Chester, Pennsylvania

Chester is a city in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, population 36,854 at the 2000 census.

History

The colonial settlement that became Chester was first known as "Finlandia," then "Upton". William Penn first landed on the soil of the Province of Pennsylvania in Upton on October 27, 1682, via the ship Welcome. Penn renamed the settlement, then the province's most populous town, after the English city of Chester. Chester served as the first capitol of Pennsylvania, before being moved out first to York, and then to Harrisburg, as well as being the county seat for Chester County, which then stretched from the Delaware River to the Susquehanna River. In 1789, the city became the county seat for the newly-created Delaware County (Chester County became a landlocked county with West Chester as its county seat), with the county seat finally being moved out to Media borough in 1851. The historic courthouse is located near the new City Hall building.

Related Topics:
William Penn - Province of Pennsylvania - October 27 - 1682 - Chester - York - Harrisburg - Chester County - Delaware River - Susquehanna River - West Chester - Media

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Chester's naval shipyard supplied the Union during the Civil War, and the United States in subsequent wars until the shipyard at Philadelphia became dominant after World War II. Two ships of the United States Navy have been named USS Chester in honor of the city. The Sun Shipyard and Dry Dock Company, later Pennsylvaia Shipyard & Dry Dock Company, was also located in Chester, but was closed in 1990. A state corrections facility now occupies the former commercial shipyard.

Related Topics:
Union - Civil War - World War II - United States Navy - USS ''Chester''

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The 1950 census counted more than 65,000 residents, but subsequent decades saw decline. The naval shipyard and automobile manufacturing plants that had contributed to the war effort started pulling out of the city in the 1960s.

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The site Penn's Landing, which marks Penn's first landing in the Province, had to sell their naming rights to the waterfront maintenance corporation in Philadelphia, whose memorial marks Penn's first landing in that city.

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A CityTeam Ministries center was established in the city in 1988, with the financial assistance of Kimberly-Clark (formerly the Scott Paper Corporation), in order to combat the growing poverty through drug addiction recovery houses, churchplanting efforts, workforce development, and vocational training.

Related Topics:
CityTeam Ministries - 1988 - Kimberly-Clark - Scott Paper Corporation - Poverty - Drug addiction

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Poverty made the city eligible for Pennsylvania's Keystone Opportunity Zones http://koz.inventpa.com/ program, which offers local and state tax breaks for firms that invest in a designated area. In 2005, the program brought a wharf, a racetrack, and some 5,000 jobs to the town. Few were filled by Chester residents, a phenomenon some blamed on the city's poor schools.

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The city had several years earlier placed last in a ranking of the state's 501 districts. In 2001, the poor condition of the city's schools led the state of Pennsylvania to hire the for-profit Edison Schools http://www.edisonschools.com/home/home.cfm to run the city's school district for three years. By 2005, local charter schools had been closed, afterschool programs had diminished drastically in number and quality, and public schools were overcrowded, understaffed, and undersupplied. http://interversity.org/lists/arn-l/archives/Jan2003/msg00857.html

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