City of Newark
City
Main Street is the commercial heart of Newark. It is adjacent to the University of Delaware.
Country	United States
State	Delaware
County	New Castle
Elevation	125 ft (38.1 m)
Coordinates	39°40′45″N 75°45′29″W / 39.67917°N 75.75806°W / 39.67917; -75.75806
Area	8.9 sq mi (23.1 km2)
- land	8.9 sq mi (23 km2)
- water	0.0 sq mi (0 km2), 0%
Population	31,454 (2010)
Density	3,198.6 / sq mi (1,235 / km2)
Founded	1694
- Incorporated	1758
Timezone	EST (UTC-5)
- summer (DST)	EDT (UTC-4)
Area code	302
Location of Newark in Delaware
Location of Delaware in the United States
Website: www.cityofnewarkde.us

Newark (/ˈnjuːɑrk/ NEW-ark)^[1] is an American city in New Castle County, Delaware, 12 miles (19 km) west-southwest of Wilmington. According to the 2010 Census, the population of the city is 31,454.^[2] Newark is the home of the University of Delaware.

History[link]

Newark was founded by Scots-Irish and Welsh settlers in 1694. The town was officially established when it received a charter from George II of Great Britain in 1758.

Schools have played a significant role in the history of Newark. A grammar school, founded by Francis Alison in 1743, moved from New London, Pennsylvania to Newark in 1765, becoming the Newark Academy. Among the first graduates of the school were three signers of the Declaration of Independence: George Read, Thomas McKean, and James Smith.

During the American Revolutionary War, British and American forces clashed outside Newark at Battle of Cooch’s Bridge. Tradition holds that the Battle of Cooch's Bridge was the first time that the Stars and Stripes was flown in battle.^[3]

The state granted a charter to a new school in 1833, which was called Newark College. Newark Academy and Newark College joined together in the following year, becoming Delaware College. The school was forced to close in 1859, but was resuscitated eleven years later under the Morrill Act when it became a joint venture between the State of Delaware and the school's Board of Trustees. In 1913, pursuant to legislative Act, Delaware College came into sole ownership of the State of Delaware. The school would be renamed the University of Delaware in 1921.

Newark received a license from King George II to hold semi-annual fairs and weekly markets for agricultural exchange in 1758. A paper mill, the first sizable industrial venture in Newark, was created around 1798.^[4] This mill, eventually known as the Curtis Paper Mill, was the oldest paper mill in the United States until its closing in 1997. Methodists built the first church in 1812 and the railroad arrived in 1837.

Geography[link]

Newark is located at 39°40′45″N 75°45′29″W / 39.67917°N 75.75806°W / 39.67917; -75.75806 (39.679111, -75.758040).^[5]

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 8.9 square miles (23 km²), all of it land. Originally surrounded by farmland, Newark is now surrounded by housing developments in some directions, although farmland remains just over the state lines in Maryland and Pennsylvania. To the north and west are small hills, but south and east of the city, the land is flat (part of Newark falls in the Piedmont geological region and part of the city is in the Coastal Plain geological region, as is the majority of the land in the State of Delaware).

Parks and natural areas[link]

Despite the fact that Newark is located roughly halfway between Philadelphia (approximately 45 miles (72 km) away) and Baltimore (approximately 55 miles (89 km) away) and is part of densely populated New Castle County, there is a large amount of public parkland—over 12,000 acres (49 km²) – surrounding the city. To the south is Iron Hill Park (part of the New Castle County Park System), to the west (in Cecil County, Maryland) is Fair Hill Natural Resources Management Area, and to the North is White Clay Creek State Park and White Clay Creek Preserve (in Chester County, Pennsylvania). Also nearby is Middle Run Valley Natural Area, which is part of the New Castle County Park System. These parks provide ample hiking, mountain biking, and horse back riding opportunities. Fair Hill Natural Resources Management Area and much of White Clay Creek State Park consist of land formerly owned by the Du Pont family that was later ceded to the states of Maryland and Delaware, respectively.

Demographics[link]

As of the census^[6] of 2000, there were 28,547 people, 8,989 households, and 4,494 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,198.6 people per square mile (1,235.7/km²). There were 9,294 housing units at an average density of 1,041.4 per square mile (402.3/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 87.29% White, 6.00% Black, 0.16% Native American, 4.07% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 0.86% from other races, and 1.57% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.53% of the population. 16.8% were of Irish, 13.5% Italian, 13.4% German, 10.2% English and 5.1% Polish ancestry according to Census 2000.

Of the 8,989 households, 20.7% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.5% were married couples living together, 7.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 50.0% were non-families. 27.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.43 and the average family size was 2.91.

In the city the population was spread out with 12.5% under the age of 18, 43.6% from 18 to 24, 19.8% from 25 to 44, 14.9% from 45 to 64, and 9.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 23 years. For every 100 females there were 85.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 82.3 males.

The median household income was $48,758, and the median family income was $75,188. Males had a median income of $45,813 versus $33,165 for females. The per capita income for the city was $20,376. About 4.1% of families and 20.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 7.0% of those under age 18 and 7.1% of those age 65 or over.

Education[link]

Primary and secondary schools[link]

Public education in Newark is managed by the Christina School District and the New Castle County Vocational-Technical School District. The Christina School District manages public education for Newark and environs and parts of Wilmington, Delaware.

Christina School District schools located within the city limits are:

• Downes Elementary School (grades K-5)
• McVey Elementary School (grades K-5)
• Jennie E. Smith Elementary School (grades K-5)
• West Park Place Elementary School (grades K-5)
• Newark Charter School (grades K-8 - state-chartered school)
• Glasgow High School (grades 9-12)
• Newark High School (grades 9-12)

Newark is also home to a private Democratic Free School, The New School, that offers a non-traditional education opportunity to students of all ages.

University of Delaware[link]

Newark is home to the University of Delaware (UD). The school has programs in a broad range of subjects, but is probably best known for its business, chemical engineering, chemistry and biochemistry programs, drawing from the historically strong presence of the nation's chemical and pharmaceutical industries in the state of Delaware. In 2006, UD's engineering program was ranked number 11 in the nation by The Princeton Review.^[7]

Sports[link]

Newark is a recognized center of US and international figure skating, mostly due to the many national, world, and Olympic champions (including many foreign nationals) that have trained at the University of Delaware Figure Skating Club (an independent club operating within UD facilities) and at The Pond Ice Rink. In 2009, Sporting News ranked Newark 192 in its list of the 400 Best Sports Cities.^[8]

The University of Delaware offers 23 varsity sports, which compete in the NCAA Division-I. The athletic teams at Delaware are known as the Fightin' Blue Hens.

Transportation[link]

Several highways pass through the Newark area. Interstate 95, the main interstate highway through the northeast urban seaboard corridor, passes to the south of Newark on the tolled Delaware Turnpike. Delaware Route 896 serves as the main north-south route through the Newark area, interchanging with I-95 to the south and continuing north through the city, bypassing the University of Delaware campus to the west. Major east–west highways through the Newark area include Delaware Route 273, which passes through the heart of Newark, Delaware Route 2 (Kirkwood Highway), which bypasses the city to the south on the Christina Parkway and to the east on Delaware Route 72, with Delaware Route 2 Business passing through the city, and Delaware Route 4, which also bypasses Newark to the south on the Christina Parkway.

The closest airport to Newark is the New Castle County Airport in New Castle. There is no regularly scheduled commercial air service at this airport. The nearest airport to Newark with commercial air service is at Philadelphia International Airport.

Newark has a Rail Station (Map, via Google Maps) located to the south of downtown near the University of Delaware campus that is serviced by both SEPTA and Amtrak on the Northeast Corridor. Newark is the last stop on the SEPTA Wilmington/Newark Line, one of the farthest points out on the system. SEPTA service to Newark involves 4 trains in both directions during the morning and evening rush hours, weekdays only. There is limited Amtrak service in Newark with one to two trains per day toward New York, and one train per day toward Washington. Newark is also served by two freight railroads: Norfolk Southern, which provides freight service on the Northeast Corridor line, and CSX, which passes through the northern part of Newark.

Newark is served by DART First State buses, routes #6, 16, 31, 33, 34, 39, 59, and 65, providing service to Wilmington, the Christiana Mall, and Elkton, MD. Most routes travel through the university campus and also stop at the rail station. There is also a Unicity bus, run jointly through the city and the University, free for everyone to ride, which acts as a community circulator. The University of Delaware also operates a bus system, available and free to all students and those associated with the university.

Notable residents[link]

• Ann Althouse, law professor and blogger, University of Wisconsin Law School
• Tarzan Cooper, professional basketball player
• Harry Coover, inventor
• Dave Douglas, golfer
• Tom Douglas, award-winning Seattle chef
• Richard Howell, Governor of New Jersey
• K. C. Keeler, University of Delaware football coach
• Judith LeClair, musician
• Jack A. Markell, State Governor
• M. A. Muqtedar Khan, Muslim-American intellectual and commentator
• David Roselle, former President of the University of Delaware
• Dave Sheridan, actor, writer, producer
• Harold "Tubby" Raymond College Hall of Fame football coach
• Johnny Weir, U.S. figure skating champion
• Vic Willis, Hall of Fame baseball player
• Shien Biau Woo, former Lt. Governor

Media[link]

Radio[link]

• WVUD/91.3: University of Delaware

Newspaper[link]

• Newark Post

See also[link]

	Philadelphia portal
	Delaware portal

• Tri-State Bird Rescue and Research

References[link]

External links[link]

• City of Newark
• Brief History of Newark
• Newark History
• A History of Newark, from 1757 to 1888 from Thomans J. Scharf's Chapter on White Clay Creek Hundred in History of Delaware, 1609–1888.
• Official Delaware Tourism Website's list of Newark Attractions
• Newark Housing Authority

v t e Municipalities and communities of New Castle County, Delaware, United States County seat: Wilmington Cities Delaware City New Castle Newark Wilmington Towns Bellefonte Clayton‡ Elsmere Middletown Newport Odessa Smyrna‡ Townsend Villages Arden Ardencroft Ardentown CDPs Bear Brookside Claymont Edgemoor Glasgow Greenville Hockessin North Star Pike Creek Pike Creek Valley Wilmington Manor Unincorporated communities Ashland Biddles Corner Boyds Corner Christiana Collins Park Hares Corner Henry Clay Kirkwood Marshallton Mathews Corners Minquadale Montchanin Mount Pleasant Ogletown Port Penn Prices Corner Red Lion Rockland St. Georges Silverbrook Stanton State Road Summit Bridge Talleyville Tybouts Corner Williamsburg Winterthur Wrangle Hill Yorklyn Hundreds Appoquinimink Blackbird Brandywine Christiana Mill Creek New Castle Pencader Red Lion St. George's White Clay Wilmington Footnotes ‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties

v t e  State of Delaware Dover (capital) Topics Index Architecture Communications Culture Delegations Demographics Economy Education Geography Government History Images Landmarks Law Military Music Nature Organizations Parks Sports Symbols Transportation Visitor Attractions Cities Delaware City Dover Harrington Lewes Milford Newark New Castle Rehoboth Beach Seaford Smyrna Wilmington Towns Arden Ardencroft Ardentown Bellefonte Bethany Beach Bethel Blades Bowers Bridgeville Camden Cheswold Christiana Clayton Dagsboro Delmar Dewey Beach Ellendale Elsmere Farmington Felton Fenwick Island Frankford Frederica Georgetown Greenwood Hartly Henlopen Acres Houston Kenton Laurel Leipsic Little Creek Magnolia Middletown Millsboro Millville Milton Newport Ocean View Odessa Selbyville Slaughter Beach South Bethany Townsend Viola Woodside Wyoming Counties Kent New Castle Sussex

v t e University of Delaware Colleges Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics • College of Arts and Sciences • College of Agriculture and Natural Resources • College of Engineering • College of Health Sciences • College of Education and Public Policy • College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment Athletics Colonial Athletic Association  • Bob Carpenter Center  • Delaware Fight Song  • Delaware Stadium  • Bob Hannah Stadium  • Football (2012 • Coach) • Frazer Field  • Fred Rust Ice Arena  • Men's Lacrosse  • Men's Soccer  • YoUDee Campus Main campus: Newark Satellite campuses: Dover  • Georgetown  • Lewes  • Wilmington Botanic Gardens  • Delaware Biotechnology Institute  • Disaster Research Center  • Energy Institute  • Images  • University Museums at the University of Delaware People Alumni  • Faculty  • Patrick T. Harker (President) • Police Student life Deer Park Tavern  • Emergency Care Unit  • Figure Skating Club  • Greek life  • The Lamplighter • The Review • Mainstreet Journal • Petal and Thorn  • WVUD Other Blue Hen  • RV Hugh R. Sharp  • University of Delaware Press

v t e Delaware Valley Counties Atlantic • Berks • Bucks • Burlington • Camden • Cape May • Cecil • Chester • Cumberland • Delaware • Gloucester • Mercer • Montgomery • New Castle • Ocean • Philadelphia • Salem Major cities Philadelphia Cities and towns 50k-99k Bensalem • Camden • Cherry Hill • Gloucester Township • Levittown • Reading • Trenton • Vineland • Wilmington Cities and towns 25k-50k Atlantic City • Chester • Millville • Newark • Norristown

State of Delaware
Flag Seal
Nickname(s): The First State; The Small Wonder; Blue Hen State; The Diamond State
Motto(s): Liberty and Independence
Demonym	Delawarean
Capital	Dover
Largest city	Wilmington
Area	Ranked 49th in the U.S.
- Total	2,490 sq mi (6,452 km2)
- Width	30 miles (48 km)
- Length	96 miles (154 km)
- % water	21.5
- Latitude	38° 27′ N to 39° 50′ N
- Longitude	75° 3′ W to 75° 47′ W
Population	Ranked 45th in the U.S.
- Total	907,135 (2011 est)[1]
- Density	464/sq mi  (179/km2) Ranked 6th in the U.S.
- Median household income	$50,152 (12th)
Elevation
- Highest point	Near the Ebright Azimuth[2][3][4] 447 ft (136.2 m)
- Mean	60 ft  (20 m)
- Lowest point	Atlantic Ocean[2] sea level
Before statehood	Delaware Colony
Admission to Union	December 7, 1787 (1st)
Governor	Jack A. Markell (D)
Lieutenant Governor	Matthew P. Denn (D)
Legislature	General Assembly
- Upper house	Senate
- Lower house	House of Representatives
U.S. Senators	Thomas R. Carper (D) Chris Coons (D)
U.S. House delegation	John C. Carney, Jr. (D) (list)
Time zone	Eastern: UTC-5/-4
Abbreviations	DE Del. US-DE
Website	delaware.gov

Delaware State symbols
The Flag of Delaware.
Animate insignia
Bird(s)	Blue Hen Chicken
Butterfly	Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
Fish	Weakfish
Flower(s)	Peach blossom
Insect	Ladybug
Tree	American Holly
Inanimate insignia
Beverage	Milk
Colors	Colonial Blue, Buff
Fossil	Belemnite
Mineral	Sillimanite
Slogan(s)	It's Good Being First
Soil	Greenwich
Song(s)	Our Delaware
Route marker(s)
State Quarter
Released in 1999
Lists of United States state insignia

Delaware (ⁱ/ˈdɛləwɛər/ DEL-ə-wair)^[5] is a U.S. state located on the Atlantic Coast in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered to the south and west by Maryland, to the northeast by New Jersey, and to the north by Pennsylvania.^[6] The state takes its name from Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, an English nobleman and Virginia's first colonial governor, after whom what is now called Cape Henlopen was originally named.^[7]

Delaware is located in the northeastern portion of the Delmarva Peninsula and is the second least extensive, the sixth least populous, but the sixth most densely populated of the 50 United States. Delaware is divided into three counties. From north to south, these three counties are New Castle, Kent, and Sussex. While the southern two counties have historically been predominantly agricultural, New Castle County has been more industrialized.

The history of the state's economic and industrial development is closely tied to the impact of the Du Pont family, founders and scions of E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, one of the world’s largest chemical companies.^[8]

Before its coastline was first explored by Europeans in the 16th century, Delaware was inhabited by several groups of Native Americans, including the Lenape in the north and Nanticoke in the south. It was initially colonized by Dutch traders at Zwaanendael, located near the present town of Lewes, in 1631.^[9] Delaware was one of the 13 colonies participating in the American Revolution and on December 7, 1787, became the first state to ratify the Constitution of the United States, thereby becoming known as The First State.

Geography[link]

Map of Delaware

The Twelve-Mile Circle

Diagram of the Twelve-Mile Circle, the Mason-Dixon Line and "The Wedge". All blue and white areas are inside Delaware, except for the small sliver of Maryland on the western extremity of the circle.

Delaware is 96 miles (154 km) long and ranges from 9 miles (14 km) to 35 miles (56 km) across, totaling 1,954 square miles (5,060 km²), making it the second-smallest state in the United States after Rhode Island. Delaware is bounded to the north by Pennsylvania; to the east by the Delaware River, Delaware Bay, New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean; and to the west and south by Maryland. Small portions of Delaware are also situated on the eastern side of the Delaware River sharing land boundaries with New Jersey. The state of Delaware, together with the Eastern Shore counties of Maryland and two counties of Virginia, form the Delmarva Peninsula, which stretches down the Mid-Atlantic Coast.

The definition of the northern boundary of the state is unusual. Most of the boundary between Delaware and Pennsylvania was originally defined by an arc extending 12 miles (19.3 km) from the cupola of the courthouse in the city of New Castle. This boundary is often referred to as the Twelve-Mile Circle.^[10] This is the only nominally circular state boundary in the United States.

This border extends all the way east to the low-tide mark on the New Jersey shore, then continues south along the shoreline until it again reaches the 12-mile (19 km) arc in the south; then the boundary continues in a more conventional way in the middle of the main channel (thalweg) of the Delaware River. To the west, a portion of the arc extends past the easternmost edge of Maryland. The remaining western border runs slightly east of due south from its intersection with the arc. The Wedge of land between the northwest part of the arc and the Maryland border was claimed by both Delaware and Pennsylvania until 1921, when Delaware's claim was confirmed.

Topography[link]

Delaware is on a level plain, with the lowest mean elevation of any state in the nation.^[2] Its highest elevation, located at Ebright Azimuth, near Concord High School, does not rise fully 450 feet (140 m) above sea level.^[2] The northernmost part of the state is part of the Appalachian Piedmont with hills and rolling surfaces. The fall line approximately follows the Robert Kirkwood Highway between Newark and Wilmington; south of this road is the Atlantic Coastal Plain with flat, sandy, and, in some parts, swampy ground. A ridge about 75 to 80 feet (23 to 24 m) in elevation extends along the western boundary of the state and separates between the watersheds that feed Delaware River and Bay to the east and the Chesapeake Bay to the west.

Climate[link]

Since almost all of Delaware is a part of the Atlantic Coastal Plain, the effects of the ocean moderate its climate. The state is in a transitional zone between a humid subtropical climate and a continental climate. Despite its small size (roughly 100 miles (160 km) from its northernmost to southernmost points), there is significant variation in mean temperature and amount of snowfall between Sussex County and New Castle County. The southern portion of the state has a somewhat milder climate and a longer growing season than the northern portion of the state. Delaware's all time record high of 110 °F (43 °C) was recorded at Millsboro on July 21, 1930; the all time record low of −17 °F (−27 °C) was also recorded at Millsboro on January 17, 1893.

Environment[link]

The transitional climate of Delaware supports a wide variety of vegetation. In the northern third of the state are found Northeastern coastal forests and mixed oak forests typical of the northeastern United States.^[11] In the southern two-thirds of the state are found Middle Atlantic coastal forests.^[11] Trap Pond State Park in Sussex County, for example, supports what may be one of the northernmost stands of bald cypress.

Environmental management[link]

Delaware provides government subsidy support for the clean-up of property "lightly contaminated" by hazardous waste, the proceeds for which come from a tax on wholesale petroleum sales.^[12]

History[link]

Native Americans[link]

Before Delaware was settled by European colonists, the area was home to the Eastern Algonquian tribes known as the Unami Lenape or Delaware throughout the Delaware valley, and the Nanticoke along the rivers leading into the Chesapeake Bay. The Unami Lenape in the Delaware Valley were closely related to Munsee Lenape tribes along the Hudson River. They had a settled hunting and agricultural society, and they rapidly became middlemen in an increasingly frantic fur trade with their ancient enemy, the Minqua or Susquehannock. With the loss of their lands on the Delaware River and the destruction of the Minqua by the Iroquois of the Five Nations in the 1670s, the remnants of the Lenape who wished to remain identified as such left the region and moved over the Alleghany Mountains by the mid-18th century. Generally, those who did not relocate out of the State of Delaware were baptized, became Christian and were grouped together with other persons of color in official records and in the minds of their non-Native American neighbors.

Colonial Delaware[link]

New Sweden - encounter between Swedish colonists and the natives of Delaware.

The Dutch were the first Europeans to settle in present-day Delaware in the Middle region by establishing a trading post at Zwaanendael, near the site of Lewes in 1631. Within a year all the settlers were killed in a dispute with area Indian tribes. In 1638 New Sweden, a Swedish trading post and colony, was established at Fort Christina (now in Wilmington) by Peter Minuit at the head of a group of Swedes, Finns and Dutch. The colony of New Sweden lasted for 17 years. In 1651, the Dutch, reinvigorated by the leadership of Peter Stuyvesant, established a fort at present-day New Castle, and in 1655 they conquered the New Sweden colony, annexing it into the Dutch New Netherland.^[13][14] Only nine years later, in 1664, the Dutch were conquered by a fleet of English ships by Sir Robert Carr under the direction of James, the Duke of York. Fighting off a prior claim by Cecilius Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore, Proprietor of Maryland, the Duke passed his somewhat dubious ownership on to William Penn in 1682. Penn strongly desired access to the sea for his Pennsylvania province and leased what then came to be known as the "Lower Counties on the Delaware" ^[13] from the Duke.

Penn established representative government and briefly combined his two possessions under one General Assembly in 1682. However, by 1704 the Province of Pennsylvania had grown so large that their representatives wanted to make decisions without the assent of the Lower Counties and the two groups of representatives began meeting on their own, one at Philadelphia, and the other at New Castle. Penn and his heirs remained proprietors of both and always appointed the same person Governor for their Province of Pennsylvania and their territory of the Lower Counties. The fact that Delaware and Pennsylvania shared the same governor was not unique. From 1703-1738, New York and New Jersey shared a governor.^[15] Massachusetts and New Hampshire also shared a governor for some time.^[16]

Dependent in early years on indentured labor, Delaware imported more slaves as the number of English immigrants decreased with better economic conditions in England. The colony became a slave society and cultivated tobacco as a cash crop, although English immigrants continued to arrive.

American Revolution[link]

Like the other middle colonies, the Lower Counties on the Delaware initially showed little enthusiasm for a break with Britain. The citizenry had a good relationship with the Proprietary government, and generally were allowed more independence of action in their Colonial Assembly than in other colonies. Merchants at the port of Wilmington had trading ties with the British.

So it was that New Castle lawyer Thomas McKean denounced the Stamp Act in the strongest terms, and Kent County native John Dickinson became the "Penman of the Revolution." Anticipating the Declaration of Independence, Patriot leaders Thomas McKean and Caesar Rodney convinced the Colonial Assembly to declare itself separated from British and Pennsylvania rule on June 15, 1776. The person best representing Delaware's majority, George Read, could not bring himself to vote for a Declaration of Independence. Only the dramatic overnight ride of Caesar Rodney gave the delegation the votes needed to cast Delaware's vote for independence.

Initially led by John Haslet, Delaware provided one of the premier regiments in the Continental Army, known as the "Delaware Blues" and nicknamed the "Blue Hen Chickens." In August 1777, General Sir William Howe led a British army through Delaware on his way to a victory at the Battle of Brandywine and capture of the city of Philadelphia. The only real engagement on Delaware soil was the Battle of Cooch's Bridge, fought on September 3, 1777, at Cooch's Bridge in New Castle County.

Following the Battle of Brandywine, Wilmington was occupied by the British, and State President John McKinly was taken prisoner. The British remained in control of the Delaware River for much of the rest of the war, disrupting commerce and providing encouragement to an active Loyalist portion of the population, particularly in Sussex County. Because the British promised slaves of rebels freedom for fighting with them, escaped slaves flocked north to join their lines.^[17]

Following the American Revolution, statesmen from Delaware were among the leading proponents of a strong central United States with equal representation for each state.

Slavery and race[link]

Many colonial settlers came to Delaware from Maryland and Virginia, which had been experiencing a population boom. The economies of these colonies were chiefly based on tobacco culture and were increasingly dependent on slave labor for its intensive cultivation. Most of the English colonists arrived as indentured servants, hiring themselves out as laborers for a fixed period to pay for their passage. In the early years the line between indentured servants and African slaves or laborers was fluid. Most of the free African-American families in Delaware before the Revolution had migrated from Maryland to find more affordable land. They were descendants chiefly of relationships or marriages between servant women and enslaved, servant or free African or African-American men.^[18] As the flow of indentured laborers to the colony decreased with improving economic conditions in England, more slaves were imported for labor.

At the end of the colonial period, the number of enslaved people in Delaware began to decline. Shifts in the agriculture economy from tobacco to mixed farming created less need for slaves' labor. Local Methodists and Quakers encouraged slaveholders to free their slaves following the American Revolution, and many did so in a surge of individual manumissions for idealistic reasons. By 1810 three-quarters of all blacks in Delaware were free. When John Dickinson freed his slaves in 1777, he was Delaware's largest slave owner with 37 slaves. By 1860 the largest slaveholder owned only 16 slaves.^[19]

Although attempts to abolish slavery failed by narrow margins in the legislature, in practical terms, the state had mostly ended the practice. By the 1860 census on the verge of the Civil War, 91.7 percent of the black population, or nearly 20,000 people, were free.^[20][21]

The independent black denomination was chartered by freed slave Peter Spencer in 1813 as the "Union Church of Africans". This followed the 1793 establishment of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, which had ties to the Methodist Episcopal Church until 1816. Spencer built a church in Wilmington for the new denomination.^[22] This was renamed the African Union First Colored Methodist Protestant Church and Connection, more commonly known as the A.U.M.P. Church. Begun by Spencer in 1814, the annual gathering of the Big August Quarterly still draws people together in a religious and cultural festival, the oldest such cultural festival in the nation.

At the onset of the Civil War, Delaware was only nominally a slave state, and it remained in the Union. Delaware voted against secession on January 3, 1861. As the governor said, Delaware had been the first state to embrace the Union by ratifying the Constitution and would be the last to leave it. While most Delaware citizens who fought in the war served in the regiments of the state, some served in companies on the Confederate side in Maryland and Virginia Regiments. Delaware is notable for being the only slave state from which no Confederate regiments or militia groups were assembled. It freed the remaining 1,000 or so Delaware slaves with the ratification of the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution in December 1865.

Demographics[link]

Delaware Population Density Map

The United States Census Bureau estimates that the population of Delaware was 907,135 on July 1, 2011, a 1.02% increase since the 2010 United States Census.^[1]

According to the 2010 U.S. Census, Delaware had a population of 897,934. In terms of race and ethnicity, the state was 68.9% White (65.3% Non-Hispanic White Alone), 21.4% Black or African American, 0.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 3.2% Asian, 0.0% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander, 3.4% from Some Other Race, and 2.7% from Two or More Races. Hispanics and Latinos of any race made up 8.2% of the population.^[24]

In 1990, the Census Bureau reported Delaware's population as 16.9% Black and 79.3% Non-Hispanic White.^[25]

Delaware is the sixth most densely populated state, with a population density of 442.6 people per square mile, 356.4 per square mile more than the national average, and ranking 45th in population. Only the states of Delaware, West Virginia, Vermont, Maine, North Dakota, and Wyoming do not have a single city with a population over 100,000 as of the 2007 census estimates.^[26] The center of population of Delaware is located in New Castle County, in the town of Townsend.^[27]

Languages[link]

As of 2000, 91% of Delaware residents age 5 and older speak only English at home; 5% speak Spanish. French is the third most spoken language at 0.7%, followed by Chinese at 0.5% and German at 0.5%.

Legislation had been proposed in both the House and the Senate in Delaware to designate English as the official language.^[28][29] Neither bill was passed in the legislature.

Religion[link]

The religious affiliations of the people of Delaware are:

• Methodist – 20%
• Baptist – 19%
• No Religion – 17%
• Roman Catholic – 9%
• Lutheran – 4%
• Presbyterian – 3%
• Pentecostal – 3%
• Episcopalian/Anglican - 2%
• Seventh-day Adventist - 2%
• Churches of Christ - 1%
• Other Christian – 3%
• Muslim - 2%
• Jewish - 1%
• Other – 5%
• Refused - 9%

(Source: American Religious Identification Survey, City University of New York^{[dead link]})

As of the year 2000, The Association of Religion Data Archives^[30] reported that the three largest denominational groups in Delaware are Catholic, Mainline Protestant, and Evangelical Protestant. The Catholic Church has the highest number of adherents in Delaware (at 151,740), followed by the United Methodist Church with 59,471 members reported and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), reporting 14,880 adherents. The religious body with the largest number of congregations is the United Methodist Church (with 162 congregations) followed by the Catholic Church (with 46 congregations).

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Wilmington and the Episcopal Diocese of Delaware oversee the parishes within their denominations. The A.U.M.P. Church, the oldest African-American denomination in the nation, was founded in Wilmington. It still has a substantial presence in the state. Reflecting new immigrant populations, an Islamic mosque has been built in the Ogletown area, and a Hindu temple in Hockessin.

A 2012 survey of religious attitudes in the United States found that 34% of Delaware residents considered themselves "moderately religious", 33% saw themselves as "very religious" and 33% described themselves as "non-religious".^[31]

Economy[link]

The gross state product of Delaware in 2010 was $62.3 billion.^[32]

Affluence[link]

The per capita personal income was $34,199, ranking 9th in the nation. In 2005, the average weekly wage was $937, ranking 7th in the nation.^[34]

In common with many counties in the United States, each of the three Delaware counties have experienced a year-on-year decreasing in the sales price of new and existing homes when comparing 2010 to 2011.^[33]

Agriculture[link]

"Picking Peaches in Delaware" from an 1878 issue of Harper's Weekly

Delaware's agricultural output consists of poultry, nursery stock, soybeans, dairy products and corn.

Industries[link]

As of January 2011, the state's unemployment rate was 8.5%.^[35] The state's largest employers are:^{[dubious – discuss]}

• government (State of Delaware, New Castle County)
• education (University of Delaware)
• banking (Bank of America, Wilmington Trust, First USA / Bank One / JPMorgan Chase, AIG, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, Barclays plc)
• chemical and pharmaceutical companies (E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co.,^[36][37] Syngenta, AstraZeneca,^[38] and Hercules, Inc.)
• healthcare (Christiana Care Health System, Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children)

  As of 2011^[update], there are approximately 2,800 doctors practicing in the state.^[39]

• automotive manufacturing (Fisker Automotive)
• farming, specifically chicken farming in Sussex County (Perdue Farms, Mountaire Farms, Allen Family Foods)

The Dover Air Force Base, located next to the state capital of Dover, is one of the largest Air Force bases in the country and is a major employer in Delaware. In addition to its other responsibilities in the USAF Air Mobility Command, this air base serves as the entry point and mortuary for American military personnel, and some U.S. government civilians, who die overseas.

Incorporation in Delaware[link]

Over 50% of U.S. publicly traded corporations and 60% of the Fortune 500 companies are incorporated in Delaware;^[40] the state's attractiveness as a corporate haven is largely because of its business-friendly corporation law. Franchise taxes on Delaware corporations supply about one-fifth of its state revenue.^[41] Although Delaware is ranked first tax haven in the world by Tax Justice Network,^[42] it is not listed on the OECD's 2009 "Black List", despite objections of Luxembourg's and Switzerland's authorities.^[43]

Food and drink[link]

Title 4, chapter 7 of the Delaware Code stipulates that alcoholic liquor only be sold in specifically licensed establishments, and only between 9:00 AM and 1:00 AM.^[44] Until 2003, Delaware was among the several states enforcing blue laws and banned sale of liquor on Sunday.^[45]

Transportation[link]

The current state license plate design was introduced in 1959, making it the longest-running license plate design in United States history.^[46]

The transportation system in Delaware is under the governance and supervision of the Delaware Department of Transportation, also known as "DelDOT".^[47][48] Funding for DelDOT projects is drawn, in part, from the Delaware Transportation Trust Fund, established in 1987 to help stabilize transportation funding; the availability of the Trust led to a gradual separation of DelDOT operations from other Delaware state operations.^[49] DelDOT manages programs such as a Delaware Adopt-a-Highway program, major road route snow removal, traffic control infrastructure (signs and signals), toll road management, Delaware Division of Motor Vehicles, the Delaware Transit Corporation (branded as "DART First State", the state government public transportation organization), among others. In 2009, DelDOT maintained 13,507 lane miles of roads, totaling 89 percent of the state's public roadway system; the remaining public road miles are under the supervision of individual municipalities. This far exceeds the United States national average of 20 percent for state department of transportation maintenance responsibility.^[50]

The "DART First State" public transportation system was named "Most Outstanding Public Transportation System" in 2003 by the American Public Transportation Association. Coverage of the system is broad within northern New Castle County with close association to major highways in Kent and Sussex counties. The system includes bus, subsidized passenger rail operated by Philadelphia transit agency SEPTA, and subsidized taxi and paratransit modes. The paratransit system, consisting of a state-wide door-to-door bus service for the elderly and disabled, has been described by a Delaware state report as "the most generous paratransit system in the United States."^[49] As of 2012^[update], fees for the paratransit service have not changed since 1988.^[49]

Roads[link]

Delaware Route 1, a partial toll road linking Fenwick Island and Wilmington.

One major branch of the U.S. Interstate Highway System, Interstate 95, crosses Delaware southwest-to-northeast across New Castle County. In addition to I-95, there are six U.S. highways that serve Delaware: U.S. Route 9, U.S. Route 13, U.S. Route 40, U.S. Route 113, U.S. Route 202, and U.S. Route 301. There are also several state highways that cross the state of Delaware; a few of them include Delaware Route 1, Delaware Route 9, and Delaware Route 404. U.S. 13 and DE Rt 1 are primary north-south highways connecting Wilmington and Pennsylvania with Maryland, with DE 1 serving as the main route between Wilmington and the Delaware beaches. DE Rt. 9 is a north-south highway connecting Dover and Wilmington via a scenic route along the Delaware Bay. U.S. 40, is a primary east-west route, connecting Maryland with New Jersey. DE Rt. 404 is another primary east-west highway connecting the Chesapeake Bay Bridge in Maryland with the Delaware beaches. The state also operates two toll highways, the Delaware Turnpike, which is Interstate 95, between Maryland and New Castle and the Korean War Veterans Memorial Highway, which is DE Rt. 1, between Wilmington and Dover.