Chester Heights Camp Meeting Historic District

The Chester Heights Camp Meeting Historic District is a historic Methodist camp meeting and national historic district located in Chester Heights, Delaware County, Pennsylvania. The district includes 101 contributing buildings, which were designed in the vernacular camp meeting style of architecture; additional notable examples of the Gothic Revival and Queen Anne styles also are present here. Public buildings include the contributing Tabernacle (1878), Dining Hall (1900), Youth Tabernacle (1909, and dormitory. Most of the contributing buildings are cottages, which were built roughly between 1876 and 1920.[2]

Chester Heights Camp Meeting Historic District
Chester Heights Camp Meeting, November 2009
Location320 Valley Brook Rd., Chester Heights, Pennsylvania
Coordinates39°53′24″N 75°28′03″W
Area30.9 acres (12.5 ha)
Built1872
Architectural styleGothic Revival, Queen Anne
NRHP reference No.01000460[1]
Added to NRHPMay 8, 2001

In two separate incidents in 2011 and early 2012, the Tabernacle and multiple cottages were burned in arson incidents.[3] In 2016 part of the property was sold to be developed as an apartment complex.[4]

History

In 1872, an association of Methodists purchased land and incorporated under the title Chester-Heights Camp-Meeting Association.[5]

Placement of this district on the National Register of Historic Places

The NRHP nomination application for the Chester Heights Camp Meeting Historic District was formally reviewed by Pennsylvania's Historic Preservation Board at its March 13, 2001 meeting at 9:45 a.m. at the State Museum in Harrisburg. Also considered for NRHP status at this time were the: Protection of the Flag Monument in Athens, Pennsylvania; Normandy Farm, George K. Heller School, and Upper Roxborough Historic District in Montgomery County; Awbury Historic District and Harris/Laird, Schober & Company Building in Philadelphia; Michael Derstine Farmstead in Bucks County; John Nicholas and Elizabeth Moyer House in Berks County; William Shelly School and Annex in York County; and the Zeta Psi Fraternity House in Northampton County.[6]

The Chester Heights Camp Meeting Historic District was then officially added to the National Register of Historic Places later in 2001.[1]

Later history

In 2011 and early 2012, the Tabernacle and multiple cottages were burned in two separate arson incidents.[7] In 2016 part of the property was sold to be developed as an apartment complex.[8]

References
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. "National Historic Landmarks & National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania" (Searchable database). CRGIS: Cultural Resources Geographic Information System. Note: This includes Robert J. Wise, Jr. (December 2000). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form: Chester Heights Camp Meeting Historic District" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-01-16.
  3. Scharr, Cindy. "Cops: Chester Heights Camp Meeting fire ignited by burning American flags, leaves". www.delcotimes.com. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
  4. Stark, Kenn. "Chester Heights protests apartment proposal with record turnout". www.delconewsnetwork.com. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
  5. Ashmeade, Henry Graham (1884). History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: L.H. Everts & Co. p. 301. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
  6. Chester Heights Camp Meeting Historic District, in "Historical and Museum Commission: National Register Nominations to be Considered by the Historic Preservation Board," in Pennsylvania Bulletin, Vol. 31, No. 6, February 10, 2001, p. 893. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, retrieved online October 12, 2019.
  7. Scharr, Cindy. "Cops: Chester Heights Camp Meeting fire ignited by burning American flags, leaves". www.delcotimes.com. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
  8. Stark, Kenn. "Chester Heights protests apartment proposal with record turnout". www.delconewsnetwork.com. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
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