The Founding of West Chester
"West Chester is the source of some surprising historic developments which date to the 1790s. Realize that the village was organized around the inn licensed in 1762 as the Turk’s Head. Thirty years later, the county seat had only recently been established here and the population was still not much greater than 300 people. Yet two novel institutions are created in 1793; a fire company and a Roman Catholic Church."
- Mark Ashton, Chester County: A Modern History
It All Started at a Tavern
West Chester's early history began at the northeastern section at the crossroads, known as Gay and High Streets, that was owned by Phineas Eachus of Goshen Township. He also owned the southeastern section at the crossroads where he owned and operated the Turk's Head Tavern. It was the ideal location for travelers from "distant parts and destitute of a public house for many miles together is therefore inconvenient for those who travel from remote parts and burdensome to the adjacent inhabitants." In 1768, Phineas went into debt and the tavern was sold to: John Hoopes. In September 1777 the British Army passed by en route from Kennett Square for what was to be a Battle of Brandywine rematch near Frazer Pennsylvania's White Horse Tavern
Becoming a Town
For more than a century, the city of Chester had been the county seat. But as settlements began to expand into the northern and western parts of Chester County, efforts began to remove the Chester county seat to a more convenient, central location. Those who opposed the effort prevented any buildings being built by bringing a cannon from Chester in attempt to demolish the walls of the courthouse then being constructed. The conflict became so intense that work stopped and the result was not certain until 1786 when a new bill passed the General Assembly formally approving relocation. The commissioners named in the act selected an ideal location near the Turk's Head Tavern as their new county seat.
In 1788, a new county seat was incorporated, adopting the name "West Chester." On March 28, 1799, the Pennsylvania Assembly passed an act that would turn West Chester into a borough.
"The population was about 350. Nonetheless Joseph Clarke and William Sharpless were directed to travel to Philadelphia and inquire about purchase of a used fire pumper. They found one owned by the Neptune Company that had been built by blacksmith Patrick Lyons. They also purchased a dozen buckets, a hook and a ladder forming as the still extant First West Chester Fire Company."
- Mark Ashton, Chester County: A Modern History
Enter William Everhart
William Everhart (1785-1863) was born in Pughtown in Chester County, PA, the son of a Revolutionary War veteran. He followed his father's footsteps and joined the army during the War of 1812. He commanded a company of riflemen. A decade later in 1822, he sailed to Europe on the Albion which was wrecked during a storm. William was the sole survivor of the shipwreck, and lost $10,000 of gold as a result. When he returned to PA, he purchased a farm in 1824, and began acquiring land tracts in the area northeast of Turk’s Head and subdividing them to erect houses. His development plan then moved south into the heart of the borough where he built his shop and office building.
"Everhart spearheaded the movement to build a large market shed in town and engaged another rising young architect, Thomas Ustick Walter, to assist with first the shed and many other building discussed in our section on Walter."
- Mark Ashton, Chester County: A Modern History
The Architect of West Chester
Thomas Ustick Walter (1804–1887) was born in Philadelphia where he was mentored by Philadelphia architect William Strickland, who designed the Second Bank of the United States. After being Strickland's apprentice for four years, Walter began his own practice in architecture. One day, the town fathers of West Chester stumbled upon Walter's works in Philadlephia and asked him to design some of the buildings in their newly formed town:
First Presbyterian Church (1832)
Bank of Chester County Building (1835)
Chester County Prison (1838)
Chester County Court House (1846)
Horticultural Hall (1848)
In 1851, Walter won the commission for the extension of the US Capitol in Washington, D.C., and was appointed by President Millard Fillmore to design new H0use and Senate buildings, along with the new cast-iron dome that was begun in 1855. He retired in 1865, returning to Philadelphia and helped construct the City Hall in Philadelphia.
An Architect Born in West Chester
T. Roney Williamson's (1852-1896) work does not rival some of the other architects associated with the county but he is to be remembered for three splendid late 19th century buildings in the borough:
Oakbourne Mansion (1884)
West Chester Fire Company (1888)
West Chester Public Library (1888)
William Darlington, Quintessential Cesterian
William Darlington (1782-1863) was born in the Dilworthtown. At 18 years old, he convinced his father he wanted to be a physician and began studying under Dr. Vaughan of Wilmington, Delaware. During the 1802 yellow fever epidemic, he and Dr. Vaughan were the only physicians to treat the sick. He attended the University of Pennsylvania and earned a medical degree in 1804 studying under Dr. Benjamin Rush. William was the first citizen in Chester County to receive the degree!
He attended the botanical lectures of Dr. Benjamin Smith Barton where he fell in love with the science of nature. After going on a trip to Calcutta as a surgeon for the East-India Company, William returned to Chester County, and settled in West Chester. He served in the 14th, 16th, and 17th US Congress. In 1826, he helped organize the Chester County Cabinet of Natural Science and became its first president. That same year, William published Flora Cestrica, a survey of plant life in Chester County area. Dr. John Torrey named the genus Darlingtonia, a carnivorous plant, in his honor.
"Dr. Darlington's Botanies served as guides for the education of children in scientific principles. He urged the founding of the fundamentals of science in all children that they might have a basis for self-culture. He observed that schools may not turn out philosophers but may instill the rising generation with the elements of truth and discipline them into habits of useful observation."
- Walter J. Nickerson Jr., "William Darlington, Botanist"
Ralph E. Brock,
the First African American Forester
Ralph Elwood Brock (1881-1959) was born in Pottsville, PA, and was recommended by a family friend to work with Dr. Joseph T. Rothrock, Pennsylvania’s state forestry commissioner. Dr. Rothrock created a forestry program at the Pennsylvania State University in Mt. Alto, and encouraged Brock to study in the program. Prior to that, Brock graduated from the Howard School in Wilmington, DE.
He was a model student and when he was appointed to supervise a program that included white students both he and the school encountered resistance that included reference to him as a “darky.”
Due to the rising racism in the early 20th century, Brock began a new profession in the landscaping business in Philadelphia and Chester County. He lived in Wester Chester until moving in Cleveland, OH with his family. He later would move to New York City where he provided horticultural services to the Rockefeller Family. He is buried at Chestnut Grove Cemetery off Paoli Pike at 34-2 Garfield Avenue.
A West Chester Native Goes North
"As if 19th century life was not dangerous enough, educated citizens of our region seemed destined to push life to limits we can scarcely understand today. From the Middle Ages forward people throughout the world expressed an interest in understanding the Arctic but its conditions made travel there almost impossible. As ships and navigation improved pressure developed to explore the mysteries of the North Pole in particular."
- Mark Ashton, Chester County: A Modern History
West Chester's Impact
"Under the direction of men such as William Everhart and William Darlington, West Chester was transformed from a village to a town. In 1800 there was little to distinguish West Chester from its cousin down the road, Marshallton. Both had about 300 residents. But Walter’s construction of fine public buildings and the arrival of the railroad in 1832 would change that. Marshallton would become a village described as 'sleepy' even in the 19th century. It is noteworthy because its 70 period buildings are little changed since electricity arrived. Marshallton is four miles west of West Chester on Rte. 162. A similar town where time seems to have arrested development is St. Peter’s village on the banks of the French Creek in Warwick Township. Where Marshallton is principally stone construction completed before 1840, St. Peters is a wooden town erected next to an iron mine first excavated in 1845 and later transformed to extract diabase, a stone better known as black granite. The quarry operations ceased in the 1970s and the village has undergone a series of efforts to make it into a tourist attraction. Both villages as well as Coventryville, an iron forge one mile east of St. Peter’s offer a glimpse of 19th century life with little modern ornamentation. A similar 19th century village is found on Boot Road outside Malvern and known as Historic Sugartown."
- Mark Ashton, Chester County: A Modern History
Bibliography
Carson-Gentry, Martha and Paul Rodebough. West Chester. (Charleston: Arcadia Publishing, 1997).
Egle, William Henry. History of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Civil, Political and Military from Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time, Including Historical Descriptions of Each County in the State, Their Towns, and Industrial Resources. (Philadelphia: E.M. Gardner, 1883): 518.
Fikes, Robert. "Ralph Elwood Brock (1881-1959)." Black Past. Last modified December 1, 2022. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/people-african-american-history/ralph-elwood-brock-1881-1959/.
Futhey, John Smith and Gilbert Cope. History of Chester County, Pennsylvania: With Genealogical and Biographical Sketches. (Philadelphia: Louis H. Everts, 1881): 236-237, 411-412.
MacElree, Wilmer W. Side Lights on the Bench and Bar of Chester County. (West Chester, 1918): 11-19.
Master Builders: A Guide to Famous American Architects. (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1985): 44-47.
Nickerson Jr., Walter J. "William Darlington, Botanst." Proceedings of the Pennsylvania Academy of Science 10 (1936): 59-61.
"Ralph E. Brock." Pennsylvania Conservation Heritage Project. Accessed March 16, 2015. https://paconservationheritage.org/stories/ralph-e-brock/.
The National Cyclopedia of American Biography. (New York: J. T. White & Company, 1893): 125.
"Thomas Ustick Walter, Fourth Architect of the Capitol." Architect of the Capitol. Accessed March 30, 2025. https://www.aoc.gov/about-us/history/architects-of-the-capitol/thomas-ustick-walter.