The Sun Archive

The Sun was a daily morning newspaper first published on October 25, 1897, in Wilmington, Delaware. It was founded by Clement G. Congdon who had formerly been associated with the Philadelphia Record. Congdon established a printing office on East Sixth Street in Wilmington by purchasing the plant of a defunct job printing office. He maintained the newspaper for approximately a year, and following the passage of the General Incorporation Act on March 10, 1899, he incorporated the Sun Publishing Company. Shortly after, Congdon was forced to sell the Sun's plant at a public sale in order to settle debts to both his landlord and newspaper employees.

A penny newspaper, the Sun consisted of a daily edition of four and a Sunday edition of eight pages. It was distributed throughout the city of Wilmington and employed agents to distribute throughout the state. As with other local newspapers, the Sun reprinted news of national interest including national trends such as temperance that had a local impact. The newspaper also included local items, including short selections of news relevant to all of the major towns in the state, religious and church news, organizational and club news, information on farms and markets, and news related to the happenings of Wilmington citizens. Unlike many other newspapers at the time, the Sun reported sports information on both the national and local levels.

Following Congdon's financial failure, George W. Roberts assumed editorial control of the Sun and established a new printing office on Shipley Street, where it continued daily publication until October of 1904.