The history of Chester Heights predates grants of William Penn, when the Swedes had penetrated some distance inland from the Delaware River and had found the rich soil very conducive to productive farming.

It wanders over and along the West Branch of Chester Creek and is noted for its abrupt curves at the borough's southern end.

The borough was the Fourth Ward of Aston and had been referred to for some time as Chester Heights and Wawa.

It was in the northern or "Wawa" area that, over the past one hundred years or more, several large land parcels were acquired for summer residences.

In 1852 the cornerstone of St. Thomas the Apostle Church was laid, to house a Roman Catholic congregation that had been meeting on the property of the Willcox family since 1728.

Today, approximately one dozen early fieldstone or brick dwellings remain intact, though not necessarily restored.

The oldest homes date to 1720 or earlier; many of them were established by 1777 when "a number of the stragglers from the defeated American Army, hungry, demoralized and exhausted in their flight from the field at Brandywine, collected in the neighborhood of Logtown, where they passed the night, sleeping in the outbuildings and open fields."

Altogether, the houses represent an historically valuable span of 18th century to Victorian architecture in the borough.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough has a total area of 2.2 square miles (5.7 km2), all land.

[3] The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally cool to cold winters.

[1] On June 23, 2015, the borough suffered significant wind damage in one of its strongest severe thunderstorms to strike the area.

At nearby Philadelphia International Airport, a wind gust of 71 miles per hour was recorded from the storm.

The Borough of Chester Heights receives a majority of its local services tax from employees of Wawa.

The fire company is fully volunteer and serves the borough of Chester Heights in addition to a select portion of Thornbury Township.