Editing Chester, Pennsylvania (section)

===20th century===
{{See also|Chester school protests|Wade Dump}}
[[File:Covanta Delaware Valley Resource Recovery Facility.jpg|thumb|Covanta [[Delaware Valley Resource Recovery Facility]]]]
[[File:Crozer Library Chester PA DelCo.jpg|thumb|[[J. Lewis Crozer Library]]]]
[[File:Alfred O Deshong Memorial.jpg|thumb|[[Deshong Art Museum]]]]
Chester was known as a freewheeling destination for vices such as drugs, alcohol, [[Numbers game|numbers]] rackets, gambling and prostitution. Chester was widely known as Greater Philadelphia's "Saloon Town".{{sfn|Mele|2017|p=19}} By 1914, Chester had more saloons than police officers; approximately 1 saloon per every 987 residents.{{sfn|Mele|2017|p=27}}

During and following [[World War I]], Chester grew significantly as people migrated to the city for jobs, 63% of which were in manufacturing.<ref name=Swarthmore>{{cite web|title=History of Economic Development in Chester|url=https://blogs.swarthmore.edu/ChesterDigital/?page_id=81|website=www.blogs.swarthmore.edu|access-date=19 April 2018}}</ref> Between 1910 and 1920, Chester's population increased from 38,000 to 58,000 due to the influx of poor [[Southern Europe]]an and [[Eastern Europe]]an immigrants and [[Great Migration (African American)|African-American migrants from the South]], searching for employment in the city's expanding shipbuilding and manufacturing industries.{{sfn|Mele|2017|p=17}} The [[Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Co.]] was opened in 1917 to build ships for the United States until its closure in 1990. The idled Roach shipyard was purchased in 1917 by [[W. Averell Harriman]] to build [[merchant ships]] during World War I, and renamed the [[Merchant Shipbuilding Corporation]]. The shipyard closed permanently in 1923.

Like many boomtowns, Chester was unprepared for the social changes that came along with rapid growth. As southern blacks migrated to Pennsylvania as part of the [[Great Migration (African American)|Great Migration]], racial violence broke out, racially segregated neighborhoods expanded and economic discrimination emerged.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Trotter |first1=Joe William |title=African Americans in Pennsylvania |date=1997 |publisher=The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Collection |location=University Park, Pennsylvania |isbn=0-271-01686-8 |page=256 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aybCUIvplxIC&pg=PA256|access-date=3 June 2018}}</ref> A [[1917 Chester race riot|four-day race riot]] that resulted in seven deaths broke out in the city in July 1917, and the separation of blacks and whites in Chester's neighborhoods and workplaces became more defined.{{sfn|Mele|2017|pp=30-32}}

In 1927, the [[Ford Motor Company]] opened the [[Chester Assembly]] factory on the site of the previous Roach and Merchant shipyard and built cars there until its closure in 1961.<ref>{{cite web|title=Ford Motor Company|url=http://www.oldchesterpa.com/ford.htm#History|website=www.oldchesterpa.com|access-date=19 April 2018}}</ref>

Chester experienced its second growth period during [[World War II]]. Manufacturing increased exponentially including companies such as [[Wetherill Steel]] and Boilermakers, [[Congoleum]]-Nairn, [[Aberfoyles Textiles]], [[Scott Paper Company]], [[Belmont Iron Works]], [[American Steel Foundries]], [[Crew Levick Oil]], [[Crown Smelting]], [[Fields Brick Company]], [[ACCO Brands|Hetzel]] and [[Ford Motor Company]].<ref name=Swarthmore/> During World War II, the [[Sun Shipyard]] became the largest single shipyard in the world.{{sfn|Mele|2017|p=39}}
{{external media | width = 210px | headerimage = | float = right | audio1 = [https://grapplepodcast.atavist.com/episode03-chester- Chester, A City Working on a New Narrative], 43:46, Grapple, Keystone Crossroads<ref name="grapple">{{cite web | title =Chester, A City Working on a New Narrative | work =Grapple | publisher =Keystone Crossroads | date =2016-09-27 | url =https://grapplepodcast.atavist.com/episode03-chester- | access-date =November 17, 2016 | archive-date =2016-11-18 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20161118162707/https://grapplepodcast.atavist.com/episode03-chester- | url-status =dead }}</ref> }} The increased labor needs brought a flood of new workers to the city. The wartime labor force for industries along the waterfront soared to 100,000.{{sfn|Mele|2017|p=39}}

Chester began losing its mainstay manufacturing jobs by the early 1960s. [[Ford Motor Company]] shuttered its Chester plant, [[American Viscose Corporation]] in nearby [[Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania|Marcus Hook]] closed, [[Baldwin Locomotive Works]] in nearby [[Eddystone, Pennsylvania|Eddystone]] was close to bankruptcy and [[Sun Shipyard]] employment had fallen from a high of 35,000 in 1945 to 4,000 in 1962. Chester's precipitous drop in jobs in the late 20th and early 21st centuries caused the city's population to diminish from over 66,000 in 1950 to under 34,000 in 2010.<ref name=McLarnon2002/>

In 1963 and 1964, the [[Chester school protests]] fought to end the de facto segregation that resulted in the racial categorization of Chester public schools, even after the landmark 1954 [[United States Supreme Court|U.S. Supreme Court]] case ''[[Brown v. Board of Education]]''.{{sfn|Mele|2017|p=82}}  The racial unrest and civil rights protests were led by [[George Raymond]] of the [[National Association for the Advancement of Colored Persons|NAACP]] and [[Stanley Branche]] of [[Committee for Freedom Now|CFFN]] and made Chester one of the key battlegrounds of the [[civil rights movement]].

In April 1964, a series of almost nightly protests brought chaos to Chester. Mayor [[James Gorbey]] issued "The Police Position to Preserve the Public Peace", a 10-point statement promising an immediate return to law and order. The city deputized firemen and trash collectors to help handle demonstrators.{{sfn|Mele|2017|p=94}} The State of Pennsylvania deployed 50 state troopers to assist the 77-member Chester police force.<ref name="nvdbase">{{cite web|url=https://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/african-american-residents-chester-pa-demonstrate-end-de-facto-segregation-public-schools-19|title=African American residents of Chester, PA, demonstrate to end de facto segregation in public schools, 1963-1966|website=www.nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu|access-date=26 October 2018}}</ref> The demonstrations were marked by violence and [[police brutality]]<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/04/26/archives/riots-mar-peace-in-chester-pa-negro-protests-continueschool-policy.html|title=RIOTS MAR PEACE IN CHESTER, PA.; Negro Protests Continue - School Policy at Issue|date=1964-04-26|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=13 July 2018}}</ref> with Chester being dubbed the "Birmingham of the North" by civil rights activist [[James Farmer]].<ref name=nvdbase/>  Over 600 people were arrested over a two-month period of civil rights rallies, marches, pickets, boycotts, and sit-ins.{{sfn|Mele|2017|p=95}} National civil rights leaders such as [[Gloria Richardson]], [[Malcolm X]] and [[Dick Gregory]] came to Chester in support of the demonstrations.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://digitalwolfgram.widener.edu/digital/collection/p270801coll18/id/588|title=Chester NAACP Scrapbook 1963-1964|website=www.digitalwolfgram.widener.edu|access-date=20 October 2018}}</ref> Pennsylvania Governor [[William Scranton]] became involved in the negotiations and convinced the protestors to obey a court-ordered moratorium on demonstrations by agreeing to hold hearings on the de facto segregation of public schools in Chester.<ref name=McLarnon2002>{{cite journal|last1=McLarnon|first1=John M.|date=2002|title="Old Scratchhead" Reconsidered: George Raymond & Civil Rights in Chester, Pennsylvania|url=https://journals.psu.edu/phj/article/viewFile/25768/25537|journal=Pennsylvania History|volume=69|issue=3|pages=318–326|access-date=27 October 2018}}</ref>

The Pennsylvania Human Relations Committee determined that the Chester School Board had violated the law and the Chester School District was ordered to desegregate the city's six predominantly African-American schools. The city appealed the ruling, which delayed implementation, but the schools were eventually desegregated.<ref name="nvdbase" />

In 1978, an intense fire broke out at [[Wade Dump]], a rubber recycling facility and illegal industrial chemical dumping site. It burned out of control for several days. The burning chemicals caused multi-colored smoke and noxious fumes which injured 43 firemen and caused long-term health problems for the first responders to the fire.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Stranahan |first1=Susan Q. |title=Beyond the Flames |url=http://inquirer.philly.com/specials/2000/fire/stories/fire30.asp |website=www.inquirer.philly.com |access-date=2 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180703142740/http://inquirer.philly.com/specials/2000/fire/stories/fire30.asp |archive-date=3 July 2018 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 1981, the location was declared a [[Superfund]] cleanup site and remediation occurred throughout the 1980s. In 1989, the site was deemed safe and removed from the Superfund national priorities list. In 2004, the site was converted to a parking lot for [[Commodore Barry Bridge Park]].<ref name=EPA>{{cite web |title=Wade (ABM) Chester, PA |url=https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/cursites/csitinfo.cfm?id=0301343 |website=www.cumulis.epa.gov |access-date=2 July 2018}}</ref>

By the 1980s, Chester was a city bereft of industry. Many bottom-rung projects were initiated in Chester, including the [[Delaware Valley Resource Recovery Facility|Westinghouse trash incinerator]], a sewage treatment plant, and a [[State Correctional Institution - Chester|prison]].<ref name=Blumgart>{{cite web|last1=Blumgart|first1=Jake|title=Chester, Pennsylvania|url=http://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/archive/chester-pennsylvania/|website=www.philadelphiaencyclopedia.org|access-date=20 April 2018}}</ref> Chester residents and politicians began pushing back against the placement of projects that increased concerns about pollution, noise, and trucks, such as a contaminated soil remediation facility, the trash incinerator, the DELCORA sewage waste treatment center and the Abbonizio recycling center.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Rigell|first1=Laura|title=Chester residents blockade Westinghouse incinerator, United States, 1992-1994|url=https://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/chester-residents-blockade-westinghouse-incinerator-united-states-1992-1994|website=www.nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu|access-date=19 May 2018}}</ref>

In 1995, the state designated Chester as a [[Financially Distressed Municipalities Act|financially distressed municipality]].<ref name="George Sheridan">{{cite web |url=http://interversity.org/lists/arn-l/archives/Jan2003/msg00857.html |title=Edison in Chester Upland |author=George Sheridan |date=2003-01-26 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050521045014/http://interversity.org/lists/arn-l/archives/Jan2003/msg00857.html |archive-date=2005-05-21 }}</ref>