Plumstead Township was formed shortly after 1700 by English Quakers who came to Pennsylvania to help fulfill William Penn's dream of a land of religious freedom. Plumstead Friends Meeting, founded in 1727, was the township's first religious establishment, but diversity soon followed. A German Mennonite church at Groveland was formed in 1806. Later settlements were Scottish and Irish, and eventually many of the township's inhabitants were of German extraction. Plumstead formed part of the border between areas primarily British and German in Bucks County.
In 1725, a petition was presented by a group of residents to the Bucks County Court, organizing Plumstead Township. Already, small villages had begun to grow around the township to support what was at first an agricultural community. With the much traveled highway from Philadelphia to Easton, today's Route 611, running in a north-south direction and another main road running east and west, Point Pleasant Pike/Ferry Road, business and industry began to evolve. There were inns, blacksmiths, a gristmill, general stores and a large carriage works.
Some of Plumstead's more famous residents were the Doan Gang, a group of outlaws reknowned in the area during the latter part of the 18th century.
Today, Plumstead Township is fortunate to have many of its farms still functioning and often by families that have owned them for generations.
More information about the history of Plumstead can be found in these books available for sale at the Township Building:
Images of America: Plumstead Township
Published by Arcadia Publishing, 2005
Compiled by the Plumstead Township Historic Advisory Committee
$19.99
Through the use of archival photographs, this book features the crossroad communities and hamlets that emerged around the mills, taverns, and general stores that served the area's mostly agrarian community. This look at the past includes several successful enterprises, many now forgotten, such as the Plumstead carriage works and the Doylestown-Easton trolley line, as well as photos of events that changed the life of the community.
Wanderings Through Historic Plumstead with Edward Mathews
Published by Adams Apple Press, 1994
Transcribed by Trudy Wubbels
Printed in commemoration of the 275th anniversary of Plumstead Township
$10.00
From the 1870's until his death in 1916, Edward Mathews published historical sketches of the Bucks-Montgomery region. This book compiles Mathews' "sketches" written about the land and families of Plumstead Township. |
