The monument at the William Penn Landing Site in

Chester, Pennsylvania Chester is a city in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. Located within the Philadelphia Metropolitan Area, it is the only city in Delaware County and had a population of 32,605 as of the 2020 census. Incorporated in 1682, Chester i ...

marks the spot of the first landing of

William Penn William Penn ( – ) was an English writer and religious thinker belonging to the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, a North American colony of England. He was an early advocate of democracy a ...

on the territory of Pennsylvania, on October 28 or 29, 1682 ( O.S.). Penn, the founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, landed in the only town in the province, then known as Upland. The monument at the site was designed by John Struthers, erected on November 8 and dedicated November 9, 1882 ( N.S.) ''Note:'' This includes The landing site was placed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1971.

Founding of Pennsylvania

After receiving the charter for the Province of Pennsylvania on March 4, 1681 from

King Charles II of England Charles II (29 May 1630 – 6 February 1685) was King of Scotland from 1649 until 1651, and King of England, Scotland and Ireland from the 1660 Restoration of the monarchy until his death in 1685. Charles II was the eldest surviving child of ...

, Penn appointed William Markham as Deputy Governor on April 10, 1681. Markham proceeded to New York, which had exercised nominal control of the area of Pennsylvania since 1676, where he presented his credentials. On August 3, 1681, Markham arrived in Upland, the only town in the province. About 500 Europeans lived in the province at that time, mostly in the present day counties of

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

and Chester centered around Upland. Swedish and Dutch settlers had lived in the area since the 1630s, and Quakers had moved there from

West Jersey West Jersey and East Jersey were two distinct parts of the Province of New Jersey. The political division existed for 28 years, between 1674 and 1702. Determination of an exact location for a border between West Jersey and East Jersey was ofte ...

starting about 1675. What little government there was, had been provided by the Upland Court under the laws of James, Duke of York, nominally supervised by the Governor of New York. The Upland Court exercised judicial, legislative, and executive authority. Markham appointed judges to the court and members to a council. He also met with

Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore (August 27, 1637 – February 21, 1715), inherited the colony of Maryland in 1675 upon the death of his father, Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore, (1605–1675). He had been his father's Deputy Governor sin ...

in Upland, who informed him that the Pennsylvania-Maryland border was about 12 miles north. Markham apparently informed Penn of the border dispute. Penn then arranged to receive deeds from the Duke of York to the " three lower counties" which now comprise the state of

, thus strengthening his claims further north on the Delaware River. Penn sailed aboard the ship ''Welcome'' from Deal, Kent on the English Channel on August 30, 1682 and first landed in America on October 27, 1682 at

New Castle, Delaware New Castle is a city in New Castle County, Delaware, United States. The city is located six miles (10 km) south of Wilmington and is situated on the Delaware River. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 5,285. History New Castl ...

. In New Castle he performed the ancient "turf and twig" ceremony known as the livery of seisin to take possession of

New Castle County New Castle County is the northernmost of the three counties of the U.S. state of Delaware (New Castle, Kent, and Sussex). As of the 2020 census, the population was 570,719, making it the most populous county in Delaware, with nearly 60% of the ...

. Within two days he arrived at Upland, about 18 miles north on the Delaware River. According to Smith, immediately after arriving in Upland, Penn asked a companion from Chester in England to rename the town, and he promptly renamed it Chester. Penn landed near the log house of Robert Wade, which was also used as the first Quaker meetinghouse in the area, and spent the night in the house. Wade, in 1675, had bought the property which had been owned by the daughter of the governor of

New Sweden New Sweden ( sv, Nya Sverige) was a Swedish colony along the lower reaches of the Delaware River in what is now the United States from 1638 to 1655, established during the Thirty Years' War when Sweden was a great military power. New Sweden f ...

Johan Printz Johan * Johan (given name) * ''Johan'' (film), a 1921 Swedish film directed by Mauritz Stiller * Johan (band), a Dutch pop-group ** ''Johan'' (album), a 1996 album by the group * Johan Peninsula, Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada * Jo-Han, a manu ...

. Quaker minister William Edmundson had mentioned the house in his journal in 1676.

Monument

The granite monument stands about five feet tall and has Penn's

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

on the side facing inland. The monument was paid for by members of the

Historical Society of Pennsylvania The Historical Society of Pennsylvania is a long-established research facility, based in Philadelphia. It is a repository for millions of historic items ranging across rare books, scholarly monographs, family chronicles, maps, press reports and v ...

and the Penn Club to mark the 200th anniversary of the landing. A special train was run from Philadelphia to Chester for the occasion, and the dedication was celebrated at length.Ashmead, Chapter "The Memorial Stone" pp. 295-306. The site is now about 100 feet inland, with railroad tracks separating it from the Delaware River in an industrial section of Chester, just south of

Chester Creek Chester Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 1, 2011 tributary of the Delaware River in Delaware County, Pennsylvania in the United States.Gertler, Edward. ' ...

References

Sources

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ExplorePAHistory.com
The Vision of William Penn, Chapter Two: Penn's Arrival, accessed 2010-05-19 {{DEFAULTSORT:William Penn Landing Site Monuments and memorials on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania Delaware River Pre-statehood history of Pennsylvania Monuments and memorials in Pennsylvania Tourist attractions in Delaware County, Pennsylvania 1882 sculptures Chester, Pennsylvania History of Chester, Pennsylvania Pennsylvania state historical marker significations Granite sculptures in Pennsylvania 1882 establishments in Pennsylvania National Register of Historic Places in Delaware County, Pennsylvania William Penn