WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — This week’s Throwback Thursday revisits a period of rapid growth and cultural change across the Cape Fear region in June 1989, including the push to incorporate a fast-growing community, a debate over coastal identity, and a Hollywood production that brought the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to Wilmington.
In Brunswick County, residents of what is now Leland were working toward incorporation as the community continued to grow and develop. At the time, some residents said forming an official town would bring more local control and funding for services and development.
“The community’s growing, and then there’s a lot of child abuse going on with this crack and whatnot and stuff like that in the area,” one resident said in a 1989 report…