New Kingswood Community Center: 80th Anniversary Recap & 5 Amazing Features

The new Kingswood Community Center is officially open, and Good Morning Delaware was there to celebrate. Kingswood marked 80 years of serving Wilmington’s Riverside neighborhood with Community Day: An Open House Experience on Saturday, Nov. 7, giving families their first look inside a building that is ready to serve the next 80 years. Watch the full recap below.

80 Years of Kingswood in Riverside

Kingswood has been part of Riverside since 1946, when the Kingswood Methodist Episcopal Church opened its doors to neighborhood kids looking for a safe place to go after school. A decade later, the center moved into its own one-story building on Bowers Street, and it has anchored northeast Wilmington ever since. Kingswood calls itself Delaware’s first integrated community center.

Over eight decades, that building became home to an early learning academy, the Jimmy Jenkins Senior Center and a long list of family services. Today, Kingswood is one of three organizations in The WRK Group, alongside The Warehouse and REACH Riverside, all working to revitalize the neighborhood.

Inside the 80th Anniversary Community Day

Community Day ran from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and was built for the whole family, with music and entertainment, a Kids’ Zone, seasonal activities and guided tours of the new building. Special presentations honored eight decades of service to the families who have walked through Kingswood’s doors. Get the full event preview in our Kingswood 80th anniversary open house story.

5 Amazing Features of the New Kingswood Community Center

The new Kingswood Community Center is a steel, brick and glass building of about 81,000 square feet, nearly five times larger than the center it replaces, according to WHYY. Here is what stands out.

1. A Gym Built for Big Moments

The gymnasium seats about 600 fans for games and can hold around 1,500 people when it is set up as an auditorium for community events.

2. A Commercial Kitchen and Dining Hall

A commercial kitchen roughly the size of a tennis court sits next to a dining room of similar size, giving Kingswood room to feed families and host large gatherings.

3. More Room for Early Learning

Bright, spacious classrooms give Kingswood’s preschool program space to grow, building on decades of early childhood education in Riverside.

4. Health Care Under One Roof

An upstairs pediatric health center brings care for kids into the same building where they learn and play, making it easier for families to get checkups close to home.

5. A Building That Inspires

Inspirational sayings and sports photos line the walls, a reminder that this space was designed to lift up the young people who use it every day.

Why the New Kingswood Community Center Matters

The new center is the latest piece of a much larger transformation. Led by Logan Herring, The WRK Group and its partners, including the Wilmington Housing Authority, are rebuilding Riverside from the ground up. When state and federal leaders joined the community for the 2024 groundbreaking, they called it a historic moment for the neighborhood.

For families who grew up with Kingswood, the new building is proof that Riverside’s next chapter is being written by and for the people who live there.

Visit the New Kingswood Community Center

Want to learn more about programs, enrollment or ways to get involved? Visit CelebrateKingswood.org or the Kingswood Community Center website. You can also look back at our Kingswood Community Day preview and the Nov. 2 Good Morning Delaware Live episode.

New Kingswood Community Center FAQ

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