Towamencin Township municipal offices are located at 1090 Troxell Road, Kulpsville PA 19443.
Phone: 215‑368‑7602.
Neighborhoods
The township [‡] began settlement in the 1690s and was incorporated in 1728. The village of Kulpsville is named for Jacob Kulp, an early landowner. The first grant of land in Towamencin Township was in 1703 from William Penn's Commissioners to Benjamin Furley on June 8. The Commissioners granted 1,000 acres to him. On June 17 of that same year, Abraham Tennis and Jan Lucken bought the property from him, and then divided the land in half in 1709.
The name Towamencin is of American Indian origin, and means "Poplar Tree". However, a legend associated with the name started in the 1720's when Heinrich Fry purchased some land near what is now known as the Towamencin Creek. On this tract of land was an Indian Village. The Indian Chief spoke broken English and one day observed two men clearing trees near the creek and said Towha-men-seen, meaning "Two men seen." Apparently, the Chief's pronunciation stuck, as the legend goes, and is how Towamencin got its name.
In March of 1728 the settlers of the area petitioned William Penn's Commissioners for Towamencin to become a Township. The request was granted and a charter given. The land was surveyed and recorded, outlining the boundaries of the Township. Those boundaries are similar to what they are today. In the enumeration of 1734 there were 32 landholders within the Township, with William Tennis having the most acreage at 250 acres.
Typical of many suburban communities in southeastern Pennsylvania, Towamencin Township started out as a crossroads community. The roads first developed in the Township were the paths used by Native Americans. Settlers expanded upon these trails to make the transfer of goods easier using horses and wagons. Small shops, the community school, inns, and roadside dwellings branched out along the crossroads of Sumneytown Pike and Forty Foot Road to become the Kulpsville Village section of Towamencin Township. Sumneytown Pike was laid out in 1735 and became a turnpike in 1848 with the tollgate located in Kulpsville. Forty Foot Road was laid out before the Revolution. The width of the road was designed to be forty feet, hence the name, and the width of this road had not changed much over 200 years.
Today Towamencin Township boasts beautiful residential neighborhoods, historic farmhouses, various parks and recreational facilities, and wide open spaces. The community is a successful mix of residential, commercial and rural development and is home to many fine elementary and secondary educational institutions. Towamencin Township is centrally located in the middle of Montgomery County with easy access to the Pennsylvania Turnpike's Northeast Extension.
‡ Towamencin Township Strategic Plan, 2007, www.towamencin.org, accessed October, 2018.
Nearby Towns: East Norriton Twp • Franconia Twp • Hatfield Boro • Hatfield Twp • Lansdale Boro • Lower Gwynedd Twp • Lower Providence Twp • Lower Salford Twp • North Wales Boro • Salford Twp • Skippack Twp • Souderton Boro • Telford Boro • Telford Boro • Upper Gwynedd Twp • Whitpain Twp • Worcester Twp •