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I Remember Wilmington-send me your fond memories of growing up in Wilmington and I'll publish them here. Send to: reculver71@aol.com or use the Contact US page...

  • I was enrolled at PS duPont for the years of 1943 and 1944 after which I transferred to Wilmington High.  I graduated in 1946.  As a member of the football team in 1945, my recollection of the "Big Game" on Thanksgiving was the victory of PS duPont over Wilmington High by a score of 7 to 6.  The kicker for WHS was a gentleman by the name of Al Meli.  After scoring a touchdown very near the end of the game, Al missed the extra point which gave the game to duPont, sad, sad, sad. Millard Martin WHS Class of 1946
  • I remember Wilmington in the 70's, a place where change took the place of old.  Growing up in the Riverside and moving to North Wilmington, I experienced a social shock that inevitably groomed me for the life I now enjoy.   
    Walking the Brandywine Park in the fall, sleding down Monkey Hill in the winter, attending football games at Baynard Stadium.  The parades were parades back then.  I remember visiting Wilmington Dry Goods on Saturday afternoons to pick out the latest 45 record and drinking milkshakes from Woolworths.  Kennard's was the fashion place to go and Braunsteins was the last stop.  I remember riding the bus through town a smelling like the fumes because I preferred sitting in the back with my girlfriends.  
    I remember the after dances we had as members of Leader Corps and the Cheerleading Squads to raise money for uniforms and transportation to ride along with the football and basketball players. 
    I remember wearing big afros with the picks sticking out and bell bottom pants and hobo bags walking down Washington Street to visit my friends. 
    Hearns was the grocery store of the neighborhood and Howard Johnson served the best egg salad and banana split on Saturday afternoons.  I remember my first kiss under the now old I-95 overpass. 
    Govatos candy and Al's Sporting goods was the place to go for Hanover sneakers.  Gaylord's looked like the Farmer's Market and Dandee's served the best hamburgers in town.
    I remember the Ellis Drive-In and the Warner Theater.  The Grand was the place to go when you wanted to see repeat movies.
    I remember riding my bicycle from the East Side of town to the West Side in an hour and coming home just in time to meet my mother and father as they came in from work. Submitted by Patrina Wallace-PS duPont, Class of 1975
     
  • Do you remember how much fun it was taking the bus in town on a Friday night or on a Saturday morning?  All the stores were open, the movie theaters and the soda fountains.Do you remember Woolworth's and Kresge's. Always smelled like fried onions to me. We sat up there on the counter and if you remember there were a bunch of balloons with little pieces of paper inside. You could pop the balloon and the price for your banana split would fly out. I had the luxury of having three older sisters who were teenagers when I was very young. They took us to all these places. It was a good deal for me. Do you remember the Kozy corner, and the Warner theater, the Grand, the Towne, and the Lowes. My mother would drop Neil Griffin and I at the Lowes, we would wave and pretend to go in then hustle down to the Rialto to sneak into the skin movies and run back to the Lowes when she picked us up. Did you ever go shopping at Wilmington Dry or buy candy from Gavotos's?  My first job was at the old English Grill, washing Pots for $1.15 /hour. It didn't matter though, it was my own money, seemed like a lot at the time. My sister Linda took me down to fill out an application. She wore a miniskirt to the interview, I know now why I was hired. I often waked home too, kids don't walk this far anymore. There was a little store on the corner just past the YMCA. I would stop there and get a grape Nehi and a butterscotch tasty cake,  Then when the bottle was empty I would drop it into the race, that water way that runs next to the Brandywine. Before we moved down here I had to teach my son the fine art of bottle dropping when we crossed the Washington bridge one day. Of all the memories that I have collected in my life, and there are a few, my favorite ones and the memories I seem to recall the most was my growing up time. Shortlidge and Warner and the old neighborhood on 22nd Street. It was an exiting time to be young, so much different from today. A time when it was still cool to be innocent, which is surprising in itself. When you think of all the things that were going on around us it is amazing that we still had the time to be kids. I miss those days, it is so much fun to bring them back once in a while. Submitted by  Dave Woodward - Mount Pleasant HS Class of 1972

  • Dandee drive-in restaurant and Jans Steak House on the Gov. Printz Blvd at lunch time . Wayne Baker - PS Class of 1958

  • I also remember walking to Price’s Run Park (from West 26th Street) and going to the pool in the summer.  Admission was 10 cents!  A. Szwec-Peters-PS Class of 1970

  •  I remember in the summer of one year a man with a white horse who came around the neighborhood (West 26th Street) and you were able to get your picture taken on the horse.  He provided the neck scarves and cowboy hats!  Dollar Day at the Dry.  It was quite an event.
    Jack Lundy's Delicatessen with the Satellite Room and his famous C-43 (corn beef, cole slaw and russian dressing sandwiches). sent by     Lois Goldberg Parker-PS Class of 1964

  • Going downtown to Wilmington Dry Goods and spending my allowance on the 4cent table and 45rpms, eating at the first Burger King on Market Street, Roamans Sub Shop, G&G Restaurant, Beckers Corner, Fashion Bug, Govatos, Wanamakers Fountain Show to music at Christmas time, Bobby Levines' cherry cokes, swimming at Prices Run for a dime, and Lanks on Concord Avenue. My saddest memory of Wilmington is when Gaylords burnt down. I had just walked over from PS to start work that evening, I had been working there since 10th grade, I arrived just minutes before it happened, a little after 3:00PM. It's still all a blur to me ... Rose Watson-PS Class of 1971

  • With the price of postage about to go up to .41 cents, I remember as a kid when mail in Wilmington was delivered TWICE a day! And the mailman knew all about us: "I see you have a letter here from your brother in the Navy".  sent by Jo Ann WHS Class of 1950'

  • The "22nd Street Gang" (nothing like the gangs of today - just four guys all the same age in the same grade in school) had bikes and we would cut a strip from an old truck tire tube, stretch it across the handle bars and use it to "shoot" those spiny monkey balls at each other. We also used acorns! When one of those things hit you in the back, you really knew it! 
    Those were days (1949-51) when we never locked the house unless we were leaving for more than a day. I never had a key because it was always open. I would go out to play after breakfast and not come home until dinner and my mom never worried about me! We would be around the neighborhood, or in the park (Brandywine - spent many hours in that park and in Devil's Den, the storm drain they built about 1950) -the zoo was free then and had real bears, too!- or maybe in the woods by the RR tracks before Salesianum School was built.
    Submitted by Bob Davis-Warner Class of 1953 and PS duPont Class of 1956

  •  The following memories sent by Kevin Donohue-BHS Class of 1967   www.kevin67.com   

  • Going to 'Twin Lakes' on Kennett Pike for ice-skating

  • Warner Theatre -going to see "Old Yeller" the line stretched around the block.

  • Salesianum (Sallies) dances

  • Aldersgate Methodist Church canteen dances

  • 'Hopping cars' with your sled in the snow-one time I "hopped" a Wilm. Transit Bus that took me from my house on 21st Street-Baynard Blvd all the way to PS DuPont HS.

  • 'Kiddie Town' on du Pont Highway

  • Mounting a playing card on your bike so the spokes would create a  'motor sound'

  • Sledding on "Monkey Hill" near the Wilmington Zoo-loved this place as a kid-“Suicide Hill" was across the street-it was really only a foot path thru the woods and was really steep. I once rode my bicycle down Monkey Hill in the summer, hit a curb and went flying head first. Broke my wrist when I landed and didn't realize it until several hours later when I could not use my thumb and forefinger to button my dungarees.

  • Lynthwaith's Ice Cream on Rt. 202

  • Achenbach’s Soda Shop on 26th Street –this was owned by Peggi Mitten’s aunt

  • Gassers Pharmacy on Washington Street-Mr. Gasser lived two doors down from our house on Baynard Blvd. He used to bring me baseball card bubble gum packs

  • Joan Roberts across from the Wanamaker's Store on Augustine Cutoff. –My mother used to take me to Joan Robert’s for my clothes “stand up straight” she would always say

  • Colonial Chevrolet, Delaware Olds-I worked there as a lot boy one summer-our neighbor (Boots Campbell) on Clermont Rd was the dealership manager-I once drove an armored truck across the lot and realized (after it was moving) it had no brakes! Scary!!

  • Gaylord’s, Almart's

  • Rick's Riding Academy on Rt 202 just across the PA line. 

  • The Dog House-Concord Pike-got fired there for not remembering the prices-Dave Porter’s favorite eatery 

  • Lanks Sub Shop on Concord Ave

  • Dunbar Bicycle Shop at 9th & French Sts-I received the most beautiful Shelby English bike from there one Christmas. Later stolen Grr!

  • Horisk's Grocery Store –our family’s first Wilm apt was above Horisks on Del Ave. One day, my birthday,  the Oscar Meyer wiener man in the (Weiner Mobile) came to our door! Was I impressed or what!

  • Wilmington Dry Goods store-loved the smell of popcorn, wooden floors, I bought my first music albums there (Judy Collins and Frank Zappa).    

  • S & H Green Stamps
  • Our First "house" at 1900 Del Ave in the early '50's. Believe it or not, today in bright white paint, it is the Doherty Funeral Home-