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24-672: The Upper Merion Area School District provides education to Upper Merion Township , Bridgeport , and West Conshohocken in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania . It consists of seven schools. The mascot for the Upper Merion Area Middle School and High School is the Viking . School colors are Gold and Navy Blue. The mascot for Caley Elementary School is the Cougar . The mascot for Roberts Elementary School

48-653: A soldier from Ansbach-Bayreuth who fought on the British side during the war : I must also comment that the King of Prussia has a house in Philadelphia and therefore is a citizen and enjoys the rights of citizenship. This house is built of wood and is supposed to have been put together and built in East Friesland , brought from there to England and on a ship to Philadelphia, where it was put up in one night. It

72-473: A female householder with no husband present, and 38.3% were non-families. 29.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.30 and the average family size was 2.91. In the township, the population was spread out, with 18.7% under the age of 18, 7.5% from 18 to 24, 33.8% from 25 to 44, 24.3% from 45 to 64, and 15.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age

96-543: A simple log cabin dating to 1735. The original church had served as both a church and school until Christ Church was built. The stained glass windows tell the story of the history of the Swedish colony of New Sweden . After crossing the Schuylkill River at Swedesford on December 13, 1777, General George Washington and his troops visited Old Swedes Church and encamped there before going on to Valley Forge. As of

120-460: Is a township of the second class under Pennsylvania state statutes. A five-member Board of Supervisors, elected at large for staggered six-year terms, governs it. The Board passes legislation and sets overall policy for the Township. A professional township manager runs the day-to-day operations overseeing the activities of 250 full and part-time employees. The King of Prussia Inn , Poplar Lane ,

144-518: Is called in their language a "Tavern," in German an inn or pub ("Gast- oder Wirtshaus"), which bears a signboard showing the King of Prussia." The inn was forced to move with the expansion of U.S. Route 202 . U.S. 202 is a major north–south highway that passes through the town from southwest to northeast. Its construction as an expressway would have caused the destruction of the King of Prussia Inn; however, historic preservationists managed to prevail upon

168-642: Is the Raccoon . The mascot for Candlebrook Elementary school is the Cub . The mascot for Bridgeport Elementary school is the Bear . The mascot for Gulph Elementary School is the Gator . A new middle school was completed in 2006 (and even visited by former president, Barack Obama), as part of the district's plan to replace most school buildings. All five Elementary Schools have been built or rebuilt since 2000. In September 1999

192-739: Is the third largest mall in the United States in terms of leasable space with over 450 stores, is located in Upper Merion Township. Other points of interest in Upper Merion Township include the Valley Forge Casino Resort , the King of Prussia Town Center and the King of Prussia Volunteer Fire Company 9/11 Memorial . Old Swedes Church (Christ Church) was dedicated June 25, 1760, in Swedesburg, replacing

216-576: The Washington Memorial Chapel , Hanging Rock and Gulph Mills Bridge are listed on the National Register of Historic Places . According to the U.S. Census Bureau , the township has a total area of 17.2 square miles (44.7 km ), of which 16.9 square miles (43.7 km ) is land and 0.4 square mile (1.0 km ) (2.20%) is water. Upper Merion has a hot-summer humid continental climate ( Dfa ) and

240-671: The county of Merioneth in north Wales. Merioneth is an English-language translation of the Welsh Meirionnydd , itself named after Meirchion (or Meirion ), grandson of Cunedda Wledig (b. ca. 380 A.D.), King of North Wales. The township's incorporation dates to 1713 when the King of Prussia Inn, the Bird-In-Hand Inn in Gulph Mills, and later the Swedes Ford Inn were required to pay 6 shillings to

264-629: The hardiness zone is 7a. It is drained by the Schuylkill River which forms its natural northern and eastern boundary. Upper Merion Township is home to Valley Forge National Historical Park , which consists of the site where General George Washington and the Continental Army made their encampment at Valley Forge during the winter of 1777–78 in the American Revolutionary War . King of Prussia , which

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288-476: The poverty line , including 1.6% of those under age 18 and 3.1% of those age 65 or over. Upper Merion Township is run by an elected five person Board of Supervisors, each of whom serve staggered six year terms. The current supervisors are Chairperson Carole Kenney (D), Vice Chairperson Tina Garzillo (D), Greg Waks (D), Greg Philips (D) and Bill Jenaway (D). Other than Garzillo, who was appointed in June 2018 to finish

312-537: The "King of Prussia". It was possibly renamed to entice German soldiers fighting in the American Revolution to remain in this area. At some point a wooden signboard of the inn depicted King Frederick the Great of Prussia. The inn was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on December 23, 1975. The King of Prussia Inn is mentioned in a 1778 entry from the diary of Johann Conrad Döhla,

336-517: The 2020 census, the township was 69.1% White, 6.5% Black or African American, 0.0% Native American, 19.6% Asian, and 3.5% were two or more races. 4.0% of the population were of Hispanic or Latino ancestry [1] . As of the 2000 census, there were 26,863 people, 11,575 households, and 7,141 families residing in the township. The population density was 1,593.3 inhabitants per square mile (615.2/km ). There were 12,151 housing units at an average density of 720.7 per square mile (278.3/km ). The racial makeup of

360-460: The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to avoid this structure by building north and southbound lanes on either side of it. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania acquired the property on which the inn was located in 1952. For more than 50 years the inn was marooned on an artificial island, with cars and trucks roaring past it on both sides. It was sealed up for years, surrounded by a high fence. The inn

384-641: The Pennsylvania legislature for licenses. The King of Prussia Inn , built in 1719, captures the historical flavor of the township. It was named in honor of Frederick the Great , but became known during the Revolutionary War as a center of food and drink. An alternate story says the Inn, first called Berry's Tavern, got its name to lure in Prussian mercenaries who spent freely. Upper Merion Township

408-637: The district began a voluntary school uniform pilot program at Roberts Elementary, but superintendent Terry Mancini stated that due to a new principal starting that year, it would be unlikely to be widely adhered to. The district is governed by a nine-member Board of Directors elected to four-year terms. Since the late 1960s, the district is one of only two in Montgomery County (along with Spring-Ford School District) to have board members elected by region. The district has three regions with two members from each region while three at-large members fill out

432-426: The inn, which henceforth became known as "Berry's Tavern". General George Washington first visited the tavern on Thanksgiving Day in 1777 while the Continental Army was encamped at Whitemarsh ; a few weeks later Washington and the army bivouacked at nearby Valley Forge . A map created by William Parker , an American Loyalist , listed the inn as "Berry's" in 1777, but a local petition in 1786 identified it as

456-523: The remainder of the board. The political breakdown as of December 2017 is 8 Democrats and 1 Republican. Upper Merion Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Upper Merion Township is a township in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania , United States. The population was 33,613 at the 2020 U.S. Census. Located 16 miles (26 km) from Philadelphia , it consists of the villages of Gulph Mills , King of Prussia , Swedeland , Swedesburg , and portions of Radnor , and Wayne . The westernmost part of

480-1316: The term of Erika Spott (D), there has not been a change in the composition of the Board of Supervisors since January 2012 and each of the current Supervisors (other than Garzillo) was re-elected by a significantly greater margin than originally elected. The Chairperson and Vice Chairperson are elected every year in January by their fellow Supervisors. The recent Chairs of the Upper Merion Township Board of Supervisors: 2022: Carole Kenney; 2021: Bill Jenaway; 2020: Bill Jenaway; 2019: Greg Waks; 2018: Greg Philips; 2017: Bill Jenaway; 2016: Bill Jenaway; 2015: Greg Philips (from January–April); Erika Spott (from May–December); 2014: Greg Waks; 2013: Greg Waks; 2012: Erika Spott; 2011: Ed McBride (R); 2010: Joe Bartlett (R); 2009: Scott Sibley (R); 2008: Scott Sibley (R) Municipal general election results from 2001–Present: Vote Total Vote Total Vote Total Vote Total 3294 2138 2880 2693 2243 2184 2190 2015 1644 1357 2747 2681 2537 2424 2334 2291 3185 3048 2978 2930 2564 2272 3602 3446 2330 2240 3485 King of Prussia Inn The original inn

504-404: The township comprises the largest part of the 1,300-acre (5 km ) Valley Forge National Historical Park . The township is the home of the King of Prussia mall, the third-largest shopping mall in the United States in terms of gross leasable area . King of Prussia also contains a major office park hosting firms such as Lockheed Martin and GlaxoSmithKline . The name Merion originates with

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528-406: The township was 84.75% White , 4.63% African American , 0.13% Native American , 8.45% Asian , 0.05% Pacific Islander , 0.66% from other races , and 1.32% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.79% of the population. There were 11,575 households, out of which 23.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.3% were married couples living together, 6.8% had

552-414: Was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.9 males. The median income for a household in the township was $ 65,636, and the median income for a family was $ 78,690. Males had a median income of $ 51,247 versus $ 38,166 for females. The per capita income for the township was $ 34,961. About 1.3% of families and 2.9% of the population were below

576-566: Was constructed as a cottage in 1719 by the Welsh Quakers William and Janet Rees, founders of nearby Reesville. The cottage was converted to an inn in 1769 and was important in colonial times as it was approximately a day's travel by horse from Philadelphia . A number of settlers heading from there for Ohio would sleep at the inn for their first night on the road. In 1774 the Rees family hired James Barry (or Jimmy Berry) to run

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