Camp Hill, Pennsylvania | |
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Coordinates: 40°07′35.94″N75°11′40.52″W / 40.1266500°N 75.1945889°W | |
Country | United States of America |
State | Pennsylvania |
County | Montgomery |
Township | Whitemarsh Upper Dublin Springfield |
Time zone | UTC-5 (EST) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC-4 (EDT) |
ZIP codes | 19034 |
Area code | 215 |
Camp Hill is an unincorporated community that straddles Whitemarsh Township, Upper Dublin Township, and Springfield Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. Located approximately three miles outside Philadelphia, the area played a role in the Revolutionary War.
Following the September 11, 1777 Battle of Brandywine, the British Army occupied Philadelphia. Camp Hill was one of three adjacent hills outside the city held by General George Washington and 11,000 Continental troops, beginning November 2, 1777. The others were Militia Hill, to the west, now part of Fort Washington State Park; and Fort Hill, to the north, now Fort Washington, Pennsylvania. The December 5–8, 1777 Battle of White Marsh took place on the plain below the hills. Despite three days of fighting, General Sir William Howe was unable to overcome the strategic advantage that the topography gave Washington, and withdrew back to Philadelphia. The name "Camp Hill" comes from the thousands of Continental soldiers' tents that once covered it. [1]
Ten years later, Washington returned to Philadelphia as a delegate to the 1787 Constitutional Convention. He toured the White Marsh battlefield with his friend, Robert Morris.
Camp Hill was the site of the Great Train Wreck of 1856, the worst railroad disaster in world history up to that time. Two passenger trains, heading toward each other on a single track, collided on a blind curve. Approximately 60 people, mostly children on their way to a Sunday School picnic, were killed and more than 100 were injured. [2]
The topography of the area, an outcropping of high ground surrounded by lowlands, made Camp Hill a popular location for Gilded Age country houses. Dreshertown Road runs along the crest of Camp Hill, and features both custom houses and suburban developments. Camp Hill Road runs north–south over the rise of the elevation and features custom single family homes.
Sandy Run (Wissahickon Creek) flows along the south side of Camp Hill; Pine Run flows along the north side. The Pennsylvania Turnpike passes just north of Camp Hill, and the 309 Expressway passes to the west.
McNeil Pharmaceuticals, the manufacturer of Tylenol and Motrin, built its corporate headquarters and manufacturing plant on Camp Hill Road in the 1960s. Now a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, the plant closed in April 2010. [3]
Camp Hill shares Fort Washington's zip code of 19034.
Montgomery County, colloquially referred to as Montco, is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population of the county was 856,553, making it the third-most populous county in Pennsylvania after Philadelphia and Allegheny counties, also the most populous county in Pennslyvania without a major city. The county is part of the Southeast Pennsylvania region of the state.
Fort Washington is a census-designated place and suburb of Philadelphia in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. The CDP, as of 2020, is entirely in Upper Dublin Township. The population was 5,446 at the 2010 census.
Oreland is a United States census-designated place (CDP) in Springfield and Upper Dublin townships, just outside the Chestnut Hill and Mount Airy areas of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Oreland has a ZIP code of 19075, and the population was 5,678 at the 2010 census.
Springfield Township is a township in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. The population was 20,993 in 2022 according the Census Bureau. It includes the villages of Wyndmoor, Erdenheim, Flourtown, and Oreland. The communities of Lafayette Hill, Fort Washington, Laverock, North Hills, Miquon, and Glenside are also situated partly inside the Township.
Upper Dublin Township is a township in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 25,569 at the 2010 census. Until the 1950s, Upper Dublin was mostly farmland and open space, but transitioned to a residential suburb during the postwar population boom. The population went from just over 6,000 residents in the 1950s to just under 20,000 by 1970. Today, Upper Dublin is mostly spread-out development housing, and has the fourth highest median income in Montgomery County.
Whitemarsh Township is a home rule municipality in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. It retains its former classification of "Township" in its official name despite being a home rule municipality. The population was 19,707 at the 2020 census. Whitemarsh is adjacent to the neighborhood of Andorra in the Roxborough section of Philadelphia, and is bordered in Montgomery County by Springfield, Upper Dublin, Whitpain, and Plymouth townships, Conshohocken, and the Schuylkill River, which separates it from Lower Merion Township.
Lafayette Hill is an unincorporated community, which is situated primarily within Whitemarsh Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. A small part of this community is also located in Springfield Township.
Dresher is a community in Upper Dublin Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. The population was 5,610 at the 2000 census. Because Dresher is neither an incorporated area nor a census-designated place, all statistics are for the ZIP Code 19025, with which the community is coterminous.
The Cradle of Liberty Council (#525) is a Boy Scouts of America council created in 1996 with the merger of the former Philadelphia Council and the former Valley Forge Council.
Pennsylvania was the site of many key events associated with the American Revolution and American Revolutionary War. The city of Philadelphia, then capital of the Thirteen Colonies and the largest city in the colonies, was a gathering place for the Founding Fathers who discussed, debated, developed, and ultimately implemented many of the acts, including signing the Declaration of Independence, that inspired and launched the revolution and the quest for independence from the British Empire.
Fort Washington State Park is a 493-acre (200 ha) Pennsylvania state park in Springfield and Whitemarsh Townships in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. The park is noted for the springtime flowering of dogwood trees, and is popular with families for picnics and hiking. It is approximately 17 miles (27 km) north of Philadelphia, 2 miles (3.2 km) from exit 339 of the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
The Battle of White Marsh or Battle of Edge Hill was a battle of the Philadelphia campaign of the American Revolutionary War fought December 5–8, 1777, in the area surrounding Whitemarsh Township, Pennsylvania. The battle, which took the form of a series of skirmish actions, was the last major engagement of 1777 between British and American forces.
The Quaker Manor House is an historic, American building that is located at 1165 Pinetown Road in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, in the United States.
Ardsley is an unincorporated community located in Abington Township, as well as Upper Dublin Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is a neighbor of Glenside. A large portion of this neighborhood is composed of the historic cemeteries Hillside Cemetery and Ardsley Burial Park. It is the location of the Ardsley SEPTA station.
Pennsylvania Route 152 (PA 152) is a 25.3-mile-long (40.7 km) state highway located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The route travels north–south from an interchange with PA 309 located in the Cedarbrook neighborhood of Cheltenham Township in Montgomery County north to another interchange with PA 309 located northeast of Telford in Bucks County. PA 152 is known as Limekiln Pike for most of its length. From the southern terminus, the route passes through suburban areas to the north of Philadelphia, serving Dresher, Maple Glen, and Chalfont. North of Chalfont, PA 152 runs through rural suburbs of Philadelphia before reaching Silverdale. Past here, the road continues northwest through Perkasie, where it turns southwest and passes through Sellersville before reaching its northern terminus.
Sandy Run is a second-order stream that is a tributary to the Wissahickon Creek at Fort Washington State Park. The headwaters are in Dresher and Roslyn, Pennsylvania, and the stream flows west for approximately 6 miles (9.7 km). The stream follows through Abington, Upper Dublin, Springfield, and Whitemarsh Townships; and flows through several golf courses, including Sandy Run Country Club, Lu Lu Country Club, and Manufacturers Country Club. This creek can be fished in some places, mainly between Manufacturer's Country Club and the Wissahickon Creek. Fish that inhabit this creek include Sunfish, Carp, Smallmouth and Largemouth Bass, Catfish, and several other species.
The Peter Wentz Farmstead is an historic, Pennsylvania German farm that has been continuously farmed since 1744. It is located in Worcester Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania near Lansdale.
Upper Roxborough Historic District is a national historic district located in Philadelphia and Whitemarsh Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. It encompasses 108 contributing buildings, 23 contributing sites, and 18 contributing structures in Upper Roxborough. The district includes a number of small scale farm and industrial workers' housing, estate houses, mill-owners' dwellings, and farm buildings. Notable buildings include the Shawmont Railroad Station (1834), Miquon Station designed by Frank Furness (1910), Riverside Paper Mills, Hagy's Mill ruin, St. Mary's Church, and "Fairview" and other buildings on the grounds of the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education. The Roxborough Pumping Station was also part of the district, but it was demolished in 2011 after sitting abandoned for over fifty years.
Miquon is an unincorporated community in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. Located partly in Whitemarsh Township and partly in Springfield Township, it lies between the Roxborough section of Philadelphia and the Spring Mill section of Whitemarsh Township. Its borders are, roughly, Barren Hill Road, Ridge Pike, Manor Road, and the Schuylkill River. The sections of Miquon along the river and west of Harts Lane share the 19428 zip code with Conshohocken. The section east of Harts Lane shares the 19444 zip code with Lafayette Hill.
Erdenheim Farm is a 450-acre (1.82 km2) working farm in Springfield and Whitemarsh Townships, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. Located just outside the Chestnut Hill section of Philadelphia, it is bordered by the Morris Arboretum & Gardens to the east, Whitemarsh Valley Country Club to the south, Carson Valley School to the north, and Corson's Quarry to the west. The Wissahickon Creek flows through the farm and Stenton Avenue crosses it. All but 23 acres of the land is now protected from development by conservation easements.