Pennsylvania State...
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Pennsylvania Counties
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Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
Montgomery County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education
County Seat: Norristown
Year Organized: 1784
Square Miles: 483 |
Court House: P. O. Box 311
County Courthouse
Norristown, PA 19404-0311
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Etymology - Origin of County Name
Named perhaps for Montgomeryshire in Wales, for the
Revolutionary hero Gen. Richard Montgomery, or for two legislators named
Montgomery who advanced the bill to create the county.
Demographics:
County QuickFacts:
Census Bureau Quick Facts
History
Created on September 10, 1784 from
part of Philadelphia County. Named perhaps for Montgomeryshire in Wales, for the
Revolutionary hero Gen. Richard Montgomery, or for two legislators named
Montgomery who advanced the bill to create the county. Norristown, the county
seat, was laid out in 1784 and incorporated as a borough on March 31, 1812. It
was named for Isaac Norris who owned land there.
Settled since 1685, the first residents were Germans, mainly pietists, in
Germantown. Welsh, Scotch-Irish, English (mostly Quakers), and Swedes flocked to
the area. The opening of the Schuylkill Canal in 1825 boosted the economy,
followed by railroads. The Pennsylvania Railroad's Main Line passed through in
the 1860s, giving rise to an elite residential area, "the Main Line."
Intelligent farming has always been practiced on the county's good soil. Iron
works arose in Norristown, Pottstown, and Conshohocken, and leather tanning was
very important until the 1930s. Bernard McCready began a large textile factory
in Norristown in 1826, with an enormous factory. Cigars, carriages, and paper
were nineteenth-century Montgomery specialties, and marble is still quarried.
From about 1900 to the 1970s steel, machinery, textiles, rubber, electrical,
chemicals, and paint manufacturing were strong. The county is still a
manufacturing giant. In 1992 it had the highest "value added from manufactures"
figure of any Pennsylvania county. This was an amazing 9 ¼ billion dollars—more
than double the figure for any other county. In addition, much personal income
comes in from residents who work in Philadelphia. The county has the highest
personal income rate and lowest percentage in poverty of the sixty-seven
counties. Eighteen percent of the land is still farmed, and the county ranks
eleventh in cash receipts from field crops. Both Republican Gov. Hartranft and
Democratic presidential candidate Winfield Scott Hancock were natives.
Neighboring Counties:
Cities and Towns:
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- Abington |
township |
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- Ambler |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Bridgeport |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Bryn Athyn |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Cheltenham |
township |
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- Collegeville |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Conshohocken |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Douglass |
township |
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- East Greenville |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- East Norriton |
township |
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- Franconia |
township |
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- Green Lane |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Hatboro |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Hatfield |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Haverford |
township |
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- Horsham |
township |
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- Jenkintown |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Lansdale |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Limerick |
township |
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- Lower Frederick |
township |
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- Lower Gwynedd |
township |
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- Lower Merion |
township |
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- Lower Moreland |
township |
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- Lower Pottsgrove |
township |
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- Lower Providence |
township |
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- Lower Salford |
township |
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- Marlborough |
township |
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- Narberth |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- New Hanover |
township |
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- Norristown
(County
Seat) |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- North Wales |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Pennsburg |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Perkiomen |
township |
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- Philadelphia |
city |
Incorporated Area |
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- Phoenixville |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Pottstown |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Red Hill |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Rockledge |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Royersford |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Salford |
township |
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- Schwenksville |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Skippack |
township |
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- Souderton |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Stowe |
township |
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- Telford |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Towamencin |
township |
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- Trappe |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Upper Dublin |
township |
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- Upper Frederick |
township |
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- Upper Gwynedd |
township |
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- Upper Hanover |
township |
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- Upper Merion |
township |
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- Upper Moreland |
township |
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- Upper Pottsgrove |
township |
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- Upper Salford |
township |
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- West Conshohocken |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- West Norriton |
township |
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- West Pottsgrove |
township |
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- Whitemarsh |
township |
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- Whitpain |
township |
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- Worcester |
township |
County Resources:
Enter County Resources and Information Here
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County Resource Guide
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The history of our nation can be seen as a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names we've given our counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic
features of our country!"
But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.
Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally,
act locally." |
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Penn Foster High School
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