There has been a long time rivalry between Coatesville and West Chester.

Coatesville was a major industrial municipality and West Chester a major government center. You can look up the historic near warfare between West Chester and Coatesville on Google.

I think that because of the historic rivalry between Coatesville and West Chester the two are frequently compared. They are other municipalities in Chester County better fitted for comparison, for instance, Coatesville and Phoenixville or Coatesville and Downingtown.

It doesn’t work very well to compare Coatesville and West Chester. Coatesville has a steel company and a few smaller industries. West Chester has a Courthouse, County Government Services and a tax supported University. If the flow of government money to West Chester were suddenly cut off the only business in West Chester of any consequence would be restaurants. And most of their patrons would be gone.