Tracing Haverford Township Back to William Penn

Since Havertown is the most populous of Haverford Township's zip codes, people often equate Haverford Township with Havertown.

Neighborhoods within Havertown include Westgate Hills, Paddock Farms, Manoa, Llanerach, Chatham Park, Brookline, Chatham Village, North Aronimink, Penfield, Merion Golf, Oakmont, Merwood Park & Woodmere Park. With sidewalks, abundant public parks, public transportation, and great local commerce you'll find many families have lived in these well-built classic homes for many generations.

You'll find quite a variety of homes throughout the tree-lined streets of Havertown, however red brick colonials, dutch colonials (twin & single detached) and 1/2 story capes represent a large majority of the area. Not to be forgotten, you'll find incredible victorian and English Tudor homes through sections of Llanerach and Merion Golf Manor, as well as you'll find pockets of split levels in sections of West Gate Hills and Marilyn Park.

Haverford Township, est. in 1682, was named after Haverfordshire or Haverford-West in Wales, from where the first Welsh Quaker settlers immigrated. Haverford Township was part of the Welsh Tract purchased from William Penn by a group known as the "Companies of Adventures". This 40,000 acres of land which comprised of what is now Havertown, Radnor and Lower Merion Townships, was divided among the trustees of this group and the first three families to settle in Haverford Township were by the names of Lewis David, Henry Lewis and William Howell in 1682. Because of both Darby Creek and Cobbs Creek bordering Haverford Township on the West and East, it was a great millseat for sawmills and gristmills (where grain is grinded into flour). Along with Powder Mill Lane which now runs parallel to Cobbs Creek in the Wynnewood section of Haverford Township, many streets in Haverford Township were named after mill owners including Henry Lawrence (Lawrence Road), Humphrey Ellis (Humphreys Street, Ardmore Park & Ellis Road), David Morris (Morris Road, Ardmore Park), William Howell (Howell Lane, Lynnewood Park) and Jonathan Miller (Mill Road).

While Havertown was quite sparsely populated throughout the 1800's, the creation of the first toll road and trolley line in 1898, which once ran along what is now Route 3 (West Chester Pike), and the Ardmore Line, which opened in 1902, allowed people to commute to and from Philadelphia with ease. In turn, Haverford Township experienced a housing boom that created much of what we see today.

Information referenced from U.S. Department of Interior, National Register of Historic Places, and Neighbors of Llanerch.

Havertown is served by the School District of Haverford Township, which has one high school, one middle school, and five elementary schools. A new elementary school, Chestnutwold Elementary opened it doors September 2006. It replaced Oakmont Elementary, which became home to the district offices in January 2008. Additionally, Manoa Elementary School has moved down Manoa Road to a brand new facility that opened in Fall,2008. The new school was built on what was Williams Field. Future plans will have the existing elementary school demolished and the land left open for a park and playing field. The three other Haverford Township Elementary Schools include Coopertown, Chatham Park and Lynnewood Elementary. The Haverford High School sports teams call themselves the "Fords", and have a Model T Ford as mascot.