William Penn renamed it Chestnut Street in 1684.

The road crosses the Schuylkill River on the Chestnut Street Bridge.

It serves as eastbound Pennsylvania Route 3 between 63rd and 33rd Streets.

When the citizens of Philadelphia were afraid that the British might attack the essentially unmanned Fort Mifflin, the secretary of the Young Men's Democratic Society called a meeting held at Stratton's Tavern at Chestnut and Sixth Streets on March 20, 1813.

The young men agreed to volunteer their services to defend the fort.