The West Chester Downtown Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. In the late 20th century, Commodore International, one of the pioneers of home computers, giving its headquarters as West Chester, was located approximately a mile northeast of the borough. In the early 20th century, an important industry was the Sharples cream separator company. and Darlington company became a major wheelworks, first for wagons and later automobiles. In the late 19th century the Hoopes, Bro. Irish revolutionary Wolfe Tone briefly lived in West Chester during his exile.

In the 18th century West Chester was a center of clockmaking. Walter, one of the architects for the Capitol in Washington, D.C. In the heart of town is its courthouse, a classical revival building designed in the 1840s by Thomas U. West Chester has been the seat of government in Chester County since 1786 when the seat was moved from nearby Chester in what is now Delaware County. The area was originally known as Turk's Head-after the inn of the same name located in what is now the center of the borough. The drop off at the nation's largest public college system continues to be most pronounced at community colleges, where enrollment is down a whopping 34% between the fall 2011 semester and this fall, records from SUNY showed.Ĭonversely, SUNY's four university centers have maintained robust student populations over the past decade, fueled by a 26% increase at Binghamton University, the biggest increase among the four campuses.Main article: History of West Chester, Pennsylvania 'There’s a national trend, and it’s something SUNY is not immune from.' 'There was a pandemic issue there, of course, but I think the real issue we’re grappling with is the long-term trend of declining enrollment in higher education,' SUNY Chancellor Jim Malatras told the USA TODAY Network New York.

Overall, the system has about 376,000 students this fall, with almost all taking classes in person due to strict COVID protocols on campuses. ALBANY – The COVID-19 pandemic has taken its toll on enrollment at SUNY colleges and universities, adding to an ongoing decline of students at the 64-campus system.Įnrollment fell 20% over the past decade, a staggering loss of 92,000 students, and dropped 10% alone since fall 2019 as COVID shuttered most in-person classes in March 2020 only to resume in earnest this fall.

West chester university demographics