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The residence and tannery of M.B. Chambers, residence and tannery, Chester County, PA, circa 1880s.
Credit: J. Smith Futhey and Gilbert Cope, History of Chester County. Philadelphia. L.H. Everts, 1881. Accessible Archives
In the 1700s, tanneries appeared in Pennsylvania wherever there were natural resources necessary to support a leather-producing operation. In the southeastern part of the state, Anthony Wayne established a tannery in Chester County years before he earned fame as an American general during the Revolutionary War. Pictured here, nearly one hundred and twenty years later, is the nearby West Bradford tannery of M.B. Chambers.