Hunsberger House
Limerick Township Historical Society, address: 545 West Ridge Pike, Limerick, Pennsylvania 19468-1417, phone: (610) 495-5229, hours open: Wednesdays, 9 AM-4 PM and Sundays, 1 PM-4 PM
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Limerick History

The following is a general timeline of some of the important events throughout the township's history. If you click on the graph to you right, you can see a detailed summary of the history of Limerick's population growth:
Graph Click For Population Growth Summary
early 1700s - First European settlement of what is now Limerick Township.
1726 - Petition filed to place Limerick Township upon record as part of Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, one of the three (3) original counties in the Commonwealth.
1736 - Petition filed by the inhabitants in what was then Hanover Township to settle the border between Limerick and Hanover Townships.
1738 - Oldest legible tombstone in the township dates from this year.
1777 - George Washington stays at the Mordecai Evans house in Linfield.
1784 - Limerick Township became a part of the newly-formed Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.
1810s - Population surpasses 1,000 people.
1818 - First permanent church edifice, the Limerick Union Church, hosting the Lutheran and Reformed (UCC) denominations, was dedicated.
1828 - Dieter Bucher(t) becomes first postmaster in Limerick.
1839 - First time a train rides through Limerick Township, on what is now referred to as the Reading Railroad, of Monopoly fame.
1840s - Population surpasses 2,000 people.
1852 - Limerick's first public school district formed.
1866 - First major industrial presence in Limerick Township, March, Sisler & Co., moved its factory from Parkerford (across the river from Linfield, in Chester County) to Linfield.
1879 - The Borough of Royersford incorporated out of Limerick Township.
1884-5 - Linfield, or Limerick Station, in Limerick Township, attempts to become a borough, and fails.
1901 - First time a trolley rides through Limerick Township.
1904 - The Borough of Royersford annexed land from Limerick Township.
1909 - The Borough of Royersford annexed land from Limerick Township a second time.
1909 - Limerick Telephone Company founded, which was bought by Bell Telephone Company less than ten (10) years later.
1924 - The Borough of Royersford annexed land from Limerick Township a third time.
1927 - Limerick Airport created.
1929 - Linfield, in Limerick Township, attempts to become a borough a second time, and fails again.
1950s - Population surpasses 5,000 people.
1955 - Limerick becomes part of the Spring-Ford Area School District, along with Upper Providence Township, the Borough of Royersford (Montgomery County), and the Borough of Spring City (Chester County).
1985 - First multi-lane, limited-access highway in the township, Route 422 (not to be confused with Old Route 422, or Ridge Pike), opens.
1986 - First unit of the Limerick Nuclear Generating Station, a nuclear power plant in the corner of the township along its border with Lower Pottsgrove Township, came on line.
1990s - Population more than doubles, surpassing 10,000 people.
2000 - The Isaac Hunsberger House, home of the Limerick Township Historical Society, is the first location in the township to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
2005 - The William and Mordecai Evans House, in Linfield, is the second location in the township to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Sources:

  1. Muriel E. Lichtenwalner, Limerick Township: A Journey Through Time, 1699 - 1987 (Limerick, PA: Limerick Township Historical Society, 987).
  2. William J. Buck, "Limerick Township," Chap. LIX in History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, ed. Theodore W. Bean (Philadelphia: Everts & Peck, 1884; Internet Archive, 2010).
  3. U.S. Census Bureau.
  4. Code of the Borough of Royersford, Pennsylvania (Montgomery County), Appendix A: Annexation of Territory.
  5. US Department of Energy (DOE)'s Energy Information Administration (EIA), "Limerick Nuclear Generating Station, Pennsylvania," Nuclear (3 October 2008).
  6. Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania Court of Quarter Sessions, Road Papers.
  7. "NPS Focus," National Register of Historic Places.