WEST CHESTER, a post-town of Chester county, Pennsylvania, on the dividing ridge be tween the waters of Chester and Brandywine creeks, two miles east of the latter stream, and five miles south of the Philadelphia and Lancaster turn pike; 23 miles nearly clue west from Philadelphia, and by post road 115 miles northeast from Wash ington city. The seat of justice of the county was removed from Old Chester to this town in 1786, prior to the division of the county, and it is pro bably to this circumstance it owes its existence as a borough, into which it was incorporated in the year 1799. The chartered limits, under the name of " the burgesses and inhabitants or the borough of West Chester," embrace a space of about one and a quarter miles square; it is governed by a a chief burgess, second burgess, and five assistants, elected annually by the inhabitants.
The original plan of the town consisted of four contiguous squares, with two principal streets, crossing in the centre; in 1829 several streets were opened and new squares formed on the southwestern side of the town; the side walks were paved with brick in 1823, and the two prin cipal streets were Macadamized in 1829 and 1830.
The public buildings are a court house, prison and offices for clerks, register and recorder of the county; and a market house which was erected in 1831, and is situated in that part of the town re cently improved; it is 100 feet long, and is well supplied with provisions.
There are four places of worship, viz. two friend's meeting houses, one Roman catholic chapel, and one methodist episcopal church, be sides which a Presbyterian church, 45 feet front by 75 feet deep, is now being erected. There is also a library, academy, cabinet of natural sciences, and atheneum, the three latter incor porated; and there was a boarding school for young ladies established in 1830, in which are taught all the useful branches of an English edu cation. The buildings erected specially for the purpose are pleasantly situated on a gentle ele vation, immediately south of the village; and are calculated for the accommodation of about 60 young ladies; it is under the superintendence of a gentleman, who from long experience is eminently qualified for the task he has undertaken; it has received a liberal patronage and promises exten sive usefulness. There is also in the town a num
ber of minor literary establishments, and six weekly newspapers are published.
The Bank of Chester county established in this borough was incorporated in 1814, with a capital of 450,000 dollars, only 112,140 of which has been called in. It is one of the best conducted banking institutions in the state, has been exten sively useful in the neighbourhood, and productive of large profit to the stockholders.
There is a daily line of stages between West Chester and Philadelphia, beside which two other lines from Baltimore and Lancaster pass through the borough, thus affording a constant medium of intercourse with the city.
A rail way was commenced in May 1831 to connect with the great Pennsylvania rail road about lq miles westward of where the latter crosses the Schuylkill. It is a single track road with the necessary turns out and passing places. The bed, however, is graded and pre pared of sufficient width for two tracks; it is now nearly completed, the main line being finished about the 1st August of the present year, 1832. It is nine miles in length, and the aggregate cost to the company, including all collateral expenses, will be about 90,000 dollars. By this connection with the Pennsylvania road, the borough will enjoy all the facilities which that important improvement is calculated to produce, in connection with the trade of the Delaware, Schuylkill, and Susquehanna rivers.
By the census of 1820 the population of the borough was 552, in 1830 it had increased to 1252, and in January last was about 1500; the number of dwellings at this period were 234, of which about 200 are in the village, and the residue on the adjacent farms; but a considerable addition to this number has recently been made, among which may be particularly noticed an extensive hotel near the new market house, and another large building in the same neighbourhood, erected for a hall of meeting by the society of Odd Fellows.
For particular information relative to the sta tistics of West Chester, the reader is referred to the Pennsylvania Register for January 1832.