City of Wilmington, NC Government history

In 1847, the City of Wilmington hired its first police officer.

Discover local history in the Ryder Lewis Park, a 10-acre wetlands park with marsh boardwalks and a walking trail that takes visitors around the earthen fort built by Confederate troops in 1864 along the Sugar Loaf Line of Defense.

During the American Civil War it was a centre for Confederate blockade-running and was the last port closed by the Union, holding out until the fall of Fort Fisher (south near the mouth of the Cape Fear River) on January 15, 1865.

When it came time for the November 1898 election, the Red Shirts were an ominous armed presence at polling places frequented by Blacks and Republicans.

Moreover, Wilmington’s multiracial city government remained in place after the November 8 election, its local government elections not due to be held until March 1899.

As mayor, ‘Waddell quickly restored sobriety and peace, demonstrating his capacity to act with courage in critical times.’ He continued in this office until 1905, leading a responsible and honest government.

Incorporated in 1925, Carolina Beach recalls coastal Americana with its boardwalk, central business district, fishing pier, town marina, and Carolina Beach State Park.

Kure Beach, incorporated in 1947, includes the Fort Fisher State Recreation Area.

Board in 1954, and the civil-rights movement, Helms shepherded white conservatives of the Solid South to the Republican Party but continued the old Democratic Party’s hard line against civil-rights reforms.

Economic decline followed when the railroad, the area’s major employer, moved its corporate headquarters from Wilmington in 1960.

The Police Department was originally located in the basement of City Hall, where it remained until 1962.In 1962, the Atlantic Coast Railroad sold their facility on Red Cross Street to the City for $2.

Born and raised a Democrat in the Solid South, Helms switched parties in 1970, two years before his first Senate run.

Wilmington Ten …following a 1971 riot in Wilmington, North Carolina, over school desegregation.

In 1974, much of Wilmington’s downtown was listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

As the centennial of the massacre approached, Black American descendants of those who had suffered through it as well as some academics called for reexamination of what really happened, and in 1998 a symposium was held at the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

In 2007, back when he was a first-term state General Assembly representative, Senator Thom Tillis blocked a state resolution formally apologizing for the massacre.