The year ahead: 14 Wilmington anniversaries we'll be marking in 2023

As 2022 comes to an end, it's time to start looking ahead to next year.

Here are 14 Wilmington anniversaries worth celebrating, or at least noting, for 2023.

Wilmington founded: 290 years

It's not quite 300 years just yet, but we're getting there. The present site of Wilmington was first laid out as a town in 1733, and was known variably as New Liverpool, New Town and Newton before it was incorporated as Wilmington in 1739.

First Thalian Association founded: 235 years

Over the years, or centuries, there have been at least five Wilmington theatrical groups named The Thalian Association. The present-day Thalian Association Community Theatre was founded in 1929, but the first Thalian Association was formed nearly 235 years ago in 1788. (A different Thalian Association managed Thalian Hall when it opened in 1858, so it gets confusing.)

There is a tenuous but very real connection between the different groups, mainly the fact that each new Thalian Association that formed was inspired to carry on the work of, and name themselves after, the previous Thalian Association that had folded years or even decades before.

The fire of 1798: 225 years

If you look around, you'll notice that just a half-dozen structures in Wilmington pre-date 1800. A big reason for that is a massive November fire in 1798 that by some accounts destroyed or damaged all but about 12 houses in the entire town.

Just like people tend to do after disasters, Wilmingtonians quickly got to work rebuilding and getting on with the business of everyday life. According to a note in Hall's Wilmington Gazette from Nov. 15, 1798, the merchants Wilkings & Scott "since the fire, have removed their goods to the back part of the store occupied by Mr. Nutt, facing Mr. Geer's where they have a general assortment suitable for the season."

Henry Taylor born: 200 years

A builder and carpenter credited with helping to construct Wilmington's Bellamy Mansion, Taylor was born near Fayetteville in 1823. Wilmington, however, was where Taylor, the son of a white man and an enslaved Black woman, made his name as a builder and a businessman.

Taylor built the Hemenway School for Blacks at Fourth and Campbell streets in 1868 (the school has since been torn down), and according to North Carolina Builders & Architects: A Biographical Dictionary, a resource of North Carolina State University, "it is probable that he was involved in construction of" Giblem Lodge on Princess Street.

From 2021:50 years later, fire that destroyed Hemenway Hall in Wilmington remains a mystery

The historic 1871 structure was the second Black Masonic Lodge in the state, and efforts by the Historic Wilmington Foundation and others are underway to have the deteriorating building preserved.

A house Taylor built for his son, John Taylor, at 114 N. Eighth St. still stands.

1898 coup and massacre: 125 years

Nov. 10, 2023, will mark the 125th anniversary of the Wilmington coup and massacre, also known as the Wilmington Insurrection, when an organized group of white supremacists overthrew the biracial local government, killed dozens of Blacks and drove hundreds more out of town.

Before the coup, Wilmington was a majority Black city with a thriving Black middle class. After the coup, Wilmington was a majority white town, and the Black middle class is only now beginning to show signs of recovery.

Much will be done next year to mark the coup's 125th anniversary, including the release of Christopher Everett's documentary "Wilmington on Fire: Chapter II," which is set to premiere Nov. 10, 2023. A follow-up to Everett's 2015 film "Wilmington on Fire," about the coup and massacre of 1898, "Chapter II" looks at the legacy of white supremacy in Wilmington and how the Black community is fighting to overcome it.

Dixie Grill opens: 120 years

From StarNews reporter Allison Ballard's story on Wilmington's oldest restaurants from earlier this year: "It hasn't exactly been a continuous run for what may be the area's oldest restaurant. Dixie Grill (has) been a pool hall, cigar store and diner and has had at least three addresses. But the first one does date to at least 1903."

More: Wilmington restaurantsYour guide to 18 of the oldest restaurants in the Wilmington area

Tinga Nursery founded: 110 years

Started by Dutch immigrant Eelco I. Tinga at its current location on Castle Hayne Road in 1913 and owned and operated by his ancestors to this day. It's the largest plant wholesaler and nursery in the area.

According to the business' website, a 1917 home built by Tinga as well as "the original barn, wash house, tenant room, and bulb barn are still in use."

William Benjamin Gould dies: 100 years

Born in Wilmington in 1837, William Benjamin Gould's famous story of escaping slavery, joining the United States Navy and fighting against the Confederacy in the Civil War was told in “Diary of a Contraband: The Civil War Passage of a Black Sailor,” published in 2003.

In June of this year, Gould's story was featured in Overlooked, a New York Times series of obituaries of notable people whose deaths originally went unreported.

Gould's story wasn't widely known until well after the discovery of his diary in 1958 by his grandson and great-grandson, William B. Gould IV, a Stanford Professor who would go on the publish the diary.

Gould was the son of an enslaved woman and a white Englishman, who hired Gould out for various jobs in Wilmington, including as a plasterer at Wilmington's Bellamy Mansion, where Gould's initials were discovered carved into plasterwork in the 1990s.

After the Civil War, Gould settled in Dedham, Massachusetts, where he became a respected building contractor. He died in 1823. According to The Times, next year a statue of Gould will be unveiled in Dedham, which already has a William B. Gould Park.

First Azalea Festival held: 75 years

OK, so the 75th Azalea Festival was held this year, but because of the way anniversaries work, April will mark not only the 76th annual festival but also the 75th anniversary of the first festival, which was held back in 1948.

It remains Wilmington's biggest annual festival to this day.

Merritt's Burger House opens: 65 years

A true '50s throwback, this drive-up, park-and-eat burgers and hot dogs joint on Carolina Beach Road has been in continuous operation since it first opened back in 1958.

Residents of Old Wilmington formed: 50 years

This nonprofit neighborhood association formed in 1973, and has gone on to be one of the most active and influential groups downtown. (There's a story from the group's early days about ROW members rushing out to scrape hot asphalt off a historic brick street after a road contractor accidentally paved over the wrong part.) These days the group fights to keep the historic vibe of downtown intact while helping to fund projects like the flytrap sculpture on the Riverwalk and the restoration of Giblem Lodge.

Thalian Hall fire: 50 years

In 1973, Wilmington's historic Thalian Hall, built in 1858, suffered a small fire in its auditorium. The damage wasn't extensive, but it was bad enough to keep the Hall closed for more than a year while repairs were made. Looking back, the fire might've been a blessing in disguise. The auditorium was "restored to its turn of the century appearance," according to the Thalian Hall website.

When it reopened in 1975, attendance rose as the number of local and touring productions grew, putting Thalian Hall back in the public eye and setting the stage for late director Tony Rivenbark, who took over in 1979, to take the Hall to the next level in terms of attendance and renovations.

'A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries' released: 25 years

Mainly notable for being the only Wilmington movie from the famed "Merchant-Ivory" filmmaking team, which is known for gauzy historical epics like "The Remains of the Day" and "Howard's End." It stars Kris Kristofferson as drink-besotted writer and war hero based on the American novelist James Jones ("From Here to Eternity").

Not the best-known or best-regarded work in the Merchant-Ivory canon if we're being honest, although Roger Ebert liked it.

'Dawson's Creek' airs: 25 years

The pilot for this WB drama actually shot in 1997, but the very first episode of "Dawson's Creek" aired back in 1998. The show would go on to run for five years and become a huge hit, buoying Wilmington's film industry and making stars of actors Michelle William, James Van Der Beek, Joshua Jackson and Katie Holmes.

Contact John Staton at John.Staton@StarNewsOnline.com.

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Important Wilmington NC anniversaries we'll be marking in 2023