000 |publisher=[[University of Delaware Press]] (eBook: Google) |location=Newark, Delaware |isbn=0-87413-721-7 |oclc=609154858 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xN3pzLSQN8IC&pg=PA56 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130606212918/http://books.google.com/books?id=xN3pzLSQN8IC&pg=PA57 |archive-date=June 6, 2013 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In the 1980s, job growth and office construction were spurred by the arrival of national banks and financial institutions in the wake of the 1981 Financial Center Development Act, which liberalized the laws governing banks operating within the state, and similar laws in 1986. Today, many national and international banks, including [[Bank of America]], [[Capital One]], [[JPMorgan Chase & Co.|Chase]], and [[Barclays]], have operations in the city, typically credit card operations.