Fort Washington

Fort Washington is a census-designated place and suburb of Philadelphia in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 5,446 at the 2010 census. During the American Revolutionary War, George Washington and the Continental Army were encamped here. The Fort Washington Office Park contains more than 65 buildings of various sizes up to 658,535 square feet (61,179.9 m2) It was the site of one of the worst train accidents in the United States in 1856, when two North Pennsylvania Railroad trains collided with one another near the Sandy Run station (later renamed to Camp Hill, now the defunct Fellwick Station) Johnson & Johnson's McNeil Consumer & Specialty Pharmaceuticals plant closed in 2010 after a series of manufacturing problems led to embarrassing product recalls for over-the-counter (OTC) Motrin (uprofen) and Motrinol (acetaminophen) Fort Washington bus station provides intercity bus service from the nearby Lansdale/Doylestown station to the nearby Fort Washington/Lansdale/Ourlestoy Line station. Fort Washington State Park contains the area in which the primary American defenses were situated during the 1777 Battle of White Marsh. It is also home to the Fort Washington Expo Center, which opened in 1993 in the former Honeywell factory and hosted some of the region's biggest consumer and trade shows. The Expo Center closed in 2006 after the building was sold to Liberty Property Trust who renovated the center into Class A office space.

History

Fort Washington is the primary city name, but also Ft Washington are acceptable city names or spellings, Ft Wash, Upper Dublin on the other hand no longer accepted or obsolete and are no longer used as a designation. Fort Washington was the site of one of the worst train accidents in the United States in 1856. George Washington and the Continental Army were encamped here after their October 4, 1777 defeat at the Battle of Germantown. The Battle of White Marsh was fought here between British and American forces in 1777. Fort Washington State Park contains the area in which the primary American defenses were situated. On January 1, 1946, the Township of Upper Dublin was created, and in doing so, encompassed Fort Washington along with nine other communities. Parts of Fort Washington were also incorporated into Whitemarsh Township. On July 17, 1856, two North Pennsylvania Railroad trains collided with one another near the Sandy Run station (later renamed to Camp Hill, now the defunct Fellwick Station). The exact number of deaths is uncertain, but 59 were killed instantly and dozens more perished from their injuries. Many of the dead were children from St. Michael's Roman Catholic Church from the Kensington section of Philadelphia, who were traveling to Sheaff's Woods, a park in the Fort Washington area, for a Sunday school picnic. The house built by Philip Engard is listed as the "Engard Family Home - 1765" in the Upper Dublin Township Open Space & Environmental Resource Protection Plan - 2005, as part of the UpperDublin Historical Properties #25. The Great Train Wreck of 1856 killed 59 people and injured dozens more in a train accident at Fort Washington in July of that same year.

Business and industry

The Fort Washington Office Park occupies 536 acres (217 ha) and contains 6,000,000 square feet (560,000 m2) of building space. The park contains the offices of over 100 different companies, including Honeywell, Aetna, AccuWeather, Eastern National, Genworth Financial, and a suburban campus of Temple University. The office park was also home to the corporate headquarters of CDNow, the pioneering online music retailer. In recent years, the office park has experienced a vacancy rate higher than that of other commercial/industrial parks in the region, due in some part to problems with flooding. The Fort Washington Expo Center hosted some of the region's biggest consumer and trade shows, and was the largest such suburban venue in the northeastern United States. Johnson & Johnson closed this plant in April 2010 after a series of manufacturing problems led to embarrassing product recalls for faulty manufacturing practices. The building is based on a 110-acre (45 ha) site and has a workforce of 2,600 employees. The center, which can accommodate 2,800 employees, was leased to GMAC Mortgage who took over the space in 2007. GMAC mortgage went out of business in 2013 and the building was sold to Liberty Property Trust who renovated the center into Class A office space. It is home to one of the earliest branches of School of Rock, which was founded in the early 1990s in the Fort Washington office park. It was the first branch of the online music store to open in the U.S.

Transportation

SEPTA Regional Rail's Lansdale/Doylestown Line stops at the nearby Fort Washington station. OurBus provides intercity bus service from Fort Washington to Park Avenue in the Manhattan section in New York City. The bus stop in Fort Washington is located adjacent to the Fort Washington Station. The route started on December 21, 2017 and is part of a route running from West Chester to New York. The stop is on the corner of Fort Washington Road and West Washington Avenue in West Chester. It is also on the intersection of West Washington Street and Park Avenue. It's on the right side of the busy intersection of Park Avenue and West Park Avenue, and the stop is located on the left side of that intersection. It has a bus stop on the second floor of a building on the third floor of the building, which is where the bus stop for the Lansdale line is located.

Schools

Upper Dublin portion of Fort Washington is served by the Upper Dublin School District. Those living in parts incorporated into Whitemarsh are served by Colonial School district. Fort Washington has a public and private school system. The Fort Washington High School was once ranked as the eighth best high school in the state. The school was closed down in 2020 and replaced by a private school. It is located on Fort Washington Road, near the intersection of I-95 and I-70. The town's name comes from the Fort Washington River, which runs through the town. It was also the site of the Battle of the Bulge, which took place in 1864. The city's name is derived from the word "fort" or "Washington" which means "town" in Washington, D.C. It also means "home" in the U.S. and "Washington, DC" in English. The name Fort Washington was also used to refer to Fort Washington, a town in Washington County, Washington, in the early 1800s. The current name of the town is "Fort Washington" and refers to the town's main street, which is called "Washington Street" The town has a number of schools, including Fort Washington Elementary School, Fort Washington Middle School, and Fort Washington high School. It has also been known as "The Fort" and "The Town of Washington" by residents of the area. The district is also known as the "Colonial School District" because of its location in the center of the city.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 3,680 people, 1,161 households, and 1,013 families residing in the community. The racial makeup of the community was 91.30% White, 3.04% African American, 0.08% Native American, 5.03% Asian (0.46% Asian Indian, 2.20% Chinese, 1.93% Korean,0.16% Vietnamese), 0.11% from other races, and 0.43% from two or more races. 90.65% of the population was White, non-Hispanic. As of the 2010 census, the CDP was 86.2% white, 4.5% Black or African American. 1.8% were of Hispanic or Latino ancestry. The median income was $103,469, and the median income for a family was $112,863. The per capita income for the community is $43,090. About 1.5%. of families and 3.4% of. the population were below the poverty line, including 3.7% of those under age 18 and none of those age 65 or over. The average household size was 3.06 and the average family size was3.32. The population was spread out, with 28.5 per cent under the age of 18, 22.1% from 25 to 44, 32.4 per cent from 45 to 64, and 11.8 per cent who were 65 years of age or older.

Points of interest

Clifton House, Fort Washington State Park and the Highlands Mansion & Garden are points of interest. Hope Lodge is a lodge that was built in the 19th century. The Highlands Mansion and Garden is a 19th-century mansion. Clifton house is located on the banks of the Columbia River. The state park is on the west bank of the river and is known as the "Highlands" The Highlands mansion is located in the north of the state. The park is known for its hiking trails and scenic views of the area. The State Park is home to a number of historic buildings and places of interest, including the Highlands mansion and the Fort Washington state park. It is also the site of a national park, the Highlands State Park, and a national historic site, the Highlands Mansion.

Air Quality, Water Quality, Superfund Sites & UV Index

The Air Quality index is in Fort Washington, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania = 31.1. These Air Quality index is based on annual reports from the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The number of ozone alert days is used as an indicator of air quality, as are the amounts of seven pollutants including particulates, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, lead, and volatile organic chemicals. The Water Quality Index is 2. A measure of the quality of an area’s water supply as rated by the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The EPA has a complex method of measuring the watershed quality, using 15 indicators such as pollutants, turbidity, sediments, and toxic discharges. The Superfund Sites Index is 10. Higher is better (100=best). Based upon the number and impact of EPA Superfund pollution sites in the county, including spending on the cleanup efforts. The UV Index in Fort Washington = 4.1 and is a measure of an area's exposure to the sun's ultraviolet rays. This is most often a combination of sunny weather, altitude, and latitude. The UV Index has been defined by the WHO (www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/radiation-the-ultraviolet-(uv)-index) and is uniform worldwide.

Employed

The most recent city population of 5,910 individuals with a median age of 45.8 age the population dropped by -4.65% in Fort Washington, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania population since 2000 and are distributed over a density of 1,816.23 residents per square mile of area (701.26/km²). There are average 3 people per household in the 1,131 households with an average household income of $121,679 a year. The unemployment rate in Alabama is 6.90% of the available work force and has dropped -4.83% over the most recent 12-month period and the projected change in job supply over the next decade based on migration patterns, economic growth, and other factors will increase by 23.44%. The number of physicians in Fort Washington per 100,000 population = 500.9.

Weather

The annual rainfall in Fort Washington = 48.6 inches and the annual snowfall = 22.7 inches. The annual number of days with measurable precipitation (over .01 inch) = 94. The average number of days per year that are predominantly sunny = 206. 88 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily high temperature for the month of July and 25.8 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily low temperature for the month of January. The Comfort Index (higher=better) is 44, where higher values mean a more pleasant climate. The Comfort Index measure recognizes that humidity by itself isn't the problem. (Have you noticed nobody ever complains about the weather being 'cold and humid?) It's in the summertime that we notice the humidity the most, when it's hot and muggy. Our Comfort Index uses a combination of afternoon summer temperature and humidity to closely predict the effect that the humidity will have on people.

Median Home Cost

The percentage of housing units in Fort Washington, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania which are owned by the occupant = 93.98%. A housing unit is a house, apartment, mobile home, or room occupied as separate living quarters. The average age of homes = 36 years with median home cost = $356,000 and home appreciation of -13.27%. This is the value of the years most recent home sales data. Its important to note that this is not the average (or arithmetic mean). The median home price is the middle value when you arrange all the sales prices of homes from lowest to highest. This is a better indicator than the average, because the median is not changed as much by a few unusually high or low values. The property tax rate of $16.80 shown here is the rate per $1,000 of home value. If for simplification for example the tax rate is $14.00 and the home value is $250,000, the property tax would be $14.00 x ($250,000/1000), or $3500. This is the 'effective' tax rate.

Study

The local school district spends $7,403 per student. There are 14.6 students for each teacher in the school, 660 students for each Librarian and 362 students for each Counselor. 5.38% of the area’s population over the age of 25 with an Associate Degree or other 2-year college degree, 34.21% with a master’s degree, Ph.D. or other advanced college degree and 28.62% with high school diplomas or high school equivalency degrees (GEDs).