Editing Downingtown, Pennsylvania (section)

==History==
[[File:Downingtown, Pennsylvania (6479475337) (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|[[Keystone Marker]]]]
The borough was originally named Milltown due to its number of mills along the [[East Branch Brandywine Creek]], the first of which was founded by Daniel Butter. The Butter family also had paper mills in the area, and [[Frederick Bicking]] from [[Winterburg]], Germany, was the patriarch of the Bicking paper families. Around the time of the [[American Revolution]], Milltown became more commonly known as Downingtown after the prominent businessman Thomas Downing,<ref>{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ | title=The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States | publisher=Govt. Print. Off. | author=Gannett, Henry | year=1905 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ/page/n102 108]}}</ref> a [[Quaker]] immigrant in 1717 from [[Bradninch]], Devon, England, who owned a number of those mills.  The burough was officially named Downingtown in 1812.

The borough is located along the [[Lincoln Highway]] (now part of [[U.S. Route 30 in Pennsylvania|U.S. Route 30]]), which runs from the East Coast to the West Coast. It was an early westward road in the wagon days as the [[Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike]]. The Lincoln Highway was the first paved road to cross the nation from the [[Atlantic Ocean|Atlantic]] to the [[Pacific Ocean]]. Construction of the [[Pennsylvania Turnpike]] started in the early 1940s and was completed in the early 1950s; it runs north of US 30, bypassing Downingtown.
[[File:Downingtown Log House.JPG|thumb|upright=1.2|Downingtown Log House]]
Circa 1700, early English settlers built what has become known as the [[Downingtown Log House]]. In 1713, owner Joseph Hickman sold the {{frac|1|1|2}}-story, 21-foot, 9-inch × 25-foot structure to Thomas and Mary Moore. Thomas Moore moved from the Log House in 1729 and died in 1738.

Thomas Downing acquired the Log House in 1739. It remained in the Downing family until 1940, when Thomas W. Downing died and left it to the borough of Downingtown. The borough did some restoration work to the [[Downingtown Log House]] in 1947. It served as the home to the Downingtown Chamber of Commerce from 1950 until 1988. But the Log House was deteriorating as Route 30 had been built close to it. Located {{convert|18|in|cm}} below street level, the house suffered water damage due to runoff from Route 30 and vibration from traffic weakened the structure.

From 1988 until 1990, the Downingtown Historical Society relocated the house and did an extensive restoration with money raised for the project. It now sits approximately {{convert|70|ft|0}} west of its original location, {{convert|22|ft}} from the Route 30 sidewalk, and slightly above street level.<ref>[http://www.downingtownhistoricalsociety.org/loghouse.htm "Log House"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726003020/http://www.downingtownhistoricalsociety.org/loghouse.htm |date=July 26, 2011 }}, Downington Historical Society</ref>

In 1904, [[John S. Trower]] and [[William A. Creditt]], prominent black [[Philadelphia]]ns, founded the [[Downingtown Industrial and Agricultural School]] (DIAS) in Downingtown, to serve as an academic and vocational high school for African-American youths to prepare them for work.<ref name="DIAS"/> Creditt was pastor of the First African Baptist Church in Philadelphia, and Trower, a successful caterer and one of the wealthiest black businessmen in the nation,<ref>"John S. Trower Best Known and Probably Wealthiest Negro in the Country", America’s Historical Newspapers, ''The Washington Bee'', 29 April 1911. Web. 6 Feb. 2011</ref> was a member of his congregation.<ref name="DIAS"/> Believing the North needed a school like the [[Tuskegee Institute]], the men found land in Chester County and built the school on a 100-acre campus.<ref name="DIAS"/>  They both served as principals until their respective deaths, both in 1921.<ref name="DIAS"/> Originally a private, non-denominational school, in 1907 DIAS began to be state supported. Students were admitted from major northeastern cities.<ref name="DIAS">[http://owlsalltheway.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/dias_finding_aid.pdf "Background Note", ''Downington Industrial and Agricultural School Collection,'', Charles F. Blockson Afro-American Collection, Temple University Libraries]</ref> Among its trustees in the early decades was [[Adam Clayton Powell, Sr.]], pastor of [[Abyssinian Baptist Church]] in [[Harlem, New York]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=RFZ2AAAAMAAJ Mather, Frank Lincoln. ''Who's Who of the Colored Race: A General Biographical Dictionary of Men and Women of African Descent'', Vol. 1, Chicago: Memento Edition, 1915, p. 222]</ref> The school operated until 1993. A new facility was constructed on the property and opened in 2002 as the Chester County campus of the [[Delaware County Community College]].

The borough has initiated some widespread and continuing renovation in downtown, particularly to the streetscape; private owners have similarly renovated many commercial buildings. There has also been residential development on recovered industrial lands (brown fields) in the southeastern part of the borough. Downingtown is the location of some large regional and national businesses, including First National Bank of Chester County, and [[Victory Brewing Company]], and formerly [[DNB First]] (acquired by S&T Bank in 2019).<ref>{{cite web|title=S&T Bancorp closes acquisition of DNB Financial|url=https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/trending/a9sKLXdhjco_7vaBDi38iQ2|access-date=2021-10-01|website=www.spglobal.com|language=en-us}}</ref>

[[File:Gen Washington Inn.JPG|thumb|upright=1.3|General Washington Inn]]
[[Abraham Lincoln|President Lincoln]]'s funeral train passed through Downingtown. The famous Irish patriot and martyr Theobald Wolfe Tone briefly lived here in 1795.

The [[County Bridge No. 124]], [[Downingtown Log House]], [[East Lancaster Avenue Historic District]], [[General Washington Inn]], and [[Roger Hunt Mill]] are listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref>