In 1789, the southeastern portion of Chester County was divided from the rest and named Delaware County for the Delaware River. The riverfront land south of Philadelphia, being the most accessible, was quickly granted and settled. Penn divided his colony into three counties: Bucks, Philadelphia, and Chester. Once the Dutch were defeated and the extent of New York was determined, King Charles II of England made his grant to William Penn to found the colony which came to be named Pennsylvania. Its original human inhabitants were the Lenape tribe of American Indians. The land was explored by Henry Hudson in 1609, and over the next several decades it was variously claimed and settled by the Swedes, the Dutch, and the English. History Map of the early settlements of Delaware County, Pennsylvania The old Chester Courthouse, built in 1724ĭelaware County lies in the river and bay drainage area named 'Delaware' in honor of Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, Governor of the nearby English colony of Virginia. It also is adjacent to the city-county of Philadelphia County and is included in the Philadelphia– Camden– Wilmington, PA– NJ– DE– MD metropolitan statistical area known as the Delaware Valley.

The county was created on September 26, 1789, from part of Chester County and named for the Delaware River.ĭelaware County is part of the Delaware Valley and borders Philadelphia, the nation's sixth-most populous city, to its northeast.

With a population of 576,830 as of the 2020 census, it is the fifth-most populous county in Pennsylvania and the third-smallest in area. Interactive map of Delaware County, Pennsylvaniaĭelaware County, colloquially referred to as Delco, is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Haverford township seal