Belmont District, Pennsylvania

Belmont District is a defunct district that was located in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania. The district ceased to exist and was incorporated into the City of Philadelphia following the passage of the Act of Consolidation, 1854.

The name "Belmont" is still used as a neighborhood name for the area, although it no longer refers to any legal entity. Similar name-inheritance (where the name of a former municipality lives on as a neighborhood name without formal definition) is also seen in other Philadelphia neighborhoods.

History

Belmont District was created by act of the Assembly on April 14, 1853. It embraced the part of Blockley Township which lay along the Schuylkill River from the northern boundary of West Philadelphia to the northern boundary between Philadelphia and Montgomery counties, and had also its western boundary on that line. This district had scarcely time to be organized before the Act of Consolidation of February 2, 1854, put an end to its franchises.

The name was derived from Belmont, the country seat of the Peters family, which is now part of Fairmount Park. The mansion was erected by William Peters about 1743, and the name was descriptive of the fine position of the property and suggestive of the beautiful views of the river and valley of the Schuylkill. The property became the estate of Judge Richard Peters, Jr., of the United States District Court; he lived there until his death, August 22, 1828.

Resources

* [http://www.phila.gov/phils/Docs/Inventor/graphics/wards/wards1.htm "Chronology of the Political Subdivisions of the County of Philadelphia, 1683-1854"]
*" [http://www.ushistory.org/philadelphia/incorporated.html Information] courtesy of [http://www.ushistory.org ushistory.org] "
* [http://www.ushistory.org/philadelphia/incorporated.html Incorporated District, Boroughs, and Townships in the County of Philadelphia, 1854 By Rudolph J. Walther] - excerpted from the book at the ushistory.org website