How did Langhorne, Pennsylvania get its name? This page provides a brief history about the naming of Langhorne, the people who settled it, and the industry rising within it.
Langhorne is a borough erected from central southwestern Middletown Township and incorporated in 1874. It is beautifully seated on a plateau crowning the ridge of Edge Hill. As a hamlet in early times at the juncture of four highways, it was known as Four Lanes End. Later, it was called both Four Lanes End and Richardson’s Corner from the Richardson House on the southwest corner of the present Bellevue and Maple Avenues, built in 1738, now the Community House. On the opposite side of Bellevue Avenue stands the Gilbert Hicks building, erected by Hicks in 1763, from which he fled on horseback when he was suspected of Toryism in 1776. It was used as a hospital during the Revolution, and Continental soldiers who died there were buried in an adjacent field.
From about 1737 to 1876, Langhorne was known as Attleborough, so named, in all probability, for a town in Norfolk, England, of the same name, ninety-four miles northeast of London. The word “Attleborough” has been variously written as Artleborough, Attlebury, and Attleboro, but “Attleborough” was the correct eighteenth-century spelling. The earliest mention of Attleborough so far found is in a deed recorded in the Recorder’s Office, Doylestown, in Deed Book 6, p. 210, dated November 7, 1787. The name recurs in later deed books. In the Library of the Bucks County Historical Society is a plan of “Washington’s Square in Attleborough,” surveyed and laid out November 1783, per Is. Hicks. This plan appears to have been made for an early real estate development, and three of the plots are marked “For an Episcopal Church,” “Plains of Abraham for a Baptist Church,” and “For a Presbyterian Church.”
A curious explanation of the origin of the name of Attleborough is offered by Historian William J. Buck,1 on the importance of which the reader may place their own estimation. “A resident of the place,” says Mr. Buck, “has informed me that this name is of local origin; that a William Richardson Atlee (son of Col. Samuel Atlee of the Revolutionary Army), a lawyer and son-in-law of General Wayne, resided here about 1790 or perhaps a little earlier. A fire engine was ordered to be made, for which £50 had been raised. When it was finished, word was sent from Philadelphia inquiring what name they wanted it called. Someone suggested that, as Mr. Atlee had been one of the principal contributors, it should be called after him. When the engine arrived, it was found to have painted on its sides ‘Atleebury,’ which is still to be seen. Shortly afterwards, a post office was established here, and it was called Attleborough, a slight change from the original.” It was not, however, until sixteen years later (April 1, 1806) that the post office was established under the name Attleborough, with Richard Croasdale as the first postmaster.
The name of the borough was changed to Langhorne in 1876, at the time of the completion of the Bound Brook line of the North Pennsylvania Railroad, now the New York Branch of the Reading Railway. A heated dispute arose between the residents of Attleborough and Hulmeville over naming the station, each proposing the name of their town. The Centennial Exposition was coming on, and Franklin A. Comly, president of the railroad company, was anxious to have the station named at once. Seeing that the dispute might be interminable, President Comly took matters into his own hands, discarded both proposed names, and named the station Langhorne. Attleborough very soon thereafter adopted the name for the borough. Thus was perpetuated the name of Thomas Langhorne and his descendants, one of whom was his son, the distinguished Jeremiah Langhorne, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania and holder of many other positions of trust in the province.
The name of Thomas Langhorne appears in the county records before 1690, and much of the land on which Langhorne Borough stands was owned by him and his son. Chief Justice Langhorne inherited the manor after the death of his father, named it Langhorne Park, and lived there in the style of English nobility with a train of servants and slaves, whom he is reputed to have treated with great kindness, leaving them competences and providing for their manumission in his will. Thus, when Attleborough in 1876 became Langhorne, it was only a resumption of a former name.
According to a copy of an original draft of Langhorne Park, made in 1810 and now in the Library of the Bucks County Historical Society, “the whole of this tract contained 927 acres, about 150 sold to T. Jenks and Wm. Craig, Trustees of E. G. & J. Thompson, which leaves about 777 acres.” The Park bordered Neshaminy Creek opposite Trevose. The only house figured on the plan seems to be a large three-storied building with a lower wing. Paxson’s Creek is shown crossing the eastern part of the Park. A spring and fifteen acres of woodland are also shown. Surrounding landowners were Stephen Comfort, Isaac Stackhouse, Collinson, Paxson, Joshua Richardson, Jonathan Hibbs, Titus, and Vansant.
Langhorne has always been a residential town, noted for its mansions and park-like lawns. It now has practically all modern municipal improvements. A school of high grade was established in 1835, known successively as Minerva Seminary, Attleboro High School, Attleboro Academy, and Bellevue Institute. Samuel J. Randall of Philadelphia, Speaker of the House of Representatives (1876–1881), was one of the distinguished pupils of this institution. On the Morris map of Bucks County (1850) is a good engraving of the imposing building as it appeared at that time.
The town’s Country Club owns a beautiful clubhouse and golf course. There is an efficient, modernly equipped Langhorne Fire Company. Langhorne Sorosis is a leader among county women’s clubs, and other important organizations function actively in civic affairs. The public library building was erected in 1889–90. The fund was provided by Anna Mary Williamson, who also left a considerable sum for the purchase of books.
- An Inquiry into the Origin of Names of Places in Bucks County, Bucks County Intelligencer, issue of February 3, 1857. [↩]