The history of the area goes back to
William Penn, but the area remained predominantly rural until the 20th century.
17th century Land in the area was sold and settled soon after
William Penn was named proprietor of the colonial-era
Province of Pennsylvania in 1681 by
King Charles II of England. Peter and William Taylor bought the land where Media is now located, directly from Penn. At the time, the land was located in
Chester County. Providence Township was organized in 1684, and later divided into
Upper Providence and
Nether Providence townships by 1690, even though they only had 40 taxable properties at the time. The current borough, formed in 1850, sits between the two townships. In 1683, the Court of Chester County approved the construction of "Providence Great Road", now
Pennsylvania Route 252. The road, which runs north from
Chester to within a few blocks of today's downtown, is shown on a 1687 map along with the names of local landowners. It forms the eastern border of the borough. Thomas Minshall, a
Quaker, was an early Media resident, settling just outside the small village then known as "Providence", along Providence Great Road. The village then included a tailor shop, blacksmith shop, wheelwright shop, barn and other buildings. Minshall bought from William Penn and arrived in 1682. The
Providence Friends Meetinghouse was established at his house in February 1688.
18th century The original Friends Meetinghouse was built out of logs in 1699 or 1700, and the current building was completed in 1814. A house on Minshall's property, built around 1750, still stands and was given to the citizens of the borough in 1975. In 1789,
Chester County, Pennsylvania was divided, with the eastern portion becoming
Delaware County, Pennsylvania.
19th century The area in the center of the new county remained rural through 1850. On March 11, 1850, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania by Special Act of Assembly incorporated the Borough of Media, and made the sale of malt and spirituous liquors unlawful within its borders. At the same time, the county seat of
Delaware County was moved to Media from Chester. The borough was formed from four farms purchased by the county, totaling only . The borders of the borough have not changed since that time. Streets were plotted in a rectangular grid around the location of the new courthouse, lots were sold at public auctions, and the construction of houses began. Sources agree that Minshall Painter, a descendant of Thomas Minshall, suggested the name "Media", but do not agree on the reason. The name most likely comes from the borough's
median location in the direct center of Delaware County.
20th century In 1940, the
Pennsylvania guide described Media by noting that "[t]he majority of its houses, almost all built since the
American Civil War, sit far back on shaded lawns and seem somewhat gloomy. The borough has a large and prosperous business section and a few small industrial plants; many townspeople work in
Philadelphia or
Chester." The
John J. Tyler Arboretum occupies part of Thomas Minshall's original . This farm and a nearby
Village of Lima was used by the
Underground Railroad. The land was donated to a public trust in 1944 by an eighth-generation descendant. The arboretum was started as a private collection by brothers Jacob and Minshall Painter. In 1825, they began systematically planting over 1,000 varieties of trees and shrubs. Over twenty of their original trees survive, including a
giant sequoia. Minshall Painter was also a leader of the
Delaware County Institute of Science, which was formed on September 21, 1833, with just four other members: George Miller, John Miller, George Smith, M.D., and
John Cassin. The institute was incorporated in 1836. About 1850, Painter gave the institute the land where its building currently stands at 11 Veterans Square, and the building was constructed in 1867. In the second half of the 19th century, Media was a summer resort for well-to-do Philadelphians. The borough's large vacation hotels included the Idlewild Hotel (1871) on Lincoln Street at Gayley Terrace, Chestnut Grove House or "The Colonial" (1860) on Orange Street, and Brooke Hall on Orange Street and Washington Avenue (now Baltimore Avenue). The Chestnut Grove was used for a year by nearby
Swarthmore College due to a fire on its campus. The
West Chester and Philadelphia Railroad was built through Media on October 19, 1854. Electrified service was opened on December 2, 1928. Up to 50 trains passed through each day. The railroad became part of the
Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad and eventually the
Penn Central.
SEPTA took over operations in 1983.
Woodrow Wilson spoke at the Media Station in 1912 during his first
election campaign. Trolley transportation lines spread to and through Media in the 1890s and early 1900s. from the 1920s gives one version of the origin of the town's nameThe Media Theatre opened as a
vaudeville house in 1927. The first talkie film,
The Jazz Singer, was shown there. It remained a popular cinema through the 1970s and 1980s. In 1994, the theater underwent a $1 million (~$ in ) restoration by Walter Strine Sr. and re-opened as the Media Theatre for the Performing Arts. Shows produced there have included
The Full Monty,
Carousel and
Miss Saigon. On March 8, 1971, the
Citizens' Commission to Investigate the FBI raided an
FBI "resident agency" in Media. They later released thousands of documents to major newspapers around the country. These documents revealed FBI tactics such as the illegal wiretapping of civil rights leaders like
Martin Luther King Jr. and the recruitment of
Boy Scouts as informants, and confirmed for the first time the existence of
COINTELPRO, an FBI program to "expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, or otherwise neutralize" dissident groups in the United States.
21st century In June 2006, Media became the first town in the United States to follow over 300 towns in Europe in attaining
fair trade certification. To meet the criteria for certification, Media passed a council resolution in support of
fair trade, served fair-trade coffee and tea in local government meetings and offices, ensured that a range of fair-trade products were available in local restaurants and businesses, raised popular support and provided media coverage for the fair-trade campaign, and convened a fair-trade steering committee to ensure continued commitment. ==Local historic districts==