Chester Heights Map
Chester Heights is a borough in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 2,481 at the 2000 census. Most of the borough lies south of U.S. 1, about a mile southwest of Wawa, Pennsylvania.
The History of Chester Heights predates grants of William Penn., when the Swedes had penetrated some distance inland from the Delaware River and had found the rich soil very conducive to productive farming. To a remarkable extent, the area had continued to be so used until the last decade. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the Borough was part of Aston Township, though this northernmost section of Aston did not have a village aspect as such. With the advent of a railroad, which made its first run-through on Christmas Day 1833, a concentration of houses developed. With the reach of the automobile, a settlement of homes sprang up along the oldest road in the Borough. That route—now #261 or Valleybrook Road was once known as the "Logtown Road" and was one of the earliest routes from Chester settlement to the interior. It wanders over and along the West Branch of Chester Creek and is noted for its abrupt curves at the Borough's southern end.
An 1836 School Building on Valleybrook Road and Llewelyn Road was, in its day, rented by its owners to Aston for $2 a month for use as the school for this area. It was subsequently known as the Logtown School and changed to the Chester Heights School in 1880. A second, much later stone school building stands in its place today. The Borough was the Fourth Ward of Aston and had been referred to for some time as Chester Heights and Wawa. It was in the northern or "Wawa" area that, over the past one-hundred years or more, several large land parcels were acquired for summer residences. To date, most of these tracts have remained relatively unchanged, though they are now used as year-round private residences. ("Wawa" was the Indian name for wild goose.)
Nearby cities include Aldan, Folcroft, Pedricktown, Berwyn, Collingdale.