The Marshallton Historic District is located along the Strasburg Road in central Chester County. It assumed its present configuration between the 1760s-1880s, with scattered infill and rebuilding occurring into the 1920s. Of the 71 principal buildings in the Marshallton Historic District, 67 contribute to its historical and architectural significance. The 4 non-contributing buildings include three from the 1930s-40s (a dwelling, store, and apartment building) and a c.1965 brick dwelling. Of similar size and scale to the district's contributing buildings (by which they are far outnumbered), these non-contributing buildings do not detract from Marshallton's overall architectural unity.
Marshallton lies only four miles west of the county seat of West Chester; its surroundings are still rural. Leaving West Chester by the Strasburg Road, one passes sprawling farms, open fields, and pasture land. There is a small group of historic buildings near the nationally registered Cope's Bridge on the East Branch Brandywine River, and then more open country. Near the top of a hill and commanding a sweeping view of the valley drained by the Brandywine, lies Marshallton, a village dating from the late 18th century. Although it began as but a cluster of houses near an inn known as the Center House, Marshallton grew into a more linear village as Strasburg Road became a main thoroughfare. A self-contained community at the turn of the 20th century, today it features some 50 century-old or older dwellings, two historic inns, a restored blacksmith shop, two places of worship, the former town hall and community school, three cemeteries, and a few small stores.