Darby Township is a township in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 9,219 as of the 2020 census. It is home to both residential areas and expansive industrial districts. Darby Township is home to a diverse population and its industrial districts are popular among shipping companies for their proximity to Philadelphia International Airport. It also is known for being made up of two non-contiguous geographical areas, requiring one to pass through at least two neighboring municipalities to make it from one end of Darby Township to the other. Darby Township is a distinct municipality from the nearby and similarly named Darby Borough and Upper Darby Township.
History
Early settlement
The area, now known as Darby Township, was settled almost immediately after the coming of William Penn (1682), and in 1683 was recognized as one of the localities where a permanent lodgement had been made but despite that fact, it is believed that the population was sparse for more than a quarter of a century. In 1682, Darby Friends' Meeting had been established. In the same year the first official record of Darby occurs in the list of collectors "to gather the assessment for the building of the court-house". Thomas Worth and Joshua Fearne were appointed to those offices for Darby, and Mons Stacker and William Cobb "for Amosland & Calcoone Hook". The latter was recognized as a distinct municipal district until 1686, when Calcoone Hook was made a part of Darby Township, and Amosland was annexed to Ridley. Calcon or Calkoen's Hook comprised all the territory between Cobb's Creek on the east, and the Mokormpates Kill or Muckinipattas Creek on the west, and derives its name from the Swedish word Kalkon (a turkey) and Walda Kalkoen (wild turkeys). Later the territory known by that name became restricted to that part lying south of the Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore Railroad, while its eastern boundary was Morhorhootink, as shown in the atlas of the early grants in Delaware County.
Division of Upper and Lower Darby
The territory now constituting the townships of Upper and Lower Darby continued under one municipal government until 1747, when, for the convenience of the inhabitants, at a town-meeting, it was decided to separate the upper part from the lower in all matters save
the levies made for the support of the poor. The lines thus agreed upon are not the township lines now existing, but Upper Darby, being less densely peopled, extended farther south. The inconveniences arising from the unofficial division so frequently presented themselves as a disturbing element in local government that forty years thereafter a petition was presented to the court. The following is an excerpt from this petition: