Widener University Art Gallery

University Center
Chester, PA 19013

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Back in 1863, a Union soldier returned home to Chester from the fields at Antietam and Gettysburg to begin a very profitable stone quarry business. That soldier, Alfred O. Deshong, would eventually amass such a fortune that he would bequeath his estate to the city of Chester, which when adjusted for inflation, had a value of just over $24 million dollars.
Part of that estate was Deshong’s exquisite art collection of 19th and 20th century American and European paintings and 18th and 19th century Asian art. Today, guests can enjoy these works of art for free at the Widener University Art Collection and Gallery. Talk about a bargain.