| Board of Supervisors | |
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•Leslie S. Richards, Chair •Sara J. Erlbaum, Vice-Chair •David E. Brooke |
•Jean K. McLenigan •Kelly C. Wall |
Whitemarsh Township is a 14.53-square mile municipality located in southeastern Montgomery County. Incorporated in 1704 as part of Philadelphia County, it was one of the 28 original communities that comprised Montgomery County upon its founding in 1784. Adjacent to the Andorra section of Philadelphia, it is surrounded in Montgomery County by Springfield, Upper Dublin, Whitpain, and Plymouth Townships and Conshohocken Borough. It is also bordered by the Schuylkill River, which separates it from Lower Merion Township.
Originally a nearly perfect rectangle, Whitemarsh underwent two boundary changes during the 19th century which altered this appearance. In 1850, with the incorporation of Conshohocken Borough, it lost 320 acres. Conversely, in 1876 it annexed 120 acres from Springfield Township in the Miquon area.
Regionally, Whitemarsh is well known as the home of Fort Washington State Park, Hope Lodge/Mathers Mill, Germantown Academy, Plymouth Whitemarsh High School, and McNeil Consumer Healthcare, one of the largest private employers in Montgomery County. The township is also the site of six golf courses: Whitemarsh Valley Country Club, Sunnybrook Country Club, Green Valley Country Club, The Ace Club, and two courses of the Philadelphia Cricket Club.
Access to the township is provided by numerous arterial roads, including Ridge, Germantown, Butler, Skippack, and Bethlehem Pikes, Stenton and Pennsylvania Avenues, and Joshua and Morris Roads. These roads have traditionally provided convenient access to and from Whitemarsh and have been instrumental in its growth.
The Pennsylvania Turnpike (Interstate Route 276) and the Route 309 Expressway (State Route 309) also run through the township. Although neither have an interchange in Whitemarsh, the turnpike has an interchange in nearby Plymouth Township, and the Route 309 expressway also has an interchange in Fort Washington which also connects with the turnpike. An interchange to the Blue Route (Interstate 476) is also located through nearby Plymouth Township providing convenient access to Center City Philadelphia, the Philadelphia International Airport, King of Prussia and other regional interstate highways.
Whitemarsh also has regional transportation opportunities via public transportation. The most prominent of these are the R5 and R6 Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) rail lines, both of which have stations in the township. The R5 line, which connects Bucks, Chester, Montgomery, and Philadelphia Counties has a station in the Fort Washington section of the township. In addition, nearby stations in Ambler Borough and the Fellwick area of Springfield Township also provides convenient access to the line for township residents. The R6 line, which runs along the Schuylkill River, has two stations located in Miquon and Spring Mill. The R6 provides a direct connection for the township with Philadelphia's Center City and the Norristown Transportation Center. Through both of the rail lines, connections to Amtrak and the Philadelphia International Airport are possible. Bus service in Whitemarsh is provided by SEPTA, running primarily along the township's major arterial roadways, such as Germantown, Ridge, and Bethlehem Pikes, providing links to the regional rail lines and connections to other bus lines throughout the region.
The township has several significant regional recreational amenities in addition to local municipal parks. The Fort Washington State Park is a 483-acre site located in the middle of the township, the Schuylkill River Trail is a biking and pedestrian trail that currently extends from Center City to Valley Forge National Park. Fort Washington State Park primarily contains passive open space, full of woodlands and the Wissahickon Creek. It does contain a segment of Green Ribbon Preserve Trail, a regional biking/pedestrian trail being developed by the Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association. The Schuylkill River Trail was developed by Montgomery County as the first trail in an envisioned trail system that would connect much of the Philadelphia region. In Whitemarsh the trail extends along the river and has numerous connections to township roads.
Regionally, Whitemarsh is one of Philadelphia's inner ring suburbs, albeit one that has escaped the negative connotations of that much maligned term. Its principle image is of a post World War II bedroom community that grew up between older settlements. Well kept residential neighborhoods with tree-lined streets indicate that this is a community that cares about its appearance. Yet it is also the township that contains more farmland and estates than any of its surrounding municipalities. It is startling to drive out of the City on Stenton Avenue and to be presented with images of cultivated fields and pasture land. Together, this combination of suburban and rural creates a unique character for a township so close to the city. It gives the township a special charm, one that differentiates it from any other inner ring suburb in the area.
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Whitemarsh Township
616 Germantown Pike
Lafayette Hill, PA 19444
Phone: (610) 825-3535
Fax: (610) 825-9416