Delaware History Museum & Mitchell Center for African American Heritage

The First State’s Story, Told on Market Street

From Swedish Settlement to Civil Rights: Delaware’s Full History in a Reimagined Art Deco Woolworth’s Store

The Delaware History Museum occupies one of the more satisfying ironies in American historic preservation: the very building where Wilmington once shopped for dish towels and candy bars is now the place where the full, complicated story of an entire state is told. The F.W. Woolworth Department Store — a Market Street landmark since the 1940s — was transformed into the Delaware History Museum in 1995 and substantially renovated and expanded in 2016 to add the Jane and Littleton Mitchell Center for African American Heritage.

The Delaware History Museum and Mitchell Center are open Wednesday through Saturday, 12:00 p.m.–5:00 p.m.

The museum is closed on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday.

Admission: Adults $10 | Military, Senior, and Students with ID: $8 | Ages 6–17: $5 | Ages 5 and under: Free | Members: Free. Free admission on First Fridays. Teachers enjoy free admission on the third Saturday of every month. Art-Reach ACCESS Delaware and Museums for All participants: $2.

The Delaware Historical Society’s Campus on Market Street

The Delaware History Museum is the centerpiece of a three-building complex operated by the Delaware Historical Society along the 500 block of North Market Street. The full campus includes:

Delaware History Museum (504 N. Market Street) The main museum building, housing the society’s permanent and rotating exhibitions. A two-story glass connector added in the 2016 renovation links the museum to the adjacent Old Town Hall — one of the most architecturally striking elements of the facility.

Old Town Hall (505 N. Market Street) Built between 1798 and 1800, Old Town Hall was the center of Wilmington’s political and social life through much of the 19th century. The 2016 renovation made the building fully accessible for the first time in its history. Today it hosts rotating exhibitions and educational programming. Admission to Old Town Hall is included with admission to the Delaware History Museum. Old Town Hall is accessible through Willingtown Square, directly across the street from the museum. Hours: Wednesday–Saturday, 12:00 p.m.–5:00 p.m.

Willingtown Square Six historic houses relocated to a courtyard setting across from the museum, surrounding the society’s Research Library. The exteriors of the buildings can be viewed from the courtyard. The Research Library is open to the public for historical research on Mondays (11 a.m.–7 p.m.), Tuesdays (9 a.m.–1 p.m.), Thursdays (9 a.m.–1 p.m.), and Fridays (9 a.m.–5 p.m.), plus the third Saturday of each month (excluding December), 10 a.m.–4 p.m. The library is closed Wednesdays, Sundays, and major holidays. Research visits are free; fees apply for photocopying and digital camera use.

The Delaware Historical Society also operates Read House & Gardens at 42 The Strand in Historic New Castle — a Federal-style mansion and gardens that functions as a companion site to the museum campus. See the Read House & Gardens listing for details.

What’s Inside: Exhibitions at the Delaware History Museum

Delaware: One State, Many Stories (Permanent)

The museum’s anchor exhibition tells Delaware’s history in two interconnected parts:

Discover Delaware traces the state’s story from the pre-colonial era — when the Lenape people lived, hunted, and fished throughout the region — through the Swedish and Dutch colonial periods, the English takeover, the Revolution, the Civil War, industrialization, and into the 20th century. The exhibits are designed for visitors of all ages, with updated diorama displays, interactive elements, and a nine-foot folk-art statue of George Washington positioned as a somewhat imposing greeter at the museum shop entrance.

Journey to Freedom explores the history of African Americans in Delaware from the earliest documented record — Antoni Schwartz, who arrived on the first Swedish ship in 1638 as the earliest known man of African descent to reach Delaware’s shores — through the 1968 Wilmington protests and the creative voices of the present day. Using multimedia technology and interactive displays, Journey to Freedom presents a layered portrait of struggle, resilience, community, and celebration that is central to understanding Delaware’s full story.

Jane and Littleton Mitchell Center for African American Heritage

Added in 2016, the Mitchell Center expands the museum’s commitment to Delaware’s African American history with dedicated gallery space, artifacts, art, and oral history materials documenting the African American experience in the state from 1639 to the present.

Rotating Exhibitions

The museum’s rotating galleries on the second floor host changing exhibitions drawing from the Delaware Historical Society’s vast collections — manuscripts, photographs, decorative arts, costumes, children’s objects, maps, and everyday artifacts spanning four centuries. Recent exhibitions have included Collecting Wilmington: Perspective, Place & Memory, drawn from the Paul Preston Davis Collection. Check dehistory.org for current rotating exhibitions before your visit.

The Delaware Historical Society: Over 150 Years of Preservation

Founded in 1864, the Delaware Historical Society has been collecting, preserving, and sharing Delaware history for over 160 years. Its research library holds one of the most comprehensive collections of Delaware-related materials in existence: books, rare books, pamphlets, newspapers, maps, manuscripts, and photograph collections spanning the full length of the state’s recorded history.

The society operates group tours and school programming for K–12 and college groups, with curriculum-aligned materials available for educators. The museum is also available for private event rentals, including the distinctive glass connector space linking the two historic buildings.

Visiting the Delaware History Museum on Market Street

The museum sits on North Market Street — downtown Wilmington’s main commercial corridor — within easy walking distance of the Grand Opera House, the Brandywine River waterfront, and several of the city’s best restaurants. Metered parking is available on Market Street and adjacent streets, and is free after 6 p.m. and on weekends.

For visitors combining the Delaware History Museum with other stops, the site pairs naturally with a visit to Old Swedes Historic Site (a short drive south along the Christina River), the Kalmar Nyckel Foundation on the Riverfront, or the Read House & Gardens in Historic New Castle.