Blockley Township, Pennsylvania

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Map of Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania highlighting Blockley Township prior to the Act of Consolidation, 1854

Blockley Township is a defunct township that was located in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania. The township ceased to exist and was incorporated into the City of Philadelphia following the passage of the Act of Consolidation, 1854.

[edit] History

Blockley Township was located on the west side of the Schuylkill River, north of Kingsessing Township; bounded on the east by the Schuylkill; extending south from the county line, opposite to, but a little below, the mouth of the Wissahickon, down to the Nanganesy or Mill Creek, below the Woodlands; then by the same creek up to Chadd’s Ford Turnpike, known in later years as the Baltimore Pike; along the same to Cobb’s Creek; then by the courses of the same to the county line adjoining Lower Merion Township, Montgomery County, and along the same to the Delaware River.

It was traversed by the Darby Road, Chadd’s Ford, or Baltimore Pike, the road to West Chester, to Haverford and to Lancaster. Within its boundaries were the villages of Hamilton, Mantua, West Philadelphia, Hestonville and Haddington. The greatest length, 4 miles (6 km); the greatest breadth, 5 miles (8 km); area, 7,580 acres (31 km²).

The boundaries and area would change on February 17, 1844 when the area encompassing Mantua and Hamilton were incorporated into the Borough of West Philadelphia, almost creating two unconnected sections of the township.

The name is supposed to have been derived from Blockley, a parish in England in Worcestershire. In Philadelphia, "Blockley" was synonymous with the Blockley Almshouse that opened here in 1832. The township also contained The Woodlands; the former estate of Andrew Hamilton converted in 1840 to the Woodlands Cemetery.