Members of the Kingswood community and politicians ceremoniously tossed shovels of dirt to mark the start of construction on a new $52 million Kingswood Community Center.
They called it a ground-breaking for the new Kingswood Community Center, but it was more of a joyous love-in.
Love for the 83-year-old institution, love for those who founded and ran it, love for those who expanded its scope to serve residents from childbirth to senior citizens, love for those who acted on faith that they could transform the neighborhood and center, and love for God, who inevitably was mentioned at the start of each of the 15 speechlets that marked the occasion.
Many of their passionate comments might have inspired a bloom of envy in the pulpit of a Black Southern Baptist Church.
About 300 people — community members and leaders, as well as politicians — gathered Thursday on a tented baseball field near the current Kingswood Center to celebrate the start of construction of the new $52 million, 81,000-square-foot center that will hold a senior citizen program, Early Learning Academy, gym and space for neighborhood programs.
The state and federal government already have provided the bulk of that, although the project is seeking another $15 million.
Sen. Chris Coons told the crowd in a video that he hoped to be bringing good news about that later in the year, and Gov. John Carney, who will leave office in January and is running for mayor of Wilmington, noted that he had one more state budget to write and hoped to get the project another $10 million in that.
“The groundbreaking event today is very historic for Riverside, Northeast and the entire city of Wilmington,” said Emcee Blake Saunders, charged with keeping the program to a schedule. His quick quips delighted the crowd, as did his threat to cut off the mic for any speaker who went over two minutes.
They did. He didn’t.
A crowd of more than 300 community members and leaders gathered Thursday to celebrate the start of the new center.
Each of the speakers was welcomed by a short clip of music meant to evoke their personality or brand that often had the crowd singing and chair dancing along.
Many of the speakers recalled going to Kingswood as children, playing on its ball teams; learning music; and gathering on Friday and Saturday nights for basketball, computer games and pizza provided by the center.
One gleefully described visiting his grandmother who lived nearby and taking advantage of the edge of the baseball field to relieve a full bladder.
Founded in 1946 by the Riverside United Methodist Church to give local youth a place to get together.
Kingswood became the first racially integrated recreational center in Delaware, said community member and minister Theressa Holmes.
“It began as a five year experiment that proved to be an outstanding success,” she said. “This area in the city of Wilmington became known as Kingswood USA. It was a city within a city. It was a community of people all working together to improve their neighborhood and to provide their children with the opportunity of a happy, healthy and wholesome life.
“Kingswood served as the heartbeat of the community and was the central gathering place for the community.”
Today, Saunders said, it remains at the center of the community, serving as an educational sanctuary for children, as well as a resource for food, economic mobility, personal growth and senior fellowship.
Logan Herring dances to the podium at the end of the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Kingswood Community Center.
Its rebuilding is part of a $600 million renaissance in Riverside, an area that had been allowed to drift into poverty, disrepair and unsightliness.
Now it’s the site of the Teen Warehouse, new homes, a STEM hub that will open next year, and a charter school that CEO Aaron Bass said in the last four years has raised math proficiency scores 7 points, English scores four points, and graduates all honors 8th graders proficient in English.”
“We’re not just building buildings. We are changing lives,” Bass said. “And that is what is important about the work that’s taking place here because this is the work that matters.”
The Rev. Vincent Oliver, who headed Kingswood for 26 years, reminded the crowd that he always left people with the words “be encouraged.”
“Well, this morning, I’m encouraged,” he told the crowd. “I’m encouraged to know that this center will not just be a building. It will be a living testament of our shared commitment to creating spaces that foster growth and unity and spiritual collaboration.”
Kingswood and history
Ray Rhodes, chairman of the Kingswood Board, alluded to a seminal event in the city’s history when he asked the crowd to imagine a 4-year-old boy sitting on the stoop of his home just steps from the tent when “right before his eyes” his toy G.I. Joe transformed into National Guardsmen.
That was 1968, when Gov. Charles Terry declared martial law and ordered the Guard into the city after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. sparked demonstrations.
The Guard stayed for nine months, until Terry lost to Gov. Russell Petersen, who sent the Guard home.
The anger, fear and distrust from that event festered for decades.
“I invite everyone to come and visit the new Kingswood or the current Kingswood and find out what’s on the inside, because it’s the inside that shapes us,” Rhodes said.
Then he cracked up the crowd by pulling a gold bottle of champagne out of his backpack, waving it above his head.
Logan Herring speaks to the crowd as groundbreaking shovels and construction equipment await use.
Nearly every speaker mentioned WRK Group CEO Logan Herring, who has spearheaded the transformation of the area. He spoke last, thanking the community boards that had helped him.
Herring noted that he was comfortable working at the Boys and Girls Club when a mentor challenged him to do more. He went to work at Kingswood in 2016.
“And today in 2024, we are at a special place,” he said.
“The last thing I’ll leave you with is that I just urge you and I implore you that what’s possible in Riverside is possible throughout the entire city of Wilmington, the state of Delaware, and, most importantly, the entire country,” Herring said. “And I think that’s why people are flocking to what we are doing …
“We can start to coin the phrase that Delaware’s the pilot state where we can show the rest of the nation what can happen here. If you want to try something, try it here. We tried it here. We walked out on faith and we will continue to walk on faith.”
