Historic Maps of Bucks County

If you're reading this you're probably like me and spend a lot of time on Google Maps checking out various old houses and locations mentioned in history books. I find the modern aerials fascinating, but what were these properties like one hundred, or two hundred years ago?

Luckily we have plenty of maps printed over the years that can help us with our research. Most of these are well-known and have been used by researchers forever, some are more obscure and are only useful in certain situations. Here's the list of all the maps I use in my research, perhaps you’ll find something new and useful for yours.

Holme Map

In 1687, the first Surveyor General of Pennsylvania Thomas Holme (1624-1695) printed the Map of ye Improved Part of Pensilvania in America Divided into Countyes, Townships and Lotts which includes original purchasers of land in Bucks County. William Penn appointed Holme as one of his councilors, and he eventually served as justice of the peace and commissioner of property. This map gives us the first glimpse of what the early settlement of the county looked like and is an important research tool.

1775 William Scull

Almost one hundred years later William Scull engraved a mouthful of a map of Revolutionary era Pennsylvania, which is also one of the most important cartographical works of its time. There are various revisions of this map with different towns shown from different years, such as 1770. Bucks County is well represented with churches, mills, ferries and many towns noted. 

Bucks County 1775 Scull Map

1817 Thomas G. Kennedy

Thomas G. Kennedy published his colorful map of Bucks County in 1817. This map doesn't show landowners, but it has towns and landmarks of note like churches and mills. Kennedy was the husband of Eliza Violetta Hicks, sister of Edward Hicks, who drowned in Newtown Creek the same year this map was published. He was also a prominent figure in other areas. He was a member of the house of Representatives in 1818, prothonotary and sheriff in Bucks and unsuccessfully ran for Congress in 1828. He died at the age of 53 in Erwinna. 

1817 Brownsburg

In this we see Brownsburg, aka Pebbletown for the cobbles that were quarried from the Delaware River for cobblestone street paving. It notes John Knowles' mill, Vances is the Eagle tavern. Bowmans' Hill, Pidcock's Creek and Neely's Mill are all recognizeable landmarks of today.

1828 Thomas Gordon

In 1828 Thomas Gordon published a Map of the State of New Jersey with part of the Adjoining States Compiled that includes Bucks County in its entirety. There are many long gone villages to be found here. This is regarded as the most important map in New Jersey history, as it was the first large format map for the state. Multiple revisions of this map came out in the ensuing years, with publication eventually being taken over by Robert E. Horner.

A few lost villages, some still here

1831 Kennedy

In 1831 the son of Thomas G. Kennedy, Augustus Willet Kennedy, published a map of Bucks County showing towns and some buildings, though the locations and numbers of buildings aren't particularly precise. It's still a good resource. It seems as though the skills of mapmaking passed from father to son. This map includes a table with population, acreage, number of taxables and valuation for each township. 

Morris Map

A more robust attempt at a map of the County was made in 1850 by W.E. Morris, with great success. This map shows landowners, a few engravings, and insets of Bristol, Doylestown and Newtown Boroughs. There is a population table and description of the county. It is beautiful and large and a valuable resource.  

Morris Map Newtown Borough

Upper Makefield 1857

Next, in 1857 R.K. Kuhn and William B. Shrope published a Map of Bucks and Montgomery Counties and the Consolidated City of Philadelphia, which is much like the Morris Map. You can find individual images of the Townships here. 

Farm Map of Plumstead 1859

In 1859 Matthew Hughes published a series of Farm Maps of Bucks County, which are exceedingly scarce. These large-scale wall maps are very valuable and each has around a dozen beautiful lithographs of farms in the township. There's not a lot out of these out there, if anyone has a line on a copy of the Upper Makefield map it's my white whale so please get in touch with me. Here's a link to the beautiful Plumstead map.

1859 Residence of Benjamin Hall, Danborough

1860 Gillette and Stone

In 1860 John E. Gillette and C.K. Stone published a map of the vicinity of Philadelphia which includes Bucks County. 

1876 Atlas Title Page

Next up is the most detailed mapping of Bucks County to date, the 1876 Combination Atlas Map of Bucks County published by J.D. Scott. This large volume spanned 45 pages, with beautifully drawn, highly detailed maps for every Township and Borough. There are dozens of interesting lithographs of different properties in the county, statistics and more. 

1876 Farm of Thomas B. Scott, Newtown Litho

Original Receipt for 1876 Atlas

1891 E.P. Noll Atlas

In 1891 E.P. Noll, of Philadelphia, published another Atlas of Bucks County much like Scott's volume, minus the lithographs. This is another amazing resource that brings us close to the turn of the century.

Brownsburg in 1891

1948 Farm Atlas

A lesser-known atlas was published in 1948 by Franklin Survey Company, "America's Leading Publishers of Real Estate Atlases". This volume only has certain Townships and was supposed to be the first of three. The second two were never published. It is even larger than the first two atlases and gives a glimpse into the land owners of the middle of the 20th century. When comparing these atlases, one notes the reduction in parcel sizes that occured in the 57 years between publications. It's one of my favorites, as it includes Newtown, the Borough and Upper Makefield broken into 2 gigantic pages. 

Nowadays, people who don't appreciate what they have buy the atlases to cut them up and sell the pages individually. There's only so many of these extant, let's keep them together. 

Those are the main maps I use for Bucks County research, but there are some lesser known maps, or documents that include maps, that one should seek out as well. 

AW Kennedy 1829 Canal Map

There were a few different Delaware Canal Maps published in the 19th century that are useful for researching the towns that it ran through. In 1829 A.W. Kennedy, who would publish the map of Bucks two years later, published a map of the proposed canal and all of it's mechanical work. It's a clearly drafted, well presented view of the landowners and certain buildings in the area of the canal. The mechanical work includes locks, aqueducts, lock houses and more. It's a great lesser-known resource. 

Taylorsville 1829 Canal Map

1868 McNair Canal Survey

The canal was surveyed again in 1868 by Thomas S McNair. This 60 page volume shows the canal and it's appurtenances along its entire length and is beautifully colored. Oddly, there are 2 versions of this same map, each with minor differences such as different buildings. Copies are available at the Pennsylvania State Archives.

Taylorsville at the Canal in 1868 showing Lime Kilns

Moses Moon Land Survey Upper Makefield 1777

Moses Moon was an 18th century Bucks County surveyor who lived at Woodbourne his entire life (1754-1822). Many of his original surveys exist and some are on collection at the Mercer Museum. in MSC 304 Moon Family Land Drafts, 1751-1812. He was a remarkably accurate surveyor who produced clear and precise maps. I wrote about that particular survey here. 

RR 938 Showing Taylorsville in 1827

A road return is a report filed with the county by a surveyor after a road was laid out. There are many of these on file at the Mercer Museum and they are absolutely fascinating. The original road petitions are there as well and contain the signatures of many important early Bucks County settlers. 

1756 Upper Makefield Road Petition

In this petition we see the early settlers of Upper Makefield petitioning for a road leading through the London Land Company's lands down to Taylorsville Rd (Riverside Rd) near Thompson's Mill, granting easier access to the "back settlers". What's interesting about this is that two of the signers owned houses that were headquarters prior to the crossing, Samuel Merrick and William Keith.

Road Return Research at Mercer Museum

Road returns are fascinating in that they show the development of our modern day roads, essentially road genealogy. Theres much info to be found in these and they're an important part of Bucks County history. 

1893 Fowler

Thaddeus Mortimer Fowler was known for his birds-eye panoramic lithographs of different towns. He was active for over fifty years (1870-1922) and produced 426 views, 248 of those were in Pennsylvania. Bucks County is lucky to have a few towns represented. There's Newtown, Perkasie, Sellersville, Morrisville and other views. While not maps, per-se, these are very interesting in their own right. They're essentially highly-detailed early aerial views of the towns, with great lithographs of important landmarks and accurate, scale drawings. 

White Hall Hotel 1893

1915 Newtown Sanborn Map

Sanborn Fire Maps were produced for Newtown in 1909 and 1915 and are highly detailed. There are other Bucks County towns, such as Doylestown and New Hope. Unfortunately they doesn't show owner information, except in the case of businesses, which can be very handy for research purposes. The layouts of the buildings, including their composition, is meticulously catalogued. 

1909 Newtown Sanborn Fire Map

In 1849 M. Dripps published a Plan of the Township and Borough of Newtown, which is a good early map showing landowners and buildings in the borough. This map isn't available online, but a copy can be seen at the Newtown Historic Association.

1849 Dripps Map of Newtown

Washington Crossing 1937

Aerial photography is an important avenue to research. We don't have aerials from the 19th century (unless you count the Fowler map), but we have great images of the county in 1937, 1958 and 1971. These can be found at Penn Pilot and Historic Aerials. It's fascinating, and somewhat heartbreaking to compare the parcel sizes through the years. 

Newtown Common Survey

The PHMC has copies of survey books from 1681-1912, series #17.114, on file. Many of these surveys contain detailed maps, though locating them can be a pain. Here's the layout of the Newtown Common sometime in the 18th century. 

1781 Upper Makefield

Historical organizations often reproduced, or created maps of their particular area of focus. Jeff Marshall has done a few of these including the 1981 the Upper Makefield Historical Commission's map showing landowners in 1781. This is a fascinating map showing many names that are still familiar to the township as roads or families who still reside here. I can't possibly cover all of the other countless number of maps that have been produced for researchers and fans of local history, but they're all great resources.

I'm sure there are other original maps out there for particular locations like the Dripps map of Newtown, but my main focus here was all of Bucks, and the towns I care and know most about. Hopefully this opens up research opportunities for others.