For more than a century, Mount Joy United Methodist Church has been an important part of Wilmington’s Black Methodist community. Its history reaches back to the 1870s, when members established Whittington Chapel in South Wilmington, creating a place of worship that would also serve the broader community.
On Thursday, September 17, 2026, at 11:00 a.m., that history will be formally recognized with the unveiling of a new State of Delaware Historical Marker at Mount Joy United Methodist Church in Wilmington.
Mount Joy grew from Wilmington’s early Black Methodist community, beginning with Whittington Chapel in 1873. After a fire destroyed the chapel two years later, the congregation rebuilt it and continued to use it for worship, education, and community gatherings before moving to Townsend Street in the 1880s. When the congregation’s joyful singing earned it the nickname “The Singing Church,” it soon became known as Mount Joy.
The unveiling ceremony will bring together church members, local and state leaders, community members, and representatives from the Delaware Public Archives, which administers the Historical Markers Program.
About the State of Delaware Historical Markers Program:
The State of Delaware Historical Markers Program traces its origins to 1929, when Governor C. Douglass Buck appointed a committee to review Delaware’s notable historic sites and develop a way to identify them. In 1931, the General Assembly of Delaware passed an act establishing a commission to erect historical markers throughout the state. The markers in each county were numbered sequentially as they were proposed, preceded by NC (New Castle), K (Kent), and S (Sussex) to note the county in which they were located. Since the 1930s, the State of Delaware has erected over 700 markers. The Delaware Public Archives has administered the Historical Markers Program since 1990.
For more information about the Delaware Public Archives or to learn more about events and other items of interest at the Archives, visit the website at archives.delaware.gov, and follow on Facebook and Instagram.