Chester Township is a

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

Delaware County, Pennsylvania Delaware County, colloquially referred to as Delco, is a County (United States), county in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. With a population of 576,830 as of the 2020 census, it is the List of counties in Pennsylv ...

, United States. The population was 3,940 at the 2010 census, down from 4,604 at the 2000 census. The Sun Center Studios are located in Chester Township.

History

Chester Township is one of the first districts established after

William Penn William Penn ( – ) was an English writer, religious thinker, and influential Quakers, Quaker who founded the Province of Pennsylvania during the British colonization of the Americas, British colonial era. An advocate of democracy and religi ...

's first visit in 1682. The first record of Chester Township is in court documents from 1683 where a grand jury of seventeen people were "Impannelled to take out a Convenient Highway leading from Providence to Chester." During the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

, Chester township, which included the borough of Chester at the time, suffered greatly under the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

. A list of the losses sustained was made and is preserved at the

Historical Society of Pennsylvania The Historical Society of Pennsylvania is a historic research facility headquartered on Locust Street in Center City Philadelphia. It is a repository for millions of historic items ranging across rare books, scholarly monographs, family chron ...

Geography

Chester Township is located in southern Delaware County at (39.845411, -75.393857). It is bordered to the south by the city of

Chester Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...

, to the east by the borough of

Upland Upland or Uplands may refer to: Geography *Hill, an area of higher land, generally *Highland, an area of higher land divided into low and high points *Upland and lowland, conditional descriptions of a plain based on elevation above sea level *I ...

, to the northeast by the borough of Brookhaven, to the north by Aston Township, and to the west by Upper Chichester Township. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the township has a total area of , all land.

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. ...

, a southeast-flowing tributary of the

Delaware River The Delaware River is a major river in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States and is the longest free-flowing (undammed) river in the Eastern United States. From the meeting of its branches in Hancock, New York, the river flows for a ...

, flows through the township.

Demographics

2020 census

2010 census

As of Census 2010, the racial makeup of the township was 16.9%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 78.3%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.2% Native American, 0.5% Asian, 1.1% from other races, and 3.0% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 3.9% of the population . As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 4,604 people, 1,641 households, and 1,188 families residing in the township. The population density was . There were 1,754 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the township was 22.72%

, 73.33%

, 0.26% Native American, 0.59% Asian, 0.02%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 0.96% from other races, and 2.13% from two or more races. 2.06% of the population were

or Latino of any race. There were 1,641 households, out of which 39.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 35.1% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 30.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.6% were non-families. 23.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 5.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.81 and the average family size was 3.31. In the township the population was spread out, with 33.7% under the age of 18, 7.9% from 18 to 24, 29.5% from 25 to 44, 21.4% from 45 to 64, and 7.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females, there were 84.6 males. For every 100 women age 18 and over, there were 75.6 men. The median income for a household in the township was $32,576, and the median income for a family was $34,391. Males had a median income of $31,845 versus $25,286 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the township was $16,072. About 16.2% of families and 17.1% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 24.0% of those under age 18 and 23.3% of those age 65 or over.

Education

Residents in Chester Township are zoned to the Chester-Upland School District. Toby Farms Elementary School is the public elementary school in Chester Township.Mailing Address
." ''Toby Farms Elementary School''. Retrieved on March 30, 2009. Residents are also zoned to Smedley Middle School and Chester High School.

Transportation

As of 2015, there were of public roads in Chester Township, of which were maintained by

Pennsylvania Department of Transportation The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) oversees transportation issues in the Pennsylvania, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The administrator of PennDOT is the Pennsylvania Secretary of Transportation, Michael B. Carroll. PennDOT ...

(PennDOT) and were maintained by the township.

Interstate 95 Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from U.S. Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Florida, north to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between Maine and the ...

crosses the southern part of the township. It runs concurrently with

U.S. Route 322 U.S. Route 322 (US 322) is a , east–west United States Highway, traversing Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. The road is a spur route, spur of U.S. Route 22, US 22 and one of the original highways from 1926. A portion of it at one time was c ...

between Exit 3 and Exit 4.

Notable person

* Samuel Edwards - U.S. Congressman from Pennsylvania

References

External links

Township of Chester

{{authority control Townships in Delaware County, Pennsylvania Townships in Pennsylvania