Miquon is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Montgomery County, colloquially referred to as Montco, is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population of the county was 856,553, making it the third-most populous county in Pennsylvania after Philadel ...

, United States. Located partly in Whitemarsh Township and partly in Springfield Township, it lies between the Roxborough section of

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

and the Spring Mill section of Whitemarsh Township. Its borders are, roughly, Barren Hill Road, Ridge Pike, Manor Road, and the

Schuylkill River The Schuylkill River ( , ) is a river in eastern Pennsylvania. It flows for U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map(). accessed April 1, 2011. from Pottsville, Pennsylvania, Pottsville ...

. The sections of Miquon along the river and west of Harts Lane share the 19428 zip code with

Conshohocken Conshohocken ( ; ) is a borough on the Schuylkill River in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania in suburban Philadelphia. Historically a large mill town and industrial and manufacturing center, after the decline of industry in recent years Conshohock ...

. The section east of Harts Lane shares the 19444 zip code with Lafayette Hill. The name “Miquon” is derived from the language of the

Lenni-Lenape The Lenape (, , ; ), also called the Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. The Lenape's historical territory included present-day northeastern Dela ...

people, who were the original inhabitants. The notable

Battle of Barren Hill The Battle of Barren Hill was a minor engagement during the American Revolution. On May 20, 1778, a British Army force attempted to encircle a smaller Continental Army force then under the command of Marquis de Lafayette. The maneuver failed, ...

during the Revolutionary War began just east of Miquon (on May 20, 1778): When set upon by some 16,000

British troops The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Gurkhas, 25,742 volunteer reserve personnel and 4,697 "other personnel", for a total of 108,4 ...

, the

Marquis de Lafayette Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier de La Fayette, Marquis de La Fayette (; 6 September 1757 – 20 May 1834), known in the United States as Lafayette (), was a French military officer and politician who volunteered to join the Conti ...

and his 2,200 Continental troops eluded capture by retreating through Miquon, across the river, and back to their camp at

Valley Forge Valley Forge was the winter encampment of the Continental Army, under the command of George Washington, during the American Revolutionary War. The Valley Forge encampment lasted six months, from December 19, 1777, to June 19, 1778. It was the t ...

. In the 19th century, Miquon became a center of the papermaking industry. The W. C. Hamilton Paper Company operated its mills along the river there until the mid 20th century. In 1999, the former mill buildings were redeveloped into an office complex (named River Park I and River Park II). In 2012, River Park II became the campus of

AIM Academy AIM Academy is an independent co-educational college prep school serving students with language-based learning differences in grades 1-12. AIM was founded in 2006 and moved to its current location in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania in 2012. The AIM I ...

, a private secondary school. The tracks of the old

Reading Railroad The Reading Company ( ) was a Philadelphia-headquartered railroad that provided passenger and freight transport in eastern Pennsylvania and neighboring states from 1924 until its acquisition by Conrail in 1976. Commonly called the Reading Railr ...

run through Miquon along the Schuylkill River. In around 1880, that railroad opened a passenger station in Miquon, at Manor Road, known as Lafayette Station. The design of the building that housed that station is attributed to the architect

Frank Furness Frank Heyling Furness (November 12, 1839 – June 27, 1912) was an American architect of the Victorian era. He designed more than 600 buildings, most in the Philadelphia area, and is remembered for his diverse, muscular, often inordinately scaled ...

. It remained the local passenger railroad station until 1910, and the building still stands today. ''Note:'' This includes Miquon’s current local passenger railroad station, built around 1910 (and renamed “Miquon Station” in 1921) is located to the southeast of the old station building; the old Reading Railroad tracks now carry the

Manayunk/Norristown Line The Manayunk/Norristown Line is a commuter rail service in Delaware Valley, Southeastern Pennsylvania between Center City Philadelphia and Norristown, Pennsylvania, Norristown, and one of the 13 lines in SEPTA's SEPTA Regional Rail, Regional Rai ...

Landmarks

* The Miquon School * Miquon Station * ACE Conference Center and Golf Club The club grounds comprise more than 300 acres(1.214 km²), making the club the largest landowner in the community.

Notable person

Derek Bok Derek Curtis Bok (born March 22, 1930) is an American lawyer and educator, and former president of Harvard University. Early life and education Bok was born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Following his parents' divorce, he, his mother, brother and ...

, former president of

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

and son of Margaret Plummer Bok *Margaret Plummer Bok, co-founder of The Miquon School (1932)Sissela Bok, ''Alva Myrdal: A Daughter's Memoir'' (Basic Books, 1991), p. 13

/ref> MIQUON STATION IN THE UPPER ROXBOROUGH HISTORIC DISTRICT; MONTGOMERY CTY.jpg, Miquon station File:Miquon Station.jpg, Miquon (SEPTA station), Miquon station in 2012. River Park I is in the background.

Notes

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Populated places on the Schuylkill River Unincorporated communities in Pennsylvania