im from chester born and raised int he 90s. grew up in the "old" highland gardens they tore my house down. the city by time i left was a wasteland..my sister tells me its only gotten worse. appreciate this video...nice to see certain memories still stand
I grew up less than a mile from there in the 60's. At 0.20, on the right, was the library/DeShong Museum. The business district was thriving at that time.
You drove around the safer areas, sometimes in circles, during the safest time of the day. But I did enjoy seeing my old workplace at 7th and Sproul. Thank you.
I grew up in Chester in the '70s and '80s. At that time, the downtown area was bustling with stores, restaurants, and important municipal buildings. Unfortunately, things started to decline when many good-paying jobs left the area. As a result, people who could afford to move out of the city did so. With the breadwinners leaving, small businesses and mom-and-pop shops also suffered. The introduction of the Interstate system and redlining also contributed to Chester's decline. When the interstate was built, it divided the city and forced minorities to live on the South Side, while the Whites lived in the North. In the Northern part of Chester, you'll find Widener, Crozer, and many homes where people with good-paying jobs reside. However, the footage in this video shows the Southern portion and East Side of Chester, where you'll find nothing but blight and ruin.
The roads. The guy passing you on the right making a right on red without even slowing for the red light. The stop lights are too low. Lots of ramshackle. Sidewalks with weeds growing from the cracks. Graffiti everywhere. Not a single PIT Maneuver. I saw a white dude. Thanks!! Love, David
I'm actually surprised to see this town looks as well as it does! Haven't seen a crappy car the entire video- shocker. Seems almost dead there, not sure when you were driving around but guessing in the morning. Im sure if you drove around at midnight I would see a lot more activity. Overall, I was wrong in my belief that this town would look like a war zone. I mean, yeah it's obviously pretty bad but not the worst town I've seen. It's better than San Fran and Seattle at least. I don't know how you do it ma'am... I pray for you and your family's' safety and best wishes to you from Erie PA
37 shootings in 2023. It was a very good year. 2024 is bad. A few weeks ago there were 5 people shot in one day, with two deaths. The first the days of January had two deaths. The population keeps disappearing from Chester. That has to be taken into account when looking at the crime numbers. Also, except for some drugs, there’s not much to steal in that broken city.
