Hopewell, Chester County, Pennsylvania

1883 Breou's Farm Map showing Hopewell Borough (top left)

The village of Hopewell began when Samuel Dickey III settled in the area and built Hopewell Mill.[1][4] Samuel & his brothers, David & Ebenezer (father of John Miller Dickey), founded a company called S. E. & D. Dickey around 1816. The business began by selling cotton yarn produced by the mill but later grew to include a grist mill.[1] The company also began to recruit skilled labor, such as carpentry and masonry, which drew talent and settlers to the village.[1][4]

In 1835, Samuel Dickey died and left his business to his sons. The Hopewell works continued to prosper, and the Dickey family petitioned the county government to grant Hopewell Borough status.[1]

The village of Hopewell was formed from portions of Lower Oxford and East Nottingham Townships, and was officially incorporated as a borough in May 1853.[1]

The Hopewell Academy was founded in 1834 and later expanded to become a private preparatory school in 1841. The academy offered lessons in Mathematics, Latin, Greek, botany, chemistry, and many other subjects.[1][4]

By 1860, the Hopewell Mill was the fourth most profitable mill in Chester County;[1] however, Hopewell began to decline with the start of the American Civil War in April 1861. The academy closed its doors that year, and the Dickey business, now called S.J. Dickey & Brothers, went bankrupt in 1862.[1][5] With the failure of the Dickey Company, agriculture became the main driver of the Hopewell economy.[1][5]

The borough finally received a railroad connection in 1872 with the completion of the Peach Bottom Railway,[1] but Hopewell continued to decline; the local creamery closed in 1879. The grist mill also burned down at this time, further damaging Hopewell's prospects.[1]

During the late 1800s, people began to ally themselves with the neighboring towns of Oxford and Nottingham. By 1897, thirty-five of the forty-five people eligible to vote held some borough office,[4] and Hopewell had become little more than a small cluster of buildings.[4]

Unhappy with high borough taxes and the poor state of the village's roads, residents of Hopewell began petitioning the county government to revoke the borough charter during the mid-1890s.[4][6] West Chester granted the petition in December 1913.[6]

The borough of Hopewell finally ceased to exist in 1914; its territory was returned to East Nottingham and Lower Oxford Townships.[1]

A house in the Hopewell Historic District