PRINTER'S NO. 976
No. 78 Session of 2001
INTRODUCED BY RYAN, ADOLPH, FLICK AND VITALI, MARCH 12, 2001
INTRODUCED AS NONCONTROVERSIAL RESOLUTION UNDER RULE 35,
MARCH 12, 2001
A RESOLUTION
1 Honoring Radnor Township on its 100th anniversary.
2 WHEREAS, The area that is today Radnor Township was settled
3 in 1682 by 40 Quakers from Radnorshire, Wales, and had
4 previously been home to the Lenni Lenape Tribe; and
5 WHEREAS, The land that is now Radnor Township was purchased
6 as a 5,000-acre parcel from William Penn at a cost of one
7 British pound per 50-acre lot; and
8 WHEREAS, The Welsh Society of Friends began to establish a
9 government in the township by 1717, having erected a
10 meetinghouse on a former Conestoga Indian trail now known as
11 Conestoga Road; and
12 WHEREAS, The meetinghouse served as the center of the
13 population of the township for the next 200 years, with
14 Radnorville growing rapidly around it; and
15 WHEREAS, The power of Darby and Ithan creeks helped the
16 settlers establish tanneries, gristmills and sawmills and
17 allowed them to clear nearby fields for farming; and
1 WHEREAS, Located between Lancaster and Philadelphia, Radnor
2 quickly became a favorite passageway for travelers, having four
3 inns during one period; and
4 WHEREAS, One of these inns, the Sorrel Horse, is believed to
5 have accommodated Generals Lafayette and George Washington
6 during the encampment at Valley Forge; and
7 WHEREAS, The development of America's first toll road in
8 1794, Lancaster Turnpike, brought more development and traffic,
9 and additional traffic came when the Columbia Railroad, later
10 the Pennsylvania Railroad, laid tracks through the township in
11 1832; and
12 WHEREAS, In 1842 the Brothers of the Order of Hermits of St.
13 Augustine established the Catholic College of St. Thomas of
14 Villanova on one of the first great estates in Radnor; and
15 WHEREAS, Villanova University is a valued neighbor in the
16 community and just one of several well-known and respected
17 educational institutions located within Radnor Township; and
18 WHEREAS, The history of the village of Wayne began in 1865,
19 when banker J. Henry Askin bought a 300-acre parcel along the
20 railroad, named it "Louella" for two of his daughters and built
21 a mansion, a Presbyterian church, Lyceum Hall and an avenue of
22 mansard-roofed villas; and
23 WHEREAS, In the 1880s "Louella" changed hands and was renamed
24 "Anthony Wayne" after a local Revolutionary War figure; and
25 WHEREAS, Wayne became one of the country's first suburban
26 communities to be served by a central heating system, a public
27 water supply, sewers and electricity; and
28 WHEREAS, The development of this public works system led the
29 township's population to double to 3,800 between 1880 and 1890;
30 and
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1 WHEREAS, By the early 1900s Radnor Township Commissioners
2 knew that the township needed a more elaborate governmental
3 structure, and on March 12, 1901, they elected to adopt the
4 status of a first class township; and
5 WHEREAS, Radnor Township is a culturally, ethnically and
6 economically diverse community recognized as one of the best
7 places to live in the Philadelphia region and as a community
8 that residents can be proud to call home; therefore be it
9 RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives congratulate
10 Radnor Township as it celebrates its 100th anniversary.
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