Passyunk Township, Pennsylvania

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

History

Passyunk, spelled in old deeds and records Perslajingh, Passayunk, Passyonck, Passajon, Passajungh, Passaming and Paisajungh, the name of a Native American village, and afterwards of a tract of land computed at 1,000 acres (4 km²), was originally given by Queen Christina, August 20, 1653, to Lt. Swen Schute in consideration of important services rendered to the King of Sweden by the said gallant lieutenant. On January 1, 1667-68, Governor Richard Nichols, of New York, granted Passyunk to Robert Ashman, John Ashman, Thomas Jacob, Dunkin Williams, Francis Walker, and others, at a quit-rent of ten bushels of wheat per year. Passyunk was the first tract of land above the marsh-land in the Neck, which latter has since become fast land. It fronted on the Schuylkill River from Point Breeze up to a little stream called Pinneys Creek. From the head of Pinneys Creek the boundary extended in a straight line towards the southeast, to a point which formed the boundary of Moyamensing, thence south by west to the limit of the fast-land and over in irregular shape to the Schuylkill. The northeastern boundary was about on the parallel of Twelfth Street.

Passyunk occupied something more than a full quarter of the fast-land south of Philadelphia. It became a township at a very early period. The limit of the township was extended from the South Street city line along the Schuylkill and the Delaware and Back Channel to a point beyond the eastern end of League Island, whence it ran north by west and struck the city line at South Street between Schuylkill Fifth (Eighteenth ) and Sixth (Seventeenth) Streets.

The township was estimated to be in it’s greatest length 3 3/4 miles; greatest breadth, 3 miles; area, 5,110 acres (21 km²). There were no villages in this township, but it was at no time a favourite place for country-seats. It was Traversed by the Federal Road, afterwards called Federal Street, from the Delaware to Grays Ferry, by a portion of Moyamensing Road across to Greenwich Island, Passyunk Road, Long Lane and the Irish Tract Lane.

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