Why Should Delaware Care?
Wilmington’s Hilltop neighborhood has become a haven for dozens of newly arrived immigrants in recent years. The majority Black and Latino neighborhood is an increasing reflection of the growing diversity in the First State.
As Alexander Toscano sat on a concrete stoop in front of his home, cars slogged up the sun-baked West Fourth Street in front of him. A little girl zipped by on a scooter, greeting Toscano as she passed.
Nearby neighbors serenely surveyed Wilmington’s Hilltop neighborhood beneath the shade of their porches and under the protection of overhanging umbrellas on a recent afternoon.
Across the street, two men savored quickly melting ice cream bars as they leaned against a bodega freezer. An elderly Puerto Rican couple advertised their homemade grilled chicken skewers, known as pinchos, on their front porch nearby.
Toscano, an immigrant from Ecuador, sat in the midst of it all.
He arrived in the neighborhood in March after fleeing his country due to the rising tide of gang violence and instability.
Leaving his mother and daughter in Ecuador to seek asylum in the U.S., he traversed numerous countries and the Darién Gap – one of the most treacherous migration routes in the world – for nearly two months before arriving with family in the Hilltop community.
Toscano is not alone.
The Hilltop neighborhood, a predominantly Latino and Black community, has become a hub for newly arrived immigrants to establish their lives in the U.S. The extremely diverse, working-class community has long nourished the lives and businesses of immigrants from across the globe, spanning from Jamaica to South Korea.
“The face of Fourth Street has been changing a lot lately,” said Iz Balleto, a community advocate and one of the leaders of the Roberto Clemente Baseball League on Wilmington’s West Side.
The base of the community is buttressed by the bustling Interstate 95 highway that watches over the iconic St. Paul Catholic Church, a longtime Spanish-speaking institution. The neighborhood’s boundaries are loosely defined by Lancaster Avenue in the south, West 10th Street to the north, North Clayton Street in the west and I-95 in the east.
In recent years, there’s been a notable increase in immigrants from Central America, with many hailing from Venezuela, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic. Low housing costs, work opportunities and pre-established family networks all attract new immigrants to the community, according to residents.
“Here they begin,” said Frank Yea, owner of Frank’s Deli & Grocery in the neighborhood.
Many immigrants will start off in the Hilltop until they have enough resources and contacts to move elsewhere in the city, Yea explained.
Yea, originally from South Korea, lived in Venezuela for 20 years before establishing his business in the neighborhood. It’s since become a beloved staple.
Similarly, Madison Williams, owner of Negril Caribbean Restaurant on West Fourth Street, has received strong support from the neighborhood. Williams’ father, an immigrant from Jamaica, immigrated about 27 years ago and established the restaurant nearly five years ago.
“It’s not a part of the city where people give up,” Balleto said. “It’s a part where people find a way to strive and yet be successful at what they’re doing.”
The face of Fourth Street
A few blocks down the road from Toscano, Arsenio Gonzalez manually sharpened a machete that was fastened to his porch railing. The machete was being prepared to cut the backyard grass.
Gonzalez sat on his front porch alongside his wife, Ana Cotto, in the Hilltop neighborhood on a recent afternoon. A cardboard sign advertising their grilled Puerto Rican kabobs stood taped to their porch railing.
Cotto prepares the skewers and Gonzalez grills them.
Gonzalez moved to the neighborhood from Puerto Rico in 1989. He migrated to work with his brother, who lived in the neighborhood.
“I came over here to work and I stayed,” Gonzalez said.
Over the years, the neighborhood has faced issues stemming from drugs and gun violence, with many residents still raising concerns today. Some residents, however, say the neighborhood is changing for the better.
The neighborhood was originally an Irish-American community before residents moved to the suburbs and Black and Latino folks moved in around the 1950s and 60s, according to newspaper archives.
Hilltop sits north of Hedgeville and Browntown, once heavily Polish neighborhoods that have similarly diversified over the years, and south of Little Italy.
The construction of I-95 demolished homes and businesses, driving many of the Irish and Polish neighbors away, while displacing numerous Black and brown families. The displacement may have led to families relocating to the nearby neighborhood.
The Hilltop’s proximity to tanneries and mushroom farms also contributed to the increase of Black and Latino residents. The establishment of the Latin American Community Center also attracted many Latino residents to the community due to the resources available.
On a stoop on West Fourth Street, Alexander Toscano clutched his phone in his hands as he looked upon his new neighborhood. Toscano’s asylum case was working its way through immigration court, an arduous process that could take years to adjudicate.
In the meantime, Toscano will continue living and working in the neighborhood that has seen the arrival and departure of many immigrants like him. Cars will continue to trudge up the community and life will go on.
Call to Action
Experience the diversity of the Hilltop by walking up West Fourth Street and exploring its many eateries and locales. Or, learn more about neighborhood happenings at the Westside Neighborhood Coalition meetings, which are held on the 3rd Wednesday of each month at 6:30 p.m. at St. Paul’s Catholic Church; 1010 W. 4th Street, Wilmington, DE 19805
