Chester is a town in Orange County, New York, United States. The population was 12,646 at the 2020 census. Chester contains a village, also called Chester.

Chester is the birthplace of Philadelphia-style cream cheese.

History

The Lenape people have settled in Orange County for over 5,000 years. Europeans first settled in the 1700s which were ethnic Dutch and English colonists.

The economy of the early town was based on dairy products, particularly milk. This industry flourished because completion of the Erie Railroad in 1841, which ran through Chester, enabled local farmers to ship their products to New York City, where demand was high. For instance, local farmer Phil Gregory would ship 240 quarts () of milk by train to New York City. The railroad earned $1.20 ($ in modern dollars) in freight charges; Gregory's business eventually grew to 300,000 quarts () of milk per day, which in turn gave the railroad over $1,000 ($ in modern dollars) in daily profit. The large families of the Orthodox created strains for the local public school system, and there were other tensions between the strict Kiryas Joel and neighboring communities. Town supervisor Alex Jamieson told a local newspaper that the town would be buying up areas of undeveloped open space, including around the planned development in Chester, in order "to keep the Hasidic out so that they can't control the Town Board."

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which is land and (0.24%) is water.

Conjoined NY-17 and US-6 pass through the northern part of Chester. NY-94 crosses NY-17 south of Chester village.

Demographics

As of the census

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York operates area Roman Catholic schools. St. Columba School in Chester closed in 1991.

See also

  • List of towns in New York (state)

References

  • Town website