1898 Map of Chester

About this map

The industrial and maritime activity of the Delaware River corridor dominates this late nineteenth-century landscape, where heavy rail lines like the Baltimore and Ohio R.R. and Penna. R.R. converge on the bustling waterfronts of Chester and Marcus Hook. Inland, the terrain of Delaware Co. is defined by a dense network of milling settlements along the winding Ridley Creek and Crum Creek, including Sycamore Mills, Lenni Mills, and Llewellyn Mills. The presence of institutions such as the House of Refuge and Williamson School speaks to the social geography of the era, while the eastern edge of the map shows the suburban growth of Upper Darby and Haverford nearing the Philadelphia line. South of the river in New Jersey, the landscape shifts to the marshy lowlands of Woolwich, crisscrossed by Raccoon Creek and Repaupo Cr.