page_title: Havertown, Pennsylvania
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Havertown, Pennsylvania / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Brookline PA
context_page_description: Havertown is a residential suburban unincorporated community in Haverford Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States, approximately 9 miles west of the center of Philadelphia. Havertown's ZIP Code is 19083 and "Havertown" is a postal address. The name "Havertown" does not appear until the advent of the ZIP Code in the early 1960s. Prior to the ZIP Code's introduction, each constituent community was known by its local name: Bon Air, Brookline, Penfield, Beechwood, Llanerch, Manoa, Oakmont, Coopertown, Ardmore. Under William Penn's land divisions these communities were part of the Welsh Tract and comprised the area known as Harford, a Welsh contraction of Haverford.
context_section_description: Haverford Township was founded by Welsh Quakers in 1681 on land purchased from William Penn. The settlers named their new home after Haverfordwest, Wales, UK. The township is home to many historic sites. The Grange Estate, entertained the Revolutionary War figures George Washington and General Lafayette. Nitre Hall, along Karakung (Cobb's) Creek, supplied the United States with over 800,000 pounds of gunpowder during the War of 1812. Leedom Hall was the probable home to William Howell the founder of Haverford Mills which date from 1688. Other Havertown sites listed on the National Register of Historic Places include the Federal School and Lawrence Cabin. Coopertown, appears as early as 1848 as the first community and the earliest post office is found at the Spread Eagle Tavern at the junction of the present Eagle and Manoa Roads.  
  Historic Roads
  The Haverford Road is one of the earliest roads laid out by civil ordinance. Dates for its layout and completion vary from 1687 to 1703. Darby Road, known earlier as Coopertown Road dates from 1687. Records show its extension to Radnor the “principal market for corn,” ordered in 1696. Mill Road, at one time called Dickinson Mill Road, may be one of the earliest roads of popular use. Its zig-zag pattern illustrates the indirect path required by horse and cart going up or down hill. Eagle Road which takes its present name from the Spread Eagle Tavern c.1814 led Quaker settlers to the Haverford Meeting House
  The Railroads and Planned Communities
  Prior to the First World War Haverford was a township of extensive farms. Property maps in 1862 indicate that the landowners were descendants of the same families that arrived with William Penn: among them, the Lawrences, the Ellis’, the Humphreys and the Lewis’. In 1895 The Philadelphia and West Chester Traction Company begins service between 69th Street and West Chester with a major junction at Llanerch. By 1902 the maps indicate a significant change in land ownership. Most of the old family names no longer appear. In that same year on May 29, the trolley line opened the branch from Llanerch to Ardmore. Llanerch first appears as a small community with numbered streets. Darby Road is called Coopertown Road. A commercial rail line, now removed, served Boyle Fuel, Lobb Lumber and the Swell Bubble Gum factory up until the 1960s. (See Map)
  Llanerch
  Llanerch situated at the intersection of West Chester Pike and Darby Road was the first planned community of Haverford Township. Like many other suburban communities Llanerch was the child of the railroad companies. The railroad built houses for commuters and the commuters bought tickets for the rail lines. In 1897 the community was composed of twelve houses and Saint Andrew's Church. These houses and the church were designed by Philadelphia architect Frank Allison Hayes (1866–1930).https://www.philadelphiabuildings.org/pab/app/ar_display.cfm/22160 Llanerch's first school followed in 1905. The present school structure, no longer functioning as a school, dates from 1913.
  Brookline
  Brookline, while not the first planned community, was the most fully executed. The Mueller Atlas of Delaware County, 1909, shows the initial layout for Brookline. At that time Darby Road between Eagle Road and Llanerch was called Haverford Road. Some construction began around that year, but it was not until after the First World War that the Manor Real Estate Company, a subsidiary of the railroads set out a plan for a housing development that offered every service, amenity and community need: “Brookline Manor.” (See Map) As in the 1909 plan we find an arrangement of regular streets divided by a broad “Boulevard.” The Boulevard intersected at a “T” juncture with the major township thoroughfare, Darby Road. The “Boulevard” would be home to commercial, religious and educational services. At the upper end of the “Boulevard” mercantile stores provided shoe makers, tap rooms, florists, bakery, barbers, a Five and Ten, the Quaker Store, the A&P grocery store and the Boulevard movie theater. (See Image)  Along the length of the Bou
caption: Brookline Manor c. 1925
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