Chester
Chester names 3 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below. 1 of them is described by more than one encyclopedia.
Chester an ancient English city six miles on the road from Liverpool to London
Described by 2 of the 6 encyclopedias.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
an ancient English city six miles on the road from Liverpool to London. It stands on a sandstone hill. It is laid out in the form of an oblong, and is surrounded by a wall of sandstone blocks seven feet in thickness and wide enough on top for two or three persons to walk abreast. Chester is one of the few English cities where the old medieval walls are still practically in complete repair. The name is from the Latin castra, meaning camp. Dorchester, Manchester, etc., are English names of similar origin. Chester is, indeed, an old Roman fortification, as indicated by the discovery of coins, inscriptions, a statue of Pallas, Roman altars, and the like. Next to the Roman antiquities in interest is Chester Cathedral. The ground plan is that of a cross. The main body is 355 feet long by 75 feet wide. The transept is 200 feet long. The vaulting rises to a height of 78 feet. The exterior has notable ranges of windows and is marked by a square central tower. The cathedral is of special interest in that it combines every variety of English medieval architecture from Norman to the latest pointed style. Architectural contrasts have been combined attractively and create an agreeable impression. The two main streets of Chester cross each other at right angles and terminate in massive gates. These streets were excavated by the Romans to a depth of eight or ten feet below the general level. Rows of houses, half timber, half mortar work, with curiously carved gables, are reached by steps from the street below. The upper story of each house projects about sixteen feet over the lower story, and is supported by pillars, thus forming a covered colonnade or footway running the entire length of the street. All in all, Chester is one of the most peculiar and interesting cities in England. Tourists landing at Liverpool run to Chester and stay over for a night on their way to London. The town is the seat of Cheshire County, a rich agricultural region, famous for Cheshire cheese. The population of the city in 1908 was about 39,000. The name of Chester Plays is given to a collection of mystery plays founded on scriptural subjects. They were represented by the guilds of Chester at Whitsuntide, and ran three days. These plays appear to belong to the same generation as the Passion Play at Oberammergau. See England
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
an ancient and episcopal city, municipal and parliamentary borough, the capital of Cheshire, England, on the Dee, 16 miles S. E. of Liverpool. The two main streets cross each other at right angles, and were cut out of the rock by the Romans 4 to 10 feet below the level of the houses. The houses in these streets were curiously arranged; the front parts of their second stories, as far back as 16 feet, form a continuous paved promenade or covered gallery, open in front, where there are pillars and steps up from the street below, with private houses above, inferior shops and warehouses below, and the chief shops of the town within. St. John's Church, now partially in ruins, is supposed to have been founded by Ethel red in 698. There are a famous cathedral and many other ancient buildings, making Chester one of the most picturesque towns in England. Modern improvements, however, have been made in every respect. The chief trade of the town is in cheese. There are numerous industrial establishments and good railroad connections. The title Earl of Chester was bestowed by Henry III. on his eldest son and has since then been held by each Prince of Wales. Pop. about 40,000.
Chester city and port of entry of Delaware co.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
city and port of entry of Delaware co., Pa.; on the Delaware river, and the Pennsylvania, the Baltimore and Ohio, the Philadelphia and Reading and the Southern Traction Co. railroads, 15 miles S. of Philadelphia. The favorable location and excellent shipping facilities of the city have given it a diversity of industries. Chester is the local trade center of a very prosperous agricultural and manufacturing district. It is the site of the Roach ship yards, where several vessels of the United States navy have been built. According to the Federal census of 1914 Chester had 153 employing 7,127 hands. industries were ship and machine-shop work, and the manufacture of cotton, locomotives, paper, cigars, silk, woolen and worsted goods, In 1919 there were 4 National banks. Chester is connected with Media, Darby, and other surrounding towns by electric railways. It is the seat of the Pennsylvania Military College and Crozier Theological Seminary, and Swarthmore College is near by. The notable buildings are the United States Government Building, including the postoffice; the City Hall, erected in 1724, of great historic interest; Chester and Homœopathic Hospitals, and the Public Library. Chester was settled by the Swedes in 1643, under the name of Upland, and is the oldest town in the State. It was incorporated in 1866. Pop. (1910) 38,537 (1920) 58,030.
Chester GEORGE RANDOLPH, an American author
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
GEORGE RANDOLPH, an American author; born in Ohio, in 1869. He left home at an early age, worked as reporter on the Detroit "News" and Cincinnati "Enquirer, " but later gave himself entirely to the writing of books and stories for the magazines. His reputation as a writer is based chiefly on his "Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford" stories, concerned with the swindling adventures of a confidence man. He has also written "Early Bird" (1910); "Five Thousand an Hour (1911); etc., and (in collaboration with his wife, Lillian Chester) "The Ball of Fire" (1914); "Runaway June"; and "The Enemy" (1915). borough and
What Has Changed in the Last Century
The English Chester that Aiton's described in 1910 is largely as promised: the walls, the Rows and the cathedral all survive, though the city has grown to roughly 79,000 people and Cheshire itself was reorganised in 2009 into the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester. (Aiton's "six miles" from Liverpool is a slip; Collier's 16 is right.) The Pennsylvania Chester has gone the other way: the shipyards Collier's boasted of are gone, the population has fallen from the 58,030 of 1920 to about 32,600, and in November 2022 the city filed for bankruptcy, the first in the state to do so. Its Pennsylvania Military College became Widener University in 1972, and Crozer Theological Seminary, unremarked in 1921, is now best known as where Martin Luther King Jr. studied from 1948. George Randolph Chester died in 1924, and his Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford swindler, a household name then, is read today only by specialists.
Written for this edition, 2026.