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Penn Valley is an unincorporated community located within Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn Valley residents share a zip code with Merion, Narberth, or Wynnewood because the community does not have its own post office. However, Penn Valley is a distinct community whose civic association demarcates its boundaries with iconic signs featuring William Penn and a farmhouse in blue or red on white, dating from 1930. History Lower Merion was settled in 1682 by Welsh Quakers and in 1713 became a township with about fifty residents. Before 1930, what is now known as Penn Valley consisted of the areas of the township known as "Fairview," "Crow's Hill," and "Bowler's Woods." Initially, Penn Valley was a farming community, known especially for Percival Roberts's 539-acre dairy farm, "Penshurst," and the smaller farms that surrounded it, located on PA Route 23, Conshohocken State Road, Hagy's Ford Road, and Old Gulph Road. It grew more suburban in 1939 when Penshurst's 75-room mansion was demolished in favor of residential development. Other farms in Penn Valley included "Crow's Hill", which was sold in 1921; "The Grove of the Red Partridges" on Old Gulph Road; and Charles W. Latch's 41-acre family farm. Today, silos can still be found in Penn Valley on Fairview Road. Penhurst Farm Penshurst Farm was built and owned by Percival Roberts, scion of the Welsh family led by John Roberts that founded Lower Merion in 1682. Penshurst straddled Hagy's Ford Road and Conshohocken State Road and extended through the hollow down to the banks of the Schuylkill River. The 75-room mansion built in 1903 was known for its magnificent English gardens and Old World ornamental fountains, a fish pond, and a terraced stairway, elements of which still stand as components of the residence that was subsequently built upon the property. The original mansion generated its own electricity, and its plumbing system was self-sufficient. The dairy farm on the Penshurst property was one of the most productive in all of Pennsylvania, with modern milking machines and numerous barns. It had exquisite animals including a pack of award-winning Ayrshire cattle, which were known for eating alfalfa. The farm also had top-notch Berkshire hogs, chickens, and sheep. The farm likely had peacocks and pheasants because these remain common in Penn Valley. Penshurst milk was popular in the area because it was not pasteurized. In 1939 the mansion was demolished and the items were sold at an auction. Most of the land was sold in 1943 to Home Life Insurance Company, subdivided, and built upon. The farm's water storage tower persisted into the 1980s on a terrace between the baseball and football fields of Welsh Valley Middle School and gave its name to the adjacent Tower Lane. It, too, was ultimately demolished when state authorities deemed it a safety hazard. Today, the only remaining signs of the mansion are its former gates that can be seen as Conshohocken State Road bends left toward Gladwyne and Ardmore. Penn Valley Women's Club Penn Valley is the home of the Penn Valley Women's Club, built by nearby farmers as a schoolhouse and Sunday meetinghouse in 1826–1828. The original club was replaced with a new building in 1876. Although that building was razed around 1926, its remains can be seen today set back from Fairview Road as it winds steeply down to Route 23. Until World War II, the Women's Club was used to hold religious services. The original Penn Valley Women's Club was repaired in 1951 and now is home to The Penn Valley Civic Association, the area's titular governing body. In 1978 this Women's Club was designated a historic site by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. It was given repairs in 2016. 200 Fairview Road Another historic building was located at the corner of Fairview Road and Summit Avenue, a small frame house with a Queen Porch built for the Centennial. Even though the house had Class 2 Historical status, the township's Historical Committee allowed the house to be demolished after damage from a basement fire proved too costly to repair. The original house was demolished in August 2013 and a new house completed on the site late in 2014. William Penn Milestones During the period of the American Revolution, Benjamin Franklin, who was the United States Postmaster General, insisted on having stone milestone markers to keep postal riders on schedule. In 1793 the Mutual Assurance Fire Company of Philadelphia erected milestones to honor William Penn's family in return for its donation of land. Milestones 9 through 13 distant from the center of Penn's downtown grid were set within Penn Valley's limits. They have a mile number on their front and Penn's family coat of arms on the back. Mill Creek Valley Region The Mill Creek passes through Penn Valley on its way to the Schuylkill River. During the late 17th and early 18th centuries, 24 stone mills were located along the creek, which used its water power to process wool, paper, and gunpowder until early in the twentieth century. One mill owner, John Frederick Bicking, owned a paper mill along Mill Creek and ten acres where Summit Road meets Fairview Road. The Bickings family cemetery can still be found on Fairview Road. Demographics The 2010 Census found that Penn Valley has less than 4,000 residents. Racially, 88% of Penn Valley's residents are Caucasian, 4% are Asian, 2.4% are Hispanic, 1.8% are black and the rest are two or more races, Pacific Islander, American Indian or another race. Of Penn Valley's Caucasian residents, 14.7% have Russian ancestry and 4.0% have Eastern European ancestry. Penn Valley's median income is more than $100,000 per family, statistically in the top 0.3% of the United States. None of the children in the community live below the poverty level. Geography Penn Valley is located between Merion and Gladwyne in the heart of the northern tier of communities belonging to the Philadelphia Main Line, a part of suburban Philadelphia named after the Pennsylvania Railroad's original rail line to the West. The railroad runs from 30th Street Station in downtown Philadelphia due west through the communities of Overbrook, Merion, Narberth/Penn Valley, Wynnewood, Ardmore, Haverford, Bryn Mawr, Rosemont, Villanova, Wayne, Strafford, Saint Davids, Devon, Berwyn, Daylesford, and Paoli. Most of Penn Valley is residential, except for parts of Montgomery Avenue, which separates the western part of Penn Valley from the borough of Narberth, its post office cousin. Penn Valley is only a valley in some places. The Merion part of Penn Valley slopes steeply down General Lafayette Road and Woodbine Avenue to Gulley Run Creek, a tributary of Mill Creek; Hollow Road slopes more gradually down toward the Schuylkill River and an east-only entrance to the Schuylkill Expressway into an old ravine that ends in the river; and Conshohocken State Road/PA Route 23 slopes steeply from the gates of the former Penshurst Estate down t.... Discover the Benjamin Franklin William Penn John Wool popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Benjamin Franklin William Penn John Wool books.