Pocopson Home

 The Pocopson Home, dedicated on April 20, 1951, is one of the township’s largest employers.  Prior to that year, the County cared for the indigent at a hospital in Embreeville.  But as early as 1946, plans were forming for a more modern facility, when the Chester County Institution District paid $27,000 for the 75 to 80 acre Isaac Barnard farm as the new site for a home for the indigent.  Pocopson residents protested use of that site for the home and proposed a Coatesville site instead. But by February, 1947, the Barnard site was approved, and bids were sought for the new structure.  The submitted bids proved too high, and the commissioners waited another two years before starting the process again.  Two years later, at a cost of $1.2 million, the new Chester County Home for the Indigent was dedicated, and 139 men and women were moved into their new home.

Within five years, Superintendent David E. Cloud announced that the Home was overcrowded with 220 residents, 130 men and 90 women.  By late 1969, plans were well underway for an expansion of the facility, now called simply “The Pocopson Home.”  A five-story circular tower would be built, at first to contain an additional 144 beds on the finished top three floors, with plans for another 92 beds on the lower floors when required. The Jones building, as the addition was called opened in 1971. The original West Wing section of the building was renovated in 1981.

The Home is licensed by the Pennsylvania Department of Heath and provides services to 275 residents.