Fallsington is an
unincorporated community
An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...
in
Falls Township,
Bucks County
Bucks County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 646,538, making it the fourth-most populous county in Pennsylvania. Its county seat is Doylestown. The county is named after the English ...
,
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
, United States.
Geography
The latitude of Fallsington is 40.187N. The longitude is -74.819W.
It is in the Eastern Standard time zone. Elevation is .
History
Fallsington is an example of a crossroads community typical of the 18th century, on the Kings Highway (now
U.S. Route 13
U.S. Route 13 (US 13) is a north–south U.S. highway established in 1926 that runs for from Interstate 95 (I-95) just north of Fayetteville, North Carolina to US 1 in the northeastern suburbs of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in Morrisville ...
). The Bucks County Courthouse, established in 1663, is said to have been located in Fallsington until it was moved to
Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
in 1705. The first meetings of the
Religious Society of Friends
Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...
were held in the home of
William Biles on
Biles Island. Falls Monthly Meeting found a site for the first brick
meetinghouse built in Fallsington, about 1690, on 6 acres (0.024 km
2) of land that had been donated by Samuel Burgess. Also in 1690, Thomas Janney donated 72 acres (0.29 km
2) of land to be used as the Quaker burial grounds for Falls Monthly Meeting.
William Penn
William Penn ( – ) was an English writer and religious thinker belonging to the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, a North American colony of England. He was an early advocate of democracy a ...
donated a tract of 120 acres (0.49 km
2), for a Falls commons.
Fallsington evolved through a succession of periods in American history and architecture. Significant homes in Fallsington range from the late 17th century through the Victorian era of the mid-19th century. Fallsington was a center of commerce. A business directory of the 1860s listed blacksmiths, a butcher, carpenters, a carriage builder, a cooper, farmers, an insurance agent, machinists, physicians, a surveyor, and a wheelwright.
The growth of Fallsington continued, with the construction of homes, an inn, public buildings, stores, and small craftsmen's shops. Until the construction of
Fairless Hills and
Levittown
Levittown is the name of several large suburban housing developments created in the United States (including one in Puerto Rico) by William J. Levitt and his company Levitt & Sons. Built after World War II for returning white veterans and their ...
, it was the largest settlement in the Township, and functioned for many years as a commercial center.
The
Fallsington Historic District was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
in 1972.
Trivia
*The "falls" of the
Delaware River is not a dramatic waterfall but, rather, the rapids that mark the highest navigable point on the river. The names of Fallsington and Falls Township derive from it.
References
External links
Historic Fallsington
{{authority control
Unincorporated communities in Bucks County, Pennsylvania
Unincorporated communities in Pennsylvania