Quakertown, Pennsylvania

Quakertown is a borough in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, in the USA. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 8,979. The borough is 16 miles (26 km) south of Bethlehem and 29 miles (47 km) north of Philadelphia, making Quakertown a border town of both the Delaware Valley and Lehigh Valley metropolitan areas. Quakertown is considered part of the Allentown−Bethlehem urbanized area and the Philadelphia−Camden−Wilmington (PA−NJ−DE-MD) MSA.

History

Quakertown was originally settled by the Religious Society of Friends, or Quakers. The settlement was not officially known as Quakertown until its first post office opened in 1803.

On September 18, 1777, during the American Revolutionary War, a convoy of wagons carrying the Liberty Bell from Philadelphia to Allentown, under the command of Col. Thomas Polk of Charlotte, North Carolina, stopped in Quakertown. The Liberty Bell was stored overnight behind the home of Evan Foulke (1237 West Broad Street), and the entourage stayed at the Red Lion Inn. The John Fries' Rebellion was also started in the Red Lion Inn in 1799.