Formed in 1682, Chester County boasts a long history of agricultural and industrial activity. In 1885 two Kennett Square florists began growing mushrooms. Today, the county is the largest producer in the nation, and we are known as the “Mushroom Capital of the World”. The nation’s earliest iron and steel forges began in Chester County, in Phoenixville in 1813 and shortly afterwards in Coatesville.
Today, Chester County is largely residential, since the dawn of suburban migration in the 1950’s. A sharp increase in population began in the 1970’s, and today Chester County is Pennsylvania’s most affluent and fastest growing county, with a population nearing half a million people.
Founded in 1963, The Chester County Conference & Visitors Bureau is a non-profit, independent agency responsible for marketing Chester County and its environs to individual leisure travelers, motorcoach and group tour operators, meeting planners, and travel writers. The CCCVB also operates the Chester County Visitors Center located in Kennett Square, PA, near Longwood Gardens.