Wilmington, North Carolina
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Wilmington is a city in New Hanover County, North Carolina, United States. The population is 100,000 as of 2006;[1] 2005 Census Bureau estimates indicate a population of 95,476. The 2000 census set the population of the Wilmington MSA at 233,540, making it the fifth largest metropolitan area in the state. It is the county seat of New Hanover CountyGR6. It was named in honor of Spencer Compton, the Earl of Wilmington, who was Prime Minister under George II.
Wilmington was settled on the Cape Fear River and is located in North Carolina's Inner Banks region. Wilmington offers its historic downtown as a main tourist attraction and business center and is minutes away from nearby beaches. The city residents have the advantage of living nestled between a river and the ocean.
Wilmington is also known as the childhood home of basketball great Michael Jordan and journalist David Brinkley; famous Wilmington natives include Sonny Jurgenson, Sugar Ray Leonard, Charles Kuralt, Charlie Daniels, Roman Gabriel, Meadowlark Lemon, Trot Nixon, and Alge Crumpler. It is also home to the WWII Battleship USS North Carolina (BB-55). Now a war memorial, the ship is open to public tours and is on display across from the downtown port area. The town is home to the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, the Wilmington Hammerheads USL soccer team, the training camp site for the Charlotte Bobcats and the Cape Fear Museum. The city has become a major center of American film and television production; motion pictures such as The Crow and Blue Velvet as well as television shows such as The WB's Dawson's Creek and One Tree Hill have been produced there.
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[edit] Geography
Wilmington is located at (34.223232, -77.912122)GR1.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 107.4 km² (41.5 mi²). 106.2 km² (41.0 mi²) of it is land and 1.2 km² (0.5 mi²) of it (1.16%) is water.
[edit] History
Although there had been attempts to settle the Cape Fear region in the 1600s, the first permanent English settlers established themselves in the area in the 1720s. The town of Wilmington was incorporated in 1739. A number of the first settlers of the region came from South Carolina and Barbados. Slavery came early to the region, as landowners used slave labor to exploit the region's natural resources. The forest provided the region's major industries through the 18th and most of the 19th century: naval stores and lumber fueled the economy both before and after the American Revolution.
Captain William Gordon Rutherfurd, (1765 - 14 January 1818), who commanded HMS Swiftsure in Nelson's victory at Trafalgar, was born in Wilmington.
Thomas Peters, an early founder of Sierra Leone, escaped from slavery in Wilmington during the American Revolution.
[edit] Civil War
During the Civil War the port was a major base for Confederate blockade runners. It was captured by Union forces only in February of 1865, approximately one month after the fall of Fort Fisher had closed the port. Since almost all the action was some distance from the city itself, a number of Antebellum homes and other buildings are still extant.
[edit] Insurrection of 1898
In November 1898 Wilmington was the scene of a violent attack by a well-organized group of whites who destroyed the printing press of the African American newspaper The Daily Record and set fire to the building in response to an editorial that "insulted white womanhood", which was credited to editor Alex Manly. The mob then went to the north side of town, where an unknown number of African Americans were killed and many hundreds more were run out of town. No whites were killed during the incident.
At the same time, the Republican mayor and city council were forced to resign their offices and the leader of the white mob was then installed as mayor, leading many to characterize what happened in Wilmington as a coup d'état. The events in Wilmington—which was the largest city in the state at the time—helped make North Carolina into a Democratic Party-controlled state. They also helped institute Jim Crow and disenfranchisement which lasted until the African-American Civil Rights Movement in the United States in the second half of the 20th Century.
In 2006 the 1898 Wilmington Race Riot Commission completed its official report on the event. Comprised of thirteen commissioners appointed by the legislature, the governor, mayor and city council of Wilmington, the commission was assisted by the staff of the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources. They used the experience of the Rosewood Report (completed 1993), and the Tulsa Report (completed 2001) as a model and set out to provide detailed explanations for the causes and effects of the riots and to propose a series of recommendations to address the wrongs perpetrated by earlier generations.
[edit] Demographics
As of the censusGR2 of 2005, there were 96,354 people, 40,649 households, and 19,398 families residing in the city; according to census bureau estimates, the 2004 population is 93,292. The population density was 714.2/km² (1,849.8/mi²). There were 38,678 housing units at an average density of 364.2/km² (943.4/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 70.57% White, 25.82% African American, 0.35% Native American, 0.90% Asian, 0.09% Pacific Islander, 1.14% from other races, and 1.13% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.63% of the population.
There were 34,359 households out of which 20.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 33.5% were married couples living together, 14.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 49.5% were non-families. 36.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.10 and the average family size was 2.77.
In the city the population was spread out with 18.4% under the age of 18, 17.2% from 18 to 24, 28.5% from 25 to 44, 20.6% from 45 to 64, and 15.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 87.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.0 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $31,099, and the median income for a family was $41,891. Males had a median income of $30,803 versus $23,423 for females. The per capita income for the city was $21,503. About 13.3% of families and 19.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 25.9% of those under age 18 and 12.0% of those age 65 or over.
[edit] Passenger transportation
- Located near the mouth of Cape Fear River, which flows into the Atlantic Ocean, Wilmington has a sizable seaport. It was also designated as the "Port City" of North Carolina. A major international seaport, the North Carolina International Port is being planned down the river in Southport.
- Interstate Highway: The eastern terminus of I-40 is in Wilmington, sections of I-140 are open, and there are plans to extend I-20 and I-74 to Wilmington.
- Wilmington is not currently served by passenger trains, though a link between the city and Raleigh, the state capital, is in the planning stages through the rail service Amtrak.
- The Wilmington International Airport serves the area.
- Bicycle: The NC-DOT Cape Fear Run bicycle route connects Apex to Wilmington and closely parallels the RUSA 600km brevet route.
- Local bus service is provided by Wave Transit.
[edit] Media
[edit] Newspapers
The Star-News is Wilmington's daily newspaper, owned by the NY Times and is read widely throughout the Lower Cape Fear region. Two historic African-American newspapers are distributed and published weekly -- The Wilmington Journal and The Challenger Newspapers. Encore Magazine is a weekly arts and entertainment publication.
[edit] Television stations
The Wilmington television market is ranked 136 in the United States, and is the smallest DMA in North Carolina. The broadcast stations are as follows:
- WWAY, Channel (3) (ABC affiliate)
- WECT, Channel (6) (NBC affiliate)
- WILM-TV, Channel (10), (CBS affiliate)
- WSFX-TV, Channel (26), (Fox affiliate)
- WUNJ-TV, Channel (39), (PBS affiliate, part of the UNC-TV Network)
- WMYW-LP, Channel (47), (MyNetworkTV affiliate)
- W51CW, Channel (51), (TBN affiliate)
The region is also served by a cable-only affiliate of The CW, WBW, Channel 29 on Time Warner Cable and Channel 17 on Charter Cable.
[edit] Radio stations
- 1640 AM [XSUR]] - 70s & 80s ("Surfside 1640")
- 93.7 FM WNTB - Talk Radio ("The Big Talker FM")
- 94.5 FM - Classic Rock {The Hawk, a new station.)
- 97.3 FM WMNX - Hip Hop ("Coast 97.3")
- 98.3 FM WSFM - Alternative ("Surf 98.3")
- 98.7 FM WILT - Variety Hits ("Will FM")
- 102.7 FM WGNI - Hot AC ("102.7 GNI")
- 103.7 FM WBNE - Classic Rock ("The Bone", moving from 93.7 FM soon)
- 106.7 FM WUIN - Variety Hits ("The Penguin")
- 107.5 FM WAZO - Top 40 ("Z 10
- 101.3 FM WWQQ - Country ("Double Q 101)
- 980 AM WAVV - Talk Radio ("News, Talk, & Sports 980 The Wave")
- 94.5 FM WKXS - Classic Hits ("94.5 The Hawk")
- 105.9 FM WWTB -Urban Contemporary ("105.9 Kiss FM")
- 101.9 FM WIKS - Hip Hop ("101.9 kiss fm")
- 107.7 FM WUKS - Adult R&B Music{"Kiss 107.7 FM"}
- 99.1 FM WZFX - Hip Hop {"Foxy 99"}
- 104.5 FM WRQR - Classic Rock {"Rock 104.5 FM"}
- 96.3 FM WRHT - Top 40 {"Hot 96"}
- 92.3 FM WQSL - Variety Music {"92.3 The Party"}
- 98.1 FM WQSM - Top 40 {"Q98"}
[edit] Sports
The Wilmington Sea Dawgs are an American Basketball Association (ABA) expansion team in Wilmington that began its inaugural season in November of 2006. The Wilmington Hammerheads are a minor league soccer team based in Wilmington, North Carolina. They were founded in 1996 and currently play in the USL Second Division. Their stadium is the Legion Sports Complex.
[edit] Shopping
- Independence Mall in Wilmington, NC
- The Long Leaf Mall in Wilmington, NC
- Mayfaire Town Center in Wilmington, NC
[edit] Connections to film and the entertainment industry
- 200 movies or TV shows have been filmed in Wilmington [2]
- The 1986 film Maximum Overdrive was filmed in and around Wilmington.
- Wilmington was used as the scenery for the major filming of The WB's Dawson's Creek between 1998 and 2003, directed by Kevin Williamson.
- The CW TV series One Tree Hill is currently being filmed in Wilmington with it returning for the 2006-2007 season.
- The television series Surface was filmed in Wilmington during the 2005-2006 season before its cancellation at the end of the first season.
- Actor Brandon Lee died in Wilmington.
- Country musician Charlie Daniels was born here in 1936.
- Home of Mark Twain Productions.
[edit] Sister cities
Wilmington is a sister city with the following cities:
[edit] Points of interest
- Airlie Gardens
- Cape Fear Serpentarium
- EUE Screen Gems
- North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher
- Greenfield Lake
- Hollywood East Cinema Grill
- New Hanover County Extension Service Arboretum
- University of North Carolina at Wilmington Arboretum
- USS North Carolina Memorial
[edit] Educational institutions
- Cape Fear Community College (CFCC)
- University of North Carolina at Wilmington (UNCW)
- Friends School of Wilmington
- The Lyceum Academy
- Cape Fear Academy
- Wilmington Christian Academy
[edit] Notes
- ^ Star News Online (September 26, 2006). "[1]". Wilmington at 100,000: A 'big town growing into a city'?
- ^ IMdb.com "[2]". Titles with a location of Wilmington, North Carolina
[edit] External links
- Official website of Wilmington, NC
- Greater Wilmington Chamber of Commerce
- Wilmington Regional Film Commission
- Cape Fear Coast Convention & Visitors Bureau
- Latimer House
- Wilmington travel guide from Wikitravel
- Maps and aerial photos
- Street map from Google Maps, or Yahoo! Maps, or Windows Live Local
- Satellite image from Google Maps, Windows Live Local, WikiMapia
- Topographic map from TopoZone
- Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA
