Dover is the capital and second largest city in the U.S. state of Delaware. It is also the county seat of Kent County, and the principal city of the Dover, Delaware Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Kent County. It is located on the St. Jones River in the Delaware River coastal plain. It was named by William Penn for Doverin Kent, England. As of 2010, the city had a population of 36,047.
|City of Dover|
West Loockerman Street in downtown Dover in 2001
|Nickname: Capital of the First State|
The former Dover Opera House, built in 1904, was renovated and converted to the Schwartz Center for the Arts, which hosts performances by the Dover Symphony Orchestra, ballet, and classic films.
Dover is also home to Delaware Children's Theatre, Inc. of Dover and Kent County, a non-profit organization.
The Delaware State Library, the Delaware State Museum, and the Delaware State Archives are in downtown Dover and are open to the public for research and browsing.
In Dover's historical district is the Sewell C. Biggs Museum of American Art, featuring collections from the Colonial days to the present.