Chester County

By Chester County Historical Society and Chester County Camera Club

The history of Chester County, the fastestdeveloping county in Pennsylvania, is revealed by the uses of the land through the years, from the agriculture and industries of the nineteenth century to the specialty agriculture and service industries of today. Chester County visits the landscape and community that has endeared generations of residents. Rediscover Saturday night movies at the Warner Theatre in West Chester and root-beer floats at the Guernsey Cow in Exton. Visit the industries that built a strong economy in Chester County, such as Lukens Steel and the Sharples Separator Company, and learn about the site of a paper mill that is now a nature preserve for rare Brandywine bluebells.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Release date: Sep 22, 2004
• ISBN: 9781439615911

Chester County Historical Society

The Chester County Historical Society collaborated with the Chester County Camera Club to produce this unique survey of the changing face of Chester County. Historical photographs have been drawn from the collection of more than eighty thousand images in the historical society's archives. The camera club is a dynamic group of amateur and semiprofessional photographers who have enthusiastically embraced this project and made it come to life.

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INTRODUCTION

This book is an ambitious project undertaken by the Chester County Historical Society to document the changes in the use of our land. Chester County is the fastest developing county in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. How we have used the land tells the history of the evolution of our county from the agriculture and industries of the 19th century to the specialty agriculture and service industries of today. Through this process, the landscape has been transformed. Some significant historical structures have disappeared, while others have been restored and used for different purposes.

In order to undertake the project we have asked these questions: What areas show the greatest changes? What areas show little change? How have changes in our economy, transportation systems, and lifestyle brought about these changes?

Advisors from all parts of the county provided input. These people generously shared their knowledge and memories out of love for the county. Many of them serve on historic commissions and area historical societies and act as township planners, librarians, or area historians. They suggested places they thought were most important to the people of each township or borough. These places were, and some still are, significant due to their economic importance, their role in the life of the community, their value as landmarks that we identify with the county, or simply as places that have generated fond memories.

Research information was then gathered from the resources of the Chester County Historical Society library. Historical property atlases, newspaper articles, business records, and personal accounts proved invaluable. Wills, deeds, and road papers provided necessary facts from the Chester County Archives. Many hours were spent poring over the historical society’s collection of more than 80,000 photographs, and images were located of places that were identified as significant to the county’s past. What has become of those places today? More hours in the car circumnavigating the county revealed sites that made interesting comparisons.

The possible sites included 18th-century mills that ground flour during the Revolutionary era and mills that made paper and textiles during the Industrial Revolution. There were iron furnaces and foundries that made cannons and steel for bridges. There were networks of railroads that took farmers’ goods to market, connecting dairy farms, creameries, stock farms, and orchards to points beyond. There were schools, churches, lyceums, Granges, fire companies, and organizations serving as the backbone of our community. There were picnic grounds, fairgrounds, and movie theaters that provided entertainment. All of these elements have made our county the unique place that it is and have endeared it to generations.

But what about the places that are important to us today as economic or social centers? Could we locate historical images of the places that have since become the major employers of today—Vanguard, Shared Medical Systems, or QVC? What about sites like the Exton Mall or Route 202? For some of these locations we simply have no historical documentation because the site may have been a farmer’s field that was not considered a good subject for a photograph in years gone by.

Individuals offered the historical society a number of key images to use for this project. Without the kind generosity of these lenders, essential sites could not have been included. Although the historical society’s photograph collection offers a fine representation of most parts of the county, some areas require further collecting. The major part of the collection has been built on the donations of thoughtful people who wanted to preserve the visual memory of the county.

After a substantial number of sites were identified, it was time to begin the photography. The Chester County Camera Club, under former club president Bob Diefenbacher, stepped up to the challenge of undertaking this project. The energy and enthusiasm of the club members was overwhelming. The photographers were willing to drive many miles in early-morning hours to find obscure places. They climbed through bushes, drove down gravel roads, and were good humored through it all. In the process they met some interesting people, saw new parts of the county, and learned more about its history.

Technical difficulties had to be surmounted in re-photographing the sites seen in the historical images. The first consideration was that the historical photographs