Kennett Square is dubbed the Mushroom Capital of the World for a good reason, as the Chester County borough produces over 60 percent of all mushrooms in the country, writes Kalena Thomhave for The Keystone.
The area produces a variety of mushrooms, including white button, portabella, and numerous specialty types such as shiitake. Kennett Square celebrates its mushroom legacy with the popular Mushroom Festival and rings in the New Year by dropping a 700-pound mushroom, attracting visitors from across the region and beyond.
The town’s mushroom story begins in the latter half of the nineteenth century, when a Quaker florist used the empty space beneath his greenhouse benches to grow mushrooms. He imported mushroom spawn from England and established the first commercial mushroom site in the United States, inspiring other florists to follow suit.
The industry flourished in the 1920s as European immigrants brought decades of cultivation expertise, transforming local mushroom production into a thriving commercial enterprise.
By 1955, the American Mushroom Institute had been established, with its headquarters in Kennett Square.
Today, the local mushroom industry employs over 8,000 people, with more than 2,000 mushroom growing houses just in Chester County alone.
Read more about Kennett Square’s title as one of the largest producers of mushrooms in the nation in The Keystone.
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