Downingtown, Pennsylvania

Chester County

42-19752

Downingtown is a municipality in Chester County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania with 7,589 inhabitants according to the census of 2000.

Geography

Downingtown is located in eastern Pennsylvania's 53 km west of the city of Philadelphia.

History

The urban area has been inhabited since the early 18th century and includes many historic buildings. The city was originally named Milltown due to its many mills along the Brandywine Creek. The first of these mills was founded by Thomas Moore. Even Frederick Bicking, an immigrant from the German winter castle owned paper mills in the area. The Bicking family here led the paper industry continued until the 19th century.

In the time of the American Revolution Milltown was named Downing 's Town, after Thomas Downing, a 1717 immigrant Quakers from Bradninch in the English county of Devon, several of the mills acquired. The official renaming of the city in Downingtown was completed in 1812. The eastern branch of the Brandywine Creek runs through the town center. The city is located on U.S. Route 30, which runs between the U.S. East and West coast. The U.S. Route 30 used to be a way to the west of the covered wagons of the first settlers. Part of this road is called Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike and is considered the first paved road that connects the Atlantic with the Pacific Ocean within the United States. In the 18th century, lived for a short time, the radical leader of the Irish independence movement, Theobald Wolfe Tone, in Downingtown. In addition, the funeral procession of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln led by Downingtown. The film Blob - horror without name from 1958 was filmed in Downingtown and the surrounding area; Reference it takes the diner in the movie, which is called the Downingtown Diner.

Economy

In 1996, the Victory Brewing Company was founded in Downingtown. The brewery inn gained through regional awareness through artisan beers. The two founders of the brewery, Ron and Bill Covaleski Barchet have learned their craft among other things, in Bavaria.