Saturday, May 4, 2013

Sunset Park, Wilmington, NC-- Part 1

From the Sunset Park site.

The last post, I mentioned a skeleton being found at the construction site where the new, back in 1913, Sunset Park subdivision was being built.  I had never heard of this neighborhood, but knew that the Confederates had built fortifications along the Cape Fear River and construction in the early 1900s had obliterated the remains of them.

Sunset Park was established in 1912 by the Fidelity Trust and Development Company which began selling lots October 5, 1912.  It was a southern Wilmington subdivision of 442 acres which the corporation had purchased in 1911. 

A topographical survey was made and roads and boulevards laid out.  The original main entrance to the subdivision was on Northern Boulevard.

Highlights were its location along the Cape Fear River, 90-foot wide boulevards along with water and sewer systems.

Homes were built between 1812 and the 1960s, with most construction occurring during World War II between 1940 and 1943 to handle all the people coming to Wilmington to work at the North Carolina Shipbuilding Company,  other war industries and the military.

I'll Have to Check This Subdivision Out the Next Time I'm In the Area.  --Old B-R'er

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