Springfield Township

Delaware County, Pennsylvania

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Springfield Township municipal offices are located at 50 Powell Road, Springfield PA 19064; phone 610‑544‑1300.

Neighborhoods

Beginnings [1]

The first record of Springfield as a township is in 1686 when Peter Lester was appointed constable. In the south, 850 acres had been surveyed in 1681 to Henry Maddock and James Kennedy. Henry Maddock represented Chester County in the General Assembly in 1684, but subsequently returned to England, the tract mentioned becoming the property of his son, Mordecai, and included the present grounds of Swarthmore College. Other early land owners were: John Gleaves, Peter Leicester, Jane Lownes (a widow, who came in 1682, settling on 150 acres in Springfield in 1684; on this farm, yet owned by her descendants, is a stone bearing the inscription: "Jane Lownes, her cave and home 1684"); Robert Taylor; Bartholomew Coppock; Bartholomew Coppock Jr., at whose house the first Friends' meetings in Springfield were held, and who gave the two acres of land on which the church and graveyard were located; George Maris, and others.

The northern part of Springfield is rural but the south much more thickly populated, Morton and Swarthmore being thriving boroughs. Schools are located in the eastern, central and western sections, in addition to those maintained by the boroughs. Friends' meeting were early established, followed later by other denominational organizations.

Springfield has the honor of having been the birthplace of Benjamin West, the great early American artist, his birth date being October 10, 1738. Pennsdale Farm, directly opposite Lownes Free Church, has since prior to 1800 been owned in the Thompson family. Prior to that year it was owned by John Thompson, a noted engineer, who when a young man was in the employ of the noted Holland Company. He built as Presque Isle (now Erie Pennsylvania) a small schooner in which he made the voyage to Philadelphia, his vessel the "White Fish" being the first that ever passed from Lake Erie to Philadelphia, being taken around Niagara Falls by land and relaunched in Lake Ontario. The "White Fish" was taken to Independence Square and remained until decayed. This voyage was made in 1795.

  1. Jordan, John W., LL.D., A History of Delaware County Pennsylvania and It's People, Volume I, 1914, Lewis Historical Publishing, New York

Nearby Towns: Aldan Boro • Aston Twp • Brookhaven Boro • Chester Twp • Clifton Heights Boro • Collingdale Boro • Colwyn Boro • Darby Boro • Darby Twp • East Lansdowne Boro • Eddystone Boro • Folcroft Boro • Glenolden Boro • Greenwich Twp • Haverford Twp • Lansdowne Boro • Lower Merion Twp • Marple Twp • Media Boro • Middletown Twp • Millbourne Boro • Morton Boro • Narberth Boro • Nether Providence Twp • Newtown Twp • Norwood Boro • Parkside Boro • Paulsboro Boro • Prospect Park Boro • Radnor Twp • Ridley Park Boro • Ridley Twp • Rose Valley Boro • Royersford Boro • Rutledge Boro • Sharon Hill Boro • Swarthmore Boro • Tinicum Twp • Upland Boro • Upper Darby Twp • Upper Providence Twp • Yeadon Boro •


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