Hatboro Borough

Montgomery County, Pennsylvania

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Borough municipal offices are located at 414 South York Road, Hatboro PA 19040. Hatboro is part of the Hatboro‑Horsham School District.

Neighborhoods

Once a small stop-off on a toll road from Philadelphia to New York, the town of Hatboro [†] has evolved into the pleasant, walkable community of today. Its traditional Main Street anchors the borough and is a focal point for residents. Industrial, retail, and office sector employers provide jobs in the borough, and quiet residential neighborhoods with a variety of housing types hold about 7,500 residents. This major planning effort for Hatboro was undertaken during a time when population started to increase in the borough after many years of stagnation.

Hatboro is located in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, in the Philadelphia metropolitan region. Hatboro is a stop on SEPTA's Warminster commuter rail line, which takes passengers into Center City, Philadelphia. The Pennsylvania Turnpike runs immediately south of the borough.

In 2019, Hatboro is a walkable, safe, small town with various shops and restaurants on a quaint main street. Hatboro's events, friendly people, and many groups and organizations create a strong sense of community. Hatboro's many assets include a long history, reasonably priced homes, convenient access to Philadelphia by train, a municipal pool, park space, high-quality school district, and great emergency services.

The physical character of a place combined with its people, history, organizations, and culture, create the community and identity of that place. Hatboro has a lot of what is needed to have a strong community and sense of place. There are distinctive public spaces, a plethora of active community organizations, a series of popular community events, and active historic organizations working to preserve and share the story of the town.

Partial list of Borough Community Groups:

Hatboro's library is one of the oldest in the country. In addition to the circulation of library materials, they offer many classes, groups, and events for children and adults. The library's mission is "to provide all the members of its community and serviced areas with access to materials that will fulfill their cultural, informational, educational, recreational and technological needs."

Hatboro is governed by eight elected officials consisting of a seven-member council and a mayor. Everyday operations of the borough are run by a Borough Manager, Chief of Police, and their staffs. Several other boards and commissions are staffed with members appointed by borough council. Elected officials attend trainings conducted by the Pennsylvania State Association of Boroughs (PSAB) to help them be good stewards of the community's needs.

Hatboro's history is well-known by residents and visitors. Historic properties are permanently preserved, and new construction in historic areas fits in well with existing buildings. Hatboro honors its history by remembering, celebrating, and preserving the past, while continuing to innovate and adapt for the trends and challenges of the future.

Several historic organizations are involved in collecting and preserving the history of Hatboro. The Hatboro Historical Commission, including an official Hatboro Historian, is a committee appointed by Borough Council and charged with creating a historical preservation program and advising Borough Council and the Borough Planning Commission on matters of historical importance.

Derivation of Neighborhood Names

Naming neighborhoods can be a good way to talk about a community and help residents identify with their area. Some neighborhoods in Hatboro have had names that the residents identify with for a long time, and some still do not have a neighborhood name that is used locally. The names come from a variety of sources, primarily historical maps of what an area was known as many years ago or who developed an area for housing. Beginning with the southwest corner of the borough and going clockwise, each area of the borough is briefly discussed. There are several distinctive areas of the Borough that do not have existing neighborhoods names. Names have been assigned to these areas for the purposes of mapping them in this plan. West of York Road Hatboro Farms is in the south-west corner of the Borough. Much of this area was developed in the 1960s.

Hatboro Heights, also known as the Williams Tract, goes from Pennypack Elementary School north almost to Moreland Ave. Hatboro Heights was developed primarily in the 1930s and 1940s. The neighborhood around Hatboro Memorial Pool, including north to Pine Tree Lane and east to York Road, was developed by the Yerkes family, and is shown as the Yerkes Tract. There are a few older homes in this area, and a mix of sizes of homes. The area around Home and Bright Roads is shown as the Schneider Tract after the family that developed there. York Gardens is the northwest corner of the Borough, and it used to include what is now the panhandle of Upper Moreland Township. York Gardens has primarily small Cape Cod-style homes that were built in the 1940s.

A few multifamily developments are referred to by their own neighborhood names, including the Woodwinds, along the tributary of the Pennypack Creek, and Stonybrook on the other side of York Road from the Woodwinds. In the area of Yorkshire and Hunter Ways, there are some townhomes and condos that are shown on the map as "Yorkshire-Hunter." East of York Road Mitchell Park (also known as Brewster Park) is a housing development built in the 1940s of primarily twin homes. Mitchell Park homes mostly have shared driveways and no garages; there are sidewalks throughout. The Seltzer Tract is an area west of the railroad tracks in the north of the borough, south of Crooked Billet Elementary School. It was developed on land formerly owned by a Dr. Seltzer. Tanner Farms is the area in the northeast corner of the Borough, beyond the old Roberts&Mander Stove Factory. Some of the houses in Tanner Farms were built to house workers in the factory. Residents of the new housing that is being created in the former Roberts&Mander buildings may become a part of the Tanner Farms neighborhood.

The Victorian District covers most of the older homes in the center of Hatboro, especially along Byberry, Moreland, and Montgomery Aves, east of York Road. The new townhome development currently being built by Toll Brothers is known as Hatboro Station. It is labeled as such on the map, and the industrial and office uses just north of there are included in that area suggesting that any potential future residential development in that area might be associated with that neighborhood. The neighborhood of Hatboro Gardens is located north of the cemetery along the railroad tracks. The southeast corner of the Borough contains the Fisher‑Kahn home, which is on the National Register of Historic Places. The area near that home is shown as "Fisher-Kahn," a neighborhood that contains some of the larger homes in the borough.

Arts and culture includes a broad range of creative activities and offerings. Hatboro already has a community theater company, Village Players, and several businesses on York Road that offer a participatory visual arts experience. Arts and culture offerings make a town more desirable and have a direct positive economic impact. People visiting locations offering arts and culture will often extend their outing by patronizing other businesses such as restaurants. Promoting existing arts offerings and creating space for additional arts and culture will broaden how the borough is perceived and generate revenue for existing businesses.

The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC) uses the NETS data to forecast employment numbers into the future. The number of jobs in Hatboro is predicted to increase 7.7 percent from 2015 to 2045. Although the job growth outlook for Hatboro is good, it is worth noting that the predicted countywide increase in employment is nearly double Hatboro's.

† Selections from: Hatboro 2040: Comprehensive Plan, 2019, draft, www.myhatboro.org, accessed January, 2021.

Nearby Towns: Abington Twp • Bryn Athyn Boro • Cheltenham Twp • Horsham Twp • Ivyland Boro • Jenkintown Boro • Lower Moreland Twp • Rockledge Boro • Springfield Twp • Upper Dublin Twp • Upper Moreland Twp • Upper Southampton Twp • Warminster Twp • Warrington Twp • Warwick Twp • Wrightstown Twp •



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