How did Curls Run in Pennsylvania get it’s name? This page provides a brief history about Curls Run in Pennsylvania, the people who settled on it, and the industry rising around it.
The name of this stream is variously spelled Kirl, Kyrl, Carl and Curl. It was named for Thomas Kirl, who owned land in Buckingham Township, which was later bought by Robert Smith, 1723. The source of the creek is on the farms of Harry Trego and Earl Daniels in the vicinity of the village of Pineville. It flows east through the lands of John Hogan, Harvey R. Smith, William E. Smith, Charles R. Wentz, Charles W. Livezey and Lettie A. Betts, and empties into Pidcock Creek. The three last named farms composed the original Robert Smith homestead. The first actual mention of the name of the stream is found in the agreement (1789) between Thomas Smith of Buckingham Township and subscribers of three townships, Buckingham, Solebury and Upper Makefield, for a “Lot of Land on the N. W. Side of Kyrl’s Run, to extend from the S. W. Side of the Old Sawmill Log-yard to the Street Road, eight Perches in Width, . . .” for the use of a school only. This school was first called “Red Schoolhouse” and in 1830 “New Prospect School.”1 In the Atlas of Bucks County, compiled by E. P. Noll & Co., 1891, this stream is erroneously marked Curtis Run.
Source: MacReynolds, George. Place Names in Bucks County Pennsylvania, 2nd Edition. Doylestown, PA: The Bucks County Historical Society, 1955.
- Early Schoolhouses in Four Bucks County Townships by C. Arthur Smith, in Papers Read before The Bucks County Historical Society, Vol. VIII, pp. 161, 162. [↩]