Emergency Biohazard Cleanup Near West Lima Lima, PA

Lima is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Middletown Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania; its name is pronounced 'LY-mə,' unlike the capital of Peru.

Lima had a population of 2,745 at the 2020 census, nearly unchanged from 2,735 in 2010 but down from 3,225 in 2000.

Lima covers about 1.5 square miles in the northern part of Middletown Township, one of Delaware County's oldest townships, established in 1686.

The Middletown Friends Meetinghouse in Lima was built in 1702 and is one of the oldest Quaker meetinghouses in what was originally Chester County.

Lima played an important role in the anti-slavery movement: local families such as the Van Leers and the Foxes sold lots along what is now Van Leer Avenue to free Black tradesmen and to buyers who supported the free Black community.

Lima is home to the John J. Tyler Arboretum, a 650-acre public garden that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.

The arboretum began in 1825, when brothers Jacob and Minshall Painter began systematically planting more than 1,000 varieties of trees and shrubs on land their family had held since Thomas Minshall bought it from William Penn in 1681; descendant Laura Tyler bequeathed the property to the public in 1944.

The Tyler Arboretum's 17 miles of trails wind past several Pennsylvania state champion trees, including a giant sequoia planted in the Painter brothers' era.

Lima has an unusually old population — its median resident age was 71.6 years at the 2010 census, reflecting the large retirement and care communities located there, including the Fair Acres Geriatric Center — and its average household size was just 1.8 people.