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• Founded in 1690, Roxborough Township was comprised of 11 tracts of land sold by William Penn to early settlers -- including the areas that would become Manayunk, Wissahickon, and a part of East Falls.
  (See the new map listed in this section.)

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• In May 1824, the Roxborough Township neighborhood known as "Flat Rock" decided to rebrand itself with a new name worthy of the growing river-front community. The committee settled on "Udoravia" (a Greek word meaning "by the river"). However, the next day after it was announced, the objection of residents lead to a second name change. This time the committee decided upon "Manayunk" (a modified spelling of the Lenape word "maniung" meaning "where we drink") which reflected the desire of many that the name should have a Native American origin.

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• On June 11, 1840, the neighborhood of Manayunk incorporated and became a borough within Roxborough Township. (See the new interactive Google Map in this section for the footprint in 1840.)

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• On March 31, 1847, Manayunk separated from Roxborough Township to stand as a borough within Philadelphia County. 

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• On February 2, 1854, Manayunk -- along with Roxborough Township and all the other villages, boroughs, townships, and hamlets within Philadelphia County -- was consolidated into the City of Philadelphia. This consolidation reunited the pieces within the footprint of Roxborough Township in 1690 into the 21st Ward of Philadelphia.

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In the ~170 years since, many things in the 21st Ward have changed, but the neighborhood identities persist as does a great sense of resident pride. RMWHS celebrates this history and  we hope you will explore the related items presented here.

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