After William Penn had laid out Philadelphia, his "great town", in 1682, he traveled north through a vast tract of land he had purchased from the local Indians. Some 28 miles northeast of Philadelphia, in the middle of trees that bordered a creek flowing to the Delaware River, he allegedly announced "This is where I propose to build my 'new town'". No documentation supports this take, but two years later in 1684, William Penn's surveyor Thomas Holme devised a plan for a new settlement initially called "new borough, Straddling what is now called Newtown Creek, the site included 640 acres. In time, the name was shortened to Newtown. In Newtown, one has only to stroll our streets to discover our tapestry of history.
Newtown Township has a proud heritage tracing its roots back to William Penn, who purchased 5,000 acres from the Lenape Indians in 1683. He named this land my "New Township", which gradually evolved to Newtown Township. Newtown served as the County Seat of Bucks County from 1726 until 1813.
In 1838, the commercial center of the township was incorporated into a separate municipality, Newtown Borough; Today, the Township surrounds the Borough, each with its own government. Newtown Borough became one of Bucks County's preeminent communities with the construction of many substantial colonial residences and taverns. The Historic District was established in 1969 and enlarged several times. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and its buildings show excellent examples of all major architectural styles.