Swarthmore Borough is a tight-knit community in synch with the college that influenced it back in 1864, writes Sandy Smith for Philadelphia Magazine.

Swarthmore was originally called Westdale, named for its famous native, painter Benjamin West.

The community became Swarthmore in 1864 when the Quakers founded Swarthmore College.

The borough was incorporated in 1893 and fully built out by the 1930s, according to Scott Laughlin of BHHS Fox & Roach.

The college expanded the borough’s social scene when it built the 40-room Inn at Swarthmore at 10 South Chester Road in 2016.

The inn includes the Broad Table Tavern restaurant and a bar with the borough’s first liquor license.

 “The inn has done a great job of bringing the college into the community,” says Becky Hanson, a lifelong Swarthmorean and an agent at D. Patrick Welsh Real Estate.  

The Swarthmore Public Library at 121 Park Avenue has the highest per-capita use of any library in Delaware County.

Meanwhile, Swarthmore’s housing stock is rich with a variety of styles.

The town also has the country’s third-oldest co-op grocery store, The Swarthmore Co-Op at 341 Dartmouth Avenue. It began as a health-food outlet in Hanson’s grandmother’s basement in 1932.  

Read more at Philadelphia Magazine about the community of Swarthmore.