PHOTOS: Take a look at Wilmington in the 2000s (2024)

A female right whale shoots a stream of salt water and air out of her blowhole as the large whale and her calf entertain a crowd gathered on the end of Johnnie Mercers Fishing Pier on Dec. 30, 2004.

Wilmington police Sgt. Gerald Lincoln is attacked by two pit bulls near 11th and Castle streets in Wilmington on Sept. 6, 2000. The dogs had already attacked one woman and had school bus drivers barricaded in their waiting buses. Lincoln had arrived on the scene and the dogs attacked him, forcing him to stumble to the ground. Minutes later sheriff's deputies cornered the animals in a yard and killed both after attempts to snare the animals failed.

Michael Jordan is surrounded by media after practice at Trask Coliseum on Oct. 2, 2001. Jordan and the rest of the Washington Wizards along with a sea of media from across the country began their season practice in Wilmington.

Surfers head out into the snow at Wrightsville Beach on Jan. 25, 2000.

Phillis Smith raises her hand and says a prayer after her husband, Sylvester Smith, was freed after an announcement was made that the charges against him were dropped at the Brunswick County Courthouse in Bolivia. Smith was wrongfully convicted of rape and sexual abuse involving two young children in 1984. Smith, who had been in prison for 20 years, was released on Nov. 5, 2004, following a Superior Court hearing.

Maryland men's basketball players celebrate after beating the University of North Carolina Wilmington on a last-second shot in the first round of the 2003 NCAA Tournament in Nashville, Tennessee.

Jennifer Bartie holds Taylan's hand at the New Hanover Regional Medical Center. Born 16 weeks early on April 25, 2000, and weighing 15 ounces, Taylan Bartie's life was a struggle from the beginning.

Wayne Johnson and Dave Rybicki with the town of Wrightsville Beach cover the Banks Channel bridge with sand on Jan. 18, 2000. Over an inch of snow covered the Wrightsville Beach area overnight making driving dangerous for early morning drivers.

Mike Giles, the Cape Fear Coast keeper, and Katharine Braly, an intern with North Carolina Coastal Federation, work with volunteers as they build oyster shell reefs in Bradley Creek off the banks of Airlie Gardens on Friday, March 30, 2007.

Jean Beasley with the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center in Topsail Beach pats Honey, a juvenile Loggerhead Sea Turtle, on the back after his release along Topsail Beach. Honey was admitted Sept. 27, 2000, and spent four years being rehabilitated from a crushed carapace and plastron along with a dislocated shoulder.

18-month-old Henry Gregory IV holds a photo of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Monday, Jan. 19, 2009, along Castle Street as he watches the Martin Luther King Jr. Parade.

Amy Hotz flies over downtown Wilmington with pilot Greg Poe aboard the fa*gen MX-2, an Ethanol Fueled plane that was part of the 2008 Coastal Carolina Air Show at the Wilmington International Airport.

Wrightsville Beach Lifeguard Grey Liston works to pull Mandy Blackburn 13, of Cary, to safety after she and Spencer Warren were forced underneath Johnnie Mercers Fishing Pier at Wrightsville Beach on Monday, Aug. 2, 2004, because of heavy surf and rip currents caused by Tropical Storm Alex.

Volunteer Zatha Loewen, 14, helps Sidney Collins 8, sift through sand and debris during Archaeology Summer Dig Camp on Wednesday, July 19, 2006, at Poplar Grove Plantation. The camp run by Jolene Gillingham-Kauffman teaches the kids how archaeology is used to discover facts about our past and what life was like in the 1800s.

Evangeline Furst, a student at Codington Elementary School, reacts after receiving her second-place ribbon in the 50-yard dash. Furst was taking part in the New Hanover County Special Olympics Spring Games at UNCW's Greene Track and Field Complex on Wednesday, April 18, 2007.

The patchwork of sand tubes and sandbags protecting the Shell Island Resort in 2000.

The Illusion, a 67-foot sailboat, rests on the shore on May 10, 2007, in the four-wheel drive recreation area 2.5 miles past Fort Fisher. The boat, captained by Chris Leitch, was en route to Newport, Rhode Island, from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, when about 120 miles off the Cape Lookout shoreline the crew lost steering capabilities and had to abandon the vessel due to a coastal low pressure system that was later named Subtropical Storm Andrea. The crew was rescued by the Coast Guard and the sailboat was left adrift ending up on shore.

In this image from 2000, Mike Smith, a research diver at UNCW, communicates using hand signals with aquanauts inside "Aquarius," an undersea laboratory off the Florida Keys. Mike Smith, a research diver with the University of North Carolina Wilmington, based out of the National Undersea Research Center in Key Largo, Florida, communicates using hand signals to aquanauts that are living inside Aquarius. Aquarius is the world's only undersea laboratory dedicated to science and is operated by UNCW for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

An aerial photo of Independence Mall in 2004.

Jennifer Dickson Brow and Mellissa Dionesotes release Splash, a juvenile loggerhead sea turtle, on Wednesday June 7, 2006, at the southern end of Topsail Island in front of around 500 spectators. Splash was found Aug. 3, 2005, at Wrightsville Beach with barnacle bill condition.

Wilmington police officers move the flag draped coffin of officer Richard Matthews into St. Mark's Catholic Church on Monday, Feb. 23, 2009. Matthews became the first police officer in the city to be killed while on duty in more than 30 years. He was on his way to assist on a call when he swerved to avoid a box in the road, crashing into a tree off Shipyard Boulevard.

Demolition of the Almont Shipping Terminals site on Friday, Feb. 11, 2005.

Assistant Chief Robert Yoho with the Ocean Isle Beach Volunteer Fire Department looks over the erosion occurring underneath a residence at the eastern end of Ocean Isle Beach on Sept. 28, 2004.

Recently hatched brown pelicans stand in their nest on Bird Island along the Cape Fear River on July 16, 2008. Researchers with the Audubon Society in Wilmington were giving tours to members of the media and the Army Corps of Engineers along the island. The island that is off limits to tourist and boaters supports 2,000 to 3,000 Royal and Sandwich terns along with 1,000 Laughing gulls and 500 Brown Pelicans and is a critical nesting area for the birds along the Cape Fear River.

Civil War reenactors are shrouded in smoke after a field artillery demonstration at Fort Fisher on Saturday, Jan. 17, 2004.

Ashley High School's Micah Allen brings his teammates together as they break down between drills during practice on Friday, Aug. 1, 2008.

In 2005, Jimmy Davis said he believed the city wasn't paying attention to the needs of Maides Park.

Andrew and A.J. Bugliaro along with Mark Rodrick of New Jersey take advantage of the weather to do a little fishing near the Surf City bridge while vacationing on Monday, July 31, 2006, in Surf City.

Margaret Kerry, the model for whom Disney based its drawings of Tinker Bell, at Murray Art & Frame in Leland. Fans of all ages showed up to get Kerry's autograph on Friday, Aug. 18, 2007.

Sylvester Smith, who was released in 2004 after being wrongfully imprisoned for 20 years for sex crimes he didn't commit, was waiting for a pardon from Gov. Mike Easley. (Photographed at the Brunswick County Courthouse on Tuesday, May 24, 2005.)

George McCuiston carries another board up his front stairs as he boards up his home in Carolina Beach along Canal Drive on Friday, Sept. 5, 2008.

Julie Rehder, Dorothy DeShields, Rhonda Bellamy and Julie Rehder talk Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2005, during a press conference at Bellamy Mansion for the African American Heritage Weekend.

Bertha Boykin Todd is congratulated by Dr. John Cavanaugh, UNCW Provost, Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, as she receives an honorary degree at the 2000-01 UNCW convocation.

Investigators stand outside of the Town and Country Motel located on Main Street near U.S. 17 in Belville on Thursday, Oct. 26, 2006. A search warrant and the initiation of a federally issued Civil Asset Forfeiture action was issued against the motel and property after a year-long investigation.

A small group gathers in front of the Jaffe Building at 714 Castle St. in 2006. At the time, there was talk of restoring the building. However, the plans didn't materialize, and the threatened structure came down after Hurricane Florence in 2018.

Mike Emmons, manager of network services at New Hanover Regional Medical Center, in one of the hospital's computer rooms. The hospital looked to spend $1 million from its capital projects budget to prepare for the Year 2000 bug.

Firefighters work to put out the fire that destroyed the historic Astor Hotel in Carolina Beach on Monday, June 27, 2005. The hotel, which was built in the 1930s, was slated for demolition.

Construction in downtown Wilmington on the Judicial Building Annex in 2001.

The cover of the Morning Star from January 1, 2000. STARNEWS FILE PHOTO

Kayla Futch, 17, Shanna Pascoe, 18 and Ashley Freeman, 17. leap off the old railroad bridge into the Northeast Cape Fear River at the Pender/New Hanover county line on Wednesday, July 20, 2005.

Kadashia Felder 8, a second grader at Bradley Creek Elementary School, laughs as she takes part in the potato sack race on Thursday, March 24, 2005.

Aerial photo of the I-140 bridge being built over the Northeast Cape Fear River in 2004.

Airborne dust from granite being cut fills the air around the Condeferate Memorial as Fred Hiatt and Terry Hall work on repairing the monument along Third Street. The memorial that was originally constructed in 1924 by the Daughters of the Confederacy was damaged Aug. 13, 2000, when it was being installed after damage from a March 1999 car accident tipped the monument over.

D.J. King works on painting stars on one of the garage doors at Gene's Tire Service as Bill McCormick takes down a American Flag. The two men worked on painting an American Flag on the three garage doors on Sept. 17, 2001.

Construction equipment takes down what was left of the Ice House on Water Street on Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2005.

Aerial photos in 2004 of condos being constructed by the Mayfaire development.

Jessica Simpson performs at Trask Coliseum during the 2004 Azalea Festival.

Then-Vice President Al Gore and wife, Tipper, talk briefly to the local media after arriving at Wilmington International Airport in 2000 for a vacation at Figure Eight Island. The Gores planned to stay for over a week, prepping for Al Gore's trip to Los Angeles for the Democratic National Convention.

The Henrietta III fights the wind as she makes her way up the Cape Fear River to Riverfront Park following the coronation of Queen Azalea Dari Alexander Thursday April 1, 2004.

Construction crews demolish the first of two houses on the eastern end of Ocean Isle Beach on April 6, 2005. The houses were condemned due to severe erosion.

Dennis Barbour checks in his inventory of lottery tickets Wednesday, March 29, 2006, at Island Tackle & Hardware in Carolina Beach. The next day, the North Carolina lottery was launched when scratch-off tickets went on sale.

An aerial photo of Mayfaire Towncenter in 2004.

Mark Dixion sits in his wheelchair at his Hampstead home on Thursday, April 29, 2004.

An impromptu drum concert gets a local attendee of the Million Family March dancing near the reflecting pool in the capitol mall Monday, Dec. 16, 2000.

Groups walk out the MV Cape Lobos one of Military Sealift Command's 31 Roll-on/Roll-off Ships on Sunday, May 22, 2005. Festival goers were allowed to take a tour of the ship during the 9th annual Port of Wilmington Maritime Day Festival. The annual festival is held to allow residents to see the importance of maritime commerce along the Cape Fear River.

A sign for the future Wal-Mart sits just off U.S. 17 in Leland on April 20, 2005.

Spectators watch as the 'Unicorn' docks in downtown Wilmington on Friday, June 25, 2004, for the 2nd Annual Nautical Festival.

Perollito from Ecuador greets circus goers at the April 3, 2003, performance of the Cole Bros. Circus on the grounds of the Wilmington International Airport.

Members of B Co. 3-325 AIR of the 82nd Airborn Division at Fort Bragg who served with Sgt. John "Mac" Smith during his first tour in Iraq, carry his remains from St. Paul's Lutheran Church on Saturday, May 21, 2005, in Wilmington. Sgt. Smith, who was killed May 12, 2005, in Iraq while training the Iraqi National Guard, was laid to rest at the Wilmington National Cemetery where his maternal grandfather Bob Newell also rests.

A view of the atrium in the Watson School of Education Regional Education Resource Center. The 80,500-square-foot build was set for completion in 2004 to be the home of the NC Teachers Legacy Hall, a three-story atrium that will house a memorial honoring education in our society and landmarks of teaching excellence across North Carolina.

Construction continues on UNCW's new student union building on Tuesday, April 5, 2006.

Michelle Harmon, Jared Cronion and Ryan Perry float through the marsh area along West Sailbury street at Wrightsville Beach on June 6, 2001, as Chaz Dickerson makes his way in with a net. The students were taking part in Coast Trek a Marine Science Camp put on by UNCW were working with students from across the state identifying and collecting specimens from the marsh to be taken back to UNCW to be transferred to aquariums created and maintained by the students taking part in the week-long camp.

Demolition on Babies Hospital on Wrightsville Avenue began in 2004 as crews from Southern Excavating & Land Services, Inc. started to take down the historic structure. Work continued over the weekend, and the brick structure has been broken down to the first story. The building had last been used as commercial rental space after closing as a hospital in 1978.

Tatum Ledford, Tiana Robinson and Zanobia Williams perform Monday, Dec. 11, 2006, in the dress rehearsal of "Christmas at the O.K. Corral." The play was being put on by Union Elementary School's third grade class.

Pressmen for the StarNews take a break for a photo on May 10, 2009, during the last press run at the StarNews. The paper would later be printed in Fayetteville.

Michael Jordan fades back for a shot during the first half of play Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2001, at UNCW's Trask Coliseum. The Washington Wizards held their first live scrimmage under a full house at UNCW as fans packed Trask to get a first-hand look at Jordan's comeback.

Sophia Kropaczek, 12, and Cory Whitlock, 12, wait to compete in the Hunt Seat Division while AnnaLee Perry, 10, passes by during a fundraiser for the N.C. Equine Rescue League horse show at Hugh MacRae Park, now known as Long Peak Park.

Royce Potter cleans the nets after an 11-hour day on the water Nov. 15, 2005. The cleaning of the nets is part of the preparations before bringing them on board and cleaning up the boat.

Dolphus Thompson, 80, mends a shrimping net in front of his home in Sneads Ferry on Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2005. After losing his shrimping boat in a fire last year the community came together and raised $26,000 in a month to buy Thompson a new boat.

Henry Bittorf, left, of Beheler Trucking, helps position one of the four pieces of the Mary E. Morris onto a truck Thursday, Aug. 4, 2005, while loading it at the athletic fields on Oak Island. The four pieces of the ship, which sunk in 1893, were transported from the athletic fields to G.V. Barbee Sr. Library.

Aerial photo of the Waterford development as seen on June 8, 2004.

Property located north of the N.C. State Port and south of the Hess Terminals on Front Street in 2000. The cleared area sits at the end of Greenfield Street, just west of the intersection with Front Street. Greenfield Lake can be see in the upper left corner as well as the youth baseball fields located at the intersection of Burnett Blvd Carolina Beach Rd and Front Street.

Vance Whicker and Les Whicker help to load Gary Lawrence's boat with plywood Monday, Sept. 15, 2003, in Southport. The group was heading to Bald Head Island to board up a house in preparation for Hurricane Isabel as the storm traveled closer to the East Coast.

Frank White fishes along the Cypress tree line in Greenfield Lake in his kayak on Mar. 20, 2007.

Nicole Fennell the activity director at the Kempton at Brightmore Assisted Living Facility, ties a bonnet on Edith Sneeden on May 5, 2007. Fennell was helping Edith Sneeden get ready for their Kentucky Derby party that included a bonnet contest.

Stanley Rehder, who helped develop the trail of Venus Flytraps and other carnivorous plants in a nature preserve behind Alderman Elementary School, looks over a few of the plants June 6, 2006.

The U.S. Coast Guard maneuvers through a sea of boats and people near Masonboro Island Thursday, July 4, 2002, as people celebrate the Fourth of July.

Severe erosion on the north end of Figure Eight Island in 2001.

Robert Buckley and Amanda Schull jump from the Causeway Drive Bridge over Banks Channel at Wrightsville Beach on Monday, Aug. 31, 2009. Cast and crew of "One Tree Hill" spent the morning filming a scene of the two actors jumping from the bridge for an upcoming episode.

Bidders line the old midway during the auction at Jubilee Amusem*nt Park in Carolina Beach on June 14, 2005. The amusem*nt park, which opened in 1978, was sold to a development group that planned to convert the property into upscale condominiums and retail space.

Aerial view of Corning under construction on May 19, 2000.

Rocks line the beach strand at the 35th Street S.E. beach access on Oak Island. The town has plans to remove the rocks that were put on the beach with sand for the sea turtle renourishment in 2000.

Aerial photo of Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway at 23rd Street over Smith Creek in 2004.

Keith Thomas and Greg Lynn wash the windows of the BB&T building in downtown Wilmington on Tuesday, March 29, 2005. Now Truist, the bank later moved into a new building on the same block.

Amanda Buchanan of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, jumps rails on Free to Fly High takes part in the Working Hunter-All Age during the Eastern Quarter Horse of NC 2004 Youth Show held at the Boy and Girls Home in Lake Waccamaw.

Rabbi Ben Romer holds bread for children to cast in the waters of the Cape Fear River on Sept. 16, 2004, during a family service for Rosh Hashanah, or the Jewish New Year. The act called "Tashlikh" or casting off objects representing the previous year's sins are thrown into a body of water.

Workers tear down what remains of the overhang of the old Bailey movie theater on Front Street in March 2002. The Wilmington Fire Department was called out after high winds and old age caused part of the marquee to fall to the sidewalk. No one was injured in the incident.

Bobby Woddy and Greg Stinson carefully walk in after testing the high winds of Hurricane Ophelia on Wednesday Sept. 14, 2005, on the Oceanic Pier in Wrightsville Beach.

Lab technician Tressa Hartsell, research assistant Russ Barbour and graduate student Heather Harwell gather information on oyster beds created by UNCW Center for Marine Science near Hewletts Creek.

Wilmington police officer D.A. Ford works on a report for a three-car wreck near the intersection of Oleander Drive and College Road on New Year's Eve.

Horses from Millrun Stables out of Stokesdale peak out of their trailer as they arrive at the Eastern Quater Horse of N.C. 2004 Youth Show held at the Boy and Girls Home in Lake Waccamaw.

Patrick Bruff, 16, of Wilmington, shows the approximate diameter of the body of the shark that attacked him while surfing at Wrightsville Beach in 2000.

Nikki DeLoach, Queen Azalea 2001, poses with Henry Rehder and Nina Repeta, Queen Azalea 2000.

Union troops rally under the American flag after "capturing" Fort Fisher in the annual re-enactment marking the 140-year anniversary of the historic Civil War battle on Saturday, Jan. 15, 2005.

Marines from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit out of Camp Lejeune, board the USS Shreveport on Sept. 20, 2001, as he prepares to head to the Mediterranean Sea for a routine six-month deployment.

Col. Charles P. Murray talks with 8th grade students in Becky Krieger's class in 2004 at Murray Middle School. Murray, who the school is named after, received the Medal of Honor for service in the Army during World War II.

An ice seal believed to be a juvenile hooded seal rest along the shoreline at Wrightsville Beach near the Oceanic Pier on Friday, Sept. 15, 2006.

Members of the North Carolina State University's Women's Collegiate/Open 8+ head out during the first annual Head of The Cape Fear Regatta Oct. 9, 2004, in Wilmington along the Cape Fear River.

Groups line the City Pier on April 28, 2008, in Southport as they watch the new submarine 'North Carolina' arrive in Southport on its way to the State Port in Wilmington, beginning a week's worth of special events leading up to its commissioning.