Dedicated to the history of Northampton Township, this page is administered by the Northampton Township Archivist and members of the Historical Commission. We hope you enjoy some of our historic photographs, maps, and other interesting facts pertaining to the history of Northampton. If you are you interested in researching or learning more about the history of Northampton, we encourage you to also
stop by the Township Archives located in the Township Library at 25 Upper Holland Road, Richboro. The Archives houses many different maps and photographs portraying the landscape changes that the township has gone through since it was established. There is also information about historic homes and farms located within the township. The Archives is open to the public on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 12pm to 8pm, or by appointment. The archivist can be reached at 215-357-3050 Ext. 207 or by email at [email protected] and the Historical Commission can be reached at [email protected]. OVERVIEW HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTON TOWNSHIP AND THE ORIGINS OF ITS COMMUNITIES
Northampton Township officially became a township on December 14, 1722, covering 26.5 miles. Although the origin of the name of the Township has never been officially verified, it is believed to have stemmed from the County of Northampton in the English midlands, one hundred miles north of London. The first settlers of the Township were English, followed by Dutch and French Huguenots. The Dutch brought with them a deep love of religion and founded churches wherever they settled. The oldest church in the Township is the Addisville Reformed Church in Richboro, which traces its history to 1710. The Township began as a farming community and by the middle of the nineteenth century, had five main villages: Richboro, Addisville, Churchville, and Holland (Rocksville). These villages were established around commercial enterprises such as mills, taverns and inns, and religious institutions. During the early nineteenth century, Richboro was composed of two small villages, Addisville and Leedomville. Leedomville, named in honor of Richard Leedom, was centered around the Black Bear Inn or Tavern established at the intersection of Second Street Pike and Bustleton Pike as early as the 1750s. The Leedom farm situated on the east side of Second Street Pike extended as far south as Upper Holland Road and north to Newtown-Richboro Road. At the intersection of this later road and Second Street Pike was established the competing White Bear Inn (better known today as the Spread Eagle Inn) erected by Enoch Addis in 1810. In 1830, the first post office was housed in Leedom’s Black Bear Inn and soon afterward the community of Leedomville became known as “Richborough.” Richard Leedom, Richard Thomas, the first postmaster, and Dr. James Rich, a local physician, are all given credit for giving Richborough its name. In 1858, a traveler wrote, “I sailed straight into Addisville or as it is commonly called, the Bears, in Northampton Township. This is a very old and pleasant little village, and the hotels are filled with city boarders, there being daily communication with Philadelphia by stage.” By the mid-1890s, the area encompassing Addisville and Richborough became simply known as Richboro. Churchville was named after the North and Southampton Reformed Church erected at the intersection of Bustleton Pike and Bristol Road in 1814. Tradition states that this area was historically known as Smoketown or the Low Dutch Settlement, when first settled by the Dutch who immigrated to this region during the early eighteenth century. These early settlers, originating from Holland, brought with them their long stem clay pipes. In the mid-1700s, an earlier Dutch Reformed Church had been erected within Richboro opposite the current Addisville Reformed Church (built in 1858). The earlier church was razed shortly after the North and Southampton Reformed Church was erected. Following the arrival of the Philadelphia & Newtown Railroad in 1878 and the establishment of the Churchville station in 1891, the focal point of the village shifted to the north, where Victorian houses were built and visitors from the city came to spend their summers in the country. The village of Holland was a mill-based community, which utilized the waterpower offered by damming of the Iron Works and Mill Creeks. Also referred to as Rocksville, for the many rock outcroppings in the area, it is reputed to have been the site of the earliest mill in the Township built by John Swift in 1705. By the late eighteenth century, two gristmills (used for grinding corn and wheat into flour) were in operation here, one where Buck Road crosses Mill Creek (today’s Mill Race Inn) and the second a short distance up the Chinquapin Road. A post office was established in the local store around 1870 named Holland, the fatherland of the early Dutch settlers. Other early mill-based communities in the Township included Spring Garden, also known as “Spring Garden Mills” established in proximity to the Neshaminy Creek at the crossing of the Newtown-Richboro Road. Jacksonville was the site of a sawmill, which operated from around 1760 into the 1820s. This small community located at the intersection of Almshouse Road and Jacksonville Road, was early on known as Tinkertown, possibly from the sounds emanating from the local blacksmith shop. By the mid-nineteenth century the village was renamed Jacksonville, likely in honor of President Andrew Jackson. On the western edge of the Township, at the intersection of Second Street Pike and Bristol Road was formerly located the small village of Springville. It was first known as Blue Bell from a tavern by that name, built by the 1740s on the Southampton side of Bristol Road. The tavern was later replaced by a general store owned by the Cornell family. By the turn of the nineteenth century, the community became known as Cornell. The village gave way to suburban residential development during the 1960s.
