The first European settlers in the area were members of the New Sweden colony.
The original Indian name of Chester was Mecoponaca, which means 'the stream along which large potatoes grow'. The Indian tribe that owned the land where Chester now stands were the Okehockings, removed by order of William Penn in 1702 to other lands in Chester County.
History Early history This marker commemorates the site where William Penn first landed in the Province of Pennsylvania, now Chester, in 1682 Since the mid-twentieth century, it has lost its manufacturing base, over half of its residents and devolved into a post-industrial city struggling with pollution, poverty, and crime. Chester evolved over the centuries from a small town with wooden shipbuilding and textile factories into an industrial city producing steel ships for two World Wars and a myriad of consumer goods. It was the county seat for Chester County from 1682 to 1788 and of Delaware County from 1789 to 1851. Incorporated in 1682, Chester is the oldest city in Pennsylvania and was the location of William Penn's first arrival in the Province of Pennsylvania.
The population of Chester was 32,605 at the 2020 census. the Philadelphia metropolitan area) on the western bank of the Delaware River between Philadelphia and Wilmington, Delaware. It is located in the Delaware Valley (i.e. Chester is a city in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States.
