Chester Borough is located in southwest Morris County, New Jersey, in an area of wooded rolling hills. The Borough is a 1.45 square mile community and is located at the crossroads of two major roadways: State Highway 24 and U.S. Highway 206.

In the early 1700's Lenni-Lenapi Indians inhabited Chester, once known as Black River. The first permanent settlers arrived in the 1730's and began farming. Later that century, activities centered around mills, mining, inn- taverns and the simple agricultural life.

Chester was first surveyed and mapped in 1713 by proprietors for the provinces of East and West Jersey. The Lawrence line, dividing East and West Jersey in colonial times, went directly through Chester. The early name " Black River " is still carried by the tributary of the Raritan which flows through Chester Township. After 1730, settlers began arriving in the area, primarily farmers relocating from Long Island. Their numbers included Presbyterians and Congregationalists, and their single community grew up around church, farm and tavern.

From 1799, when it was set off from Roxbury, to 1930, when the Borough was incorporated, " Chester " meant all of the present-day township and its village center, now the heart of the Borough.

During the early 1800's, Chester was a stage stop where travelers sought overnight accomodations at the Public House.

In the latter half of the 1800's, iron ore transformed Chester into a boomtown bringing in hundreds of miners who lived in " Patch Houses ", not far from Main Street, still currently residences. Mining accounted for Chester's heyday during the 1800's. However, near the end of the century, mining dwindled, the miners left the area and Chester returned to its agricultural roots.

Chester Borough boasts a rich historic heritage which is obvious in the architecture of the remaining older structures in the Borough, Many of the buildings, being built in the 1800's, today serve both residential and commercial uses. This heritage is also obvious in the street pattern which, for the most part, was established 50 to 100 years ago.

The quiet Village life, barely changed by time, continued until the mid-1900's when sububia filtered into Chester. Fortunately, Chester has been able to retain much of its charateristic charm of an earlier time while accomodating the growth associated with a modern suburban Community.

Chester Borough maintains a quaint village charm that identifies it as something special. It is a village where people know each other. It is a small town where one can walk from place to place. It is a single family residential community supported by houses of worship, fine schools, parks and services. It is a self-contained commercial center providing a wide variety of shops, stores and attractions. Chester Borough is all these things which combine to make it a place where people want to live, work and shop.