Delaware County, Pennsylvania


Delaware County, colloquially referred to as Delco, is a county located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania that borders Philadelphia. With a population of 566,747, it is the fifth most populous county in Pennsylvania, and the third smallest in area. The county was created on September 26, 1789, from part of Chester County, and named for the Delaware River.
Its county seat is Media. Until 1850, Chester was the county seat of Delaware County and, before that, of Chester County.
Delaware County is adjacent to the city-county of Philadelphia and is included in the Philadelphia–Camden–Wilmington, PA–NJ–DE–MD Metropolitan Statistical Area. Delaware County is the only county covered in its entirety by area codes 610 and 484.

History

Delaware County lies in the river and bay drainage area named "Delaware" in honor of Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, Governor of the nearby English colony of Virginia. The land was explored by Henry Hudson in 1609, and over the next several decades it was variously claimed and settled by the Swedes, the Dutch, and the English. Its original human inhabitants were the Lenni-Lenape tribe of American Indians.
Once the Dutch were defeated and the extent of New York was determined, King Charles II of England made his grant to William Penn in order to found the colony which came to be named Pennsylvania. Penn divided his colony into three counties: Bucks, Philadelphia, and Chester. The riverfront land south of Philadelphia, being the most accessible, was quickly granted and settled. In 1789, the southeastern portion of Chester County was divided from the rest and named Delaware County for the Delaware River.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of, of which is land and is water. It is the third-smallest county in Pennsylvania by area.
Delaware County is roughly diamond- or kite-shaped, with the four sides formed by the Chester County boundary to the northwest, the boundary with the state of Delaware to the southwest, the Delaware River to the southeast, and the city of Philadelphia and Montgomery County to the east and northeast.
The lowest point in the state of Pennsylvania is located on the Delaware River in Marcus Hook in Delaware County, where it flows out of Pennsylvania and into Delaware. The highest point in Delaware County is 500 feet at two points southeast of Wyola in Newtown Township .
Waterways in Delaware County generally flow in a southward direction and ultimately drain into the Delaware River. The waterways are, from west to east: the Brandywine River, Naaman's Creek, Stoney Creek, Chester Creek, Ridley Creek, Crum Creek, Muckinipates Creek, Darby Creek and Cobbs Creek. Crum Creek was dammed in 1931 near Pennsylvania Route 252 to fill Springton Lake, an approximately drinking water reservoir maintained by Aqua America, the county's largest lake.
The Trainer Refinery and the Port of Chester are located along the shores of the Delaware River.

Adjacent counties

Delaware County is one of four counties in the United States to border a state with which it shares the same name.

National protected area

of the county are occupied by the Ridley Creek State Park.

Demographics

As of the 2010 census, the county was 71.1% White non-Hispanic, 19.7% Black or African American, 0.2% Native American or Alaskan Native, 4.7% Asian, 0.0% Native Hawaiian, 2.0% were two or more races, and 0.9% were some other race. 3.0% of the population were of Hispanic or Latino ancestry.
As of the 2000 census, there were 550,864 people, 206,320 households, and 139,472 families residing in the county. The population density was 2,990 people per square mile. There were 216,978 housing units at an average density of 1,178 per square mile. The racial makeup of the county was 80.32% White, 14.52% African American, 0.11% Native American, 3.29% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.56% from other races, and 1.19% from two or more races. 1.52% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 24.6% were of Irish, 17.5% Italian, 10.1% German and 6.7% English ancestry.
There were 206,320 households, out of which 31.50% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.80% were married couples living together, 12.90% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.40% were non-families. 27.60% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.60% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.56 and the average family size was 3.17.
In the county, the population was spread out, with 24.80% under the age of 18, 8.90% from 18 to 24, 28.80% from 25 to 44, 21.90% from 45 to 64, and 15.60% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 91.20 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.90 males.
The median income for a household in the county was $50,092, and the median income for a family was $61,590. Males had a median income of $44,155 versus $31,831 for females. The per capita income for the county was $25,040. About 5.80% of families and 8.00% of the population were below the poverty line, including 10.00% of those under age 18 and 7.10% of those age 65 or over.

Communities

Under Pennsylvania law, there are four types of incorporated municipalities: cities, boroughs, townships, and exactly one town. There are 49 municipalities in Delaware County:

City

s are geographical areas designated by the U.S. Census Bureau for the purposes of compiling demographic data. They are not actual jurisdictions under Pennsylvania law. Other unincorporated communities, such as villages, may be listed here as well.
The population ranking of the following table is based on the 2010 census of Delaware County.
† county seat
RankCity/Town/etc.Municipal typePopulation
1Upper DarbyTownship82,795
2HaverfordTownship48,491
3ChesterCity33,972
4RadnorTownship31,531
5Drexel HillCDP28,043
6SpringfieldTownship24,211
7Ardmore CDP12,455
8YeadonBorough11,443
9BroomallCDP10,789
10DarbyBorough10,687
11LansdowneBorough10,620
12WoodlynCDP9,485
13CollingdaleBorough8,786
14FolsomCDP8,323
15BrookhavenBorough8,006
16Village Green-Green RidgeCDP7,822
17GlenoldenBorough7,153
18Ridley ParkBorough7,002
19Clifton HeightsBorough6,652
20FolcroftBorough6,606
21Prospect ParkBorough6,454
22SwarthmoreBorough6,194
23NorwoodBorough5,890
24Sharon HillBorough5,697
25† MediaBorough5,327
26BoothwynCDP4,933
27AldanBorough4,152
28LinwoodCDP3,281
29UplandBorough3,239
30LimaCDP2,735
31MortonBorough2,669
32East LansdowneBorough2,668
33ColwynBorough2,546
34Chester HeightsBorough2,531
35EddystoneBorough2,410
36Marcus HookBorough2,397
37ParksideBorough2,328
38TrainerBorough1,828
39Haverford College CDP1,331
40MillbourneBorough1,159
41Cheyney University CDP988
42Rose ValleyBorough913
43RutledgeBorough784

Politics and government

The county has operated under a home-rule charter with five at-large council-members since 1972.
In November 2019, there was a historically significant election held that resulted in the Democratic Party taking total control of the county council for the first time since the Civil War. Another notable election result was that of Nusrat Rashid, who now enjoys the accolades of being the first African-American female Common Pleas judge in the county, as well as being the first Muslim to be elected into any judicial position in the entire Commonwealth. Also of note was the election of Jack Stollsteimer, whose campaign was backed by George Soros, to the position of District Attorney representing the first time a democrat has ever had this position in the county. This major change has been colloquially referred to as "The Blue Wave."
As of June 2017, there were 391,683 registered voters in Delaware County.]
Until recent years, Delaware County was regarded as a strongly Republican county. The Delaware County Republican party political machine was controlled by William McClure and his son John J. McClure from 1875 to 1965. Delaware County voted for the Republican candidate in nearly every election from 1854 through 1988, with exceptions including the 1964 presidential election. In recent elections, however, Delaware County has voted for Democratic candidates in every presidential election since 1992, including voting for Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996, Al Gore in 2000, John Kerry in 2004, Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012, and Hillary Clinton in 2016.
Delaware County has been trending Democratic, and the longstanding Republican registration edge has been erased. The Democrats now have over twice as many voters in the county as they had in 2002. It narrowly voted for Bill Clinton in 1992, but has gone Democratic in every Presidential election since then by 10 points or more by progressively-increasing margins. In the 2004 election Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry won the county by 14 points. In the 2008 presidential election, Democratic Senator Barack Obama defeated Republican Senator John McCain resoundingly, by over 21 points.
At the state and local level, however, Republicans still remain competitive with Democrats. Most Republicans from the county tend to be fiscally conservative and socially moderate, as is the case with Republicans from most suburban Philadelphia counties. In the 2004 US Senate election, Republican Arlen Specter defeated Joe Hoeffel but Democrat Bob Casey, Jr. defeated Rick Santorum in the 2006 Senate election. All three Democratic state row office candidates carried it in 2008. The Democrats presently hold all but one row office, though the Republicans currently have a majority on the county commission.
In 2016, Delaware County elected all Democrats in national office elections except Republican Patrick Meehan.
All of Delaware County is located in the state's 5th congressional district, represented by Democrat Mary Gay Scanlon. Prior to 2019, most of Delaware County had been in the 7th congressional district. The district had been held for 20 years by Republican Curt Weldon until he was ousted by Joe Sestak, a retired admiral, in the 2006 U.S. House of Representatives election. Also in the 2006 election, Democrat Bryan Lentz unseated Republican incumbent State Representative Tom Gannon in the 161st House district. In 2010 Sestak ran for the senate seat vacated by Arlen Specter and was replaced by Republican Pat Meehan, who defeated Lentz, the Democratic candidate. Lentz was replaced in the State House by Joe Hackett, a Republican. Meehan represented the 7th district until his resignation on April 27, 2018. Before it was thrown out by a Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision in 2018, the 7th Congressional District had been regarded one of the most irregularly drawn districts in the nation.
In the 2019 elections for the Delaware County Council, Republicans John McBlain and Colleen Morrone had served two terms and were not eligible for a third. Michael Culp, the council's third Republican, chose not to run. After a campaign described as having a good share of mud-throwing, Democrats swept the board and elected Monica Taylor, Elaine P. Schaefer, and Christine Reuther. This was the first time in history that the county had an all-Democratic county council.

Delaware County Council

County row officers

Row officers, a term unique to Pennsylvania, are a conglomeration of elected officials defined by Article IX, Section 4 of the Pennsylvania Constitution. This unit of officers includes the position of controller, District Attorney, treasurer, sheriff, register of wills, recorder of deeds, prothonotaries, clerks of the court, and the coroner. It is thought that this term originated because these positions were arranged in a row on a typical ballot.
OfficeHolderParty
ControllerJoanne Phillips, EsquireDemocratic
District AttorneyJack StollsteimerDemocratic
Register of WillsMary J. Walk, EsquireDemocratic
SheriffJerry SandersDemocratic

United States Senate

United States House of Representatives

DistrictRepresentativeParty
5Mary Gay ScanlonDemocratic

State Senate

State House of Representatives

Corrections

The George W. Hill Correctional Facility is located in Thornbury Township. The jail houses pre-trial inmates and convicted persons who are serving sentences of no longer than two years less one day. It is operated by the for-profit prison corporation GEO Group, of Boca Raton, Florida. It is the only privately-operated county-level correctional facility in Pennsylvania, although there are plans for it to be deprivatized as early as December 31, 2020.

Education

Public school districts

In Pennsylvania, charter schools are public schools. They receive a per pupil funding from the state along with federal funding. They are eligible to apply for many competitive grants offered by the state and federal governments. There are two charter schools in 2011. They are located within the attendance borders of the Chester Upland School District. Charter schools may accept students from neighboring school districts.
In 1963 the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia had 48 Catholic K-8/elementary schools in Delaware County with a total of 39,695 students, which was the highest ever enrollment. From 1971 to 2012, 20 of these schools closed, with ten of them closing from 2003 to 2012. By 2012 there were 28 Catholic K-8/elementary schools in Delaware County with a total of 8,291 students.
From EDNA, Educational Entity Search Results, 2011
Holy Family Regional School, Aston
Delaware County is bisected north to south by Blue Route Interstate 476, which connects I-76 just north of the extreme northern corner of the county to I-95, which parallels the Delaware River along the southeastern edge of the county.
Delaware County is home to SEPTA's 69th Street Terminal in Upper Darby, and is served by the Norristown High Speed Line, two Red Arrow trolley lines
,
four Regional Rail Lines, and a host of bus routes.
The western portion of Philadelphia International Airport is located in Delaware County, and the county hosts some airport-related commerce such as Philadelphia's UPS terminal and airport hotels.

Major roads and highways

Parks

There is one Pennsylvania state park in Delaware County.
County parks include:
Casino & Racetrack is a harness racing track and casino located on the Chester, Pennsylvania waterfront. It is owned by Vici Properties and operated by Caesars Entertainment.

Sports

The city of Chester is home to the Philadelphia Union of Major League Soccer. The team plays at Talen Energy Stadium, a venue located at the base of the Commodore Barry Bridge.
Delaware County is the traditional home of women's professional soccer in the Philadelphia area. The former Philadelphia Charge of the defunct Women's United Soccer Association played at Villanova Stadium, which is located on the campus of Villanova University. The Philadelphia Independence of Women's Professional Soccer succeeded the Charge and played at Widener University's Leslie Quick Stadium in 2011.
Delaware County is the home of one of oldest baseball leagues in the country, the Delco League, which at one time was known for featuring future, former, and even current major league players who were offered more money than their current teams would pay them.
Every summer, Delaware County is home to the Delco Pro-Am, a basketball league consisting of current, future, and former NBA players as well as local standout players.
Delaware County is also the former home of a rugby league team called the Aston Bulls, a member of the American National Rugby League.

Media

The county itself is serviced by several newspapers, most notably the News of Delaware County, the Delaware County Daily Times, The Suburban and Wayne Times, and The Spirit, the only minority owned newspaper serving Delaware County. The Philadelphia Inquirer also has a significant presence, reflecting Philadelphia's influence on Delaware County and the rest of the metro. Delaware County Magazine is the news magazine with the largest circulation in Delaware County, reaching over 186,000 homes.

Climate

Delaware County has two regions: the Piedmont with a hot-summer humid continental climate and the Atlantic Coastal Plain with a humid subtropical climate. The line approximates U.S. Route 1. The hardiness zones are 7a and 7b.