A Brief History of Marple Township

During the 1600s, when Europeans (first the Swedish, then the Dutch, then the English) began to colonize what is now Delaware County, Pennsylvania, the land was inhabited by the Lenni Lenape people. The Lenape’s presence in what is now Marple Township is perhaps best known from the still-extant rock shelter Langford Road. The Lenape were eventually displaced and forced out of their ancestral lands by European settlement, which greatly increased after King Charles II granted William Penn a royal charter to the land now known as Pennsylvania in 1681. Penn, a member of the Society of Friends (commonly known as Quakers), intended to create a haven for the pacifist Quakers and others persecuted for their religious beliefs in Pennsylvania.

In 1683 a small group of Quakers, from the Cheshire region of England, landed at the City of Chester in the Province of Pennsylvania. Among them were Francis Stanfield, Jonathon Hayes, and John Howell—the largest landowners in what was to become Marple Township. Stanfield, whose youngest daughter had been born in Marpool, England, may have been responsible for providing the name of the township. These three men played a prominent role in the development of Marple. They helped to determine the township’s borders and roads as well as providing for a collection of a tax for assistance to the poor. Since Marple Township was originally a part of Chester County, Jonathan Hayes served as a justice on the Chester County Court.

In the Colonial Era, Marple Township was a rural area focused on agriculture, though crafts and cottage industries such as weaving and tanning began to develop to serve the growing community. Despite the growth, no Quaker (Friends) meeting houses existed within the township, with residents attending meetings in neighboring townships.

Although no combat took place in Marple during the Revolutionary War, the people in the community suffered depravations at the hands of both the Continental and the British armies.  Since it was against the Quaker faith to take an oath or participate in a conflict, many of the farms in the township were raided by both armies with the loss of food, clothing and livestock. 

With the end of hostilities life in Marple settled back its normal routines.  The major focus of the area was still farming and those industries that supported an agrarian life style. The community began to grow, however, with two taverns opening on West Chester Pike—the Drove Tavern in 1800 and the Buck Tavern in 1807. In 1834-1835 a group of local residents belonging to the Middletown Presbyterian congregation decided to build a church of their own in Marple, making Marple Presbyterian Church the first and oldest church in the township. Just a few years later, in 1838, the Marple African Union Church was established on Old Marple Road to serve the local African American community. While this congregation has since moved, its cemetery, now known as Hayti Cemetery, bears witness to its role in Marple’s history.

After the Civil War (1861-1865), Marple Township experienced a leveling off of population growth. This may be attributed to the fact that most of the job opportunities in industry and manufacturing were centered in communities along the Delaware River and transportation to these areas was limited. It took until the turn of the 20th century and the construction of a trolley along West Chester Pike to the western suburbs to reverse this trend.

The largest period of development in the township came at the conclusion of World War II. After the war resources for manufacturing and building became readily available. In the years after the war, a prosperous economy, increased car ownership, and subsidized low-interest loans led many white city-dwellers to relocate to the suburbs. Here they found large new developments of tract housing at affordable prices. In Marple Township, Frank Facciolo’s Rose Tree Woods development and Ralph Bodek’s Lawrence Park development were two of the largest.

Marple, a first-class township, has continued to evolve over the course of more than 330 years from a small Quaker agricultural community to a vibrant, diverse, and proud suburban township of approximately 24,000 residents.