The City of Wilmington California - Los Angeles' South Bay
March 10th, 2010
The following excerpts are from the official city website:
City of Wilmington Official Website
History of Wilmington City
The founding of "New San Pedro" (Wilmington) was celebrated in September of 1858, when Phineas Banning brought passengers and freight into his new wharf located at the foot of Canal Street, (present day Avalon Boulevard.) A small town grew up around this landing on the 100, 200 and 300 blocks of Canal Street. This was one of the first towns established in Los Angeles County after California became a state. With the outbreak of the Civil War, communications became vital and a telegraph line was routed through the existing line in the City of Los Angeles to the rest of the country. The U.S. Army spent a million dollars building the Drum Barracks, along with an equally important Quartermaster's Headquarters and Depot near Banning's Landing. This depot supplied the horses, mules, camels, arms and equipment for soldiers at two hundred fifteen (215) army forts and outposts in the Territories of Arizona and New Mexico.
In 1863, the California Legislature made it lawful for the town known as New San Pedro to have its name changed to Wilmington, after Phineas Banning's birthplace of Wilmington, Delaware.
A post office was established in Wilmington in 1864. This was the second post office in Los Angeles County and served an area from Compton south and from Redondo Beach to Santa Ana.
