Kennett Square

Kennett Square
	; Mushroom Festival in Kennett Square
Location in Pennsylvania
	Kennett Square
	Kennett Square
Basic data
Foundation :	1682
State :	United States
State :	Pennsylvania
County :	Chester County
Coordinates :	39 ° 51 ′ N , 75 ° 43 ′ W Coordinates: 39 ° 51 ′ N , 75 ° 43 ′ W
Time zone :	Eastern ( UTC − 5 / −4 )
Residents :	6,072 (as of 2010)
Population density :	2,200 inhabitants per km 2
Area :	2.78 km 2 (approx. 1 mi 2 ) of; which 2.76 km 2 (approx. 1 mi 2 ) is land
Height :	100 m
Postal code :	19348
Area code :	+1 610 or 484
FIPS :	42-39352
Website :	www.kennett-square.pa.us

Kennett Square is a self-governing city in Chester County , Pennsylvania . At the United States Census 2010 it had 6,072 inhabitants. Kennett Square is known as the mushroom capital of the world as the region produces over a million pounds of edible mushrooms every day .

history

The area of today's Kennett Square was originally settled by the Lenni Lenape . The place was originally called Kennet Square, Kennet for England and Square for one square mile according to a land grant by William Penn .

Kennett Square is near Delaware and Maryland , both of which were slave states before the Civil War . The city became part of the Underground Railroad due to its favorable location and a large proportion of Quakers who opposed slavery .

In 1885 two carnation growers came up with the idea of growing mushrooms in unused spaces below their greenhouses and imported spores from Europe. The farmers hired Italian immigrants as workers, who over time set up their own farms. There were about a hundred mushroom farms in the 1950s. As a result of mergers, there are still 60 farms in the 2010s, which are growing half of US mushroom production.