• Brief History of West Bradford
• Original Petition forming Township
• Demographic Summary
• Historical Markers
• Did You Know...? (Newsletter Compilation)  ***This is a Microsoft Word Download***

Brief History of West Bradford

West Bradford Township was originally part of Bradford Township; organized in 1705.  It was divided into East and West Bradford in 1731.  Its boundaries changed in 1849, when a portion in the southeast was included in the formation of Pocopson Township.  Bradford's earliest settlers were English Quakers, most having acquired large tracts of land by patent, which subsequently were divided into farms of a hundred or more acres.  Settlement initially occurred near the streams.  Abraham Marshall settled along the West Branch of the Brandywine Creek at Northbrook circa 1707 and James Trimble settled along the Broad Run during the 1730's.  Quaker meetings were held in homes in West Bradford as early as 1719, with the first Bradford Friends meeting house erected on Marshall's farm in the 1720's.  It was later moved to Marshallton around 1730.

Agriculture clearly played a formative role in West Bradford's history.  It had an obvious impact upon the character of its historical landscape (e.g.  farmsteads tucked into the hillsides) and types of structures built (e.g. farmhouses, springhouses, barns, corn cribs, etc.).  The villages of Marshallton, Romansville, and Trimblesville did not expand greatly into the countryside as of the mid 1800's, reflecting the continued strength of the prevailing agricultural economy.

West Bradford has also exhibited a strong tradition of cottage industries with blacksmiths, wheelwrights, joiners, coopers, pump makers, tinsmiths, shoemakers, and cigar makers at work both on the farmsteads and in the villages.  Because of the significance of West Bradford's water resources, milling was also very important in the Township's development.  Numerous tanning, grist, saw, and fulling mill sites stood along the Broad Run and the East and West Branches of the Brandywine.

The construction of Strasburg Road as a state road in the 1790's was the major reason for the growth and development of West Bradford's two most important villages, Romansville and Marshallton.  Although Strasburg Road had existed as a route west since the mid 1700's, its improvement as a state road combined with the nation's post-Revolution expansion led to its emergence as a principal and heavily traveled route west from the 1790's to the 1820's.  Marshallton, which had existed as a sizeable crossroad village since around 1760, responded to the increase in traffic by building inns, shops, stores, and houses along the road.  Romansville developed about 1800 around the blacksmith shop operated by John Romans.

The Township has eight structures and three historic districts (Marshallton, Trimbleville, and Northbrook) on the National Register of Historic Places.

Original West Bradford Petition

(Following is the transcript of the original document  that split the Township of Bradford into East and West Bradford Townships)

At a Court of General Quarter Sessions held and kept at Chester for the County as the 30^th day of November Anno Dom. 1731, Before Richard Hayes, Esquire, and his Associates Justices present.

Upon the Petition of the Inhabitants of the Township of Bradford in the said County Praying that the said Township may be Divided, made into two Townships and called East & West Bradford, and that the limits thereof may be fully determined. 

 It’s Ordered that the said Township of Bradford Shall be divided into two Townships and the Eastern part thereof called East Bradford Shall be bounded as followeth…….Beginning at the South West corner of the Land late of Richard Collett thence Running by the Same to the Welch line, and by the said line to the North West corner of a Tract of Land Survey’d for John Smith, and from thence by a west line to the North Branch of Brandywine Creek then down the Same to the land late of Daniel Smith and Isaac Taylor thence along a line between the land late of the said Daniel and Isaac to the North East corner of Thomas Worth’s Land thence along a line between the Land of the said Daniel Smith, Thomas Worth & the Land late of George Parker to the Northwest Corner of the said Parker’s Land thence down the Line between the Land of the said George Carter, Thomas Buffington & William Rees and the land of Abraham Marshall & William Marshall to a Corner of Isaac Norris’s Land then along a Line between the land of the said Isaac Norris & Wm Marshall to the West Branch of Brandywine Creek thence down the Same to the fork of the said Creek, then down the Main Creek to the South West corner of Samuel Painter’s Land then along a Line between the Land of the said Painter and the Land of Daniel Davies and James Townsend to the Beginning.  

And it is also ordered that the western division of the said Township of Bradford Shall be bounded as is hereinafter mentioned.......................... Beginning at the South East corner of the Society Tract thence by the line of the Same to the Northern Corner of the Said Tract then by a line to the South West corner of John Packer’s Land and by the said Packer’s Land to the South East corner thereof and from thence East to the North Branch of Brandywine Creek and then by the said Eastern division of the said Township of Bradford to the Township of Kennett and by the said Kennett Township and the Line of the said Society Tract to the place of Beginning. 

Summary of Township Demographics¹

1.  Source: Chester County Planning Commission - Census '90 and Chester County Profile 1996, Census 2000 - Table DP-1, West Bradford Township, Chester County Pennsylvania

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