Visitors Nostalgia & Memories

(Archive #78: September 1, 2010 to September 30, 2010)


Date: 9/27/2010, 8:03 am, EST
Name: Robert J. McKelvey
Location: Cape May, N.J.
Old Neighborhood(s): Happy Valley
Schools Att'd:
Employers:
Message: Happy Valley had the first block party I ever saw, it was held on Adams Street between Shallcross and Gilpin Avenue. They wanted to raise money for uniforms for the football team. The street was closed and electric was provided by neighbors by way of heavy duty cords. The street was lit brightly and bake goods sold . The whole valley showed up, I remember the crowd. I guess it was a success, they did field a team. This would be about 1946 or 1947. There was music playing from loud speakers, and people got to get outdoors and meet their neighbors.


Date: 9/20/2010, 11:28 pm, EST
Name: Butch Schilling
Location: Aiken, SC
Old Neighborhood(s): Brandywine Hundred, Happy Valley
Schools Att'd: Alfred I, Silverside, Mount Pleasant
Employers:
Message: Maureen, thanks for the great information about the Desmonds; Kitty & Jim Corrigan were my godparents and my mom was a classmate (WHS, Class of 1926) and close friend of Kitty's.

Date: 9/20/2010, 2:11 pm, EST
Name: Maureen
Location: Llangollen Estates
Old Neighborhood(s): 9th and Jackson St.
Schools Att'd: Sacred Heart
Employers:
Message: Butch, Kitty Desmond Corrigan was a daughter of Cornelius Desmond and brother to John owner of Delmore Dairy, also Mary oldest daughter was my husbands mother, she died in her 40's, when Ed was only 6 years. I heard a lot of stories about the Desmonds from relatives, good family. John brought a lot of relatives from Ireland and gave them jobs in the dairy. The Desmond's have relatives who still own and run the the Desmond Dairy in Creege, County Cork, Ireland. The family still lives in the orignal cottage It is amazing how life has not changed for the Irish except they live so much better.

Date: 9/20/2010, 1:34 pm, EST
Name: Maureen
Location: Llangollen Estates
Old Neighborhood(s): 9th Jackson St.
Schools Att'd: Sacred Heart
Employers:
Message: The new Wilm. High School was built on Dupont Rd. They knocked the old Wilm. High School down in the early 60's. The area of Van Buren St and Jackson St from Delaware Ave. to Lancaster Ave. Homes were sold to the state and knocked down for I-95. The neigborhood was split up in the name of progress and so many moved out of the city, including my family. I think the city has never been able to come back because of it, so sad!

Delmore dairy did have a store on Lancaster Ave. In the spring time after school we would walk over to get ice cream and catch a bus home. Delmore dairy farm was located in Hockessin, was sold in the 80's. Tom's Produce now is located there.

I hope the Ship Tavern and The River Front bring the city back to life. I think more would go down town often if they had a lot more to offer. The 50's and 60's were so much fun to shop on Market St. we would meet up with lots of friends on Sat. afternoon, go the lunch at different rest. Woolworths, Kennards downstairs had little place to eat, can't remember name, there was a pizza shop on 7th or 8th and Market st. Gavota's , so many more.


Date: 9/19/2010, 11:24 pm, EST
Name: Jerry Lank
Location: Marco Island Fl
Old Neighborhood(s): 9th Ward and Madison Street
Schools Att'd: Sacred Heart Salesianum & Goldey Beacom
Employers: Owner operator Lank's, Gaylord's Snack bars
Message: I went to school with Jimmy Corrigan and remember him well. We went thru Sacred Heart and Sallies together.

Date: 9/19/2010, 11:03 pm, EST
Name: Butch Schilling
Location: Aiken, SC
Old Neighborhood(s): Brandywine Hundred, Happy Valley
Schools Att'd: Alfred I, Silverside & Mt. Pleasant
Employers:
Message: Maureen, hadn't realize the Desmonds came over in 1906; my mom's friend "Aunt Kitty Desmond Corrigan was born in 1908.

Date: 9/19/2010, 4:50 pm, EST
Name: Robert J. McKelvey

Location: Cape May, N.J.
Old Neighborhood(s): Happy Valley
Schools Att'd:
Employers:
Message: While attending #24 school I was required to drink milk at lunch time. We kids that were skinny or under weight, had to report to a room where a teacher made sure we finished our ration of milk. The container always smelled of sour milk and they had the large diameter straws. I believe the product was okay, but the containers always had the odor of milk that leaked and had soured. This always made me feel sort of sick.

Date: 9/19/2010, 12:23 pm, EST
Name: jim rambo
Location: mexico
Old Neighborhood(s): 3rd and Connell
Schools Att'd: Bayard/ Conrad H.S.
Employers:
Message: I remember that cream that rose to the top of our delivered milk bottles, especially when it froze in the winter. Some of it always seems to leach into the milk and make me half sick. "Iced cream" was not exciting for me, for sure.

Date: 9/18/2010, 4:55 pm, EST
Name: Joan H
Location: N Wilm
Old Neighborhood(s): 4th & Rodney
Schools Att'd: St. Pauls & WHS
Employers:
Message: Hi Maureen, wasn't the Delmore Dairy store @ Lancaster and Scott? The Wilmington High School moved to Lancaster and duPont Road, I thought.

Date: 9/18/2010, 11:15 am, EST
Name: Maureen
Location: Llangollen Estates
Old Neighborhood(s): 9th Jackson
Schools Att'd: Sacred Heart
Employers:
Message: Anyone remember Delmore Dairy? My husband's Uncle John Desmond owned the farm and delivered milk in the Wilm. area in the early 1900's to 1980's. John, Andrew, and Cornelius Desmond came over from Ireland around 1906, employed a lot of cousins who were brought over from Ireland. The Murphy's were a few relatives who were sponsered to work on the dairy arm and became US citizens. Delmore Dairy was sold in the 1980's, it is now is Tom's produce in Hockessin. Delmore Dairy also had a store sold ice cream on Lancaster Ave. near Wilmington High.

Date: 9/16/2010, 7:53 pm, EST
Name: Ray Jubb
Location: Killington De.
Old Neighborhood(s): Hedgeville
Schools Att'd:
Employers: City of Killington and Uncle Dupy
Message: The two Black Movie Houses were the National and the Hopkins. The National was at 810-812 French St.
The first Hopkins Movie House was at 1003 Orange St. from 1911 to 1914. The second Hopkins was at
820 French St. from 1951 to 1965. Both the Hopkins and the National were raised to make room for the Redding City County Building in 1965. The Hopkins was designed by Marian Anderson's Husband who was a specialist in the Theater Design, for you younger folks Marian Anderson was a great black Soprano, maybe the greatest.

Date: 9/15/2010, 1:16 pm, EST
Name: Robert J. McKelvey
Location: Cape May, N.J.
Old Neighborhood(s): Happy Valley
Schools Att'd:
Employers:
Message: Bob Wilson Jr. Never went through the Devil's Den alone, always with three or four kids, and yes, we were glad to get out the other side. The older kids would run ahead and yell down through the small air vents. We were about eight years of age and it was very dark.

Date: 9/15/2010, 11:04 am, EST
Name: Bob Wilson Jr.
Location: Beaufort SC
Old Neighborhood(s): 23rd and Madison
Schools Att'd: PS duPont Class of 1952
Employers:
Message: Bob McKelvey -
Never realized that there was ever an active stream that came down to the Brandywine through "Devil's Den" - I always thought it was just a storm sewer for run-off from the higher ground up near Lovering Avenue. In my time, I barely remember any water at all in the "Den" - but I won't ever forget the first time someone dared me to go through it - and getting the wits scared out of me when, as I got close to the exit near the Brandywine, I saw a park bench silhouetted against the daylight behind it.

Date: 9/14/2010, 3:01 pm, EST
Name: Connie
Location: Wilmington Suburbs
Old Neighborhood(s): Brandywine Village
Schools Att'd:
Employers:
Message: Does anyone else remember going into a 5 and dime, turning over a tin toy made in Japan, and seeing the painted label of the food can the toy was made of?

Date: 9/13/2010, 5:45 pm, EST
Name: Jack Riley
Location: Wilmington
Old Neighborhood(s): Union Park Gardens
Schools Att'd: St. Thomas, Salesianum, University of Arts
Employers: Kaumagraph Corporation, State of Delaware
Message: Orv:

I think the other Afro-American movie theater was the Hopkins. I think it was somewhere on French St.


Date: 9/13/2010, 5:33 pm, EST
Name: Orv
Location: Sussex County
Old Neighborhood(s): Montgomery St.
Schools Att'd:
Employers:
Message: Does anyone remember the two movie theaters that were only for African-Americans? One was the National and I can't recall the name of the other. They were both located on the east side. There could've been more but I only remember two.

Date: 9/13/2010, 2:43 pm, EST
Name: jim rambo
Location: mexico
Old Neighborhood(s): 3rd and Connell
Schools Att'd: Bayard/ Conrad H.S.
Employers: Attorney General
Message: I remember my music teacher at Bayard complaining bitterly after the Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Bd. of Education, desegregating the schools in 1954. She said that the public school system would "never be the same". That kind of sentiment expressed today would result in a firing, for certain. The schools have undoubtedly changed. Whether it can all be laid at the feet of Brown is a question for the historians.

Date: 9/10/2010, 11:04 pm, EST
Name: Butch Schilling
Location: A
Old Neighborhood(s): Brandywine Hundred, Happy Valley
Schools Att'd: Alfred I, Silverside, Mt. Pleasant
Employers:
Message: Maureen, used to hang out with Jimmy Corrigan way back when - he was a year or two older and went to Sallies. "Aunt Kitty" had a '54 Chevy - think it was blue - thought it was a really cool car back in the day. Did someone from that family live in North Hills? Thanks for the info.

Date: 9/10/2010, 9:31 pm, EST
Name: Maureen Kelley Dunning
Location: Llangollen Estates
Old Neighborhood(s): 9th & Jackson st.
Schools Att'd: Sacred Heart 10TH & Monroe st.
Employers:
Message: Butch, My husband's mother was Mary, aunt's name was Kitty Desmond. Grandparents were Connie and Julia Desmond.

Date: 9/10/2010, 3:23 pm, EST
Name: Butch Schilling
Location: Aiken, SC
Old Neighborhood(s): Brandywine Hundred, Happy Valley
Schools Att'd: Alfred I, Silverside, Mt. Pleasant
Employers:
Message: Maureen, you mentioned the Desmonds and I remember my mother's friend, Kitty Desmond Corrigan lived at 1522 Van Buren during the 40s. I thought Mrs Desmond lived down the street but am not sure. We lived at 1410 but that was in the late 50s,early 60s. At any rate thanks for that memory.

Date: 9/10/2010, 2:45 pm, EST
Name: Robert J. McKelvey
Location: Cape May, N.J.
Old Neighborhood(s): Happy Valley
Schools Att'd:
Employers:
Message: To the kids that explored Devil's Den, the small stream that ran though it was called Rattlesnake Run. I found it on the 1895 map posted on this site. I knew there were copperhead snakes in Wilmington, maybe back then there were other snakes. ...Bob

Date: 9/9/2010, 8:35 pm, EST
Name: Maureen Kelley Dunning
Location: Llangollen Estates
Old Neighborhood(s): 9th & Jackson st.
Schools Att'd: Sacred Heart 10TH & Monroe st.
Employers:
Message: Gary, I grew up on 9th and Jackson St. I spent lots of time playing in the park as a kid, and went to school with a lot of kids from Happy Valley. My husband's mother and grandparents, the Desmond's lived across the street from the Memorial hospital.

Date: 9/9/2010, 5:45 pm, EST
Name: Bill
Location: Delaware
Old Neighborhood(s): 4th & Harrison
Schools Att'd:
Employers:
Message: I doubt that any of us got to go aboard, but the U.S.S. Constitution, Old Ironside, spent four days in Wilmington at the Marine Terminal beginning on 15 September 1931. The Star article related that Wilmington had thus outdone Philadelphia in having the ship visit during Constitution Day, 17 September. Who knew? By the way, does anyone still celebrate Constitution Day?

Date: 9/9/2010, 12:27 pm, EST
Name: Bob D.
Location: new castle,de
Old Neighborhood(s): richardson park
Schools Att'd: st matthews, sallies,
Employers: numerous
Message: I am still trying to find Janet Cross and an email address. We knew each other in 1958 and 1959 after she graduated from Padua and started at u of d.

Date: 9/2/2010, 11:31 am, EST
Name: Lawrence (Larry) Wooldridge
Location: Gladewater, Texas
Old Neighborhood(s): Todds Lane near Speakman Company
Schools Att'd: David W. Harlin and P.S. Dupont High School
Employers: State of Texas
Message: I would very much like to have a picture of the Children's Home that was located at 200 Todds Lane. A new one was built in Claymont, and the old one was torn down in the 50's. It was directly across from a cemetary, and bordered the Speakman Company. Many thanks to anyone who might have a picture that I might get a copy.