Crime Scene and Trauma Cleanup in Swarthmore, PA

Swarthmore is a borough in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, that grew up around Swarthmore College and was incorporated as a borough on March 6, 1893, from a section of Springfield Township.

The community was originally known as Westdale, in honor of the painter Benjamin West, an early resident, and was later renamed Swarthmore after the college that defines it.

Swarthmore College was founded in 1864 by members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), was coeducational from the start, and was named for Swarthmore Hall in England, the home of George Fox, the founder of the Society of Friends.

The college's 425-acre campus makes up roughly one-third of the borough's land area, and the entire campus forms the Scott Arboretum, created in 1929 and celebrated for its gardens, old and rare trees, and the adjoining Crum Woods.

The land was settled in the late 1600s by Quakers on territory granted by William Penn, and the area was originally Lenape land before European settlement.

Passenger rail service from Philadelphia arrived in the 1880s and turned Swarthmore into a leafy commuter suburb, a role it still plays about 11 miles southwest of Center City Philadelphia.

Many streets in the southern half of the borough are named for eastern colleges, and much of its housing stock dates from the Victorian era through the 1920s.

Swarthmore had 6,543 residents in the 2020 census, up from 6,194 in 2010.

According to Census QuickFacts, Swarthmore has about 2,067 households, averages 2.34 persons per household, and has a 76.0% owner-occupied housing rate.

Swarthmore is one of the most educated small towns in America — Census QuickFacts reports that 81.5% of its residents age 25 and over hold a bachelor's degree or higher.