Chester County History Center is home to over 100,000 photographs, 70,000 objects, and 750,000 documents and manuscripts that explore and preserve the rich history of Chester County, Pennsylvania. It’s also home to the award-winning permanent exhibit, Becoming Chester County, which is all about choices—the choices that colonists and indigenous peoples made. Colonists made difficult choices to immigrate while indigenous people had to choose how to react to new people in their midst. Settlers decided in the 1700s if they were for or against British rule or were simply caught in the local crossfire of the largest American Revolution battle. Social reformers in the 1800s considered their position on abolition, slavery, women’s rights, temperance, and many others.

Your visit will include a 45-minute guided tour of the exhibit, followed by a 1.25 hour tour of downtown West Chester, highlighting existing buildings that were a reflection of, or contributed to, the social and economic changes over 225 years of borough history.