Moreland Township was a

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

that was located in

Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania Philadelphia County is the most populous of the List of counties in Pennsylvania, 67 counties of Pennsylvania and the List of the most populous counties in the United States, 24th-most populous county in the nation. As of the 2020 United State ...

, United States.

History

In 1682,

William Penn William Penn ( – ) was an English writer, religious thinker, and influential Quakers, Quaker who founded the Province of Pennsylvania during the British colonization of the Americas, British colonial era. An advocate of democracy and religi ...

sold nearly 10,000 acres of land to Nicholas More.Buck, William J., Bean, Theodore Weber, ed; /archive.org/details/historyofmontgom00bean “Moreland Township”, ''History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania'' 1884, p. 978. The land, referred to by Penn as the Manor of Moreland, was located on the main branches of the Poquessing and Pennypack Creeks in the most northern portion of Philadelphia county. In 1718, the Court of Quarter Sessions created the Township of Moreland from previous More family holdings as well as two strips of land between the Byberry and County Line Roads. Moreland Township was situated to the north of Dublin Township, and westward of Byberry Township. The rise of Moreland Township in Philadelphia County was five miles, its greatest length; two miles in width; area, 3,720 acres (15 km). One of the principal villages was Smithfield, afterwards called Somerton,Martindale, Joseph C., ''A History of the Townships of Byberry and Moreland in Philadelphia, PA'', 1867, revised by Albert W. Dudley, 1901; p. 52, 159. which was partly in Moreland and partly in Byberry. In 1784, Montgomery County was created from parts of Philadelphia County, and subsequently, Moreland Township was divided into two townships, one in each county and each called Moreland. Thus from 1784-1854, there were two tangential Moreland Townships in the Philadelphia region. In 1854, Moreland Township of Philadelphia County ceased to exist as it was incorporated into the

City 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 ...

following the passage of the

Act of Consolidation, 1854 The Act of Consolidation, more formally known as the act of February 2, 1854 (P.L. 21, No. 16), is legislation of the Pennsylvania General Assembly that created the consolidated City and County of Philadelphia, expanding the city's territory t ...

. Moreland Township of Montgomery County continued to exist until 1917 when it was split into

Upper Moreland Township Upper Moreland Township is a township in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Its population was 24,015 at the 2010 census. Upper Moreland Township is a primarily residential community located about 13 miles outside Center City Philadelphia. It is ...

and Lower Moreland Township.

References

Resources

''Chronology of the Political Subdivisions of the County of Philadelphia, 1683-1854''
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courtesy o
ushistory.org
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- excerpted from the book at the ushistory.org website {{Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania Municipalities in Philadelphia County prior to the Act of Consolidation, 1854 1854 disestablishments in Pennsylvania