The Exton Region is a great place to visit, buy a home, raise a family, find the goods and services you need, open a business, and enjoy one of the highest standards of living in the country.
About Exton
A Brief History of the Area
Chester County is one of Pennsylvania’s three original counties along with Philadelphia, where William Penn settled in 1682, and Bucks County to the north of Philadelphia.
Along with Penn came as many as 2,000 settlers from England; Quakers like Penn who sailed to the New World to settle the wilderness and practice their religion in peace. Immigrants from England, Ireland, and Wales rapidly settled along Chester County’s rivers and within its gentle hills and magnificent forests. The English and Welsh settled in the central and southeastern townships (today’s Exton Region), while the Scots-Irish inhabited the south and southwest. German and Swiss immigrants, our Pennsylvania Dutch, settled in the northern townships.
Because abundant sources of water power were readily available, milling was the county’s first industry. An iron industry was quickly established in Coventry, Warwick and Valley Forge. Later, during the nineteenth century, major ironworks were established in Phoenixville and Coatesville. When the Pennsylvania Railroad was formed in 1846, Chester County’s flourishing iron industry was ready to forge the rails that helped expand the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Eventually, Pennsylvania’s General Assembly separated three new counties from the original Chester County – Lancaster County, Berks County and Delaware County. Chester, the large naval shipbuilding city on the Delaware River, served as the county seat until 1786. Then the county seat was moved to a more central location, at a village called Turk’s Head, renamed West Chester in 1789.
As the English and Welsh settled the central parts of Chester County in the early and middle decades of the 18th century, the Exton Region consisted of little more than a few farms. Some historians claim a local farmer, William Trimble, named the area where the Pennsylvania Railroad intersected the Lancaster Pike for his birthplace in England – Exton.
As settlers from Philadelphia made their way west and north, many of those early settlers found that the area we now call the Exton Region was just what they were looking for, and many decided to stay, to purchase land, and to start farming the fertile soil. In 1851, James Beale opened a post office in Exton. The road known as the Lincoln Highway/Route 30 ran straight through the center of the Exton Region. This famous roadway was the main corridor from Philadelphia to Lancaster. Most of the historic buildings in the area were located adjacent to or along Route 30.
Originally built as a summer home, The Hankin Group’s “Ivy Cottage,” a three-story Georgian beauty built in the 1800s, is located just off Route 30 West. The Zook House, Exton Mall’s original tenant home, still remains in a different section of the property. Built at the request of Welsh Quakers, the Uwchlan Meeting House served as a school several times in its long history, along with its regular religious meeting.
For More Information
Check our online Community Guide for information on member businesses, agricultural preservation and open spaces, arts and culture, business and industry, education, health care, real estate, recreation, shopping and dining, and transportation in and around the Exton Region. Whether you are a visitor or a long-time resident, there is something special here for you.
Read more about the area in the Daily Local News.
Make your move to the Exton Region go smoothly by enlisting the help of professionals you can trust. Check our online members Directory for the goods and services you need.
Open a new business with the confidence that comes from being a member of the Exton Region Chamber of Commerce. We provide marketing opportunities, professional development, member referrals, and group discounts to benefit your business.