A Brief History of the Wissahickon Valley

Article Index
A Brief History of the Wissahickon Valley
Page 2: Quakers Arrive
Page 3: Roads Into Ambler
Page 4:Trains and Tragedy
Page 5: Keasbey and Mattison
Page6: Ambler Borough is Born

Page 3 of 6

Roads did not come to the area until the second decade of the 18th century. The first area road
(c. 1711) ran from the Gwyendd Meeting to mills along the Pennypack Creek in Lower Moreland. It includes part of the present day Norristown Road running from Spring House to Horsham although it was named the Welsh Road. The Skippack Pike was the product of a 1713 request by residents near the Skippack Creek for a road to the site of Mather's Mill and St. Thomas Church in Whitemarsh. While Bethlehem Pike bisected Germantown Pike as early as 1687, the road went only as far as Whitemarsh until 1714 when it was brought to Spring House. Two years later application was made to the Court to lay out a road connecting the Gwynedd and Plymouth Meetings. The latter group had been founded in 1712. An explosion in population together with the construction of numerous mills along the various waterways in Montgomery County brought about demand for more and more roadways. Sumneytown Pike dates to 1735. Swedesford Road was begun in 1738. Morris Road was approved from Morris' Mill in Whitemarsh to Lower Salford in 1741.

George Washington schlepped here!

These roads would later become passageways to battle and retreat. During 1777, the America Revolution would come hurtling through Whitpain Township as Washington launched his attack upon General Howe's forces in Germantown from the Methacton Hills down both the Skippack Pike and Morris Road. When the American attack ended in defeat, troops were seen running west on Skippack Pike out of fear that Howe's forces would pursue them. Boehm's Church in Blue Bell would be just one of hundreds of public buildings converted to field hospitals for treatment of the wounded. Washington regrouped at Pennypack Mills (now Schwenksville) and then advanced to present day Fort Washington where the American Army camped for more than a month before moving on to Valley Forge. Just prior to Howe's capture of Philadelphia in September, residents of Penllyn witnessed wagons packed with the city's bells being transported to Allentown and Bethlehem in order to protect their area, prompting occasional British Valley Forge. Scouting parties continued to move through this area, prompting occasional British skirmishes. The war would continue to affect the entire area notwithstanding Washington's departure for Valley Forge. A British raiding expedition was launched on the Spring House Tavern in February, 1778, where Pennsylvania Militia Major Wright was captured, together with a group of civilian officials.

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