The Marcus Hook area of the Delaware River waterfront has attracted settlement since the movement of the Lenni Lenape into this region. Reputedly, the town derives its name from a major Indian settlement, which became a Swedish trading outpost and colonization site in the 1640's. A report by the Swedish Commissary Hudde, dated 1645, speaks of two principal villages on the west bank of the Delaware: "Maarte" and "Wissenmenet." The word "Hook" meant a point of land and presumably referred to the natural harbor formed below Marcus Hook Creek.The area from the west bank of Chester Creek to Marcus Hook Creek was originally a part of a large tract granted by Queen Christina of Sweden to Captain John Ammundsen Besk in 1653; the land west of the latter creek was given to a number of Swedish farmers in 1679. The Dutch called this area "Marrites Hoeck" after conquering the Delaware watershed in 1655 to 1664. After the fall of New Amsterdam, these settlements were under the English crown but attracted little interest until Charles II granted William Penn vast acreage for colonization. Some English settlers had migrated to Marcus Hook from Burlington and other West Jersey hamlets, but most arrived in 1682 and 1683. Within six years, the English predominated enough to have the area's name changed to "Chichester" after the Sussex town from which the most influential citizens had emigrated. In common usage, however, Marcus Hook, remained the tern for the waterfront settlement while "Chichester" became the designation for the hinterland.

Another significant industry was founded in Marcus Hook when Samuel Salvage first imported British technology to manufacture "artificial silk" in the United States. The American Viscose Company, initially a subsidiary of the English textile firm Samuel Courtauld and Company, built the largest synthetic fiber plant in the world here in 1910. Marcus Hook, therefore, is the American birthplace of rayon, the first mass-produced, man-made fiber in the country. In addition to the industrial complex, American Viscose also constructed an early planned community of employee housing in the popular Tudor Revival style that still goes by the name "Viscose Village."Marcus Hook's population peaked in the 1920's at 5,324, when the first pressures for residential subdivision were generated by burgeoning industries. Subsequent growth of the refineries and related businesses reduced the residential core community to its present day population of about half that number.Today, the Borough of Marcus Hook continues as a family oriented - pedestrian friendly community, where the main business district, public parks and buildings, schools, neighborhoods, and the riverfront are all within close proximity. The small town feel and more personalized sense of community prevails in Marcus Hook. Situated in the extreme southeastern corner of the state, Marcus Hook is proudly referred to as "The Cornerstone of Pennsylvania."