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Renting an Apartment in Horsham
Horsham Township is a township in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United
States. The population was 24,232 at the 2000 census, and was chosen as the 15th
best place to live in the United States by Money Magazine in their 2007 Top 100
Best Places to Live.
History
Horsham Township is named after the town of Horsham in the historic county of
Sussex in the South of England. Horsham is one of several townships in
Montgomery County whose name and size were determined by master survey lines
drawn by William Penn's engineers as they first plotted this part of the colony
for sale and settlement. Parallel lines, projected at intervals of a mile and a
half and extending in a northwesterly direction from settlements along the
Delaware, served not only as base lines for measurement of individual land
grants but also as courses for future highways. County Line Road, Horsham Road,
and Welsh Road are examples of highways so laid out. The effect of these survey
lines upon the development pattern of Eastern Montgomery County is very much in
evidence today.
In 1684, the entire township of 17 square miles (44 km˛) was made available to
individual purchasers. Samuel Carpenter, from the town of Horsham in the
historic county of Sussex, England, after which the township is named, purchased
5,000 acres (20 km˛), 4200 acres (17 km˛) within the present boundaries of the
township. In 1709, Carpenter, then Treasurer of Pennsylvania, began to sell
tracts of land to migrating Quakers. In 1717, Horsham Township was established
as a municipal entity by a vote of the people.
In 1718, Sir William Keith, then Provincial Governor of Pennsylvania, acquired
1200 acres (5 km˛) of Carpenter's land on which he erected a house in keeping
with the dignity of his office. The development of Keith's "plantation" proved
to be a step in establishing closer ties between Horsham and neighboring
communities, particularly those of Hatboro and Willow Grove. He was responsible
for the construction of the present Easton Road (PA Highway 611) from the old
York Road junction at Willow Grove to his mansion on County Line Road in 1722.
The first significant settlement in the Township centered around the junction of
Horsham and Easton Roads and was known as Horshamville. Keith's extension of
Easton Road prompted the establishment of the Horsham Friends Meeting House.
The township's early social and economic life revolved around this Meeting
House. In a similar way, Prospectville, originally known as Cashtown, was
established at the junction of two roads, Limekiln Pike and Horsham Road. This
portion of Limekiln Pike was an extension of the original segment established in
1693 to provide a thoroughfare between Old York Road and the limekilns of Thomas
Fitzwater in Upper Dublin Township. Prospectville, on a high elevation point
within the township, offering a resting spot with a tavern for those traveling
along either Limekiln Pike or Horsham Road. Here lived several generations of
the Simpson family, one of whom was the mother of Ulysses S. Grant, the 18th
President of the United States.
The hamlet of Davis Grove grew at the intersection of Keith's Road (now called
Governors Road) and Privet Road and was once a focal point of community life. It
was here the residents of the township came to vote, discuss politics, and
attend community meetings. The "Golden Ball Inn", which at one time was used for
housing guests of Governor Keith, enjoyed much Revolutionary splendor. The two
roads were formerly through links. Keith's Road extended from Easton Road to
Keith Valley Road and Privet Road, from Horsham Road to Easton Road. Expansion
of the Willow Grove Naval Air Station caused the closing of these roads and the
absorption of the hamlet. Today, there are virtually no remaining signs of the
original settlement .
Through most of the early and the middle 19th Century, Horsham's population grew
slowly. Its character was not altered in any significant way until about 1872,
when the North Pennsylvania Railroad extended a rail line from Glenside to New
Hope and established a station in the nearby community of Hatboro, two and
three-quarter miles east of the nucleus of Horshamville. Horsham-Hatboro-Byberry
Road provided easy access to Hatboro's station and, as a result, residential
development began along the road virtually linking the two communities together.
By 1890, the township's population reached 1,300.
In 1896, the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company's northern extension of the
Philadelphia-Willow Grove trolley service was extended to Doylestown along
Easton Road from the Willow Grove Amusement Park at Easton and Welsh Roads. This
provided various connections to other trolly lines.
In 1926, Harold F. Pitcairn, a pioneer in the development of the autogiro, a
forerunner of the helicopter, outgrew his flying field in Bryn Athyn and
purchased 191 acres of farmland along Easton Road in the vicinity of Graeme
Park. The new "Pitcairn Field" remained in operation for testing "autogiros"
until 1942 when the United States Navy purchased the field. Today, the base is
still in operation and, after the acquisition of additional land for the
expansion of facilities, it has become one of the largest Naval Air Stations in
the nation.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the township has a total area of
44.9 km˛ (17.3 mi˛), all land. One branch of the Pennypack Creek arises in
Horsham.
Demographics
As of the census˛ of 2000, there were 24,232 people, 9,082 households, and 6,448
families residing in the township. The population density was 539.9/km˛
(1,398.6/mi˛). There were 9,269 housing units at an average density of 206.5/km˛
(535.0/mi˛). The racial makeup of the township was 89.82% White, 3.73% African
American, 0.17% Native American, 4.80% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.55% from
other races, and 0.91% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race
were 1.60% of the population.
There were 9,082 households out of which 37.3% had children under the age of 18
living with them, 59.6% were married couples living together, 8.3% had a female
householder with no husband present, and 29.0% were non-families. 23.2% of all
households were made up of individuals and 5.4% had someone living alone who was
65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.64 and the average
family size was 3.18.
In the township the population was spread out with 27.0% under the age of 18,
6.8% from 18 to 24, 35.5% from 25 to 44, 20.9% from 45 to 64, and 9.8% who were
65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females
there were 98.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.9
males.
The median income for a household in the township was $61,998, and the median
income for a family was $72,608. Males had a median income of $48,036 versus
$34,505 for females. The per capita income for the township was $28,542. About
1.4% of families and 2.4% of the population were below the poverty line,
including 1.8% of those under age 18 and 3.5% of those age 65 or over.