THE COMMUNITY AND THE FUTURE OF ST. PAUL'S

Beginning in the early 1970's, Chester experienced the departure of businesses and professional offices to the surrounding suburbs. There was a major shift in the population in and around St. Paul's from a white majority to a mix of African-American and Hispanic people. St. Paul's future is to work with those around us.

Positive changes are taking place in the City of Chester. Since 1996, Chester has attracted more than one billion dollars in public and private investments to support development projects.

• Business: Two technology centers have recently been built in the east side of Chester . Construction of Harrah's Chester Casino and Racetrack has also started on the east side. The renovation of the old PECO building by Preferred Real Estate Investments, Inc. has been completed and now houses several businesses including Wells Fargo. Other new businesses include Lobec, Inc., ABC Lid Co., and Ace Linen.
• Kimberly-Clark has made a major plant investment.
• Housing: Crozer Hills, the first set of detached single-family units to be built in Chester in over 30 years has begun. New housing developments include William Penn, Chatham Estates, and Central Avenue Townhomes. The Residences at Chestnut Ridge have been completed.
• Education: Widener University has several expansion projects underway costing $39.5M, including a new science and engineering building. The Chester Community Charter School is expanding to the west end of town and plans are underway to have a middle and high school soon. Communities That Care (CTC) has established partnerships with the YWCA of Chester, YMCA, Center for Resolution, Swarthmore College and Widener College to participate in tutoring assistance for the 21st Century SKILLS College After school program.
• Recreation: $1M has been earmarked for renovations to Memorial Park. The Barry Bridge Park expansion was completed in the fall of 2004. Chester Little League and the Chester Panthers football program serve a combined total of about 500 youth. Plans are underway for the Chester Triangle Park to be built in the center of town. Currently there are seven public parks encompassing over 190 acres.
• Arts: Strings for Schools encompasses 200 second thru twelfth grade students. Theatre Widener offers regular programs of significant plays for the entertainment and enrichment of the Widener community. The permanent art collection at Widener University has numerous paintings by American impressionists, European and Asian artists. Alfred O. Deshong, once a wealthy Chester industrialist, collected many fine Japanese, Chinese and European works of art. These can now be viewed at the Widener Gallery. The PMC (Pennsylvania Military College) museum can be found on the Widener campus also. The Freeman Cultural Arts Complex in downtown Chester offers many diverse exhibits, computer and writing seminars, creative movement classes and free art classes for youngsters.
• Transportation: The widening of Route 291 through Chester is underway. Construction of and I-95 on-ramp at Edgemont Avenue has recently been completed. I-95 ramps to Route 291 have been slated for construction. The Chester Transit Center reconstruction has been completed.
• Healthcare: Crozer-Chester Medical Center has made a commitment of more that $46.5M. It has added a Regional Cancer Center, a major expansion project, along with improvements to the North Campus. Currently a state of the art emergency department is being constructed. The new Ches Penn Health Center was opened recently as was the National Medical Imaging, Corp. Open MRI Center.
• Retail: Wellington Ridge Retail Complex is to be built near the new Wellington Ridge housing development.

St. Paul's has made its commitment to remain in Chester. We see a future in Chester. We are doing our share to bring about that change. We are expanding our music program. We support City Team, a mission for men in Chester. We have a partnership with the East Side Neighborhood Connection holding an after school program. We have GED classes being conducted along with English as a second language classes being held here. We rent education space to the Elwyn Choices Program.