Editing Rose Valley, Pennsylvania (section)

==History==
Native Americans of the [[Lenape|Leni Lenape]] or Delaware tribe lived in the area when Europeans began arriving. A major trade route, the [[Great Minquas Path]], passed through the site of the present borough, along Long Point, a hairpin turn in Ridley Creek, and then across the creek and through the center of the borough. Furs were carried along the path from Native Americans on the [[Susquehanna River]] to European traders on the [[Schuylkill River|Schuylkill]] and [[Delaware River|Delaware]] rivers.

Soon after [[William Penn]] received his charter for the [[Colony of Pennsylvania]], three brothers, Thomas, Robert, and Randall Vernon, received land grants from Penn to settle over {{convert|900|acre}} in the present borough of Rose Valley and [[Nether Providence Township, Pennsylvania|Nether Providence Township]]. The brothers arrived in Pennsylvania in 1682 and began farming the area, about {{convert|4|mi|0}} north of [[Chester, Pennsylvania|Chester]], which was then the largest settlement in the colony. Though the brothers purchased their land in 1681 while still in [[London]], the land was not surveyed and patents were not granted for the land until years, perhaps decades, later. The Providence Great Road (now [[Pennsylvania Route 252|PA 252]]), just to the north of the borough, was laid out in the 1680s, and Brookhaven Road, on the borough's eastern boundary, was laid out in 1705.<ref name = arch/><ref name=ham>Peter Ham, ''History (Vol. I)''</ref>{{rp|1–6}}

Randall Vernon's house was built before 1700, and still stands. Robert Vernon may have built the house known as the "Bishop White House" about 1695. The name of the house comes from its use by the family of Bishop [[William White (bishop of Pennsylvania)|William White]] during the [[yellow fever epidemic of 1793]] in Philadelphia. Though the bishop visited the house, he generally stayed in Philadelphia in 1793. William Lightfoot Price modified this house after 1900, adding a stone porch and red tile roof. The Vernon families continued living in the area into the nineteenth century. The [[American Revolution]] split family members, who served as soldiers on both the American and British sides.

Many veterans of the Revolution are buried in now unmarked graves in the cemetery of the Old Union Methodist Church, the only church in the borough. The roots of the church may go back to 1804, and it was officially organized in 1811. The current building dates to 1835.

Following the Revolution, land in the southwest corner of the present borough was confiscated from a Vernon family member who had supported the British. The land was eventually sold to Jacob Benninghove, a Philadelphia [[tobacconist]], who built a large mansion there in 1787. About the same time, he built a dam on Ridley Creek and a water-powered [[Snuff (tobacco)|snuff]] mill. Samuel Bancroft bought the house in 1831 and named it Todmorden Mansion. He lost the house in bankruptcy in 1842, but bought it back in 1857 and lived there until 1889. He built tunnels and secret chambers in the house for use in the [[Underground Railroad]].<ref name=ham/>{{rp|1–6}}

<gallery mode=packed heights=200>
File:RVernon House RV PA.JPG|Randall Vernon House, built before 1700
File:Bishop White RV.JPG|[[William White (Bishop of Pennsylvania)|Bishop White]] House, c. 1695
File:Todmorden RV PA.JPG|Todmorden Mansion, built 1787 of green serpentine stone
File:Union Methodist RV.JPG|Old Union Methodist Church
</gallery>