page_title: Chester, Pennsylvania
section_title: Early history
hierarchical_section_title: Chester, Pennsylvania / History / Early history
caption_attribution_description: English: William Penn Landing Site on NRHP since March 11, 1971. At Penn and Front (1st) Streets or 2nd Street near the banks of the Delaware River in Chester, Pennsylvania. This marks the spot where Penn first stepped ashore in Pennsylvania on Oct. 28 or 29, 1682 (O.S.). The monument was erected 200 years later. Today, it is an industrial area with a railroad and factory behind it
context_page_description: Chester is a city in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. With a population of 33,972 at the 2010 census it is the largest city in Delaware County. Incorporated in 1682, Chester is the oldest city in Pennsylvania and is located on the western bank of the Delaware River between the cities of Philadelphia and Wilmington, Delaware.
context_section_description: 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. The original Indian name of Chester was Mecoponaca.
  The first European settlers in the area were members of the New Sweden colony. The settlement that became Chester was first called "Finlandia" (the Latin name for Finland) and then "Upland" after the Swedish province of Uppland. The New Sweden settlers built Fort Mecoponacka in 1641 to defend the settlement.
  In 1644, the present site of Chester was a tobacco plantation operated by the New Sweden colonists.
  By 1682, Upland was the most populous town of the new Province of Pennsylvania. On October 27, the ship Welcome arrived bearing William Penn on his first visit to the province. Penn renamed the settlement after the English city of Chester.
caption: This marker commemorates the site where William Penn first landed in the Province of Pennsylvania, now Chester, in 1682
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "NIKON", "Image Model": "COOLPIX S630", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "QuickTime 7.6.6", "Image DateTime": "2010:05:19 16:54:03", "Image HostComputer": "Mac OS X 10.6.3", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "290", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "4504", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5756", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/84", "EXIF FNumber": "7/2", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "64", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2010:05:19 14:23:29", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2010:05:19 14:23:29", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "2", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "18/5", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "33/5", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "4000", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3000", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "37", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Landscape", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}