Fort Washington is a suburb of Philadelphia's Montgomery County. The Fort Washington population as per the 2010 census was 5,446. It's a part of Upper Dublin and Whitemarsh township. Let's find out more about Fort Washington (PA).
Before the Revolutionary War for America's independence, the Fort Washington area of Pennsylvania was settled by immigrants from Germany. One notable immigrant was Philip Engard who immigrated in 1728. Engard purchased 100 acres (40 ha) on what eventually went on to be named Susquehanna Road and Fort Washington Avenue. By the mid-18th century it started being known as Engardtown, and Fort Washington Avenue was originally called Engardtown Road. The house built by Philip Engard is listed under the title of "Engard Family Home - 1765" within the Upper Dublin Township Open Space & Environmental Resource Protection Plan - 2005, as a part of the Upper Dublin Historical Properties #25.
During the Philadelphia campaign of the American Revolutionary War, George Washington along with the Continental Army was encamped here after the October 4, 1777 defeat at the Battle of Germantown, and immediately prior to the march to Valley Forge. Between December 5th-8th, 1777, Fort Washington was witness to the Battle of White Marsh. During the entire encampment period, George Washington was headquartered at the Emlen House, built by Quaker George Emlen in 1745. British commander General William Howe observed the American lines from the tower of St. Thomas' Episcopal Church (at Bethlehem Pike and Camp Hill Road), site of British encampment on December 5. Today, Fort Washington State Park contains the artefacts of the time.
On July 17, 1856, Fort Washington was the location of a horrible American train accident when two North Pennsylvania Railroad trains collided near the now defunct Fellwick Station (known as the Sandy Run station back then). The exact number of deaths is uncertain, but 59 were killed instantly and dozens more perished from their injuries eventually. Many of the dead were children from St. Michael's Roman Catholic Church from the Kensington section of Philadelphia, who were traveling to Sheaff's Woods, a park within the Fort Washington area, for a Sunday school picnic.
The Township was created on January 1st, 1946. The township encompassed Fort Washington along with nine other communities. Some sections of Fort Washington were also absorbed into Whitemarsh Township.
The primary center of business and industry in Upper Dublin Township is the Fort Washington Office Park, which occupies 536 acres (217 ha) and contains 6,000,000 square feet (560,000 square metres) of building space. There are more than 65 buildings of various sizes up to 658,535 square feet (61,179.9 square metres). The park is home to more than 100 companies such as Honeywell, Aetna, AccuWeather, Eastern National, Genworth Financial, and a suburban campus of Temple University. The office park was also home to the company headquarters of CDNow, the pioneering online music retailer. It is also home to one of the earliest branches of School of Rock.
The Fort Washington Office Park also used to have the Fort Washington Expo Center. Opened in 1993 in the former Honeywell factory, the Expo Center hosted some of the region's biggest consumer and trade shows, and at 290,000 square feet (27,000 square metre), was the largest such suburban venue in the Northeastern part of America . The Expo Center closed 2006 after the building was sold to Liberty Property Trust who renovated the middle into Class A office space. The center, which can accommodate 2,800 employees, was leased to GMAC Mortgage who took over the space in 2007. GMAC Mortgage went out of business in 2013.
On Camp Hill Road in Whitemarsh are the corporate headquarters of Johnson & Johnson division McNeil Consumer & Specialty Pharmaceuticals, marketers of over-the-counter and prescription pharmaceuticals including Tylenol (acetaminophen) and Motrin IB (ibuprofen) products. Their building is predicated on a 110-acre (45 ha) site. Johnson and Johnson closed this plant in April 2010 after a series of manufacturing problems led to embarrassing product recalls for faulty manufacturing practices.
SEPTA Regional Rail's Lansdale/Doylestown Line has a stop at the Fort Washington station. OurBus provides intercity bus company from Fort Washington to Park Avenuein Manhattan as a part of a route running from West Chester to New York City. The stop in Fort Washington is located next to the Fort Washington station. The route was inaugurated on December 21, 2017.
As of the 2010 census, the CDP was 86.2% White, 4.5% Black or African American, 0.1% Native American, 6.2% Asian, 0.5% were Some Other Race, and 1.3% were two or more races. 1.8% of the population was of Hispanic or Latino ancestry.
As per the data released in the 2000 census, Fort Washington had 3,680 people, 1,161 households, and 1,013 families. The population density was 1,349.9 people per square mile (520.5/km2). There were 1,173 housing units at an average density of 430.3/sq mi (165.9/km2). The racial makeup of the community was 91.30% White, 3.04% African American, 0.08% Native American, 5.03% Asian (0.46% Asian Indian, 2.20% Chinese, 1.93% Korean, 0.16% Vietnamese, 0.27% Other Asian), 0.11% from other races, and 0.43% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.71% of the population.(0.08% Mexican, 0.19% Puerto Rican, 0.11% Cuban, 0.33% Other Hispanic). 90.65% of the population was White, non-Hispanic.
Out of the 1,161 households, 45.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 81.7% were married couples living together, 4.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 12.7% were non-families. The average household size was 3.06 and the average family size was 3.32.
The population was spread out, with 28.5% under the age of 18, 5.2% from 18 to 24, 22.1% from 25 to 44, 32.4% from 45 to 64, and 11.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females, there were 100.0 males.However for every 100 females above the age of 18, there were only 91.6 males. The median income for a household in the community was $103,469, and the median income for a family was $112,863. Males had a median income of $76,205 versus $37,321 for females. The per capita income for the community was $43,090. About 1.5% of families and 3.4% of the population lived below the poverty line, including 3.7% of those under age 18 and none of those age 65 or over.
Fort Washington experiences continental climate. Summers are hot and humid while winters are cold and frigid.