Radnor Township
Radnor Township is a proud, exemplary community, rich in history. Once home to the Lenni Lenape Indians, the land was first settled in 1663-1665 by a group of 40 Quakers from Radnorshire, Wales. Seeking religious freedom, the settlers emigrated to a 5,000 acre section purchased from William Penn, granted him by the Crown, in 1681.
Radnor Township was officially founded a year later in 1682. Penn laid out the township in an elongated rectangle located parallel to the Schuylkill River. The parcels of land contained within were oblongs parallel to the township boundaries. The land then sold at a rate of one British pound per 50-acre parcel.
In 1717 the Welsh Friends erected a meetinghouse on a trail made by the Conestoga (Susquehanna) Indians, connecting the Schuylkill and Susquehanna Rivers. Later this trail became the Old Lancaster Road, then the Conestoga Road. Radnorville grew naturally around the meetinghouse and remained the center of population of the Township for 200 years. The exact geographical center of Radnor's rectangular border is a point less than 100 yards south of the original Quaker meetinghouse.
Besides clearing and tilling fields for farmland, the Welsh established grist mills, sawmills, and tanneries using the power of Ithan and Darby creeks. What is now open space at the Willows Park was once the Township's busiest commercial area.
The influence of the Welsh, some of whom were forced by heavy taxation to sell their land, waned in the latter half of the 18th century. A hint of Radnor's beginning's remains, however, in the names of streets and places evident throughout the community.
In 1741, the westward extension of the Conestoga Road, which ultimately connected Philadelphia and Lancaster, began for Radnor the enduring legacy of a place through which travelers passed. Traffic supported four inns in the town, one of which, the "Sorrel Horse," is said to have sheltered George Washington and General Lafayette during the encampment at Valley Forge; the inn still stands as the Agnes Irwin Lower School.
On September 15, 1777, George Washington, then General of the Continental Armies, which had been disastrously defeated four days previously on the banks of the Brandywine, saved the morale of his troops by marching from Germantown out the Conestoga Road beyond what is now Paoli to "engage again" (according to the words on the monument) "the British invader."
During the encampment at Valley Forge, Washington's picket post on the heights behind the Friends Meeting House could survey movements from all directions, thanks to thoroughly cleared land. A no-man's land between Valley Forge and Philadelphia during the Revolution, Radnor was raided twice by British armies.
More traffic and development came with the opening of the macadam toll road, the Lancaster Turnpike, the first toll road in America, in 1794. The Columbia (later Pennsylvania) Railroad, which came through the Township in 1832, made Radnor more acces
Radnor Township was officially founded a year later in 1682. Penn laid out the township in an elongated rectangle located parallel to the Schuylkill River. The parcels of land contained within were oblongs parallel to the township boundaries. The land then sold at a rate of one British pound per 50-acre parcel.
In 1717 the Welsh Friends erected a meetinghouse on a trail made by the Conestoga (Susquehanna) Indians, connecting the Schuylkill and Susquehanna Rivers. Later this trail became the Old Lancaster Road, then the Conestoga Road. Radnorville grew naturally around the meetinghouse and remained the center of population of the Township for 200 years. The exact geographical center of Radnor's rectangular border is a point less than 100 yards south of the original Quaker meetinghouse.
Besides clearing and tilling fields for farmland, the Welsh established grist mills, sawmills, and tanneries using the power of Ithan and Darby creeks. What is now open space at the Willows Park was once the Township's busiest commercial area.
The influence of the Welsh, some of whom were forced by heavy taxation to sell their land, waned in the latter half of the 18th century. A hint of Radnor's beginning's remains, however, in the names of streets and places evident throughout the community.
In 1741, the westward extension of the Conestoga Road, which ultimately connected Philadelphia and Lancaster, began for Radnor the enduring legacy of a place through which travelers passed. Traffic supported four inns in the town, one of which, the "Sorrel Horse," is said to have sheltered George Washington and General Lafayette during the encampment at Valley Forge; the inn still stands as the Agnes Irwin Lower School.
On September 15, 1777, George Washington, then General of the Continental Armies, which had been disastrously defeated four days previously on the banks of the Brandywine, saved the morale of his troops by marching from Germantown out the Conestoga Road beyond what is now Paoli to "engage again" (according to the words on the monument) "the British invader."
During the encampment at Valley Forge, Washington's picket post on the heights behind the Friends Meeting House could survey movements from all directions, thanks to thoroughly cleared land. A no-man's land between Valley Forge and Philadelphia during the Revolution, Radnor was raided twice by British armies.
More traffic and development came with the opening of the macadam toll road, the Lancaster Turnpike, the first toll road in America, in 1794. The Columbia (later Pennsylvania) Railroad, which came through the Township in 1832, made Radnor more acces
Listing Details
Map
